You will find many people who are devoted to their practice of yoga so long as it takes place in a class.  You will also find many teachers who encourage class attendance and who will mention personal practice but will rarely focus on it.  As much as I love being in a class with other practitioners, allowing a public class to be my only source of practice is unimaginable to me.  I have attended various community classes, teacher trainings and personal intensives to learn yoga.  I maintain a dedicated personal sadhana to practice and to experiment with what I have learned.  Doing this allows me to see that what I experience during my sadhana is only of real value if I can also experience it in the rest of my everyday life.

I saw a poll put up by Yoga Journal earlier today and the question was, “Do you have a home practice?”  My answer was this:  “I have a personal practice.  All of life is my practice space.”  The postures are not yoga, pranayama is not yoga, studios and mats are not yoga but they are all places to practice yoga and washing the dishes or mowing the lawn or trimming the cat’s claws are all also places to practice yoga.

My friends, go to yoga classes but go to learn so that you can begin your true sadhana in the privacy of your own home and in the spaciousness of your own life.

Jai Bhagwan
Ramdas