Can You Learn Yoga At Home As A Beginner?
Anyone can start a home yoga practice and learn at home. But unfortunately, you will need guidance to progress and practice safely. This does not mean you need private yoga lessons at home although that is the best option, but you at least need more guidance than you will find in a book. The flip side of the flexibility you get when you learn yoga alone at home is that there is no one supporting your practice.
Those who learn yoga by themselves at home are usually more disciplined and motivated and can get through their practice without the encouragement of an instructor. These are essential qualities to succeed in your home yoga practice.
Your best option to practice at home is to find out what is the best resource that is available to you and what you can afford.
I will discuss different resources you can use to start your home yoga practice. The most common yoga resources available are books, DVD’s, online video, and courses or one-on-one sessions. Each method has its pros and cons, we’ll briefly discuss them.
Your practice should be something you look forward to, and your expectations need to be realistic.
As a beginner, it is important to get the basics right – the poses, proper breathing technique, and correct alignment. Without the right foundations, you simply won’t get all the benefits of a regular yoga practice.
Establishing a regular yoga practice may be difficult for some at first. We’ll discuss some tips you can follow to get you started.
A home yoga practice is a must for all serious yogis. You see, soon your yoga practice will become a refuge from your daily stress.
Just start out with basic beginner’s yoga sequences and progress to the more advanced yoga sequences. The biggest hurdle towards a successful yoga practice is making the decision to start. Once you make the leap and start practicing, everything else will fall into place.
No matter whether you’re looking to jumpstart your day with a yoga flow or trying to relax at the end of a hard day, with the right resources, practice and patience you can learn yoga right from your home and on your own.
Related Article: Yoga For Beginners – A Beginner’s Yoga Guide – 7 Steps To Start Your Yoga Practice.
Get Guidance:
If are not going to attend any in person classes led by a yoga teacher, you should use a combination of written and visual aids. Look for videos that are catered specifically at beginners, they will be slower and explain the postures and movement in more detail. Otherwise, you might miss important information about your alignment, which muscles to engage and how to breathe properly.
Books – Books are great but not the best option if you are a beginner. There are many amazing books on the different aspects of yoga, but when it comes to books teaching home practice for beginners, I’m not so confident. Use books as a refence guide in conjunction with video demonstrations.
YouTube videos – There are thousands of great free beginner yoga videos on YouTube. And the best part is they are free. There are videos explaining individual poses and longer videos with yoga flows and exercises. The downside is there is no structure to the videos. I don’t know of any channel that has a comprehensive free program that will guide you from day one and help you progress to more advanced poses. They normally provide this service for a fee.
If you are a beginner, it is best to have step-by-step instructions instead of just hopping from one video to the next. Many popular YouTube yogis are also not very good at explaining what’s happening even though they can give a perfect demonstration. This can be a problem for beginners because you wouldn’t know which muscles to engage and how to breath because you can’t see it.
With both books and free videos your safety is left to your own judgement.
Online Yoga Courses – Online yoga courses are great because thy are well structured and give step-by-step instructions. A course can better address the safety issue as well because it is more predictable that a book or YouTube Video. Following a yoga program has the advantage that you don’t have to choose what you want to do and search for the right practice. A well-designed yoga series guides you as you progress, so you can make the most of your time on the mat.
In-person Learning – Attending a good yoga studio with an experienced teacher is the best way to learn. You get all the benefits from books and video plus your teacher can interact with you to correct mistakes and keep you safe from injury and suggest modifications for poses you are not ready for. But that’s not why you are here. But attending just a few classes can help a lot with your home practice.
11 Steps To Get Your Home Yoga Practice Going:
- Find A Quit Space To Practice:
Try and find a quit area in your home where you can commit yourself to your practice. This is not always possible I know, we have pets and kids and other house mates and spouses that can be a distraction. Dedicating an area in your home to practice in can also help establish a regular practice, the space needn’t be large. There should be enough space around you to not bump into furniture and if there is a wall you can use as a prop even better.
- Practice your Breathing Techniques:
Pranayama – the practice of breath control in yoga. While practicing your breathing techniques helps synchronize breathe with movement between asanas, it is also a distinct breathing exercise on its own.
Make sure to practice them just as often as the postures as they can take some time to master. Eventually it will become second nature. Yoga breathing exercises take some time to get used to, but after a little practice you will not need to think about how to breathe correctly.
Simply noticing your inhale and exhale can promote better sleep, reduce stress and anxiety.
Related – How to practice Yoga breathing exercises.
Practice Regularly:
How many times a week should I practice yoga? To establish a regular yoga practice can be a challenge for any beginner. So just do it. Practice whenever you get a chance, it could be in your lunch hour or 15 minutes before going to bed.
There is no judgement in practicing yoga, no right or wrong way or duration. Just start by doing what you can and soon you will notice you have a steady yoga practice.
Instead of making a huge time commitment right off the bat, start by making small, sustainable commitments. Even practicing yoga only once a week is beneficial!
Set realistic goals but aim for three times per week. Aiming to practice very day is just setting you up for failure. A feeling of failure usually just makes you skip practices even more.
If you must skip a practice, do it at a different time instead. Don’t just miss it.
When you practice regularly, the effects of each session don’t have a chance to wear off before your next practice.
If you are pursuing a Vinyasa Yoga practice, you should only practice up to 3–5 times a week to give your body enough time to rest and recover.
- Don’t Skip Savasana:
Savasana helps your body to completely relax, and it should be part of your home yoga routine. If time is an issue, 3 minutes is enough. It teaches the body how to relax and it is very simple to do.
- Monitor Your Progress:
When you are just starting out, don’t focus to much on form and alignment. It’s important but rather focus on practicing regularly. When your start to get comfortable with the poses you can record yourself or use a mirror to analyze and correct any misalignment in your poses and form.
If you are using online videos, rewind and pause if you need a second look at what the teacher is doing.
You can also monitor you progress by noticing how you feel, how much energy you have and how you are sleeping.
With mobility, flexibility, and strength you clearly notice your progress as you go. For example, you notice you can stretch father, plank longer or do more reps of a certain exercise.
- Learn Basic Yoga Poses:
When you are ready, roll out your mat and start to experiment with yoga poses for beginners. Just stay in one pose at a time focusing on form and alignment. Keep your attention on what is happening in your body, which muscles are working.
Beginner yogi’s that want to learn yoga at home should avoid overdoing It. Do not push yourself too hard Remember you should not feel any pain when doing Yoga.
Check out these beginner Yoga Poses.
- Pick A Direction For Your Practice And Set An Intention:
What are you going to do when you are on your mat? The first question to ask is – “What do my body need?” Do you feel like doing a restorative session or A vigorous session? Or something completely different?
This will depend on how you feel. Use your practice to take care of your immediate needs. Something active like Vinyasa Flow, to get the juices flowing or something softer and restorative, to quiet your body and mind?
The more you do yoga, the more you learn the effects of different practices on your body, and the more you’ll learn to recognize what it is your body need at different times. This will drastically improve your physical and mental health.
Setting an intention could also just mean choosing one pose to focus on that day.
- Plan A Balanced Yoga Session:
Pick at least one pose for every direction that your body moves in and start with that. When you’re ready to build a sequence from scratch, decide which body parts you want to focus on. Look at yoga categories: standing poses, forward bends, twists, backbends, shoulder openers, inversions. Choose three categories and pick four poses for each.
- Get Your Props:
You will need a mat or towel, two yoga blocks (you can substitute with books), a yoga strap or belt and a yoga bolster or appropriate pillow. That’s it! And you can wear any clothes as long as it is not to lose, and you can move easily in them.
No accessory is a must. My first years I practiced with nothing but the carpet on the floor and small piece of wall next to my cupboard.
- Stay Safe And Avoid Prevent Injury:
Know your bodies capability and be mindful of your limits. If you feel any pain, modify, or come out of the pose. Don’t force or push past your limits. Warm up before moving into more strenuous poses and be mindful during transitions.
You should never feel any pain, especially in the joints. A sharp or intense pain is your que to stop what you are doing and avoid or modify the pose.
Keep in mind that books and online yoga sites are aimed at healthy individuals.
Alternatives and modifications are sometimes given but you will always have to decide for yourself if you think that the exercise is suitable for you.
There is a limit to how much attention a teacher can give to an individual student when leading a group, so the bottom line is that practicing at home is not riskier than participating in a yoga class.
Related Article: 7 Common Yoga Injuries And How To Prevent Them:
- Choose A Yoga Style:
Once you understand the basics of learning yoga as a beginner, you will start trying out different types of yoga sequences. Discovering which style fits your needs and which is the best for you to practice yoga at home.
The is a multitude of different styles of yoga you can choose from. This will depend on what you aim to achieve with your practice. If you are feeling tired and run down you can choose a restorative style, and if you want more of a workout you can follow a Vinyasa style routine which is faster with more difficult poses.
Another option is to base your choice on your health condition or an injury you are recovering from.
Beginners should start with a gentle practice and when you are familiar with the poses you can try Hatha Yoga or Vinyasa. It’s best to avoid Ashtanga, Bikram, or hot yoga until you have built up some physical strength and endurance.
The Benefits Of Practicing Yoga At Home:
Choosing to practice yoga at home has many benefits. Once you get started, you won’t want to stop! You’ll feel better in yourself, physically and mentally, you’ll have more energy, and you’ll also sleep better, and be less stressed.
You will also enjoy the freedom of practicing yoga when it suits you, and at your own pace.
- Choosing to practice at home means you can choose a time that suits your schedule.
- You can decide how often to practice yoga – whether it is two, three or five times a week!
- It’s also great to have your own space where you’re not disturbed by others in class.
The Health Benefits Of Yoga:
The reason a regular yoga practice is so amazing for your health is because yoga blends movement with breathing in a way that makes your body fitter and your mind calmer.
- Keep your mind healthy and strong
- Reduce stress and anxiety and promote relaxation.
- Improved blood circulation. Yoga practice gets your blood flowing allowing more oxygen to reach your body’s cells.
- Lower blood pressure. Commonly known as hypertension. Practicing yoga asanas can help you lower blood pressure.
- Reduce depression and improved sleep.
- It improves your immune system
- Relieves pain, like back pain
- Weight loss
- Keeps your muscles, joints, and organs healthy.
- It can prevent or improve conditions like diabetes, heart disease.
- Improve flexibility, strength, stamina, mobility, range of motion, and balance.
- Improved Concentration. Practicing Yoga poses are great for developing concentration and focus.
Should I Practice Yoga On An Empty Stomach?
Yes, try not to eat 2-3 hours before yoga practice. Or eat very light. This will also help you loose weight because your body will use stored energy reserves to fuel your muscles.
