Archive for June, 2011

Hi friends,

Sometimes it’s tough to fit a visit to the yoga studio into your schedule. When you’re pressed for time, try one of these ways to build your at-home practice.

Let us know what you think, and be well.

xoxo,

Sukey

Even if yoga is your life, sometimes life gets in the way of taking a class at a studio. When you aren’t able to travel to a yoga class, open up your home and practice to a multimedia class. Practicing with others – even if they are on the other side of a flat screen – keeps you motivated and committed to your routine.

There are some great yoga sequences on DVDs led by master teachers like Shiva Rea and Rodney Yee that you can add to your repertoire. Choose a DVD that offers more than one class so you won’t tire of the same routine but will have familiarity with the teacher’s style of teaching and vocabulary.

A free yoga podcast is another great option. We like Yoga Download, which offers 20 minute audio and video classes by donation and longer classes for a very small fee. Yoga to the People also offers free hour-long recordings of its studio classes.

For quality yoga videos that you can stream online, try Hulu’s Yoga Zone channel and YogaJournal.com.  We also really like Yoga Today; there is a nominal fee but the classes are worth it. They offer a new free class each week, which you can even stream to your iPhone or iPad.

If you travel frequently, consider one of the many quality yoga apps out there. Yoga Journal offers the iPractice app for your iPhone or iPad, which gives you unique and portable classes that you can take with you wherever you go. We also love Pocket Yoga, a cute cartoon yoga app that makes yoga-on-the-go a little more fun. These are great options for those yogis whose home-away-from-home is a hotel.

Don’t let your schedule get in the way of deepening your practice. Find a second yoga community in the comfort of your own home as you learn from master teachers and re-connect with the teacher in you.

The Well Wisdom: Remember that nothing can replace the knowledgeable feedback and guidance of a yoga instructor who can offer modifications and adjustments during a class. When you practice at home, you should be aware of your body and your limitations.

For more tips on living well, visit The Well Daily, a website and free daily email for all things yoga, meditation, nutrition and wellness. They have the simple mission to be well, do well, live well—for yourself and others. The site’s creators, Sukey Novogratz and Jackie MacLeod, know they are not alone in their quest to breathe more deeply, operate more energetically, live more mindfully and age more gracefully. They pass along the ideas that they love, whether they’re the latest or the most ancient–ideas that open the heart, nurture the body and expand the mind.

You can join their circle of friends, yogis, gurus, beginners, experts, sages, vegans, vegetarians, conscious carnivores and everyday people seeking more health and more joy, by following them on Twitter and Facebook and subscribing to The Well Daily.