Thinking of creating your own home yoga studio? Well, you’re in the right place!
Here at OriGym, we understand that finding the perfect space can often be overwhelming, so we’ve put together a guide on how to create a yoga studio in your home.
Contents:
- Where to Build Your Home Yoga Studio
- Essentials for Your Home Yoga Room
- Bonus Items for Yoga Room Decor
- Home Yoga Studio Checklist
Before we get started, if you’re interested in transforming your practice into a career, take a look at OriGym’s Level 3 Yoga Diploma.
You can find out more about this, and other courses, in our free downloadable course prospectus!
Where To Build Your Home Yoga Studio
When you’re considering how to create a yoga studio in your home, the first thing to decide should be which room to use.
Generally, any space can be transformed into a home yoga studio. Especially if you’re going to classes regularly you need somewhere you’ll be super comfortable.
We would recommend choosing somewhere you’re able to create the conditions for a calm, relaxing, and focused practice for a yoga room.
Whatever your ideas are, whether you choose that spare room you have in the attic, a garage, or even an old garden shed, here are a few factors to consider:
Space
The most important point to think about, when building a yoga studio at home, is the amount of space that your chosen room has.
Even if you’re hoping to create a small, cosy home yoga studio, the room should have at least enough clear floor space for your yoga mat.
Yoga mats are a standard size at approximately 173cm long and 61cm wide, so make sure to bear this in mind when measuring up your space.
There should also be some space around the mat to allow room for extension of the arms and legs, and ideally your chosen yoga room would have enough space for a few pieces of essential equipment too.
No Distractions
Whether you opt to build a minimalist home yoga studio or something a little more luxurious, one of the main points to consider is privacy.
There’s nothing worse than being interrupted whilst you’re in the middle of an intense flow, so your home yoga room should be separate from any main living areas.
It should also be away from distractions such as the doorbell or phones. If you don’t have a door to close off your space, we’d advise you to invest in a screen or room divider instead.
You should also build your yoga studio in a room which is easy to keep clutter free. This is because any good yoga practice requires a clear, positive mindset, which is very difficult if you’re surrounded by stuff!
Suitable Flooring
As well as being a functional, yet beautiful space, it’s important that your home yoga studio is safe.
You should therefore try to build a home yoga room somewhere with hardwood floors. This is the traditional choice for a studio space.
The ideas around this are that it helps to absorb any shock from your movement, and provides a good non-slip base for a yoga mat.
We would advise you to avoid carpet, as the surface tends to be too soft and hence unstable. Stone floors are also no good as they can create a cold and unwelcoming atmosphere!
If you do other workouts, it might be worth investing in the best home gym flooring more generally. Some mats will be suitable for cardio exercises as well as yoga flows.
Good Airflow
Despite being a low-impact activity, you’re likely to work up a sweat in your yoga space at home. You should therefore choose a room which has a good airflow, such as a space with windows.
Alternatively, ensure that your home yoga room has space to install a fan, for those hot days or particularly intense sessions!
Solid Walls
If you’re planning on practicing inversion postures, such as handstands and headstands, it’s crucial that you build your home yoga studio somewhere with good, solid walls.
The last thing you’d want during practice is to put your feet through drywall!
As well as for safety, strong walls make handy yoga props! They’re great to use for inversions and support.
You can also use the walls to hang some inspirational prints. Having things on the wall will make the perfect cozy home yoga studio.
Essentials For Your Home Yoga Room
As well as design ideas, you’ll need to have a solid idea of which equipment to include in your home yoga room. These can be very basic, however, depending on your budget and the different yoga styles you might want to try.
For example, although today we use yoga mats, did you know that yoga was traditionally practiced on either bare ground, or on rugs made of fur or other natural materials?
This makes building your home yoga studio easy as there’s only a few things that make up the best yoga equipment to start with:
Yoga Mat
For your home yoga room, one of the ideas you need to have is which mat you’ll choose! This is the most essential piece of equipment for your studio.
As well as providing a comfortable surface to practice on, yoga mats protect your joints and bones from the hard ground beneath you, which supports safe practice and helps to prevent injury.
Most good yoga mats are made of rubber or latex, which provides good grip for your feet and hands, and they are usually between 4 and 6mm thick.
This means that they provide enough cushioning for your spine, but are not so thick that you find yourself sinking into the mat and falling off balance!
Check out OriGym’s list of the best yoga mats if you need some help choosing! Some examples include:
- Leela Yoga Rugs Organic Mysore Yoga Mat
- Manduka PROlite Yoga and Pilates Mat
- Lululemon The Reversible Mat 5mm
Yoga Block
When you’re building a yoga space at home, especially as a beginner, you’ll need to choose one of the best yoga blocks.
This is because they help to bring the floor closer to your body by acting as an extension of your arms.
This is useful if you’re not yet flexible and are struggling to reach full extension in certain posture.
Made of either cork, foam, or bamboo, yoga blocks are highly multifunctional, and so can also be used during stretching, as a balance block, or to rest the head on and raise the pelvis in other positions.
These are some of the top ones for you to try:
Yoga Straps
If you’re looking for some essential home yoga room ideas, then you should invest in some yoga straps.
Similar to a block, you can also use yoga straps to improve flexibility. This is because they allow you to pull your feet into poses when you’re struggling.
Another reason they’re part of yoga kits for beginners, is that they help reduce risk of strain and injury.
Using them helps to increase your range of motion over time, helping you to ease into more difficult poses.
Using yoga straps is as easy as wrapping them around your feet, grabbing either end and pulling them towards your chest or back, all whilst leaning into your chosen pose.
Take a look at these examples if you need help choosing:
Yoga Wheel
Another versatile piece of equipment, which should be essential on any list of home yoga studio ideas, is a yoga wheel.
These are circular, hollow props which help to release tension and are great for using when you’re stretching. You will also use yoga wheels for improving flexibility.
Yoga wheels act as a form of scaffolding for the body. They help keep you upright and balanced, giving you the confidence and support to stretch further into postures such as backbends.
In fact, they can hugely benefit your posture in general, as well as helping to strengthen your core.
Here’s a selection of some made from different materials and prices:
Yoga Bolster
The final piece of essential equipment, that we would recommend for your yoga studio at home, is a yoga bolster.
These are pillows which support your body whilst you perform different postures.
They work particularly well if you’re struggling to hold poses and you’re developing your strength and improving your flexibility.
You can rest your weight on the bolster without using the usual strength required. This means that, much like straps, they will ease your body into what’s needed for yoga practice.
As well as providing comfort and allowing you to develop your flexibility, yoga bolsters come in various different sizes, meaning that there should be one to suit every home yoga studio!
Bonus Items For Yoga Room Decor
As we’ve already discussed, a clean, uncluttered room is the best option if you’re hoping for a focused yoga practice.
However, adding a few extra items to your yoga space at home can help create a more relaxing, and conducive environment.
When you’re designing a yoga room, you have to have ideas about style as well as atmosphere. We’ve pulled together a few home yoga studio design ideas to help you strike that balance!
Lighting
Whether you’re building a minimalist home yoga studio, or something a little more luxurious, ideally you should choose a room which has good natural lighting.
This is because natural light boosts the release of the chemical serotonin in our bodies, which helps us to feel relaxed, happy, and calm, as well as energised and balanced.
For instance, blogger Niki Brantmark, founder of My Scandinavian Home, says that her top floor yoga studio (pictured above) is perfectly placed for a calming practice.
The positioning of the window, alongside the long, white curtains and pale walls, allows for plenty of natural light to flood the room.
This helps to create a bright and serene atmosphere: the ideal conditions for a peaceful flow.
Alternatively, you may prefer to have things a little darker to create a cozy home yoga studio. Using less light can create a gentle, calming atmosphere, which is perfect for gentler yoga styles like Hatha.
For instance, this darker room from Nourishment, Food & Yoga has a soft and ambient atmosphere thanks to the candles, which make a perfect addition to any cozy home yoga studio.
Not only do candles, lanterns, and diffusers smell great, they’re also thought to purify a space, making them ideal for a home yoga room.
Certain oils can help maintain mental sharpness, and suppress anxiety. Choosing lavender or sage wil help create the ultimate relaxing atmosphere!
These will go perfectly in a cozy home yoga studio. Have a look at some of the top yoga studios in the UK if you’re looking for some more inspiration and home yoga studio design ideas!
Alternatively, here’s a few easy additions to turn your home yoga room into the perfect setting:
- Chandelita Aromatherapy Candle Scented with Sage
- Buddha Head Candle Oil Burner
- A Calm and Quiet Place Yankee Candle
Artwork
Incorporating some form of artwork is a great way to put your own stamp on any home yoga room. It will help to make it feel separate from the house and contribute to the atmosphere you want!
As pictured above in this Green Retreats garden studio, wall art can be a great point of focus if you become distracted during your flow.
It also helps the room to feel less empty, more homely, and much more welcoming!
If you want some home yoga studio design ideas, a great place to start is with some of the different yoga symbols.
Alternatively, you could choose posters like in this home yoga studio. Having these staples of practice, or affirmations, will remind you to stay focused and rooted during a flow.
Here’s some other prints that we think are ideal additions to any yoga studio at home:
Plants
As well as being great for home yoga room décor, plants reduce any airborne dust and carbon dioxide that may be present, as well as increasing oxygen levels.
This purifies the air, creating the perfect calm and cleansed atmosphere for a great yoga practice. So, if you’re looking for yoga room ideas, some plants are definitely a good investment!
Surrounding yourself with plants, as the Crazy Craft Lady has done here, is one of our favourite ways of decorating a home yoga studio.
These design ideas bring the outdoors inside, creating a strong sense of connection to the natural world.
This is why a lot of different yoga holidays and retreats choose to have flows outdoors and incorporate the natural surroundings into the practice.
The positioning in this more minimalist home yoga studio adds a light, air feel. Content creator and fitness instructor Jessica Richburg has chosen wooden floors, natural light, and a distribution of different plants to create a calming space here.
These are all great options for specific plants, and bundles, for your home yoga room:
Storage Solutions
Although it can be handy to have your essential equipment laid out and ready to go for your session, this can quickly clutter up your home yoga studio and distract you from your practice.
To avoid this, we would recommend investing in a box or trunk for storage. This will free up some floor space ready for a tranquil yoga practice!
One of the best things about storage solutions is that they can easily be incorporated into your yoga room décor, such as in the myWall system pictured above.
Looking at these will not just help organise your home yoga studio, but could be design ideas too. Whether you have a huge open space or a small, cosy home yoga room, here are some ideas for neatening up your home yoga space:
Mirror
Another bonus item is a mirror. This can be incorporated into your sessions as well as being part of your home yoga studio design.
You may already have ideas around how it can be used in your sessions, but essentially it’s to check your posture and poses.
It’s crucial, if you’re practising alone, to check that you are performing correctly. This will help avoid injury and develop your skills.
From a design ideas point of view, mirrors give the illusion of a bigger space and can really brighten up the room. Just look at the studio above, designed by Ana Cummings of ANA Interiors!
If your studio isn’t as big as this, even a small mirror leaning against the wall will help to open up the space.
Here are some, in various sizes, that would be great for your home yoga room:
Meditation Pillow
If you’re looking for something to add to your yoga mat to make practicing even more comfortable, then we would suggest investing in a meditation pillow or cushion.
Meditation pillows make a great addition to any yoga space at home, as they are designed to hold your body up tall whilst you sit on the ground.
It works by moving your hips forward slightly, which aligns your spine into the correct curvature and lowers your risk of injury from sitting flat on the floor.
As well as providing a good amount of comfort and support, meditation pillows can be incorporated into your home yoga studio because of their design.
Here, the dark cushions, the candles on the floor, and the lighting on the wall, all combine to create a cosy, tranquil vibe. Want to have a go at recreating this? Check out these different cushions:
Home Yoga Studio Checklist
Now that you’ve got some great yoga room ideas, the next step is to choose what exactly you’re going to add to your own yoga studio at home.
We’ve created a checklist to help you with this process, to ensure that you have all the essential pieces of equipment for your own home yoga studio!
If you’re looking to design something a little more luxurious, we would recommend purchasing the essential equipment listed above, as well as investing in a few more pieces to really jazz up your yoga room décor:
Before You Go!
When designing your own yoga studio in your home, the main things to remember are to choose a quiet, clutter free space. Ensure that you have all of the essential equipment, and invest in a few luxurious pieces to make the chosen room your own.
Don’t forget, if you’re feeling inspired to turn your passion into a career, check out OriGym’s online yoga teacher training course.
Whether you’re looking to switch career paths, or develop your practice, you can also download our free course prospectus for other opportunities!
