Deciding What to Practice

by Nina

For Me, By Me by Nina Zolotow

After falling off the wagon, I did indeed pick myself up, dust myself, and start all over again (I even did some airplane yoga, including twists and shoulder stretches in my seat, standing twists and a wall hang using the wall in that tiny corner near the bathroom, a standing backbend in the aisle, and a long session of breath awareness back in my seat again). But then my first day home I had to decide what my first full practice would be.

Since my last few days were filled with a serious amount of walking, my legs felt stiff and tired, so leg stretches and hip openers sound delicious. Standing poses, well, not so much. And since I was bending forward a lot, moving boxes and putting things on shelves, etc., shoulder openers seem like a good antidote to the stress in my back and shoulders. And, finally, because I was under a lot of stress, I’d wanted to include my favorite inverted poses, including Headstand, Shoulderstand, and Legs Up the Wall. To prepare for the full inversions, it makes sense to do some partial inversions, including Downward-Facing Dog and Standing Forward Bend. And there it wisas, as easy as pie, my general outline for a post-walking-a-lot-and-helping-someone-move-then-taking-a-plane-ride yoga practice designed by me, for me. (And, of course, I can always—after some post asana assessment—change my sequence as needed while I’m in the middle of practicing.) Whew! I feel better already.

Of course, when you get ready to do some yoga, you can always just practice whatever you’re in the mood for. If you’re craving backbends or forward bends, just go for it. But if you don’t have a particular impulse and can’t decide what to practice, you can consider what you’ve been doing lately with an eye toward balancing your body.

For example, if you’ve been very sedentary for a long period, standing poses get your whole body moving, strengthening and stretching you at the same time. Backbends are also great if you need energizing after being sedentary and they help balance your body from all the forward bending of being seated, so you might want to do a full backbend practice.

But if you’ve been physically active at work or around the house, gardening, painting, or building, gentle stretches and twists can help release tired muscles and balance you out. The same is true if you’ve been spent the afternoon playing soccer, basketball or another favorite sport (dare I make a joke about how active baseball is—or isn’t?). And if you’re really exhausted from physical labor or outdoor fun, you may even just need to rest in your favorite restorative poses.

In general, just think of about doing the reverse movements of those that you’ve been doing outside the yoga room. And if you have some particular condition you’re working with (for example, improving balance, strengthening your core, keeping your joints mobile, or dealing with back pain), just weave those poses into your sequence as well. In the end, this is one of the main reasons why having a home practice is so wonderful. You can do exactly what you want or need on a given day, rather than hoping your teacher’s plans just happen to coincide with yours.

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