Yoga for Beginners

It can be hard to find yoga beginner classes online and in person. If you’re new to the world of yoga, it might be confusing to know the difference between restorative yoga for beginners, vinyasa flow yoga benefits or yin yoga classes. Which one should you do?

There is really no better time to start your yoga practice than right now. You may have already heard about some of the benefits of practicing yoga and wondering if it’s something for you. My advice is to try it! What do you have to lose? In this post, I’ll try to review some questions you might have about yoga.

• What is yoga?
• What are the different styles of yoga?
• Where should I practice?

Yoga is so much more than the poses (or asanas). It’s more than the cute gym clothes or headstands. Yoga is about connecting to your breath and yourself and learning how to trust and listen to you.

Yoga is a journey of the self, through the self, to the self.” – Bhagavad Gita

Through this journey of yoga there are so many benefits such as:

• a sense of calmness and well-being
• reducing stress and anxiety
• increased balance, strength and flexibility
• better connection between your mind/body
• increasing self-awareness

What are the different styles of yoga?

There are so many styles that you can choose from but I’ll go through some of the more common styles: vinyasa flow, yin yoga and restorative yoga. When choosing what style of yoga is best for you, you’ll need to consider what is you’re looking to gain from your practice and how that fits into your other activities. So I’ve also included a beginner yoga YouTube video with each style so you can get a better feel for them.

Vinyasa Flow

This style of yoga is faster paced and you might even start to sweat. It’s like a moving meditation because you’re moving and flowing while connecting to the breath. There’s usually a variety of poses that build strength and flexibility and include standing poses, forward folds, backbends and balancing poses. Learning these different poses while trying to connect to your breath can be really challenging when you’re first starting out so don’t get discouraged. Also, the pace and poses will vary depending on the teacher too.  Traditional vinyasa flow will be different every time but if practicing the same sequence is something you might like better look into Ashtanga/Mysore yoga.

This style is for you if you’re looking to:

• have an active practice that increases energy
• build strength and flexibility
• challenge your body and mind
• use yoga for physical activity

Yin Yoga

This style of yoga is done cold (no activity before) to focus on the yin tissues in the body like your joints, ligaments, deep fascial networks and even your bones. These poses are held from 2-7 minutes, putting stress on the tissues to promote healing and increase mobility and flexibility. Yin yoga is challenging for both the mind and the body as you sit in these poses with some intense sensations. But the healing begins when you release the posture and feel the “rebound” effect of the blood coming back into the joints and ligaments. Also, yoga props might be used to help the body feel supported in these longer held poses.

This style is for you if you’re looking to:

• try a slower, more relaxed style of yoga
• counter other physical activity you do (running, strength training, etc)
• increase flexibility and mobility
• promote healthy joints, ligaments and other yin tissues

Restorative Yoga

This style of yoga is very slow and quiet with a lot of silence where each pose is held for 10-20 minutes. Unlike vinyasa and yin yoga, restorative poses have no or minimal sensation felt in the body. Yoga props (or household items) are used to support the body to close any gaps between the body and the floor. The most challenging part of a restorative class is letting go into the silence and allowing the body and the mind to let go of any doing. But it’s the perfect counter to being on technology all day or the general busyness of everyday life. Restorative yoga promotes healing in the body and is excellent for those recovering from injuries.

This style is for you if you’re looking to:

• have quiet time and silence
• relax and get calm
• promote healing and restoring in the body
• recover from an injury
• disconnect from technology and general busyness

Hopefully you can see why all of these styles are so amazing. And you can choose one or many depending on your wants, needs and where you’re at in your journey. There is no wrong answer so choose what feels best for you. For more free yoga classes, check out my YouTube channel where you’ll find even more beginner yoga classes.

Where should I practice?

There are so many options that you can choose from:

• In-studio public class
• Private 1on1’s in-person or online
• Online live public class
• Online pre-recorded class
• By yourself

There is no wrong answer and in fact, you might even want to explore many options to see what you like. So here are some pros/cons of in-person classes and online classes. But deciding which one is right for you will depend on what’s important for you:

• pricing
• schedule flexibility
• accountability
• being in-person with the teacher and other people
• In-person
• Online

I hope this helped you gain more insight on beginner yoga to get you started with your practice. 

Do you have other questions? Send me an email at [email protected].