As many of you are aware, one of my favorite questions to the students in my class is, “have you been practicing yoga at home?”. I only get a very few “yes” nods. Most people seem to practice only when they come to the class which, with a few exceptions, is just once a week for most. Some practice occasionally at home, that too only for a short time.

The importance and need for a home-based personal yoga practice cannot be overemphasized. Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras (sutra 1.14) defines "practice" (abhyasa) as, " it (practice) becomes firmly grounded on being continued for a long time, without interruption and with reverent devotion". Here, Patanjali mentions three qualifications for "practice":

1. Long time – long time could signify this entire life-time, or longer. Because the purpose of yoga practice is to control the fluctuations of the mind (sutra 1.2), long time could even mean multiple life-times as attainment of samadhi (total absorption in the self) may not be possible in one life. We may or may not attain ‘samadhi’ in this life; however, we all stand to derive all the other benefits from a regular yoga practice.
2. Without Interruption: Here it strongly suggests fixing a regular schedule for the practice and maintaining it religiously, without interruption. So, let’s say that you decide to practice every morning for 35 minutes. Then, this schedule must be maintained without interruption. A shorter practice done on a regular basis is much more beneficial than to wait for a day when you can spend the full 1.5 hours for your practice.
3. With reverent devotion: You need to be fully committed to the practice as you appreciate the benefits that it will bring.

Once you start practicing, you will soon begin to realize the benefits and then your commitment will grow accordingly. The most common reason mentioned for not practicing is lack of time. I can easily appreciate the very busy pace of modern life (especially corporate life) which indeed does not leave much spare time. In addition to work, people have family commitments and other social obligations. So it is definitely a challenge to allocate time for yoga practice. However, as with everything else, it is primarily a matter of setting the right priorities. If you consider your physical and mental health as important, then a regular yoga practice must find its place in your top priorities.

How much time should you spend on your daily practice? Well, to get started, I suggest you dedicate twenty minutes every day for it. Spend ten minutes practicing a few rounds of Sun Salutation and about ten minutes for pranayama (breathing techniques). As mentioned above, once you establish a regular practice, you will begin to see the benefits which will motivate you to add some more time to the routine. When additional time is available, you can add other components of the practice, like some more asanas, relaxation and meditation. If you cannot find even twenty minutes in one go, you can split the asana and pranayama between morning and evening.

If you have absolutely no time that you can allocate for yoga, I suggest that you cut down your sleep by about a half hour and use that time for yoga. Because the yoga practice provides tremendous physical and mental relaxation, after a few days of practice, you will never miss your sleep. It is well known that many yogis need only 3 to 4 hours of sleep every night (I personally need only about 5.5 hours of sleep). Once again, it is primarily a matter of putting yoga higher on the priority list.

If you are dealing with specific physical or mental issues and would like recommendations accordingly, please do not hesitate to contact me as I would be happy to provide individualized guidance.

Many of you have asked me for an audio CD of the yoga session that I teach which they can use at home to build their own practice. Well, finally I do have a CD with the basic asana session (about 55 minutes). Please let me know if you would like a copy.

Do you already have a home-based practice? Please share with us your experiences from that practice – how long, what do you practice, has it changed your life in any way, etc? Please add your comments to this post.