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5 Tips for Starting Yoga (From Someone Who Could Barely Bend at All at First)

Let the calming effect of yoga override your anxiety about starting it.

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Yoga has been one of my biggest blessings, helping me cultivate a sense of safety and home within myself. 

For years before practicing, I assumed yoga wasn’t for me. I didn’t feel calm enough, grounded enough, and definitely not flexible enough. 

But true yoga isn’t about aesthetics. In fact, it wasn’t even originally intended to be a form of physical exercise. Odds are, if you’re treating it as such, you’re not reaping all the benefits yoga has to offer.

Yoga is incredibly accessible and transformative, allowing you to start exactly where and as you are. Here are five tips for beginner yogis who want to add yoga to their wellness routine.

1. Familiarize Yourself With the Origin of Yoga

Yoga dates back to ancient India and began as an entirely different practice than the one many carry out today.

“The word ‘yoga’ comes from the Sanskrit root ‘yuj,’ meaning to yoke or unite,” says Timothy Burgin, founder of YogaBasics.com and a RYT 500 yoga teacher with over 30 years of practicing and teaching. “The original aim wasn’t flexibility, fitness, or physical performance. It was the union of the individual self with something larger: awareness, consciousness, or the divine, depending on the tradition.”

When you use yoga for its intended purpose, you unlock its powerful potential to both heal and transform you.

2. Don’t Judge Your Flexibility (or Lack Thereof)

We all start somewhere—for me, it was with a stiff neck and hips so tight I could barely even get into beginner yoga positions. 

“The most persistent misconception I run across is that you need flexibility to do yoga,” Burgin says. “When I started, I couldn’t touch my toes. I could barely reach my kneecaps! Practicing yoga makes you more flexible. It takes time, but it works from where you are at right now. The big lesson I learned to help improve my flexibility was how to relax using slow, deep breathing.”

3. Sit With the Discomfort

Many people quit yoga merely because they feel uncomfortable being still in their bodies. However, if anything, this is more evidence to stick with it. Learning to sit with physical discomfort can also help you cope with emotional or mental discomfort. 

“Having to be still is another big misconception. Sitting quietly is hard, and most beginners find long holds or seated meditation quite uncomfortable,” says Burgin. “That’s not a sign that something is wrong. You learn to be still by practicing being still, not by arriving at class already chill. If you are an easily distracted person, try a more movement-focused class like vinyasa flow yoga or a class with a lot of active breathwork.”

4. Cultivate a Criticism-Free Zone

While it might be difficult, try to approach your yoga practice without criticizing yourself or your journey. 

“If self-consciousness is holding someone back, it helps to know that a yoga class is probably the last place anyone is watching what you do in a pose,” Burgin points out. “Everyone in the room is focused on their own breath, their own body, and their own focus. Plus, everyone has been the new student before, and yoga encourages kindness and empathy towards others.”

If it makes you feel better, you can always use at-home yoga videos on YouTube or follow your own flow.  

5. Don’t View Yoga as Exercise

This might seem counterintuitive, but this slight shift has changed how I show up to yoga. In the past, when I viewed yoga as a way to lose weight or tone my body, I started to treat it like a chore. I was rolling out that mat for the wrong reasons, fueling my body image issues—which is the exact opposite impact yoga is meant to have.

“The benefits of yoga are vast. Many students start due to a physical issue, but end up sticking with it due to the vitality and peace it brings,” says Burgin. “The path of yoga is wide, and different styles incorporate yogic principles of devotion, mindfulness, community service, and philosophical study.”

“The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali define yoga as ‘chitta vritti nirodha’: the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind,” Burgin adds. “The physical practice is a doorway into that deeper work, and the breath is the first tool. Neither demands a particular body type, fitness level, or starting disposition.”

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