I wake up and take a few moments before I open my eyes. It is still dark outside, but the light begins to brighten inside as I take a moment to invite my spirit into my body.

There are some mornings when I have to check in and recognize that I am home. I have lived in so many cities and so many rooms that I sometimes need to remember where I am in time and space. But being home is a recognition that I don’t want anything to be any different than it is. I am alright just as I am, where I am and who I am. There are some mornings when this homecoming lasts longer than others…

Yoga is a practice that requires remembering what home feels like. We come home when we are present, across the hours and below the days that sometimes feel so heavy we feel our shoulders curl forward protectively. It requires being present when we least want to be, and lifting ourself up when we most need to. It asks that we meet ourself where we are, where ever we are. It begs us to breathe and flow with what life offers us even if what we are served is not what we ordered.

When we have a yoga practice it begins the moment we open our eyes. It wakes us up. And then we roll out our mat and make that first shape and just breathe. And then we make the next shape and breathe some more and begin to feel into the little spaces. Our body wakes up with our attention to the details. We are led by devotion to gratitude. We can follow it and lean into our intuition into the next shape and the next moment.

There is a beauty in this practice that has the power to bring us home. The journey can be ten minutes or two hours or a lifetime. And there is a beauty to having a practice at home. We can practice in our pajamas or our favorite old tee-shirt. We can practice at any time of the day or evening. We can play our favorite music or listen to the air expand and contract. We can pause to pet our sweet dog. We can sip our tea. We can linger in child’s pose or down dog as long as we feel inspired to. We can be silly and try new things. We can practice what matters most to us. We can fall and get up again. We can learn to trust our inner voice. We can discover ourself and fall back in love with the beautiful heart that lives within.

Do you have a home practice?

Do you ever just roll out your mat, wiggle your toes and root your hands and evolve into a cobra, or step forward and lift into your warrior? Do you ever just sit down, close your eyes and and land on your breath? Do you find that you look outside the windows of your house to see what the weather looks like more often then you look inside to check in with your own internal landscape?

Consider experimenting with and designing a home yoga experience that is unique to you. Take the first step and unlock the door home. Open the windows to your individual vision.