I believe that yoga is the last word Marmite exercise. Those that like it really like it, but for the remainder of us, it could actually be hard to get into. Even those of us who stick with dedicated workout routines, be it strength training 4 times per week or hitting a weekly running goal, can find being consistent with their stretching difficult. 

A part of the explanation, perhaps, is that we all the time assume that to do yoga you have already got to be extra bendy or extra mindful. For many who can’t get nail a triangle pose or struggle with sitting still for 30 seconds, let alone meditating, it could actually feel as if they’re failing. 

This, after all, just isn’t true. Nobody is born in a position to headstand for 10 minutes. Everyone has to start out somewhere on their yoga journey.

The advantages of practising are too huge to miss, from improving mental health to supporting muscle recovery out of your training. So we actually should all be taking time to decelerate and stretch – but we’d like to make it enjoyable. That’s why we asked the Strong Women community, from our editors to our readers, to present their recommendations on easy methods to feel more confident, find postures easier and make yoga work for us. Take one or all of them on board, and see how you are feeling. 

1) Go it alone

“I’ve tried classes and personally find I’m too self-conscious, so I purchased a mat and made space for it at a time of the day that works for me,” says Stylist’s digital author Megan Murray. “Not having anyone around really helps me enjoy it, and I follow Yoga with Adriene on YouTube who’s super chatty and natural but calming in the way in which she guides you thru.”

2) Do it pre-workout

Yoga doesn’t need to be a conventional 30-minute practice in a dimly lit room with incense burning. Squeezing it in where you possibly can is vital for Strong Women reader Claudia. “I enjoy it more at first of my workout as this provides me a heightened body awareness for my training. It helps me feel like I even have control of my body and of each muscle. It is tough within the sense that it takes lots to see improvement but you ultimately will. I began with just five minutes of deal with one specific group of muscles after which kept adding each time, and it’s made it so way more enjoyable and rewarding.”

Do yoga before figuring out

3) Let go of expectations 

In fact you’re going to hate yoga should you go in to class assuming you’ll be asked to place your leg behind your head. As an alternative, “attempt to have a good time with yoga, this fashion the experience might be more enjoyable,” says yoga teacher Donna Noble. “Not worrying how the posture looks and specializing in the way it makes you are feeling will get you out of your head. Let the body take over instinctively and don’t have any expectations of the category. Chances are you’ll be surprised to grasp that your body can do greater than you’re thinking that. It just isn’t the body that’s stiff, it’s the mind that’s stiff.”

4) Use music 

“Sound or music generally is a very powerful meditative technique to calm the mind, helping with stress and anxiety. It may well deliver a strong latest component to the practice, fuelling each practitioner with childlike curiosity, making a united sense of joy which flows with harmony and longevity,” says We Are Boogie Sound founder Keri Perkins. “Music – like yoga – is healing; it connects you to your true self and to others, and it’s also just heaps of fun.” 

5) Forget long stretches

Put me in a gym and I can train away an hour and a half with out a second thought. Put me on the mat and suddenly 60 minutes lasts a lifetime. So my solution is easy: don’t practise for that long! I can happily get through 20 minutes and feel the advantages, in order that’s what I do. The way in which I see it’s that it’s higher to spend a shorter period of time really applying myself than sit there for longer feeling fidgety and impatient. In spite of everything, who made the rule that yoga needed to go on endlessly? 

6) Visualise the advantages

We spend so long fascinated by how we are going to perform throughout the class that we forget the true advantages come afterwards. Switching your pondering is what helped Strong Women editor Meriam Ahari love practicing, and for her the results need to be visual. “For instance, whilst you’re stretching your hamstrings, try to assume that with every breath you’re taking, oxygen goes into those muscles and helping to heal and strengthen them. It’s technique to distract yourself should you’re bored out of your mind, however the brain can be a really powerful tool and being more mindful of what you’re doing and why may also help,” she says. 

“Visualisations during certain moves also help to stabilise me. As an example, during tree pose, I imagine my feet have roots after which are tunnelling deep into the bottom and that somebody is pulling on my hands, up towards the sky. That permits my body to actually elongate and the opposing pulls help me to balance – which I normally struggle with.”

7) Give attention to the breathwork

“Quite simply, yoga begins with the breath. In the event you are in a position to let your mind rest purely on the breath, then the shapes that you just make along with your body are largely irrelevant. Don’t attempt to bite off greater than you possibly can chew – decelerate, breathe, get curious and play! The remaining will follow,” says yoga teacher and member of the Strong Women Collective Annie Clarke. 

Modify your yoga to make it easier

8) Take modifications 

“The one thing that has helped me enjoy yoga is being shown the modifications for non-flexibile people. It’s OK to not be bendy!” says a Strong Women reader. The truth is, modifying for your individual body is the one technique to practise – you’ll never return to the mat should you injure yourself or feel out of your depth. 

9) Pick a method 

“Yin yoga, where you hold poses for long periods, is a method you may need to grow towards as you may find your mind wandering and never in a position to loosen up into almost doing nothing. Whereas a more dynamic yoga flow could be easier initially should you’ve come from a more lively background,” says pilates instructor Aimee Long. “I’d say trial all different styles, see what suits you best and stick at it for a few weeks and it’s going to definitely grow to be far easier and more enjoyable.”

10) Enjoy your environment

As with every little thing in life, comfort is vital. “I’m not a yogi, so for me it’s all about creating a comfortable and aesthetically pleasing environment. I make myself coffee or tea, have scented candles on, pick the lighting (either curtains open with light streaming in if it’s the morning or dimmed light if it’s the evening) and wear something super comfortable,” says fitness trainer and member of Strong Women Collective Emma Obayuvana. 

11) Use blocks

“Don’t be ashamed or afraid to make use of yoga blocks,” says yoga teacher and private trainer Shona Vertue. “They may also help facilitate higher execution of postures and in some cases even help to develop more strength.” 

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