Yoga Journey #7

My evolving home practice.

I’m fortunate that I have a space where I can practice undisturbed (almost) if I get up early enough. In the basement I have a room that can be classified as multi-purpose. It’s a third full of storage, a playroom with toys for my granddaughter, and has a TV to watch early Saturday morning English Premiere League football.

Normally I would practice at the shala on weekdays and in the basement on Saturdays.

There is enough space to place a mat and is ok for a once a week practice. The basement floor is cement with stick tiles over the cement. It has a heater which I turn on about an hour before starting practice. The floor however is hard and stone cold. This was ok for once a week practice but its not the kind of vibe I’m looking for every day – who knows how long daily basement practice will last.

How do I make this a more comfortable inviting learning experience.

For the once a week practice I had oriented my mat towards the TV which happens to be an easterly direction. Now I have turned my mat 90 degrees to face south. I now have a window to look out during standing postures. This is great as I planted some bamboo out there a few years back and it’s kinda calming to look at as the sun comes up.

Some of the seated postures force some parts of my body to come off the mat. This would put me in contact with the stone cold hard cement floor. So one day I put two mats down and I would scootch over during certain postures. The first time I did this I felt a presence as if I was not alone – it was a good vibe – you’re probably thinking what a wacko – sometimes I wonder too.

Recently I purchased a new mat with more grip which I happen to really like. So now I place my mat with an extra mat on each side and one across the top – no I don’t have three presence’s joining me now. This plus some other stuff has warmed up the feel and vibe of practice.

Practicing at my old shala provided a vibe about peace, love, and community. How do I recreate this in my basement? I’m thinking peace is all that I can attempt to recreate. As the world and circumstances in my life have made a peaceful practice almost impossible. I have lost that moving meditation that I almost always enjoyed. How do I get it back?

My routine has never included a sitting practice. One where meditation is the sole goal. I’ve never attempted it or even thought it was necessary for me. My asana practice provided that for me but that has gone away and I’m trying to figure out how to get it back. Maybe trying to get it back is part of the problem? So I contacted my teacher as I know she practices a sitting meditation and I figured I could start to meditate before practice and see where that goes.

She gave me some tips on how to start and off I went. Where this takes me I’m not sure but I’ll keep at it. But something happened while getting set up to meditate; comfortable seating blanket, dark room, correct posture reminded me I have not done pranayama in a long time. So after trying to meditate I decided to go straight into pranayama.

When I was first taught pranayama I was still in the relatively early stages of learning asana practice. In other words peace in practice was not a common result. I would do my pranayama practice at the end of asana practice which at the time made sense to me because pranayama brought a sense of a warm down or a relaxing way to finish off. I practiced for over a year like that. And then I sort of let pranayama slowly drop off my normal routine. Time pressures were mostly the reason for this and benefits of pranayama are more subtle and harder to notice.

While I was in California studying with a wise and knowledgeable practitioner and teacher of Ashtanga. I attended his pranayama class which was different and more difficult than what I was use to. I asked him if pranayama should be practiced before or after asana practice. He said either way was ok but he preferred to do it before asana practice. I’m paraphrasing here but he basically said that pranayama before practice set him up for asana practice.

Now in my basement I start off with my attempt at meditation , then into pranayama, and then asana practice. My meditation is a work in progress but I have an established pranayama practice that I’m glad I have restarted because it’s laying down a foundation of a much more considered asana practice. In other words my breathing is slowed, deeper, and some sort of peace is returning. I am arriving at a calmer starting point for asana practice.

I obviously would love to have my teacher present in practice with all the benefits that provides but as we all muddle through during this time; I am trying to make my basement a more comfortable place to practice. One where I’m still learning, progressing, and promotes the type of vibe where that is possible.

It’s also a work in progress.

Before you know it I’ll be getting out the tools and paint brush……