Practicing Yoga at Home: What Are the Benefits?

It’s a universal challenge—finding the time to fit everything you want to do in a day.

While you may be all stoked about the idea of incorporating yoga into your day-to-day life, you might not be able to afford the commute to and from your yoga class.

So, what do you do?

Start a yoga practice at home!

Contrary to popular belief, the benefits you reap from practicing yoga at home is no different from the ones you get when you attend a yoga class.

While it is advisable to attend a yoga class if you’re a first timer (so you will learn how to execute the poses properly and safety), it is perfectly okay to continue doing the sessions at home especially if you are constantly pressed for time.

Below are some of the upsides of practicing yoga at home:

You can dictate your own pace.

While most yoga studios are judgment-free zones, there will be times when you can’t help but look around and compare yourself to how the other students are doing.

If this is you, it’s easy to get intimidated especially if you can’t execute challenging new poses right away.

There will also be times when you’d shy away from attempting a pose when others are watching.

Fortunately, when you do yoga in the comfort of your own home, it’s easy to be free, be yourself, and work with a pace you are comfortable with.

You can choose when to do your sessions.

When you practice yoga at home, you get to enjoy the flexibility of being able to choose the time that will work best for you.

In other words, you can fit your practice without compromising your lifestyle and your family or work commitments.

For instance, if your day is packed, you have the option to wake up a little earlier so you can fit in your yoga session.

Fortunately, the benefits you get from yoga will outweight the little sacrifice of waking up early.

You can wear whatever you like.

While wearing lightweight and comfortable yoga tops and leggings is often recommended, when you do your sessions at home, you can literally just step out of your bed and into your mat.

In other words, you can do your practice even when in your PJs if that is what you prefer and you won’t feel all conscious about it.

You will have nobody to compare with.

In yoga classes (just like in real life), there is always that tendency to compare yourself with others.

This can be intimidating, not to mention, draining.

However, when you practice at home, you have no one to impress and nobody to use as a yogic benchmark.

As a result, you will be able to focus more, tune in inwards, and gain a deeper experience and appreciation of the practice.

It will help you develop deeper self-awareness.

Since doing yoga at home can help you focus on your practice more, you will also attain a deeper sense of self-awareness in the process.

That means you will become more conscious of how you move and you will be able to keenly observe how you hold tension in your body.

You will also become more aware of how you are breathing and what is going on in your mind.

The deeper sense of self-awareness will not only benefit your practice but your life in general as well.

You can tailor your practice to suit your personal needs.

Since your home practice will be totally up to you, you can also decide on the areas you want to focus and work on.

Are you aiming to achieve more upper body strength?

Do you want to focus on your core?

Do you want to do more stretches and open up specific areas?

Whatever your goal/s may be, you get to choose what you want to focus on.

You can also decide on the poses you want to execute, depending on the goals you have in mind.

You can focus more on you.

Even if yoga is a deeply personal experience, you get to connect and share the experience with others when you are in a yoga class.

Not that it’s a bad thing but with home practice, you get to direct the energy toward you entirely.

While this may seem selfless, nothing can be farther from the truth.

On the contrary, it’s a smart thing to do especially if you are leading a really busy life.

Once you become more balanced and relaxed, the people you interact with and those closest to you (loved ones, significant other, and close friends) will also benefit from your practice.

Wrap Up

There’s no denying practicing yoga at home can come with enticing benefits that are hard to resist.

However, if you are a beginner, it is recommended that you join a yoga class so you will have a robust foundation before you start your own practice at home.