Your yoga teacher wants you to know a few things when you step into the studio. No, you don’t have to know any poses or lingo. We—I—want you to know this:
We Don’t Know All the Yoga
Yoga is a rich science with thousands of years of history. There are thousands of poses and variations, breathing and cleansing techniques, history and philosophy.
I don’t know all of it. Not even close. And I’m honest about that; if I can’t answer something for you, I’ll let you know.
There are many teachers more advanced than I am, and even they would tell you they don’t know everything. There’s so much to know. All we can do is keep practicing.
You Can’t Read Your Way to Yoga Answers
I love reading, and I love yoga books. These writings help inform our practice, and I highly recommend reading some books about yoga. But in the end, yoga is experiential. The only way to find the answers is to practice your way to them.
Yoga Works in Weird Ways
Sometimes a pose will make you bust out laughing. Or crying. It can be tempting, especially in a class, to try to hold that in, and then to feel embarrassed or even angry about it. Please, please, allow it to happen. This is the stuff breakthroughs are made of. Don’t judge it. I’m not.
You Should Take Classes and Practice on Your Own
When you get started, classes are essential. There’s an energy to a class that is worth experiencing, plus you can get real-time feedback about your poses and how you’re doing. Good teachers give you options and, most importantly, permission to listen to your body and do something else if something isn’t working for you.
Eventually, you should practice on your own. Go to classes for inspiration, lessons from teachers, and new ideas, but explore yoga quietly by yourself at least some of the time. You’ll learn so much more that way.
Physically Advanced Poses Doesn’t Always Mean an Advanced Yogi
As you advance in your yoga practice, your poses will naturally advance with you. But someone who is fit and strong and flexible could jump into some of those poses today, even if they’ve never been on a yoga mat before. Just because they can do the physical work doesn’t mean their yoga practice is advancing.
Asana is one of eight limbs of yoga. It’s only part of the practice. It just happens to be the part that is most photogenic.
Don’t let the acrobatics scare you away from the practice. Don’t assume that just because you can’t do a handstand it means you’re bad at yoga. You can’t be bad at yoga. If you’re trying, you’re good at it already.
What do you wish you’d known about yoga before you started?
For some beginner-friendly online yoga classes, visit my YouTube channel.