Has anyone here ever quit yoga?

[ALeafInCobra]

I have practised for over 6 years, mostly Iyengar yoga, and due to several personal and health related changes am considering winding it down and moving on to something more appropriate for me at this point in my life. I don't need advice at this point, and am happy with where I am at, so my post is really about others rather than myself, if that makes sense!?

I am interested in other people's reasons for quitting yoga, as I can't find much information about it online, apart from connections to injury. So I am just fascinated really, because yoga does seem to generate such a huge amount of positive press (because it's great!) yet rarely any discussion surrounding why an individual might choose to stop practising it.

For instance, I have an old friend who quit a few years ago due to not getting along with class 'politics' (she had a weird teacher, I think!) and didn't feel as inspired or comfortable with self guided practice at home.

A colleague quit recently to to suffering headaches and dizziness, even with supervised practice. As far as I know he has no medial issues generally.

So it doesn't suit everyone, yet there's often a sense of yoga not being able to have a negative impact (anyone who rejects it must be 'flawed', etc), a sort of evangelical attitude that perceives the practice as beyond criticism, so I would prefer to avoid that kind of discourse here.

Like any interest out there, it's a mixed bag of reward and frustration , and of course there are physical limitations for many practitioners. I am also sure that we all perceive yoga very differently, from how we approach it/use it to the philosophy integral to it.
For me, I seemed to just 'fall out of love' with it at some point, as my life and interests changed. I never practised yoga for fitness reasons, I was more on the meditative side of things, and have grown more interested in meditation without movement in recent years. So, a simple enough reason for me, but I would like to hear other people's thoughts and realisations if they ever quit practising.

smacks of bad practice.

Not quite what you're asking but I don't do yoga because I genuinely find it stressful!! It has completely the opposite effect on me to what it should.

I quit because at the time I had a big fat belly and some of the poses were impossible. But neither could I stand the smell of the incense. I’d also go as far as to say I don’t really trust people who are so laid back they’re practically expressionless. I much prefer a bit of life to those around me.

Yes!!!!!

I really wanted to like yoga. I loved the stretching. I hated the chanting and humming and "headspace" meditating bit (no judgement,it just isnt for me, not how my brain works)

Also, every single class I went to.was filled with women who were rude, patronising, ignored me, looked down on me - compete bitchiness! That's the area I live in though!

My brain doesn’t work like that either.

after yoga I tried Pilates and that was just as bad.

I then found my tribe at Crossfit when I was 58 years old.

Another one who has moved away from yoga to Pilates . At 51 I needed to focus on more of the functional strength. I also reached a bit of a brick wall with yoga as j loved the way it made me feel but felt uncomfortable with the texts etc especially as they are all in a language nobody speaks .. I just wanted to move and feel good not feel the quasi religious part. I know do mostly Pilates and Tim Sinesi yoga on you tube when I do it as he focuses on building strength without the spiritual lectures

I am growing more and more interested in ballet barre warm ups and workouts. Something about it suits my personality more. As I have grown older, I feel that my meditative/breathing stuff prefers not to incorporate movement (so I prefer to just sit on my bed and do that in lotus, no twisty business) whilst my body seems to desire something a touch more vigorous yet stretchy!

I strongly doubt there will be any barre classes in my boring little town, but would love to find some decent videos.

Returning to yoga - I never experienced a class with incense or chanting. Would that be viniyoga?

I come and go with it, having done ot on and off for my entire adult life (now in my 50s). I switch to pilates instead when I'm not doing yoga.

Sometimes its just that I've been going to the same class forever and I'm bored. Sometimes I haven't like the style of teaching. I only do it for the physical side and am uncomfortable with meditation, any chanting or making ommm noises. That's the great thing about using videos, you can switch off when it gets to the relaxation section and go and have a cuppa.

I've come and go with it for years for various reasons.

• I do a few sports so don't have the time or inclination to commit to a daily practice, which is - implicitly or sometimes explicitly - a big 'no' at some of my local centres.
• Felt I was spending too much with a full gym membership & other hobbies & the classes were relatively expensive for what I felt I could get out of them.

I've actually got back into it since lockdown. I used to find self-practice quite hard (boring, if I'm honest) but found a decent app that's working for me.

I thought a weekly yoga class would be complementary to my other activities, but I just found it boring, and watching the clock waiting for the boredom to come to an end was stressful. Indoor climbing has suited me a lot better.

I've done yoga on and off for over 20 years. I also did a couple of yoga teacher trainings. However the intensity of the training and the stuff difficulty in setting up classes made me hate it! A few studio owners who promised to help me were very underhand. There are loads of problems with the modern yoga world, it can be a bit cultish and toxic positivity. Also lots of narcissistic non genuine teachers. And it's a very privileged world, mainly white middle class women practising and the prices mean it's not accessible to a lot of people.

I do however practice it again now. The classes at my local community gym are fun and accessible and very inclusive. Also they're mostly only 45 minutes which is ideal. The old tradition of classes being 1.5 hours long is an influence in itself! I find Pilates boring but love boxing and weights. It's good to mix it up.

Carpel tunnel put a stop to me doing yoga.

I’ve only ever been to one proper yoga class. Led by a middle class white guy, dressed in joggers and T-shirt to welcome people to the class, talking about his recent trip to India. Then he changed into baggy elasticated shorts, took his shirt off, and started putting on an Indian accent. No one else seemed to think this was unusual or at all inappropriate! I didn’t bother going back.

I'm a Christian. I avoided doing any of the chanting/meditation and only did the poses. But then I realised that by doing that, I was still "flirting" with Eastern Philosophy and I thought better safe than sorry! There are plenty of other ways to stretch/exercise.

This guy's stance is interesting about why Christians should not practice yoga:

Thanks @MyNameIsAngelicaSchuyler I shall look it up!

@TeaAddict235 I think you made the right decision. You might be interested in the video I posted above.

I am hypermobile. This makes me very flexible, but when I first got pregnant, yoga aggravated SPD (and I realised that my practice was often about me finding the positions easily, rather than getting stronger).

Some very good yoga instructors have understood the hypermobility issue, but they are few and far between.

Pilates has been my replacement. Not as much fun, but I needed to focus on strengthening.

I quit because I hadn’t realised I was hyper mobile, and several years of making my joints and hips more and more stretchy without any core and hip strength absolutely destroyed me and my lower back

all encouraged by a yoga teacher who would stretch me and tell me how good it was

It took years of physio and Pilates to restore it all, but I won’t go anywhere near yoga again

Finding the comments about hypermobility really interesting. I'm hypermobile but it's only now I'm doing other fitness I've learned how bad it's been to stretch my joints as much as I do...I'm not even that bendy when it comes to yoga. I'm focusing on core strength too rn and planning to pick up yoga again once moving my joints correctly has become more second nature.

I think this needs to be talked about more, it's a bit insidious and the faux authenticity that masks yet another, potentially toxic trend for the privileged often goes unexplored.
I recall in one class, which I left shortly after, a couple of the women discussing a new member who looked uncomfortable. The new member was white but not middle class.. or slim, nor interested in the other lifestyle associated fripperies of yoga. They concluded that her lack of 'commitment' was a 'chip on her shoulder', and that she might be better concentrating on weights/aerobics - as if weights and aerobics were for simpletons.

Best to avoid the snobbery, and perhaps leave a class if attitudes such as this prevail. Obviously these attitudes suggest an insecurity in themselves, as if involvement with yoga was a means to enlarging one's social status. Larger, community focused classes are less frilly but often far more inclusive, I agree.

Because I'm tall (long legs) with low blood pressure and I just didn't get on with it, I had constant dizziness coming out of positions. And I just found a lot of it insufferably smug, too. Just NFM, I wasn't able to suspend my cynicism.

I did like the shivasana bit at the end though. That was always lovely.

What is NFM?

Teaching yoga as a group exercise class causes a lot of problems. Is designed to be taught one on one, with the teacher watching the students individually, NOT doing it at the front with people following when they can’t see how individuals are reacting to each asana. This is how I was taught in India and it’s absolutely brilliant as tailored to the individual.