I passed this question on to Mark Singleton.  Mark created our open studio time for us.  It is a very important part of Mark's practice and I felt he would be better at explaining the concept.  So, take it away....Mark!

Self Practice:

The open yoga studio is a place for people to develop a “sadhana”, or personal yoga practice. This is what yoga's all about, in my opinion.  Classes lay the foundation, and give you ideas, but it is in self practice that you really start to build a close relationship with your body and mind. Without this quality of reflective attention, yoga is not yoga.

 The teacher Jill Miller recently wrote, “Students must begin listening to their inner teacher and gain self-reliance and authority over their own somatic territory.” She thinks that too many people rely on the authority of the teacher when they already have all the tools for taking themselves deeper into yoga. I agree.

 In a class, you're being attentive to the words of the teacher, and you're guided through each and every posture. The process is different in self-practice, where you are responsible for everything you do. That means you have to internalize a sequence (like, say, Ashtanga or Sivananda) or develop a sensitivity to how to structure a practice. It also means listening carefully to what your body-mind wants from the practice on that particular day. Through this process, you start to become your own teacher. This inner awareness is the heart of yoga.

 There's a prevalent message out there that you should always go to a “qualified teacher” for yoga. There are indeed some great teachers out there, and it's a good idea to learn from them. However, I have been involved in training “qualified” teachers over the past fifteen years, and the one thing that always shocks me, especially recently, is the very low level of understanding that many new teachers have. They have learned a few techniques and a bit of philosophy, but what's missing is a deeply rooted sense of their own practice. Many (very many, apparently) simply don't have a self-practice, which means that they can never teach from a place of deep experiential knowledge. On the other hand, this is exactly what self-practice brings.

 You can become “qualified” as your own teacher by making a resolution to treat yourself and the practice with respect, kindness and intelligence. Never do things that will put you in danger of injury. Never go against the voice of instinct when it tells you to back off, or change direction. This won't make you into a yoga teacher, but it will give you space to develop a practice that is suited to your needs. It's not rocket science (as some teachers would have you believe), but it does take a commitment to nurturing your own practice. And there are always people around to ask questions of when you're confused about something.

 The set up here at the Yoga Center is that the doors open at 6.30am. You can come any time between then and 8.30am. Come in, lay out a mat, and practice for as long as you like. There's no limit on what you can do under the rubric of “yoga”. You might be doing an energetic asana practice, or you might choose to simply sit in meditation for an hour, or lie in savasana. You can come with a friend and work together, or ask others for help with a particular posture.

 The range of possibilities is endless. This self-practice doesn't “belong” to any one person: it's for the community, and relies on the people who come. Nobody is “better” than anyone else, and it doesn't matter whether you're doing advanced postures or lying on your back, as long as people are engaged in the spirit of compassionate inquiry.

 If you're very new to the idea of directing your own practice, one good way to start is to sit down the night before practice, and in a very relaxed way try to remember the things you already know about yoga.  Write or draw them (they don't have to have Sanskrit names!) and then ask yourself how you might go about putting them into a sequence. You might also look to books for inspiration about sequencing--there are hundreds of them out there. The internet is also a resource, if used cautiously.

 It's fine to bring a book or a “cheat sheet” to practice if you're learning a new sequence. Check in after every week of practice and see what changes you could make to take yourself deeper into yoga. This way you'll become your own teacher and your own student.

 Think about your intention. If the intention is to emerge from practice energized and ready for a long day, play with sequences that move you to that end. If you want to prepare for deeper meditation, or work with a particular injury of difficulty, you'll be working in a very different way. So you have to engineer the practice according to your needs.

 I hope people will give the experience of self-practice a good go. From what I can see, to really get a sense of what self-practice can do for you, you have to give it at least a month. If you're used to guided classes, practicing on your own can seem a bit daunting even off-putting at first. But if you stay with it, and start to develop tools of self-reflection and intelligent self-guidance, a whole new world willopen up that most people who depend on classes never experience. Classes are a beginning, but self-practice is the real journey.