Do You Have To Be Flexible To Do Yoga?

One of the most used excuses with beginning to do yoga is, “I’m not flexible enough!” And while I understand why that might steer you away — it’s important to remember that we all start somewhere. And it’s also important to remember that yoga is not just the physical aspect, or asana, but rather as a whole. This practice is slow and steady with ease. You’re suppose to feel comfortable and powerful in every position, not struggling. If you’re struggling, that means you’re going too far and it’s time to back out of it. Everyone with their yoga journey starts from the same place — a place of curiosity and desire to dig deeper. The flexibility is almost just a perk of what is to come from this experience! So no matter where you’re at in your physical world — remember that it’s not everything. The rest will come when it’s supposed to so just enjoy the journey on the way there!

How To Become More Flexible:

If you’re looking for ways to become more flexible, begin to attend yin yoga classes. Physically — yin is designed to help slowly and safely stretch your body without using muscles. You go into postures that are either on your stomach, back, or seated and you slowly move in and out of positions that allow gravity and your body weight to pull you deeper as you’re ready. For beginners, the poses will be held for about three minutes and can go all the way up to ten minutes if you want! Also, yin is a great way to restore balance in your body’s flexibility. A lot of the time, we have one side that is more open that the other. Especially if you’re more dominant on your right or left side, you’ll notice a huge difference come to surface in a yin class. With this practice, it’s also all about consistency. If you incorporate this practice into your life at least three times a week, you’ll notice a huge difference in how open your body feels. I’ve compiled a mini list of my favorite asanas to teach and what they do so you can dig deeper into what works best for you!

Poses:

Straddle splits against the wall:

This is a great pose to do because you begin in a “L” shape against the wall with your back on the floor, hips against the wall, and legs up the wall. From here, drop both legs out to opposite sides without force. The gravity will do the rest for you! Lay here for a few minutes to really open your inner thigh muscles

L/R Pigeon

This is a great position for working through your hips. This can be done either from tabletop, or you can lay on your back and make a figure 4 shape with your legs if your hips don’t feel comfortable in the other position

Frog

This is a more intense extension to the straddle splits against the wall so make sure you have padding under your knees!

Any shoulder stretch

We store so much trauma in our shoulders! Be sure to take time to give them a release. With shoulder mobility comes a lot more air so take time really working through these

Anyway! I hope these tips help you, and remember to not let the materialistic world chase you away from diving into your practice!