People tell me all the time ‘I should try yoga but…’ or ‘I want to try yoga but…’. The reasons they give me vary, they are personal, but almost every single reason given comes back to the same root cause - a mismatch between an idea of who yoga is for (spiritually enlightened, time rich, actually rich, able bodied, flexible, gym bunnies in trendy leggings), and who it’s actually for (absolutely everyone).

I’m going to say it up front, I’m not promising that everyone will enjoy yoga or that they ‘should’ do it. This is not about preaching. But, knowing what I know about the myriad benefits of a yoga practice (not just physical poses, an eight-part philosophical path), I’ve yet to meet someone who couldn’t find some benefit from yoga. So when people tell me they’re enticed by the idea of yoga in some way, but there’s a reason putting them off giving it a try, that’s when I want to jump in and try to remove that barrier.

With that mission in mind, I’ve listed below some of the most common yoga barriers that I come across. If your reason for not trying yoga isn’t on the list, send me a message and let’s talk, I really want to help you find a path through the uncertainty to try some yoga.

I should also add here that if you have given yoga a try and thought, nope not for me, please try a different class, in a different style, with a different teacher. Yoga practices vary wildly, teaching styles vary, and it’s a deeply personal experience.

“I want to do yoga but I’m not flexible enough”

Somewhere along the way, it seems we all decided that being good at yoga is about being flexible. This is just not true. It is true that if you practice yoga poses your body will become gradually stronger and more flexible, but flexibility is by no means a pre-requisite. This is a difficult one for me to represent well, because as a dancer and hypermobile person, I am very flexible. But let me tell you that my slightly freakish levels of flexibility cause me many more challenges in my yoga practice than benefits. I spend a great deal of time trying to build up the strength I need to support me, despite my flexibility. Flexibility helped me pick up yoga easily and it gives me access to some wonderful poses, but for me, being a better yogi is about overcoming my flexibility and working against it. Secondly we need to remember that the physical practice is just one of eight parts to a yogic life, and none of the other seven elements requires one iota of physical flexibility. So, once more, all together now - you do not need to be flexible to do some yoga.

“I want to do yoga but I don’t have the time”

This is a tricky one, having an hour or more to go to a yoga class is such a privilege, we must never forget this. It is a luxury to be able to carve that time out of your day or week. And with more and more people heading on wonderful week-to-month-long retreats abroad it can feel like the only way to be a ‘good yogi’ is to quit your job and dedicate your life to it. Hashtags like #yogaeveryday are also not helpful in this area, perpetuating the idea that anything less than a daily yoga practice is a failure. If you can find 10 minutes for a few sun salutations, a few poses, or perhaps some breathing exercises, this can be miraculous. I will soon be sharing some ideas for 5-minute yoga that you can fit into your busy schedule. There are lots of ways to engage with the yogic tradition without spending hours. If you can find an hour or two for a full practice, then fantastic, that’s going to be hugely beneficial, but if you’ve only got 10 minutes per day, that 10 minutes can be totally transformational.

“I want to do yoga but I don’t have the money”

In so many ways, see above answer re: time. The same rules apply really, yoga classes, memberships, leggings and retreats are expensive and its often only the most privileged that you see in class. This is where YouTube is our saviour. There are hours and hours of fantastic youtube yoga classes available for free. I would give one warning on this though, with a yoga video there is no trained professional in the room to spot if you might be about to injure yourself, or just generally looking out for you. I would recommend going to at least one beginners class to get a more hands-on introduction to the poses and give you a sense of what you’re aiming for. Look out for community classes where you can pay what you can, this is a great way to learn from excellent teachers for a very small amount of money.

“I want to do yoga but I’m too self-conscious to go to a class”

Yoga studios are intimidating places. You walk in, everyone is silent, sitting on a mat looking as zen as the buddha himself. No-one wants to sit at the front. No-one talks to each other. The yoga teacher looks intimidatingly cool and is happily chatting with a regular student. Terrifying. Then you start the class and feel like everyone around you is leaping from pose to pose with ease, while you’re sweaty and red-faced and struggling. Double Terrifying. I can fully empathise with a feeling of pure dread at going to a yoga class. My advice to you is this; tune everyone out, yoga is for you and it’s not a performance for anyone else. Arrive with plenty of time before the class starts to avoid the awkward late stumble in, then lie down on your mat, close your eyes and focus on your breathing, you’ll soon forget about everyone else. Then when it comes to the class itself, every time you find your attention drifting towards the others in the class and what they might be thinking of you, don’t tell yourself off, just notice that it happened and bring your attention back to your breath and your body. I promise if you do this for a few classes, you’ll start to find it easy to do some yoga with confidence.

“I want to do yoga but I don’t have the right things to wear”

Do you own pyjamas? Yes? Ok wear those. If you have any clothing that doesn’t restrict your movement and that you feel comfortable in, you can wear it to do some yoga. When everyone’s deep into a downward dog, no one is looking at what you’re wearing. Leggings are not a uniform.

“I want to do yoga but I tried it once and didn’t like it”

Please, please, please, try again. Change the style of yoga, the teacher, the venue, the day of the week, the time of day. And keep experimenting with these variables for as long as you can. Yoga is an absurdly general term at times given the wide range of things it covers. There are some yoga styles I’ve tried and could not stand, and others I’ve loved. I’ve been to two different classes of the same style of yoga with different teachers and found wildly different results. Every teacher has a personal style (even within a ‘brand’ of yoga style that seems prescriptive, there are variations), and every yogi has their preferences. If you still want to give yoga a chance, please promise me that you will experiment.

Really, the above is just the tip of the iceberg, there are many more possible ‘buts’ that get in the way of giving yoga a try. If you’re still not sure yoga is for you, please get in touch, I would love to talk about it with you.

“I Should Try Yoga But…”