Intro to Home Practice

I want to talk about my home practice.

 I can't remember why I felt like starting a home practice, but I remember feeling like I must. I've just started ashtanga, and loving it, and then my teacher dropped the news that she's taking a months off to travel. Naturally I was devastated. After ashtanga I've sort of stopped my other exercises - running, swimming and cycling - and they couldn't really compare to the feeling I feel everytime I practice. At that time I was somewhat in between memorizing the poses, still had to refer. In a whim I bought a cheap intro to ashtanga book that I love until NOW to sort of guide me into doing a home practice. The rest is history.

 I guess the reason it was easy for me to start - and sustain - the home practice is because I'm really anal about my work outs. I lead a tightly disciplined view in keeping my workout. I used to have a workout schedule and would slot in 'missed' running days or cycling hours. The discipline wasn't really hard for me, in fact, I have to do the opposite to try not to let myself get too attached to the whole 'practice' of the physical yoga. So motivation wasn't really hard.

 The next is passion. When I discovered ashtanga, or just yoga in particular, I fell hard. I love how it connects both body, mind and soul, and also it teaches me a lot on alignment, body anatomy, and just how your body works in general. I love how on days when your mind is scattered your balance poses are off. I also love the non-attachment behind yoga. I love the discipline, the humility. It was all so different from the show-off attitude you must have in the sport of triathlons.

 The area where I practice is at the space on the second floor where the computer is at. It's a tiny space, with a sofa against the wall, but it was goood enough. For poses like Supta Padanghustasana and its sidekicks I have to scoot left and right to give space to my descending leg. But other than that it was a good place to practice. It's always warm so the humidity gives me a good sweating. The only thing lacking was wall space but I managed to find a tiny area where I could practice my headstands, pincha and handstands in peace.

 For props I just bought 3 blocks. I used pillows as bolsters and the computer chair when needed. Straps were pretty easy - towels or belts.

 My practice  is usually done every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I keep Tuesday and Thursdays for my normal Hatha practice... usually poses I love and would try to master, backbends, mostly restorative stuff. Right now it's a bit mixed up with the schedule but I try not to be to crazy about it.

The best thing about a home practice is that it's my time. My space, my practice. I don't have to care about anyone else or worry. I also do not have the ugly tendency to show off, which I absolutely hate but still get the feeling of anyway. If I had a good practice the pride is all mine and I keep it to myself. It's different when I do a mysore and I get caught up with what the others are doing or feel chuffed that my twist is deeper than others. It is an unsettling feeling.

 I also love the fact that I could sometimes practice wearing nothing but my underwear on. :)

That being said, there's also the beautiful thing about mysore style practice. The 6 days I did with the visiting teacher in fact, taught me a LOT. Really changed and improved my practice. I nailed certain poses I never had the guts to try, I learned new stuff, and implemented some tips and tricks to my practice. When she left I was a little bit blue.

 Well that was lengthy wasn't it. I guess I always wanted to document the start of my journey into ashtanga but never got the time. Well. glad I had time.