Have you booked your first yoga class and are feeling a mixture of nervousness and excitement?
Here’s my 3 essential reminders that I wish someone had told me before my first yoga class:
1) Yoga is not a competition
If you’re worried about people watching you as you wobble, fear not.
Think of the class as everyone having their own practice guided by the teacher.
No-one’s interested in how far your foot comes off the mat in a balance pose, or if you can touch your toes.
Nobody will think you're weak or less able if you don’t do the full pose. In fact they will more than likely be happy that you are listening in to what your body needs.
Yoga is compassionate.
2) You don’t need to do all the poses
Yoga isn’t like being back at school in a PE lesson, where you must do all the activities.
No-one will ‘make’ you do anything.
So when you need a rest, take one. Find child’s pose or simply find stillness.
There’s no need to push your body into all those tricky positions simply because you feel you need to.
If you start comparing yourself to the person next to you, remember that everyone in the room started yoga at some point.
You’re a beginner and yoga welcomes you as you are.
3) You are flexible enough to do yoga
Although yoga will help you develop your flexibility, this is the one worry I hear the most from students, “I’m not flexible enough to do yoga”.
It’s a bit like saying “I’m too dirty to have a shower.”
Your teacher won’t have a checklist at the door to see if you can touch or toes or if you can stand on one foot for 2 minutes.
Know that you are flexible enough, strong enough, everything enough to do yoga.
Yoga doesn’t have an entrance test.
I hope these tips have cemented your desire to go to your first yoga class!
My next Yoga Beginner’s Course starts at the end of March – send me an email for more info abi@thewell-beinggarden.co.uk. If you’d like more yoga chat, wellness tips and ideas to bring more joy into your life, follow me on Instagram.