I asked a friend and music teacher for advice on how to better support my kids with their daily piano practice.

She gave me the best advice which also applies to yoga practice.

Their practice had turned into a chore. They dreaded it as the time approached, struggled all the way through and it usually ended in a tantrum.

Alarm bells were ringing.

I did a private with a student at the studio yesterday. She wanted a sequence she could do at home so that when she couldn’t make it to class she could at least do something so she wasn’t going backward.

Sound like a smart woman right?

Here is what she said “play more than you practice”

A practice is goal-oriented. The musician analogy is working well so let’s stick with it. When a musician practices, they are trying to hone their skills and perfect technique. The practice is driven from the head, the brain the intellect.

You do not have to go this alone.

The yoga journey of a practitioner can be very lonely at times, yes we have to endeavor in svadhyaya self-study but nowhere does it say you have to do this alone in isolation.

Before we even get on the mat our thoughts are often something like…

‘I have to practice’,

‘I am so stiff and should practice my yoga’ or

‘If I don’t practice I’ll never improve’

A repetitive practice can lose our interest like the latest app on the market. Before you know it you are looking for another app to replace the last, yet coming up with new sequences daily is not as easy as downloading a new app.

We find it hard to get on the mat because we are so used to a teacher telling us what to do we are not empowered to take it into our own hands.

Furthermore, we think a home practice needs to have the variety, length, and depth of a class and fall into a pit of despair and feelings of inadequacy.

As a building that is being built needs scaffolding, a yoga practice that is being established needs a plan.

But what kind of plan?

There are many things we can plan for our practice, like what we are going to do, how we are going to do it, who, when, where etc.

Yep, I said it… ‘Assessment’ is getting a bad wrap.

People are finding it so stressful and overwhelming and not enjoying the experience that ti’s giving ‘assessment’ a bad name.

That’s a big mouthful and there is a lot to be said on all of these challenges in our home practice, but I know you are time poor and want some tips you can implement immediately into your practice to grow it.

In this video I share with you some strategies I do to make my assessment journey less stressful and more enjoyable.

What distracts you when you are practicing?

Is it your pets, your kids, your phone, your mind?

The big take away for today is…

It is what you do before you get on the mat that is going to help keep you focused in your practice.

I want to share with you 4 things about sequencing that will make a difference to your home practice

I want to tell you not just how to create a sequence but a sequence you actually want to follow, that you can’t wait to do, that makes you sweat and has an impact on the rest of your day.

Let's start at the very beginning (i hope you just sang that as Julie Andrews does in Sound of Music)

I want to share with you my 4 Essential Tips for travel/holidays & yoga so that you can practice everyday too while your are on holidays.

We all know that teaching yoga and making a full time income from teaching is near impossible and we have to supplement the teaching with another job or business or otherwise we are teaching 20  classes a week and and thats just not sustainable.

In this video I will share with you some sustainable ways to balance it all.

I want to share with you the most common challenges this community comes up against with their home practice and some tips and ideas to overcome these challenges.

There are many challenges to maintaining a daily yoga practice and I have organised these hurdles into 3 categories.

Attending yoga classes feeds our home practice. Here are my top 3 tips for what to do after a yoga class so that you can keep on learning beyond the class.

There are some poses we know very well and we say for example’ ‘i know trikonasana’ and every time we practice it we do it the same way, with the same actions and we just practice it to practice it rather than I learn something new.

I challenge you to approach your ‘regular’ asana from a different angle, do them a different way, with a different focus and see what you might learn about yourself, your habit and tendencies in your practice and perhaps also in your life.

Watch this video for example on how to approach your practice.

I don’t often give myself a long, deep, soothing savasana and I sure as hell deserve it.

This month I am making an extra effort to nurture my practice, to practice things I love and to love my practice and enjoy it.

And I want to share with you some audio recording of long deep savasanas that will restore your energy and have you coming back for more.