What challenges have you faced in developing and maintaining a daily asana practice?
Hi Anella!
I started asanas in high school and practiced on and off for 3 decades…finally got motivated to develop a consistent practice and now that I practice consistently my body feels wonderful…
My advice … take some classes…learn some poses that make you feel good…augment asanas with AYP .
…the challenge is not to give up…if you only practice 8 mins a day that is enough…eventually the habit develops and you won’t be able to not practice!
The only challenge is finding the time when you have a bisy life.
I find a challenge is trying to follow a routine (which most people seem to recommend)! I prefer to keep the practice spontaneous, and let the moment decide which position to go to next. Personal preference.
Hi Joseph, IMO a spontaeous sequencing of asanas is only possible for practitioners with a good overall knowledge. I would not recommend it to beginners. In my case, I follow some predefined routines; if I allow myself to do the asanas I feel like doing, well, I would probably avoid the ones that I don’t like and thereby avoid the ones that I need most. 
I don’t have good knowledge of all the asanas, their names and particular benefits, but I tune into the body and can decide pretty well now which one to do next. I’ve greater vitality when doing asanas daily, so the spontaneous approach is better than no asanas 
I feel relax and stress free by practicing yoga.I prefer to practice in the morning/evening is best and I was busy during that time. Creating a routine is valuable, but it’s important to also be flexible with your practice. Practicing at a different time of the day is better than not practicing at all.
I’ve been doing a daily 1hr practice for about 9 months now. It has made my body so incredibly strong. I actually dropped to 16% body fat and built a tonne of muscle in that period of time. I lost 2 dress sizes and have incredible muscle tone just from asana everyday. It’s quite amazing what it has done to my body. In my mid 40’s and I have not a single spot of cellulite anywhere and an athlete’s body.
I sleep much better than I used to as well. I follow a beginners routine and over time as I’ve gotten stronger just changed to the intermediate version of the same poses. I usually do my asana practice early afternoon outside. It’s a nice combination of gentle cool breeze and sunshine then. It took about 3 months of daily practice for it to become an ingrained habit. Now it actually takes effort to skip it.
The miracle of asana, can not imagine life without anymore. Remember the start was clumsy, the body was so stiff and unwilling to follow the flow of the bending and stretching. It made me angry to see how flexible the teacher was. But then one day, it was as if the light came in, it became more and more effortless. It wasn’t me doing the asana, it was the asana doing me. Many years later asana became my way of feeling what this body needs, sometimes it needs strength and sometimes it needs softness and stay long in the postures. The more we practice the more we can feel what we need in the moment. I do recommend a teacher to learn the postures in a safe way, this is very helpful. 
Yes!!! CharlieD.I’m still struggling with advanced inversions. The fun is in-falling and picking right back up and trying again. The stillness is so palpable in these poses. I never want the class to end, even though the body is screaming that’s enough for the day. 
Putting asana and DM at the beginning of my day works best for me. Then a walk out of doors which is really grounding for me. Oftentimes the hardest part is getting to the mat.
Doing some asanas before DM works for me. A simple way to think about the asana sequence is to make sure you get some forward bending, back bending, and spinal twists.
The challenge for me is to keep the asana practice short. As you maintain a posture, you can notice a specific, distinctive energetic circuit and a psychological state associated with it. Stay longer in the posture, and you get into a meditative, pleasant state. Each asana becomes a door to the infinite.
I like doing asanas with my friends, it feels like we are having a ritual or something.