There are so many reasons to practice yoga at home. But if you’ve never done it before, it can seem really daunting! I often come across folks who say ‘I’d never get the motivation to do yoga at home, I need to be in class’. So I’ve come up with some tips to help you to motivate yourself.
1. Yoga is Your New Teeth Cleaning Regime
Remember that it’s hard to form a habit, but once it’s formed, old habits do die hard.
Imagine how silly it would seem if someone said that they just couldn’t motivate themselves to clean their teeth!
Change the way you think of it. Instead of thinking of your home yoga time as a ‘nice to have’ think of it as an essential. Your home yoga is as essential as cleaning your teeth.
It doesn’t need to be a long practice, but just get on your mat and move. If only for 5 minutes.
Like cleaning your teeth, it’s useful to do your home yoga at a set time each day. Most people find first thing in the morning the best time to practice.
2. Set Yourself Goals
Remind yourself why you were attracted to think about doing yoga at home. What benefits were you looking for?
>>If you need to think about the benefits of home yoga check out this article>>
Do you still want greater health, happiness, a clearer mind, more focus and an all-round amazing feeling in your body? Just focus on your reasons and know that the benefits won’t happen unless you do the practice.
I’d love to do the practice for you, but you need to do it for yourself!
3. Start a Journal
If you’re not sure that the practice is doing the trick and if you’re achieving the things you wanted to, start to write down how you feel before and after your practice. It can help to start to journal at the beginning and end of each day to check in with yourself and your goals.
4. Take The Effort Out Of It!
Roll out your mat and decide which class you want to practice the evening before so that you have everything ready and no excuses. That way all you need to do is make your cuppa and then you’re all ready to go.
>>Remember that you’re bespoking your practice and your life by choosing home practice>>
I love to practice at home and rarely go to a studio. When I do, it’ll be a very carefully chosen class which is well worth all the extra time and effort in getting there. But how to guarantee that the class will provide exactly what i need by the time I’ve made the effort? It’s a tricky one!
5. Take Two Minutes
When in doubt, if you really can’t be bothered to do your home practice, do this:
2 minutes of sitting gratitude practice.
For a full 2 minutes sit down very quietly and think of just how lucky you are for the body you’re born with, for being born, for the here and now and for all the wonderful things, people and occurrences in your life.
Even if you just do 2 minutes of quiet contemplation, that’s a really lovely practice. And you never know, after getting excited about your life, you may just find yourself rolling out your mat and moving….
>>New To Yoga? Check Out Our Beginners’ Videos Here>>
Kat Farrants by Karen Yeomans
With love and the best of intentions!
Kat xx
Hi Kat,
It was really good to meet you at the OM Yoga Show.
I feel much more excited about Home Practice with MFML now I understand more about what you do, your mission and vision.
I’m sure our paths will cross again too!
Thank you
Stevie
Hi Stevie, so glad you got to meet Kat, isn’t her passion infectious. So glad you are enjoying your home practice with the site and yes I’m sure you’ll meet Kat again soon. Thanks for getting involved here. x
Yoga is very important for daily life. Because it is a great way to get exercise which reduces stress. You explained very well in this blog. Thanks for sharing such amazing stuff.
I can see why you would use tooth brushing as an example of ingrained habit but maybe you could reword this part. Bear in mind that people with mental health issues do struggle to find motivation for basic selfcare tasks, myself included. Silliness doesn’t factor into it unfortunately. I’m hoping that starting yoga, hopefully a daily practice will help my mental health and my positive habit building skills
Thank you for pointing this out Ellen. You are spot on, sometimes the ‘simplest’ tasks can feel daunting for some. The idea here was just to pick something you are doing habitually, and then to use this as a way to inspire and motivate.
Maybe you can think of one thing that you do, no matter how small or simple. For us it’s all about starting with small manageable steps and taking away any pressure or expectation.
Good luck and let us know how you get on x