The Reluctant Yogi: One Pose or One Minute a Day Philosophy

Have you taken some yoga classes and read some yoga books, but still find yourself unable to practice on your own?

Try my one pose, or one minute a day philosophy to jump start your yoga practice and overcome your resistance.

The truth is, a daily yoga practice could last one minute or several hours. Give yourself the freedom to decide. Sometimes we may think we want to practice for only five minutes and then two hours magically fly by. If you put pressure on yourself to practice for a long time, you may never practice at all. When students or teachers tell me that they can’t practice or get started practicing on their own, I suggest they try my “one pose or one minute a day” plan. They seem so surprised when I suggest this. Give yourself a break and practice one of your favorite poses on a daily basis, or practice one minute of yoga per day. Notice where it takes you. One minute may turn into one hour before you know it. Let me know what happens! I look forward to your comments here on the blog.

This excerpt is taken from my new book, Yoga at Your Wall.

http://www.YogaAtYourWall.com

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Safety Tips for Practicing Yoga at a Wall

Squat Pose with Low Back to the Wall

By their nature, walls are hard surfaces. If you are used to practicing yoga without a wall, you may have a tendency at first to collide inadvertently with the wall when you are not expecting it. In addition to the speci􀃫c details given for each posture about how to set up at the wall, here are some other general safety measures to keep in mind:

• Move all furniture, pictures, lamps, hanging  fixtures, and objects away from the sides, back and front of you. A safe distance from objects is at least your own height with your arms   extended overhead.
• Pick a smooth, even wall surface.
• Ensure there are no nails in the wall.
• Have your yoga props nearby so you don’t have to reach for them while you are in a pose. Yoga props such as yoga blocks, a strap, a pillow, and a throw blanket, will add to your experience of the practice.
• Use caution when pressing your foot against the wall. In postures like warrior 3 and half moon 2 you do not look at the wall when positioning your foot, so if you are too close to the wall, you could bang your foot during the set up.
• Practice with a yoga sticky mat adjacent to the wall to prevent slipping and create a strong foundation in the base of the pose.
• When practicing arm balances like the handstand pose, make sure the ceiling is at least as high as your height on tippy toes with your arms extended. This is especially important if you will be practicing in your basement, or in a room with low ceilings.
• Practice with a window open so that you can breathe fresh air while you practice.

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Practicing Yoga at Your Wall

Doing Yoga at the Wall in the Sunshine

Why practice yoga at your wall?

What walls do for us: they provide structure, containment, safety, shelter, limitations, support, and de􀃫nition. As an aid in your yoga practice, a wall helps you articulate precise alignment and form in each pose, supports you when you want to relax, assists you when you want to try a new posture, and motivates you to more fully energize your body.
A wall is your teacher when there is no human teacher around to guide or adjust you in a yoga posture.

“I thought yoga at the wall would be wimpy, but it was really challenging!” said Eadaoin, one of my advanced yoga teacher trainees, after taking one of my yoga wall classes. Her comment ignited my enthusiasm to write this book.
And after experiencing the legs-up-the-wall restorative relaxation pose, Charlotte said, “I have never felt so relaxed in my whole life!”

Some accuse the wall of being a crutch; how unfair to both you and the wall! In my experience the wall feels like a trusty friend, one who always tells me the truth, whether I want to hear it or not. Until becoming friends with your wall, when you practice yoga postures you have only the floor — a horizontal reference point — to know where your body is in space.
When practicing at the wall, you have a vertical reference point for your further orientation. You can lean on it, align yourself with it, push off of it, or press into it. The wall not only assists you, it adds another degree of challenge to your practice.
When you leave the wall and go back to practicing on the floor, you have a whole new level of awareness of your alignment and a different experience of your body. You may visit the wall more often than you can imagine. Through this practice, I became “one with my wall.”

Doing yoga at your wall is logical, portable, and practical. Have you ever wanted to lie on the floor and
stretch in your hotel room while you were on a trip, but the 􀃬oor just didn’t look all that clean or appealing? It’s a perfect time to practice your wall yoga.

Or maybe you’re dressed in a suit or a dress, ready for a meeting or presentation, and feeling a little stressed. You want to do some yoga, but you know you will wrinkle clothes if you get on the floor. It’s yet another perfect opportunity to find your nearest yoga wall.
The benefits of practicing yoga vertically serve you well at home, at your office, and anywhere there is a wall to befriend.

Join me on our journey to expand the possibilities of your yoga practice with my new book, Yoga at Your Wall.

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