Conscious Choice: Improve Your Yoga Practice

June 2002 | Body & Mind Health

Improve Your Yoga Practice

by Darlene Paris

Having trouble maintaining a daily yoga practice? You’re not alone. When I enrolled in my first hatha yoga class a year ago, I vowed that I would attend class every week and practice the asanas, or yoga postures, that I learned in class at home. To help achieve this goal, I enlisted the support of a coworker who has been taking yoga classes for eight years. Pat’s job was to ask me about the details of my Thursday night class, and, in turn, share her experiences in the yoga class she attends on the same night. I thought that if I knew I had to report to Pat, I would not only go to class, but, like my beloved coworker, I would also follow up with some pretty substantial yoga sessions at home.

My strategy worked for a while. Before the morning school bell rang, Pat and I, both elementary school teachers, would exchange stories about the asanas we learned in class and report on yoga events being held in and around the city. Our conversations usually ended with one of us expressing how grateful we were for yoga and its ability to relieve stress, improve our health, and keep us grounded in the classroom. But as the demands of teaching increased, my ability to maintain a daily yoga practice declined. I eventually dropped my yoga class and took another route to my classroom on Friday to avoid having my usual morning yoga chat with Pat.

I regretted that I dropped my yoga class. I missed the quiet calm of the yoga studio; the sweet holy temple smell of Nag Champa incense: the breathing exercises, pranayama, that filled my lungs with fresh air; the stretching that unlocked hidden tensions in my body; and the soothing voice and touch of my yoga instructor as she gently coaxed me and the other students in my class to relax. I also missed sharing yoga stories with Pat.

I knew that I needed to find a way to incorporate hatha yoga in my life — my sanity and health depended upon it. So I consulted longtime yogis in the Chicago area for advice on maintaining a consistent yoga practice.

Yoga — A Way of Life

One of the first things I learned about this ancient practice is that yoga isn’t just doing asanas or practicing deep breathing. Yoga, which comes from the Sanskrit word Yuj meaning "to yoke or join together," is a way of life. Yoga originated in India some five thousand years ago, and consists of eight limbs — Asana and Pranayama are just two of its eight tenets. Other aspects of yoga include truthfulness, nonviolence, self- discipline, and meditation. The principles lead to one goal, "uniting with the divine," says Gabriel Halpern, founder and director of Chicago’s Yoga Circle studio.

Since I wasn’t quite ready to discuss the other limbs of yoga, I focused on the goal of getting some practical advice for doing hatha yoga on a regular basis. After talking with the experts I came up with a list of helpful suggestions. Hang this list near the area where you practice.

1. Make a commitment. Halpern says that you should think of yoga in the same way you would think of any other worthy activity you fit into your daily schedule, such as working out at the health club, playing golf, or even working at a job. "You know that a certain amount of time needs to be set aside for these activities," says Halpern, who has been practicing yoga for thirty-two years. "During your home practice, clearly communicate that you are taking time to practice. Turn off the television. Take the telephone off the hook. Free yourself from any distractions," he says.

2. Establish a routine. Decide upon a time and place in which you’ll practice yoga and stick with it. When you establish a routine, you create a pattern, says Chandra Shekara, director of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center in Chicago, one of the first yoga centers in the Chicagoland area. "If you practice at the same time of day and in the same place your practice will become so much a part of your daily life that you’ll feel strange if you don’t do it," says Shekara who has practiced yoga for eighteen years.

3. Take a yoga class. If you’ve been doing yoga at home, enrolling in a class or two may help you stay committed to a consistent yoga schedule. "There are plenty of yoga teachers in the Chicagoland area," says Becky Love, a yoga instructor who took her first yoga class at age forty-nine, became certified to teach yoga to teachers in training, and is still teaching classes some thirty-six years later. "Experiment and try different teachers." Love, who currently teaches at New City YMCA and elsewhere in and around Chicago, adds, "Reach out in all directions."

4. Create a yoga library. Reading about yoga also inspires some folks to stay true to their yoga practice. After I stopped feeling guilty about dropping my yoga class, I reunited with my coworker Pat Hamilton. I found out that Pat not only takes classes four times a week, but she keeps her passion for yoga burning through books she reads on the subject.

Among the many books in her private collection is The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Yoga by Joan Budilovsky and Eve Adamson. This book simplifies and demystifies yoga practice. "For the beginner, this book lays a firm foundation to build a practice, and for those who have been practicing yoga for a while, but have missed establishing a foundation, it enables them to get grounded," says Budilovsky, an international yoga instructor and resident of the western suburbs.

Investing in a few yoga videos can also help to boost your yoga practice. One of Pat’s favorites is Rodney Yee’s A.M. Yoga, a twenty-minute yoga routine for the beginning yogi that consists of gentle yoga poses, stretches, and guided meditation.

According to Halpern, books and videos are great, but "The downside of reading a book or watching a video is that you can’t get feedback from a teacher."

Halpern believes that the experience the student gets from attending a yoga class is invaluable to his or her yoga practice. "A live teacher can extend the student’s capacity to stay in a pose or monitor a student with injuries as they execute asanas," he explains. "Teachers are important because they serve as role models. They demonstrate with considerable amount of skill different yoga postures and serve as an embodiment of yoga philosophy."

"Practicing yoga in a group coupled with the experience of working with a teacher will give you the jolt you need to fuel your individual practice," Halpern says. "The class itself will empower you to do the discipline on a consistent basis and to do it alone."

Darlene E. Paris is a freelance writer, teacher, Reiki Master, and the author of Healthy and Natural Living in Chicago: The Best Alternative Resources in the City and Suburbs (Chicago Review Press, 1998).

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