4 Tips for Setting Up Your Yoga Space at Home
Before the pandemic, practicing online yoga was not an option for me. I had a hierarchy of values where I believed in-person yoga classes were better than online yoga classes. I wouldn’t touch online yoga classes with a ten-foot pole, or however that saying goes. While I was curious when I heard others share that they were enjoying their online yoga asana practice through apps, it did not occur to me to try it out for myself.
What I have learned is that in-person and online yoga asana classes have their purposes. You may have a personal preference that works better for you. For me, I realized that I am all about accessibility in yoga and that online yoga classes (asana, meditation, pranayama) are amazing offerings when it comes to accessibility.
I started to change my tune about online yoga classes due to the multiple lockdowns from 2020 to presently that I lived under. In fact, we just came out of a recent lockdown at the start of this year in 2022 that impacted in-person fitness classes where yoga asana classes were closed to the public.
As a student, I couldn’t rely on having regular access to in-person movement classes anymore, if every few months, classes would be shut down. I relied on my personal yoga asana practice, but I missed being guided by a teacher. I practiced with teachers on IG Live (remember when IG was pushing that on all of us?), signed up for live Zoom classes offered by individual teachers, by apparel companies, and by community platforms. I had to try and experiment to find the right online yoga teacher for me.
It wasn’t until I started to practice with my vinyasa teacher that I studied with for my 200 hours training that everything clicked. I felt like I was practicing in the same room with her. I had the experience of an online yoga class that was just as powerful as an in-person one.
But with even more choice and convenience. I could practice anytime of the day, at my place or outside. I could choose to do a 30 minute flow or a 1 hour flow.
Representation and diversity of what yoga is being practiced and who gets to be seen as a facilitator of yogic practices is what makes online yoga accessible.
However, one of the drawbacks is creating a yoga space at home.
It’s not accessible if we live in a small space.
At the beginning of the pandemic, my partner, my cat, and I were living in a studio apartment that was new, but small. It was good enough for us when we both worked outside home, but with the pandemic, I was working on our bed or the kitchen table, while my partner was confined to his work desk in our living room/kitchen.
If I didn’t go out to a yoga studio or to the common area, this would be my yoga set-up, most weekday evenings:
Hatha Yoga Pradipika 1.13 shares a description of an ideal yoga hermitage:
The room of sadhana should have a small door, without aperture (window), holes or cracks, being neither too high nor too low. It should be spotlessly clean, wiped with cow manure and free from animals or insects. Outside, there should be an open platform with a thatched roof, a well and a surrounding wall (fence). The appearance of the hermitage should be pleasant.
Yogic learnings are traditionally passed down orally from teacher to pupil. I have learned from my teacher that memorization is highly important, and if a pupil was expected to memorize or, at the least, to know these slokas (verses) very well and clearly, it just goes to show how important it is to have a proper space to practice yoga.
When I was living in a small apartment, I made do.
I want you to have more than that, even if you are limited by size.
I realized that there is so much that you can do to create a space of sacred energy, and that these things that you can do are not based on how big your space are.
Here are 4 main ways that you can create a yoga space at home:
Tip 1: Make Room But Avoid Playing Yoga Tetris
You may not have a lot of room at home for a dedicated yoga space. That’s ok. Even if there is one area in your home that has a relatively open space, you can practice your yoga asana.
The key is to have a space that you can construct and tear down within minutes, so that it’s not a big process each time. A living room, a second room, or a balcony may be good options.
A relatively open space with minimal hangings on the wall, furniture that you can push away from you. This should be a space free of objects that you would be hurt, physically and emotionally, if you were to fall or stumble against it. Things like a floor plant, or an expensive piece of home technology.
In my small apartment, I had a small space in my living room where I could flow on my mat. I could easily lift my leg all the way up towards the ceiling, out to the side. I could transition into wheel, fallen triangle, side plank, dolphin and donkey kick-backs without being worried that I may come into contact with something.
For my personal safety, I made sure not to practice any poses that I knew were challenging for my body. I easily flail and become unstable in any handstand, headstand flow, so I would not practice these in my living room. If I did, I often spent more time in preparation with my yoga wheel, blocks, and wall so that when I did practice, I felt stronger that if I were to fall out of my inversion, I had the strength to fall without injuring myself. Please note the video is shared for entertainment purposes. I would not recommend that you practice yoga asana in a tight space, especially poses that involve flipping over or balancing.
Tip 2: Adorn with Intention
If you have to roll up your yoga mat and put away your props after your practice, you can still imbue a sense of calm and peace to your space through intentional adornment. This can be clearing your space by removing objects that no longer hold value to you anymore, and adorning it with key pieces that connect you to your spirit. This can be using beautiful scarves as wall decorations, displaying incense, crystals that you have a connection with, or displaying handwritten notes of affirmation.
It can be anything. Think of objects that are unobtrusive, that if, goddess forbid, you were to land on, they (and you) would be able to handle the impact. If they are precious to you but they are fragile, consider putting them somewhere close by but not so near that they could be accidentally damaged.
In my small apartment, my space erred on the minimalistic side. The idea of having a rug or a coffee table for our living room space was often floated, but it would have made the process of practicing yoga much more cumbersome. We had beautiful, modern wood floors and I would simply unroll my yoga mat over it. We were blessed with an amazing floor-to-ceiling view of the city skyline, and I would practice with the sun and the moon. I had no other decorations, however I did purify and cleanse. More on this below.
Tip 3: Purify and Cleanse Before and After Yoga Practice
I highly recommend cleansing your space before and after your yoga practice. Lighting incense or candles, and using mist sprays in your space can clear stagnant energy so that you can focus.
In my personal home yoga asana practice, I will light incense to cleanse my yoga space, and then spritz my torso and face with a cooling mist created by my shamanic teacher, to cleanse my body. After I do that, I will then light a scented candle. Scent is one way that I keep myself focused in my home practice - it can be easy to get distracted, but I find when I am smelling something that relaxes me and creates happy feelings when I smell it, I am less restless and do not have the desire to move away from my mat. I generally follow all three steps if I know I am distracted or tired, such as when I am practicing yoga asana first thing in the morning, or if I am feeling worked up.
I know that this may be a lot and is not for everybody, especially if you have sensitivities to smell. If this is you, I would suggest mists or diffusers. I used to own a diffuser but I found they did not work for me in the long run. I was distracted by the soft sound they emitted, and their gentle smell was too subtle for my taste. However, if that all sounds great to you, a diffuser may be the right option for you to clear energy.
Tip 4: Accept Distractions and Ask for Support
No matter how perfect your yoga space is, you will still be practicing at home. And unless you live by yourself in a big apartment in a private neighbourhood, chances are that there will be distractions.
My yoga room is currently above the entrance to our apartment building. I am with every delivery person as they punch in the access code, immersed in the monotonous cacophony of the eternal dial-tone, the mundane soundtrack as we wait for the inevitable harsh buzz as they’re let inside…
At first, I would get so frustrated, particularly when I would be filming a yoga class for YouTube. I would get so frustrated, particularly on late nights when I would film, knowing that every extra minute I was in the asana, was another minute I had to stay up to edit the class.
Eventually, I learned to accept the distraction, because there was nothing that my anger could do for me to change the situation for the better. I could not banish all the delivery people. I could not control who is let in to the building.
Eventually, I learned to not even be aware that there was a distraction.
This is another super power of committing to an online yoga practice.
Distractions are a lesson for you to stay focused on your yourself. This is a practical application of how you take your yoga asana off the mat - how do you react when your peace is disrupted? How do you stay centred?
If you notice that there are certain times when you find there are more distractions than usual, practice when there are less distractions - that is the beauty of having recorded classes! I would avoid filming late at night and if I had to film into the evening, I would make sure I gave myself enough time to edit and publish the video.
If you live with your partner, your family, or your roommates, communicate with them about the importance of having quiet for 30 minutes to an hour. This is a reasonable request and they could also join you in your yoga practice!
I hope this helps you when you are setting up a yoga space just for yourself. If you’re interested to practice with me, you can join my Patreon for live yoga asana classes, yoga workshops, and more!
Written By: Irene Lo