How To Be A Beginner In Yoga

Most of my friends don’t do yoga. It’s not something that I volunteer as a conversation topic, but some are interested and know that I’m pretty committed to it, so it sometimes gets brought up while talking.

There’s a mix of questions, from general chit-chat (“How’s teaching going?”) to requests for therapeutic advice: “Do you have anything that’s good for a tight lower back?”. Sometimes I’m asked questions I have no opinion on, or have no idea on how to answer: “I read this science journal saying that there’s a certain time-range you should hold a stretch for, and anything else is actually counterproductive - what do you think?”

I just take everything at face value. I don't feel much of a need to be a vocal defender or proponent of yoga. Whilst I think it has something to offer for anybody, it’s not something that everybody has to do. Typically though, any answer I have stems from a core belief: that this practice, whilst not without its frustrations and challenges, has provided a path through my life for the better.

I also detect amongst some friends that there is a level of apprehension about starting yoga. There’s a curiosity about how it could benefit their lives, but many haven’t given it a good go. People will talk to me about being really “bad” at yoga, for example, because they are very inflexible, and how off-putting it is to go to a class if they’re very stiff. Some people even tell me that they will start yoga once they become more flexible.

I can understand this mindset. Yoga is very confronting. I think it’s the most difficult thing I do. But it’s not difficult in the paradigm of a challenge to be conquered - it’s confronting by design. Really what we’re doing with yoga is a constant exploration and engagement with our present reality and our potential future.

I think that as a beginner, you have to not get carried away with all of the challenges. There’s no permit required to be here. You can come as you are. What you have to remember is that there was something about this subject that drew you in: a story from a friend about an action that finally relieved their tight neck, an image of someone remaining calm in a complex pose, whatever it may be, an impression was formed that this subject could be interesting, and maybe it’s something you would like to try too.

The beauty of yoga is that the practice exists as a system. When you are being taught by a teacher, you are really being taught by the yoga lineage, a practice that has been handed down person-by-person with origins dating back thousands of years. Have faith that if others have tread this path, so too can you. And in time, the actions will turn from something you do into something you embody, making the act deeply personal.

There will be anxiety at the beginning. I like this quote from Miyamoto Musashi: “It will be difficult at first, but everything is difficult at first.” Modern life pushes the idea that being a beginner is an embarrassing state. This is another expression of the trap of shame.

Learning to be a beginner is a lesson in itself, and being a beginner at anything is brave. Being unable to move past your own pride is something that holds far more people back in life than we will ever know.

So if you’re tying yourself in knots about how to start, see if you can let some of that worry go. Just find a way to make your beginning. Don’t worry too much about needing to wait for the perfect moment, just get along to a class. Maybe it takes you a few sessions over the weeks/months/years before it takes hold, and whilst there’s ways to improve your chances (such as attending classes at a good school - I may even know one) such is the way it is for some of us.

My favourite yoga sutra is the first: atha yoga-anuśāsanam, translated to “yoga begins now”. It has many meanings and applications, and one I take from it is the fact that yoga is a practice: it’s not something that is ever actually complete. Determining how to begin is something all yoga practitioners must go through, but the most important question to answer is “how to continue?”

Now that’s a bigger question, with an answer that only unfolds over a lifetime.