Sometimes I need to kickstart a sluggish practice. Like today – I didn’t have a lot of time to practice, so I did what I know always works. I put on some of my favorite yoga music (I have it set as a playlist), and just danced my way through some of my favorite yoga poses.
I really rely on a couple key things to get me in yoga mode – and music is one of them. Some of my favorites are: Krishna Das, Wah!, Deva Premal, music compilations by Shiva Rea, and world music that isn’t yoga specific.
Now that it isn’t so hot outside (and it gets dark quickly), the other thing that can really make my practice meaningful is to light a candle before practice. Not only is it visually stimulating, but can also smell great (if you have an essential oil candle or diffuser). Scents matter – in the summer when I don’t want to light a candle I spray a natural air freshener with essential oils – I like stimulating lemon! Today I used soothing lavender essential oil in my diffuser. Candle lighting is a time-tested ritual for creating a meaningful moment. Almost always I’ll light a candle for someone – often some of my students. Today when I lit a candle, it was for a friend travelling into town and staying with me later tonight.
How do you make your practice meaningful? I encourage you to think outside of the box of your yoga mat to find a way to make some moments today that you’ll remember.
Namaste,
Barrett
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This is funny because I was just talking with a friend about the home practice issue and how this helped me–There is a CD that you told me to get (I forgot the name of it). Yoga for joy? Anyway, it makes me able to focus much more quickly. Because you played this music in your class for a long time, I seem to have this associative thing, where the music reminds me of being in class and therefore gets me into a mental framework that makes me able to practice on my own.
The main problem with home practice is calming down the mind, for me. I had a pretty amazing experience playing that music in Mexico and doing the yoga overlooking the sea while the sun went down–until the mosquitoes came out…
yes, it’s not easy to calm down and tune in. sometimes it takes awhile to create a space in your home that is conducive to yoga. music is one way to do that, so I’m glad you’ve found that to be helpful. maybe we should continue to blog more about how to set up space so that you can focus on yoga. 🙂