Creating a Home Yoga Space
Home is where the heart is….and office, and bar, and gym, and so much more nowadays. Needing to stay home and limit human contact will put a strain on anyone. It is more important than ever that we take time to ourselves and work to find peace and sanctuary in our homes. I encourage you to make a designate space for your yoga and mindfulness practices. This spot in your home will act as a place of rejuvenation, reflection and revitalization. You may even find you keep it long after the pandemic is over. Here are my tips and tricks for setting up a space just for you.
Designate the space. I know most of us don’t have the square footage to make an entire studio in our house but I do encourage that you try to make your yoga space “permanent.” What I mean by that is just that you don’t have to move furniture and unroll your mat every time you want to practice. Find somewhere out of the way that will allow you to keep your space set up constantly. This also helps with the motivation factor that comes with working out at home. If your space is constantly there for you, there is one less reason for you to give to not jump on the mat.
Limit your distractions as much as possible. If you can spare an entire room, amazing. This will allow you to close the doors (to shut the kiddies and pets out) and block out some of the noise that comes with your home functioning as a day care, office, school, and restaurant. If you can, clear your area of all non-yoga stuff and set your mat up facing a wall or window. Basically just avoiding staring at your desk, kitchen table, TV, etc. The goal is to try and make your space as yoga studio-esque as possible. So if you’re looking at something that you don’t think you would normally see in a studio, maybe rethink your placement.
Bring in the light. A space with lots of natural light is ideal. Yogis used to worship the sun (hence our sun salutations) so being bathed in natural light during your practice is much preferred. If you’re practicing in the evening or don’t have an abundance of windows, I suggest either busting out the Christmas tree lights or setting up lots of candles. One is obviously less of a fire hazard than the other, but both will offer a warm dim light as opposed to our traditional bluer lights that we have in our homes.
Have props at the ready. Most of us probably don’t have yoga blocks, bolsters and yoga blankets at our homes. Of course we can break out the Visa and solve that problem, but there are also easy common household replacements. Books=blocks. We all know roughly how tall a yoga block is, so find a book about that size and keep it next to your mat. Place a rubber band or two around it to keep it from opening when you move it. Bolsters are essentially just pillows. I speak from personal experience that most people probably have more throw pillows than they know what to do with. Grab a few plush ones of varying sizes to add to your space. And as far as blankets go, I don’t think I need to really explain the replacements. A yoga blanket is a blanket you use during yoga, there’s nothing else special about it other than it might get some dried sweat on it so maybe not your great-grandmother’s antique quilt.
Call in IT. Virtual classes are here to stay. Most studios and teachers are offering classes either on demand or on a live streaming platform. Have a designated place for your laptop or other viewing device that won’t be in the way of your flow but still give you visibility to the teacher on screen. No one wants to step on their MacBook when flipping over into wild thing so make sure it is up and out of the way. Most virtual classes don’t have music for copyright reasons. Have your phone nearby to turn on a Spotify station that will help set the mood and carry you through your flow. Bonus tip: turn your phone on airplane mode or do not disturb while you are practice it eliminate it going off during your practice or pausing your music.
You don’t need a studio to do yoga. You can create space for yourself anywhere you are in life. In a time where there are a lot of unknowns and questions left unanswered, we need to show up for ourselves and bring that bliss we so often associate with our yoga studios home.
