HOME(who you are) PRACTICE (being who you are)
Practice can be a bit of a triggering word: I gave up piano when I was a kid because I hadn’t practiced Scarborough Fair before my piano lesson! We need to practice because we want to, because we are craving a calmer state.
Are we going to give up on ourselves if we don’t practice yoga? No. We just need a gentle reminder that it’s called Practice for a reason. Let’s break down the words, Home. Practice.
Home - your ability to be your true, calmer self
Once your body has had a taste of being calm and at lovely easy in your body (plus a bonus doubtless moment of clarity or two) you will crave more. It remembers. This delicious craving will never leave you and it will gently tap you on the shoulder when you need it most. Home is lovingly waiting for you to come home to yourself. And Home is lovingly listening and taking yourself by the hand to do what your body knows best - to heal itself.
Home is a physical space where you can regularly practice. It could be a yoga mat in a cluttered lounge room. It could be a teeny room, bare, except for your yoga mat, block, bolster and an item/s that feels sacred (statue, candle, photo, dried flower). It could be your car if that’s all you’ve got available! One you start your Home Practice, you’re life will unfold and grow your Practice. One day you’ll be your paler self without it.
Home can be tapped into and experienced from anywhere – stopping at a traffic light, the second before you join a live Zoom, holiday – any time you consciously realise you’re caught in your head or your tense body and that feeling does not feel good.
Home is knowing you deserve and want better for yourself and those around you.
Home is knowing that our true nature is not motivated by stress, addiction or a battlefield mind.
Home is a place that makes you feel good, that you look forward to going and resting, no matter what is going on. Home is a feeling inside that is spacious, easy and free of tension.
Home is the awareness of how you feel in the moment, and then the disruption of the thoughts that got you there.
Home is then replacing those thoughts with a calmer intention.
Practice – bringing yourself home.
Most of us do not live in a society that values calm, relaxation, connection, nature and slowing down. It’s easy to get caught up in how the world is at the moment because creating change can feel impossible. But we can create small change in our inner world. If our outside world isn’t a place to practice our true calmer nature, then we must practice it inside. It’s called a practice for a reason – it needs to be done. The world may then soften around you.
Lets get real. If you want to be in another state, you need to BE in another state. Just desperately wanting and waiting will not cut it. You need to retrain the brain of your nervous system to behave differently. It won’t happen with one little effort. You CAN change the labels you give yourself of “I am an anxious person” or “I’m always stressed”. It may be the case that are those things right now because of who you’ve been, but with conviction to feel different, something regular, and a love of doing so, you can PRACTICE your way to feeling good.
Practice brings us into another state. It cultivates the relaxation response and stilling of the mind, so we can be something else other than anxious, stressed, neurotic, doubtful and restless.
Practice on the mat has a profound affect on us off the mat.
Practice allows us to let our busy minds go and drop down into the more subtle parts of ourselves. In these subtle parts (energy, flow, gut feeling, breath) we can take notice of who we are and what we need.
Practice means we fall down and get up. We are not perfect. And we are not here to perform.
What, when and for how long?
Anything. Something. Doesn’t really matter. Go to your mat every morning even if it’s for one minute. Train your brain to deeply desire this coming home to yourself. Replace “I don’t have time” to “I make time now”.
Here are some elements that can make up a simple yet transformation Home Practice:
Arriving, landing, being present in a comfortable sitting position where your hip creases are higher than your knees (sit on a cushion or blanket/s) so your back can elongate. Head floating effortlessly to the sky.
An easy flow warm up to connect your breath, body and mind, and release physical tension in the body.
Breathing exercises.
Guided meditation.
Yin or restorative yoga.
Yoga asanas sequence, like a simple Salute to the Sun (link coming soon)
Lying down in Shavasana and follow your breath (on your back, a bolster/wrapped blanket under your knees to support your lower back, shoulders and neck relaxed).
A MindRest (Yoga Nidra) recording.
Setting an Intention for your day so your mind knows what to filter out.
Start with releasing physical tension, then mental tension, then rest in an experience of silence and stillness.
Devotional music or music that lifts your spirit and changes how you feel
When? Mornings are best for practice for a few reasons: by the end of the day you are battling hours of stress, body tension and external stimulation. Mornings have a calmer energy (especially before the sun rises). Also, morning practice means you can set the scene for your day, calmer and able to cope with more stuff that comes your way. Do your own experiment. An evening practice will help you fall asleep faster and sleep deeper.
How long? 20 minutes minimum is ideal because that’s how long is usually takes to reset your nervous system. It’s also a minimum amount of time that’s needed to set your internal scene. An hour is awesome. But one minute is still coming home to true self. Start small.