Following on from our stories of plant and bolster rehoming, we love seeing how your at home yoga studios are continuing to develop. From converted studies and spare rooms, slices of carpet in the bedroom to outdoor spaces and persistent pets, to partners and children, we know it can be hard but we love your consistency and dedication to showing up.
We received a rather charming email from one of our students Lynn, that inspired this blog, detailing the variants of her home practice:
“I have realised when I do yoga in my bedroom there is always dust under my bed even if I cleaned it the day before. Where does all that dust come from?
Yoga outdoors – I think this is like studying outside. It seems like a good idea but then there are the ants or its too hot, the sun is in your eyes and the internet drops.”
This got us thinking and reminded us of a passage from Hatha Yoga Pradipika, an old yogic text:
“The Yogi should practice Hatha Yoga in a small room, situated in a solitary place, being 4 cubits square, and free from stones, fire, water, disturbances of all kinds, and in a country where justice is properly administered, where good people live, and food can be obtained easily and plentifully.”
Now of course, not all of this is possible (and times have changed a little bit since the 15th C since it was written) but it did inspire us to reach out to some more of our students for their yoga at home stories.
Amber Druce shared her colourful space with us:
“The thing I love about yoga in lockdown is the ritual of making time for myself and making a little nest. I’m all about the yin so I’ve got a mat, a bolster, a cushion, a lavender eye pillow, blankets, palo santo, sage, candles, headphones, dreamy playlists, herbal tea, and essential oils in my toolkit!
On Sunday mornings I do a class in the living room where it’s sunny, and in the evening I have the lights down low in the bedroom.
I’d love to practice in the garden too but I don’t trust the wi-fi!
I’m in quite a small flat but there’s always enough room for a yoga mat. Just about….! There’s something really special about rolling out the mat and creating a bit of magic for an hour or so, especially with my regular yoga teachers.”
Nate, another familiar face at the studio, really wanted to create something special at home that provide a little piece of escapism:
“Prior to the current situation I’ve always struggled to find a place for a home practice. It would appear that the Victorian’s; when they built their terraced houses, did not have home yoga on the top of their list. The lounge/dining room could’ve been set up for a mat to be intermittently thrown down, but I wanted to try and create somewhere that I could close the door and feel at least a touch of the sense of calm, connection and belonging that Wild Wolfs offers (albeit with only ‘virtual’ Jess hugs). So the bed was repositioned, the TV connected to a laptop, and a few candles and my little statue of Buddha from travelling through Cambodia, set up. Along with my loaned bolster, an eye pillow and a couple of sturdy hardback books to use as blocks. I was all set! That was 6 weeks and around a 1000 online yoga sessions ago, and it’s become a little haven of presence in a very difficult storm.
Helena’s space:
In my flat where I teach from, we’re blessed with beautiful natural light (thank you Georgian windows) but we often joke about the yin and the yang of our living room. The side you see looking yin and peaceful and really behind the camera a whole lot of mess and chaos and furniture crammed into one space. I’ve dipped in and out over the years of having a consistent home practice and lockdown has really pushed me to more consistency – something some of our students have noticed too, such as Lizzie who wrote:
“I wasn’t really practicing at home before all this – maybe once a week, if I’d been running or cycling, or my lower back needed it. Since lockdown however, the mat has genuinely been in use everyday. I’m not gonna start with Instayoga posting, because I practice in old sweats and jumpers, and am still not massively more flexible (or photogenic!) than I was before I started, but I am definitely stronger, calmer and less stressed, even now.”
Please do keep sending us your home yoga stories as we love to hear from you, and our hearts are glittering with the possibility of seeing you all in the studio again in the not too distant future.
Helena xx