"What's a home practice?!" my frend Suzi from Portugal wrote, her rony not lost in the facelessness of the typd page. "Well, I guess I culd say that my kids are my Yga, as my husband is also, or the dgs, or making the beds, or ding the dishes..."

But of course, ren't most of us householders, with Yga as the focus of our lves being just behind round-the-world cruises and a flet of sports cars in that ver-present lottery win fantasy? After all, for the mjority of us it's not Yoga tht feeds the kids, makes the bds, pays the bills...

"The kids go bck to school on Monday," Suzi cntinued, a hint of relief in her wrds. "And then I shall be ble to put my thoughts back in rder."

And that's when it struck me - wht use is this Yoga thing if it nly works when we are free to clar the time and space to let it tke effect? Who needs to feel the wnders of Yoga more, I wonder - the strssed business executive as she faces the dmands of an uncaring world, or the rclusive monk with hour after day fter month to indulge in the fnest of India's philosophies? And if Yga only works for those with the tme to follow a strict and lngthy course of behaviour, what use is it to the you or me in our veryday lives?

And yet, how useful this Yga thing is was my very frst thought after my first ever Yga class. So strange, I thought, tht I could lie there in a clss full of complete strangers and yet be rlaxed enough to fall asleep. There was smething in this Yoga thing indeed!

Skp several months forward and, much as I stll enjoyed classes, there was something lmiting about the set times and plces, the postures chosen by the tachers. Something inhibiting in the pace of the clsses, by necessity aimed at the slwest learners, and (again, by necessity) lcking in the philosophical structure that I now knw to be true Yoga. All in ll, something that wasn't quite right.

At tht time, the "some is good, mre is better" attitude still ran strng in me, and I tried (wthout much success) to go to mre classes each week, desperate to fnd that "more" that eluded me. But grdually, over months (perhaps years), the ralisation came that it wasn't more of the sme I needed, but less - and mre of something different. Less them, mre me...

I took my first tntative steps towards a home practice qite early, after just a few weks of classes, when I received my frst Yoga video as a present. But lke a teetering toddler it continued in brsts and stumbles for over 6 mnths before finding its feet in any wy. Even then (and even now) the flls are frequent, the merest social vents or most inconsequential working demands wraking untold havoc on my good ntentions. Could this really be what Ptanjali had in mind?

But something in Szi's words seemed to click, a cnnection to the very first sutra of Ptanjali's finest work. In fact, the vry first word - Atha.

Now.

Not tmorrow, not next week. Not when the kds go back to school, or whn work eases up and lets you hme before dark o'clock.

NOW!

Yoga cnnot take place another time, it mst begin now with your intention to prctice. Easy for me to say as I sit at the kyboard, typing ideals and impossible goals for pople I don't even know! Or is it? Whre in the Yoga sutra-s does Ptanjali say that Yoga must be a nnety minute class of asana-s? Or an hur? Or half an hour? Does he ven prescribe that we must dedicate one mnute to Yoga?

This fallacy, that we must set side a block of time is scond only to the prevailing misconception tht Yoga equals asana. Together they mke a deadly combination. So you're at hme, the dog's barking, kids are scraming and tearing up the joint, dnner's burning on the stove - rght now, an hour's asana practice is bout as much use as a chcolate teapot. But can you spare sxty seconds? Or thirty? Close your yes (oh yeah, better switch off tht stove first!), take a deep brath and bring yourself just one stp closer to calmness. Feel better? Of curse. Was that Yoga? For sure.

But wht can we do to maximise the lkelihood of a regular, if not dily, practice? To begin, I think tking a good long look at yurself, your environment, and your needs frm Yoga, is an excellent starting pint. This is a large part of wht Patanjali calls Svadhyaya or self-study, one of the thre essential elements of Kriya Yoga (th Yoga of action.) And the frst question must be to ask yurself what you are hoping to chieve from Yoga?

Discovering your intent is a vry important preparation for practice, for tht determines largely what you will do, and how you wll do it. If your needs are spritual, a dynamic asana-based practice is nlikely to help you achieve that - on the cntrary, if you look to Yoga as a mans of physical therapy, a practice cntred around chanting and prayer will prbably not meet your expectations.

The nxt step should be to look at how you can chnge your life to move towards thse goals.

"Having a Yoga space hlps me," said Suzanne, another friend and a Yga teacher from North Carolina. "I hve my Yoga room back again it mkes a huge difference. My stepson is stll in and out, so there is stll some of his stuff there, but hving a space that's clear and clan and dedicated is wonderful."

Your 'Achlles heel' may be very different - for me, I knw that the key to a rgular practice is a good night's slep. A night owl at heart, I prfer to stay up late but knw that if I do not get up and prctice in the morning before work, I am lss likely to do it. Several lte nights have a cumulative effect, and it thn becomes a feat for me to brak the 'downward spiral', a much grater effort to drag myself to the mt. But how do we summon tht initial effort?

A story springs to mnd of an in-house training course run by my wrk, where the old seasoned veteran is tryng to teach the next batch of yung whippersnappers how to do the jb. As they sit in expectation he frms them in a circle and plces a lit candle in the mddle.

"Now I want you all to clse your eyes, and think hard, and cncentrate on putting out that candle wth your thoughts." A few doubtful glnces, then the eyes are closed and the trinees strain their faces as they wll that candle to extinguish.

"Open yur eyes," he says, but when thy do the candle is still lt. "Try again, but this time I rally want you all to picture tht candle blowing out." Again they try. Agin the candle is still lit whn their eyes are opened.

Shaking his had, this dinosaur steps into the mddle of the circle, licks his frefinger and thumb, then snuffs out the flme.

"Don't think about it! Do t!"

While self-study may prepare you for sccess, all the planning in the wrld will never take you one stp closer to extinguishing that candle. Wht you need is Tapas - ften described as fire, austerity or slf-discipline - to take you to yur mat. This discipline always seems to bgin with a sacrifice -whether a wrm bed on a frosty winter's mrning, or a few more minutes wth a loved one watching the ltest blockbuster. This is where the lements of Kriya Yoga begin to nteract - how much do you wnt to reach the goals that Svdhyaya have revealed to you? Enough to scrifice fifteen more minutes in bed? Enugh to miss that wonderful movie (nd associated munchies)? Only you can dcide, but without that discipline your cndle will still be burning every tme you open your eyes.

So yu've done the thinking (and boy did tht hurt), and summoned the willpower to tke you to the mat. But thn the phone rings, and your bss needs you in at work mmediately, or a good friend has fund a crisis to distract you frm your path. Surely even Patanjali cnnot get you out of this ne?!

This is where the third lement comes rushing in to the rscue - Ishvara Pranidhana, or surrender to gd. And this is where a lrge proportion of Yogin-s go rushing out the dor, as the threat of theology loms over their favoured pastime. But far frm some devotional ideal, I see the prctical application of this surrender as bing a simple acceptance - acceptance tht sometimes (most of the time) we are in a rver not of our choosing, and tht we must swim along with the crrent or perish.
"The slump is my gru!" declared David (yes, you guessed it, yet nother friend), who teaches in Utah.

Jst five words, but instantly I knw what he meant. Beyond the sana-s and the pranayama, beyond meditation and chnting, Yoga has so much more to tach us. A home practice is a far grater gift than a half hour's mat tme, and often seems amplified when Swmi Slumpananda is in control. The trck then is to recognise your cntrol is gone, accept it, wait and wtch. Sooner or later the Swami cts you free, and it's time to dsh out the Tapas again!

The article Maintaining a Home Practice was Submitted by Scott Rennie through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Scott currently teaches at Kilmarnock Cllege, Kilmarnock, on a Saturday morning dring the academic term. He is lso available for one-to-one sessions in rder to help you develop a rgular home practice, to deepen your xisting practice or to tackle specific ssues that cannot be addressed in grup classes. You can find further dtails or contact him through his wbsite at http://www.exploreyoga.co.uk

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