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It’s easy to color a really one-dimensional picture of what it means to be a “yogi.” Possibly you’ve formed a stereotype after scrolling through social media or attending a reduced yoga class five years ago through Groupon.

As someone who was once a wallflower at yoga class, I consider myself as having an authority outsider’s tackle the yoga community. Trust me after I say that those of us who practice yoga are as diverse because the leggings we wear. So in the event you’re contemplating trying yoga but you think that you don’t fit into the stereotype, you’ll want to understand that there isn’t any “type” of yoga person. If you may have a body, you’ll be able to do yoga. Period.

Following are the among the most consistent and protracted myths I hear about what someone who practices yoga must be.

10 Common Myths About Who Practices Yoga

Myth 1: You could have to be vegan

Some vocal vegans also occur to practice yoga. So it may be easy to assume that every one of us are that way. Not so. While most of us who practice yoga have mad respect for the alternative to be vegan, it’s not something that every one of us embrace ourselves. I’ve been teaching for more a decade and I still benefit from the heck out of a burger, a giant scoop of ice cream, and an actual BLT.

Myth 2: You could have to be woo-woo

Not all yogis are flower children who know their entire astrological birth chart and care more about balancing their chakras than their checkbooks. It’s true that the less physical, more intangible facets of the tradition of yoga in addition to some related lifestyle decisions play an integral part in many individuals’s practice of yoga. But that doesn’t need to be your practice of yoga. No talking in regards to the color of your aura required.

Myth 3: You could have to be radical left

People come to yoga from all backgrounds, educational experiences, lifestyles, and opinions. There is no such thing as a checkbox on the studio waiver you sign before attending class that asks you to exhibit your radicalism.

Myth 4: You could have to be super serious

Most yoga classes are usually not in any respect just like the austere, militant practices you may have seen on VHS videos from the ’80s. The truth is, most yoga teachers aren’t afraid to laugh at themselves, the funny idiosyncrasies of a yoga practice, or the stereotypes of those that practice it.

You may actually find somber yoga classes, but you’ll be able to just as easily find ones that find some levity. To every their very own.

Myth 5: You could have to be “good” at yoga

There is no such thing as a such thing as being “good” or “bad” at yoga. You may have the pliability of steel but that doesn’t make you “bad” at yoga. You may mentally curse your teacher for making you hold Chair Pose for too long but that doesn’t mean you’re “bad” at yoga. The one who can hold Handstand for 3 minutes isn’t any “higher” at yoga than you; they simply spent months or years practicing a selected skill set that you simply haven’t attempted yet.

The practice of yoga is an equalizer. All “higher than” or “lower than” speech goes out the window here. We’re all just showing up on our mat to practice something that makes us stronger, more flexible, and, along the best way, we are likely to develop into higher than we was. That’s the one competition you’ll find is outgrowing your old self.

Myth 6: You could have to be a hippie

Not all yogis have forsaken razors, deodorant, and hygiene. Not all yogis wax poetic in regards to the merits of composting. For those who fall into these categories, good for you. For those who don’t, good for you. All yoga asks is that you are trying to be a good human.

Myth 7: You may’t be an actual guy and do yoga

False! For those who explore yoga’s beginnings, it was almost exclusively a men’s practice. Only for the reason that westernization of yoga has it develop into a female-dominated pursuit. Moreover, lately the NFL, NBA, and MLB have introduced their athletes to yoga precisely since the strength- and flexibility-enhancing practice makes them more practical and balanced individuals. Veterans, cops, and firefighters have incorporated yoga into their days due to clarity and release of physical tension that it brings them in the extreme situations they encounter every day.

Myth 8: You could have to be spiritual

This one is pretty controversial and a few will disagree on this. But the actual fact stays you can come to yoga for the physical practice without trying to find a spiritual component. The larger tradition of yoga is gorgeous and will be profoundly useful. But in the event you just wish to work up a sweat or feel more embodied or learn the right way to sit still in meditation, there’s a yoga class for you. The spiritual side is actually available.

Myth 9: You could have to be enlightened

Anyone who practices yoga experiences the spectrum of human emotions similar to anyone else. Simply because they will sit in meditation for 20 minutes doesn’t mean that they’re enlightened or above on a regular basis frustrations. Yoga students and teachers curse. They get stressed once they’re running late for sophistication. They occasionally flip out on their companion for not putting the dishes away for the thousandth time.

Yoga can assist us learn the right way to approach our emotions with less reactivity. Nevertheless it doesn’t eliminate our experience of them.

Myth 10: You could have to find it irresistible

Yoga encompasses every little thing from athletic vinyasa yoga to incredibly subtle meditative yoga. You don’t need to find it irresistible all and even practice all of it. So don’t hand over simply because your top notch didn’t sit well with you. Keep trying. You’ll find what works for you. Beyond the styles, there are millions of different teachers, and each will create a unique yoga experience, even throughout the same variety of yoga. You never know who or what could be exactly what you would like.

This text has been updated. Originally published August 6, 2014.

About our contributor

Erin Motz just isn’t your traditional yoga teachers. She’s the carnivorous, red wine- and French cheese-loving type who teaches vinyasa flow. Her aim is to maintain classes fun and accessible, each within the studio and online. You won’t hear much Sanskrit in her classes and it’s perfectly effective in the event you don’t know your asana out of your elbow. She firmly believes that yoga is for everybody. She  could also be a “Bad Yogi,” but teaching yoga has been considered one of her best pleasures.