You do not need a spare room or a shopping list. A cushion, a plant and a cork block in one corner will get you on the floor more often than any app.
The students who keep a home practice are not the most disciplined ones. They are the ones whose mat is already on the floor when they walk past it.
Pick the corner first
Choose a spot you pass every day, ideally near a window. Two metres by one is enough. The point is that it is always ready: nothing to clear, nothing to unroll.
The three things
A firm cushion
For sitting to breathe, and under the knees in any kneeling shape. A folded blanket works too.Something alive
A plant, a window, a view of the sky. Something to rest your eyes on that is not a screen.One cork block
It raises the floor when it is too far away. Half the shapes in a beginner class become possible with one block.
A student's living room in Ruzafa, set up during a home private session.
Make it easier to start than to skip.
Inés
What to do there
Start with the Sunday letter sequence, or the ten-minute morning practice from this journal. Five minutes on the floor counts. Most days, five becomes fifteen without you deciding it.
Written by
Inés Varela
Inés has taught for fifteen years, first in Lisbon and now in her eight-mat studio in Ruzafa. She writes the journal between the morning and evening classes.
