Yoga - help - will I look like an idiot?

[hellsBells246]

Going to a yoga class tonight. I'm totally unfit and have nothing to wear - no gym clothes, no T shirts. Help! What to wear? And will I look like a bellend??

Leggings and a jersey top or jumper will be fine. You need to be barefoot.

Fitness is irrelevant for yoga so you'll be fine. Just tell the teacher it's your first time.

If no leggings, loose-ish trousers you can bend in

Everyone looks like a bellend while doing yoga.

I would wear a vest top you can tuck into your leggings/trousers and if you like wear something looser and lighter over the top.

I'd also wear big pants.

I go to yoga once a week though I am too overweight to be able to do lots of it but who cares. I do whatever I can bend my body enough and sometimes just wait until next move. Don't worry about hbd others. Have fun!

You won't really look at each other- I do yoga and have a bad leg so I can't even sit cross legged and have to adapt a lot of moves but honestly no one cares that I seem to be doing it 'wrong'!

😂😂

Right, found some cropped leggings and a hooded top. And a soft sleep bra in lieu of gym bra.

I'm overweight and dreading it. What if everyone is size 8 and as bendy as a pretzel?

Don't be. When I started yoga I was definitely the less fittest but it really doesn't matter. And if you get remarks or strange looks than you are in the wrong class.

If everyone is like that, and you're made to feel unwelcome, then you never go back and find a yoga studio that is inclusive and welcoming. I promise there are plenty out there

Thanks, all. Appreciate it!

No one is good at everything. I'm 19stone and can't do anything that requires my head near my knees (too much fat in the way). But you should see me in balancing poses! All whilst the bendies are falling over. And my sphinx is a thing of beauty haha
You just shuffle your body where it will go. Any decent teacher will spot you and help with suggestions without embarrassing you.
Everyone is doing themselves, no one will be watching you x

You'll be fine. I've got so much out of doing yoga. I'm not a size 8! Yoga makes me much more bendy and stops me killing people

Everyone else will be too busy concentrating on their moves to notice what you are doing.
As a new face they will notice you, but just smile and say "Hi"!

Yoga is great for flexibility and your mental health, so relax and enjoy it.

Namaste👃

I work at a Uni so there about 4000 about-20yr olds on campus every day every hour in day light ... I've never seen anyone bendy as pretzel at Yoga and most aren't size 8, either. Our sports centre park noon yoga class is 50:50 MF, median age about 35 I'd say.

In the little market town where I live, evening class was 70:30 F to M, median age about 50. No one was obviously pretzel like at that, either.

I rock the bending but I’m awful at balancing poses!

You’ll be fine. Everyone’s just concentrating on what they can do. Make sure you’ve got a top you can tuck in & that the teacher knows you’re a beginner.

Well, it was great! I was surprised by what my body could do - three-legged downward dogs, various warrior positions. I wasn't so good at the one where you put one ankle over the other one then loop your hand through to hold the lower leg - arms not long enough/tummy in the way.

But it was a lovely friendly class and I'm delighted I went. Roll on next week!

Namaste! 🙏

Fabulous, good for you!

So glad you enjoyed it OP. I get such a lot out of yoga. I’ve been to lots of different classes over the years and seen everything from the lithe gymnast/dancer types who are mind-bogglingly bendy to the larger folk and some very old folk and everything in between. In many of the classes I’ve been to, there have been people who needed to adapt lots of the moves- or almost all of them! A good class should be inclusive and welcoming (obviously an advanced yoga class will be different but I’m talking about anything that’s billed as general or suitable for beginners).

I couldn’t even sit cross legged comfortably before I started but am so much more flexible now (can do a Mermaid- on one side 😂)

One of the best things about yoga for me is the headspace. Like a lot of people, I’ve got a busy, noisy brain and a few worries but when I’m doing yoga, I’m absorbed in it so my thinking mind shuts up and I’m just in my body for that time. Probably sounds wanky but that is really how it makes me feel.

I’m so pleased you went and enjoyed it 🧘