A yogi explains how to get the most out of yoga at home

I first started doing yoga in the living room of my apartment 10 years ago when I was between jobs. By doing yoga, I mean that I grunted through inflexible down dogs and cheated on chaturangas. I didn’t know my Warrior One from my Warrior Two and even the pigeons laughed at my pathetic imitation.

A few years later, I came across a video from my friend Rebecca Pacheco called “Yoga for Runners.” Over time, I internalized her videos and created my own practice that I use for post-run recovery. I’ve only taken one actual yoga class — it was a little ommy for me — and while I’ve never practiced in the same room as Pacheco, she’s been my instructor for years.

I caught up with Pacheco to talk about how yoga can give us freedom and space from the stress of living in lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic, and how you don’t need to be a master yogi to experience the benefits of a simple practice. As Pacheco puts it, “If you can breathe, you can do yoga.”

We also talked about being present in the moment, creating your own little sanctuary, and why yoga is like basketball. Portions of this interview have been edited for clarity and length.

SB NATION: What are some of the benefits of a yoga practice, especially in a time like this?

REBECCA PACHECO: I would start with what yoga means. Literally the word ‘yoga’ comes from the sanskrit root ‘yuj,’ which is a verb meaning to connect, or unite or yoke together. You can interpret that in a lot of different ways, but a common way is the mind and the body, joining those two things together.

Often yoga is referred to as meditation in motion. Particularly in a time like this, having a coping strategy that involves putting your body and your mind in the same place at the same time is a really healthy thing.

There are so many benefits to what yoga does for the body and what it does for the mind, and everybody can find something. Everyone is driven to it for different reasons and those reasons change over time.

Sometimes people come to class because they have pain. They have back pain or tension headaches and the physical practice helps that way. Somewhere down the line, something happens in their lives and they’re there for the mental or spiritual aspect of the practice because they value having that grounding element in their life.

There are as many reasons to do it as there are people who unroll their mat.

SB: How important is set and setting for a home practice?

RP: It depends on the person. In theory, it’s nice to create a little sanctuary for yourself, but that can be done in very small ways. It can be as simple as lighting a candle and that signifies to you: Ok. Now begins the yoga.

A lot of people don’t have the luxury of a great deal of space or ambience. I started this practice almost 25 years ago. That’s a lot of Boston apartments, many of them not so nice. Sometimes it was a scrap of linoleum in the kitchen. What’s important is that your mat is a welcoming space to you.

Something of a ritual can be helpful. That can be as simple as closing the door to the guest room, having a few plants, whatever works for you. Certainly a place that has some separation from the things you’re trying to put aside during practice. I’m thinking specifically about your computer or a TV or your phone.

Ideally it’s more about mental space than physical space. If you can breathe, you can do yoga and you can make your own sanctuary wherever you are.

SB: Yoga can be a little intimidating to get into, but there’s parts of it that were really appealing to me at first, like stretching and flexibility. Is that valid?

RP: People respond to different aspects of yoga at different points of their life. What brings you to the practice may not be what sustains you throughout. You can see that with larger trends. There was a period when the most popular yoga was the fastest, the hardest, the hottest. More, more, more. That’s what people had an appetite for.

Now we’re seeing a bit of a correction and people are like, nah I’m good with slowing down. Many people are having difficulty sleeping and we have yoga nidra, which encourages sleep and restoration and recovery.

There was a period early in my practice when a yoga teacher would tell you not to run. Running was gauche, it was looked down upon, you’re only going to damage your body. I always took issue with that because I’d grown up a runner. Now it’s commonplace for people to pick and choose what works for them.

There’s no yoga police that’s going to tell you, ‘No Paul. You’re not doing it right if you don’t do it like this.’ It’s important to consider the whole journey, have an open mind and allow it to change shape over time.

SB: To that point, when I slowed down and tried to connect to the breath before coming to the mat it was like a whole new world opened up. Any suggestions on connecting to breath?

RP: In terms of yoga philosophy, it’s laid out in an eight-limbed path, as it’s called. There are different branches of the tree that are the principles of yoga practice. The asana, the poses, is just one branch and it’s the one that Americans love so much. So a lot of people think that yoga is the postures, but there are others that relate to ethics and the breath.

Breathing is yoga. Breath awareness is yoga. There are multiple breathing exercises that count as yoga that your teacher may or may not integrate into a class. Or, depending on what style you practice, you may breathe in a different manner. It’s all about energy and how you tap into your energy, how you connect to the present moment.

The fact of the matter is, you can not take a breath in the future and you can not take a breath in the past. No matter how great you are at standing on your head or how dedicated a practitioner, if I say, ‘Please take a breath two weeks in the future,’ it can’t be done. It can only be done in this moment.

When you pay attention to a single breath, it’s the most affordable, accessible meditation tool that you have.

SB: The other day I had this breakthrough where my body moved all in one motion. It was so joyful, like a kid learning to ride a bike for the first time. People shouldn’t get discouraged if they don’t feel that right away, right?

RP: Right, right. The experience you had is so cool. I think of it as the difference watching a basketball player do drills and do the different mechanics piecemeal, and watching a player in the zone. That’s where you went. You were shooting free throws and then you had a game where you were in the zone and you were like, ‘Wow. I get it.’ That’s awesome.

SB: And then, does that get easier with time?

RP: Definitely. Yoga is similar to any kind of sport, art form, creative expression. In the beginning, it can be clumsy. You’re learning the mechanics. With practice you get more comfortable and it starts to come together. You had that beautiful experience of feeling it all come together. That’s not unique to yoga, but it’s the beauty of learning something new.

In the beginning, for example, people don’t connect the postures to the language. Which Warrior is this Warrior? Even your left and your right is complex at the beginning. That can be overwhelming, just feeling your body be in space. It is very cool when you have that synergy.

I will say, I’ve been doing yoga and teaching for a long time. I’ve seen a lot of beginners and I can almost always spot them. I don’t mean that in a judgmental way, but I can see a discomfort. It’s more energetic than physical. You can have a ballerina who’s extremely flexible, but I’ll probably be able to tell that yoga is new for them.

The only folks who have thrown me off on a couple of occasions are people who are into martial arts. Part of that is not only are the mechanics similar, but also in martial arts there is that psychic energy, that mindset of being focused and in the body.

SB: That’s a great place to be.

RP: Absolutely.

In addition to creating the Runners World Yoga Center and the With Yoga DVD for Women’s Health, Pacheco is the author of Do Your Om Thing, a guide to making a yoga practice part of your everyday life. She’s currently working on a follow-up book and can be found leading 20-minute meditation sessions on Instagram @Omgal.