HomeFlow Yoga

Claim Your Corner

Here’s what I finally figured out: you don’t need a room. You need a corner. That’s it, one corner.

Corners are wildly underrated real estate

Nobody is using your corners. There’s probably one in your bedroom hosting a chair whose entire job is holding clothes that are too clean for the hamper and too worn for the closet. That chair is squatting. Evict it.

If you do yoga at home on the regular, I wonder if you’ve ever considered transforming a corner of your home into your yoga studio. A corner is enough because yoga, conveniently, only requires the amount of space you take up when you lie down. That’s the whole footprint. You are the square footage.

What a corner actually needs

The list is shorter than you’d think. First, a mat you can see — this is the big one. You might be in the habit of rolling up your mat and hiding it behind a couch or under your bed or returning it to the closet. I want to challenge that habit because a mat rolled up in a closet is a rumor. A mat out where you can see it is an invitation, and some mornings it’s the only thing that gets me on it. Next, you need something that tells you this is your yoga space. Maybe a floor cushion used for sitting in meditation next to a small table. It should feel like you could also just sit here in quiet, or journal, or sip tea. And finally, one thing for the senses like a candle you love or an oil diffuser with smells you immediately associate with your practice. Oh, and a basket, because the clutter that was in the corner has to live somewhere, and shoving it in a basket is interior design.

That’s it. Notice what’s not on the list: mirrors, equipment, square footage.

Fair warning: everyone will want your corner

The moment you make a beautiful little corner, everyone in your house will decide it’s for them. The dog will claim savasana as a birthright. The cat will sit precisely in the center of the mat and dare you to do something about it. Why do cats do that? Or your husband will wander by and say “nice spot” and then put a coffee cup on your meditation table. Defend your corner. Gently. But defend it.

It was never about the stuff

Here’s the real thing, though. That corner isn’t decor. It’s a promise you made to yourself in physical form, holding your spot in the day like a friend saving you a seat. You’ll walk past it twenty times and it will quietly say, later, you and me. And later, more often than you’d believe, you’ll show up. It says to your world that this is part of your life. Your practice is not meant to be hidden away behind the couch or under the bed. Don’t think too hard about it, just claim your corner. Your practice deserves it.

— LoriAnn