By Bess Hochstein
When her alarm goes off at 6 a.m., Kathy Sprague heads to her yoga space where she lights a few candles and briefly massages herself with scented oil. Then she kneels, lowers her forehead to the mat, and places her arms alongside her legs. This position – child’s pose, or balasana – is her first yoga pose of the day, every day. From there she may move into sun salutations, work on standing balance poses or practice inversions. Sometimes she stays in balasana, consciously breathing, for her entire twenty-minute practice. Each morning she follows what her mind and body ask of her, always remaining present in the moment.
Most people leave a yoga class feeling much better than when they arrived. But many find it difficult to build a practice of their own. Some miss the energy of the class, the instruction, or the hands-on adjustments. Nevertheless, many yoga styles are predicated on the discipline of a daily practice.
A yoga teacher for thirty-five years and Mind/Body Coordinator for Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires, Sprague encourages her students and her staff to build a home practice. But she does not expect them to replicate a full class at home. “I don’t feel you need to be doing an hour of yoga everyday. That’s unrealistic for working people – I suggest a class once or twice a week, an hour or two of practice on days off, and start with ten minutes of yoga every morning.”
To help others build their own yoga practice, Sprague presents discipline in a positive light. “Discipline is a commitment to taking care of yourself,” she explains. “If they say they have no time, I ask ‘Could you get up ten minutes earlier?’ and then I suggest they sit on their mats for three minutes of slow breathing. Just go there and be present.” Noting that it takes twenty-one days to form a habit, she suggests committing to a five-minute practice for a month. When the habit is formed, she asks them to add another minute each month. In a year, they will have established a fifteen-minute practice.
Uma MacNeill also advocates a self-directed morning practice. Having studied with many advanced teachers, she describes her style as “breath-centered, individualized yoga.” MacNeill’s style is primarily influenced by Desikachar and his father, Krishnamacharya, the guru of prominent yoga masters Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and B.K.S. Iyengar.
Founder of the Berkshire Breathing Project in South Egremont, Massachusetts, MacNeill emphasizes that yoga was originally taught individually. As a teacher, she seeks to enable her students “to begin to embody their yoga practice themselves. Krishnamacharya tells us the yoga should fit the individual; the individual should not fit the yoga.”
MacNeill explains that students often create obstacles to developing their practice: “They don’t have the time, they don’t have that sacred space, they can’t remember the sequence. I try to take all of that out of the equation.” She expects students to take home ideas from her classes and practice daily, but she does not dictate what students should incorporate. “You can’t set a time on it or a number of postures. Then it starts to be out of reach.”
Through her classes, MacNeill aims to give her students “some tools to pull out on [their]mat[s]for five or ten minutes.” In her Swadhyaya – self-study – classes, she provides notebooks for students to sketch sequences and to record their home practice. She claims the effects of regular practice are evident. “I can tell if they’re practicing at home.”
It may seem easier for those who practice a set sequence of yoga postures to develop a home practice, but the same mental obstacles arise. Despite the demands of running the Ashtanga Yoga Center in Encinitas, California, leading workshops worldwide, and tending his family, Tim Miller maintains his daily ashtanga practice. “For me what works is having a certain time during the day that is dedicated to practice,” he explains, echoing Sprague. “It’s not something that I question whether I do or not. I just do it.”
Miller notes the pitfall of waiting for the right time to develop a practice. “It’s not about creating the discipline to practice. You can’t cultivate discipline without practicing; the practice is what cultivates discipline. People get that a little backwards sometimes. Doing the practice creates discipline for life; there is a strong relationship between self-discipline and self-esteem. The key is just practice.”
Miller notes that new students frequently ask him how often they should take classes. “I tell them if they really want to see some progress they should come at least three days a week initially – and I encourage them to practice at home. Do at least a little bit every day, even just twenty minutes or half an hour, at the same time [of day], and in the same space.”
For those without access to classes, Miller recommends books and videos by senior teachers such as David Swenson or Richard Freeman. “Put the video in the machine and practice with it. That can be extremely helpful.” He also recommends practicing with a friend. “Find a practice partner. When there is someone to practice with there is more motivation and support. You tend to practice more diligently.”
Internationally renowned ashtanga teacher David Swenson explains that sometimes we have to bargain with ourselves to get to the mat. “I have never finished a practice and thought, ‘I wish I had not done that!’ I always feel better having practiced. Our mind, however, is very clever – it will play tricks to avoid practice; we must then have a little dialogue with our mind and play a game. We can say, ‘How about if we just roll out the mat and stand on it for a moment? That is all. We don’t even have to practice at all. Just a moment to stand on the mat.’ Once we have our mind and body on the mat then it is easy to think of practicing maybe one sun salutation. From there, generally there is the inspiration to do another and so on.
“It is always better to do a little bit of practice rather than none at all,” continues Swenson. “If we look at our mat and see it as a symbol of two hours of struggle then we are not likely to want to unroll it. So give yourself the option of just doing five minutes of practice and even that little bit will provide benefit. I promise that you won’t regret it.”
Eight Tips for Staying Motivated
• Set a time for your yoga practice. Make it part of your daily schedule.
• Create a practice space. It need not be large – keep it free of clutter and distractions.
• Roll out your mat the night before. Make it effortless to get out of bed and onto your mat.
• Develop a ritual. Find a routine that makes you want to be in your yoga space.
• Try an instructional cassette, CD, videotape, or DVD. Use media to stay on track.
• Take a workshop. Being among other dedicated students with an inspiring teacher can reignite motivation.
• Enlist a friend. Help each other maintain a regular routine.
• Start small. A short, consistent practice is better than a long practice done sporadically. ¯¿¿
July/August 2005
- Your Go-to Autumn Skin Reset From a Clean Beauty Expert. - August 25, 2025
- What If Your Fertility Journey Wasn’t Just About Trying – But About Becoming? - July 29, 2025
- KM Herbals - April 21, 2025