I recently moved to a more ‘conservative’ community, where yoga is not yet as natural a part of life as it has become in places like California and London. Advocating strongly for yoga as a lifestyle I have come across a number of limiting beliefs about yoga, preventing people from getting involved in this magical practice. It’s time for these to be exposed…. and binned.
1. ‘Those Yoga people are flexible. I can’t even touch my toes’
Telling yourself that you’re not flexible enough for yoga is like saying you’re too dirty to take a bath. Noticing your own inflexibility is a sign that you need to do something different in looking after your body. Yoga is that something different.
2. ‘I don’t have time for something that doesn’t offer a real workout. I do work, home and gym. I’m sorted’
Yoga is not your ordinary workout. You will work on strength, balance, endurance, muscle tone, and stretching muscles that have not been stretched for years. You will have to create space in your spine so you can move properly again and achieve strength in places not known before to support your lengthened and strengthened muscles, joints and vertebrae. To top it all of you will need to find a way to let go, breathe, release, establish softness and, god forbid….relax and expand your mind. Real workout? No, better.
3. ‘I will look ridiculous trying these funny moves’
What is ridiculous is depriving yourself of what you need out of fear of what others will think. Forget about others and they will forget about you. You could worry about what you look like or you could have fun with it. At worst you have a laugh; at best, you do your body the biggest favour ever.
4. I can’t actually do the postures
Just because you don’t know how to do it today, doesn’t mean you wont know how to do it some day. Do yourself a favour and cut yourself some slack. You’re new at this so taking a bit of time to learn is an exciting journey to embark on. Everyone starts something new from a place of not knowing. The journey is what it is about. There is no destination.
5. ‘I will be the only person who doesn’t know what to do.’
In a beginners class everyone is still finding their way in yoga. Practice in yoga means to try and then fall out (smile), get up and try again. So you fall over? So what? In the bigger scheme of things, I’m sure you can think of worse things that could happen. Pick a beginners class with others just like you!
6. ‘What I have seen in the yoga photos is beyond what I will ever be capable of’
No two people have the same bodies and no two people look the same in a yoga posture. Once the posture has been set up safely, you are free to explore where your body needs to go. The success of yoga is measured by the joy and peace your practice brings – not the shapes you can make with your body. If you are capable of embracing this notion – you are capable of doing mind-blowingly, amazing yoga.
7. ‘Yoga is a weird cult/religion/foreign cultural practice’
Yoga was born in India but there are ancient drawings indicating it was practiced by other nations in different forms – for similar purposes. No one owns it. Your yoga is just that – YOURS. It’s a practise for YOUR health, vitality, balance and strength. It’s simply not true to say that it is a religion or cult and anyone trying to make it one doesn’t understand the beauty of yoga.
8. ‘I’m not vegetarian…and I don’t want to hear that I should be’
Some of the best yogis I have had the good fortune of meeting the world over weren’t vegetarians or vegans. Some were. Some ate red meat, some didn’t. Some at fish and others didn’t even ‘talk’ about animal produce, never mind eat it. Some drank alcohol, some sometimes drank too much. Some probably needed a wine. See what I’m getting at? There is no judgement and you don’t need to ‘convert’ to anything.
I hope that squashes some of the misconceptions and unfounded fears for aspiring beginner yogis. Get yourself in a yoga class! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. You have more to be worried about by way of your health and well-being if you continue to live in a state of contraction, tension, pain, inflexibility and unnecessary limitation. Love yourself enough to bring yoga into your life.
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This post has been authored by Tanya Kemp and has been reposted with permission. You can find the original post here. Tanya Kemp is a qualified Psychologist, Social Worker, Life Coach, Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner, Yoga Instructor and Yoga Therapist. Tanya spent time studying Yoga in India and practiced Yoga extensively around the world to expand and broaden her experience and understanding of this ancient philosophy which has taken the west by storm in the last decade. Tanya remains a student of Yoga and continues to learn and grow from teachers all around the world. Tanya is the founder of Heal. Love. Yoga. This operates on the premise of its services being authentic, original, delivered with the highest of integrity and directed by the Philosophy of Yoga. Find out more here.
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