To be annoyed with these yoga people

[ApocalypseNowt]

Ok, so the other day I went to a beginner's yoga class.

It was at this lovely yoga centre in a converted church....beautiful place and I'd heard lots of good things about it.

Anyway the yoga man teaching the class is up on the stage bit doing his thing and we all start copying him. Well, at a conservative estimate I'd say that more than three quarters of the class were sodding yoga gurus! They were flawless, bendy, did all the 'hard' versions of the poses without breaking a sweat!

These people could have folded themselves into an overhead locker had they a mind to.

The class had a couple of helpers that kept coming over to people me to help adjust poses, etc. Majority of people needed no help whatsoever. They could have run the class to be honest.

AIBU to expect there to be mainly beginners at a BEGINNERS yoga class?

I appreciate there will be some variance between people who have never done it before and people who are progressing but really, most of the ones here could and should feck off to intermediate or advanced hero superstar level.

It just doesn't seem very yoga-minded to keep to a beginners class when you're clearly way past that level.

Rant over...!

YABVU

have definitely missed the point of yoga

jcne I haven't mentioned what I think the point of yoga was!

I'm simply making an observation on how I feel after giving it my first every go. Maybe you've missed the point of this lighthearted thread....

PoorYorick V possibly. As i said it's the first time i've tried and everyone else just looked boneless to me.....I found it demotivating but it is a very big class and some people have raised good points about why more 'advanced' looking people might be in there.

I'm going to see if i can find another class near me and give it another try.

I'd like to try an online thing but I'd be worried i'm doing it wrong!

There isn't some grand point to yoga. It's one path to a certain level of physical fitness and should you so choose also a path to meditative, universe-loving hippified happiness. It's also many other things to other people. It's ridiculous and elitist to claim otherwise. Love and light to all and all that jazz but it does annoy me a bit this "you've missed the point" guff. If you're getting something (anything!) out of your yoga practise then how can you have missed the point?!

OP the million dollar question is, are you going to go back?

The yoga journal website has really good tips on alignment for each pose

Thank you isuppose! I'll look it up.

I will try again but maybe a different class. I think a smaller one might feel less intimidating?

You must own it and make it your responsibility not to look at others or care how they are doing. You don't even know how advanced they are; you're a dead beginner, with respect you will be easily impressed.

The first time I did Body Pump I was by far the weakest person there. The skinny teenagers were lifting more than me. The 75 year old woman was lifting more than me. The fat guy with no neck was lifting more than me. Everyone was lifting more than me. I kept going and within a few weeks I was lifting more and more. Then some scared looking woman turned up for the first time and kept looking around, obviously taking in how much everyone else was lifting, and she didn't come back...

And I can guarantee that the only person in the class who gave a fuck was her. I certainly didn't. And nobody else gave a fuck when that dead beginner was me. Everyone was a beginner at some point. How else do you learn?

They might be intermediate or advanced people who benefit from drilling the basics, they might be at the advanced end of the beginner class but not ready for the intermediate, they might not be anywhere near as good as you think they are since you're not advanced enough yet to be able to judge. The LEAST likely explanation is that they're advanced yogis who deliberately spend hours at starter classes every week purely to make beginners feel shit.

But even if that's the case, it doesn't matter. If you like yoga and you benefit from it, then go and fuck everyone else. It's not a competitive sport. If you're looking around at others rather than focusing on your centre, you're not doing yoga. It's not up to others to stop going or your instructor to discourage them, it's up to you to own your yoga journey and focus on yourself.

Now go practise downward dog. I've never been able to do that one properly.

OP - Practice twice a week for a month, and you will see huge improvement. Nobody starts out terribly bendy but everyone improves quickly.

When I started yoga, I literally couldn't walk (knee problem) and also couldn't do most poses because I wasn't strong enough. Touching my toes was a distant dream and my legs were shaking in balancing poses.

I'm now one of those "gurus" (nor really) that newbies wonder at. Legs are strong, I have muscles in my arms , my back has straightened, and I love headstands

Keeo going and you will see

Come over to MN's Yoga topic for help & support. There is a running Yoga With Adrienne thread that you might want to join.

A beginners yoga class means that the poses are suitable for beginners rather than everyone being on their first few classes. So that means all the poses are suitable for someone new to yoga to attempt. However as you get better and stronger you get to be a bit more advanced in the moves
What you will find is that people who have been doing it for years will still turn up to a beginner class. Why? They like the poses, the routine, the teacher. Yoga is a journey and there is no competivrness than anyone other than yourself.
I go to Bikram 6 times a week. I have done for three years. That is called a beginners class! You just start, you go and you try your best. Everyday is different but you do your yoga with the body you have that day. When I started I couldn't touch my ankles never mind my toes. Now I do the more advanced versions. Plus I can tell you in the nicest possible way that no one else is interested in what you are doing! Mindfulness is a prerequisite for yoga and you try a pose, fail, try again and get better each time!
If I had dropped out after my first few classes because of comparing myself with the skinny Minnie's I would not be in the place I am now. Still a bit fat but supple, strong and fit and able to pop myself into some poses I could only have dreamed of. Please stick with it. Yoga is such an amazing tool for health of mind and body.

I should have said too that some poses take a good while to master but you should get them brOpen down into phases that you can attempt when you are ready. Amazing feeling when you finally master the 4th a final stage of a hard pose. But the key is patience and mindfulness when you are in the pose focusing on building strength and muscle memory. Going a bit further everytime rather than the mantra of 'I have to do what she is doing, I have to try the hard version, why can't I do it, I hate her, I hate me, I'm never coming back!'
Go with it. Be kind to yourself. Challenge yourself not others.
A remember a modification or an adjustment is a wonderful thing. It sets you on the journey and helps ng to make your passage easier! Never think it means you are doing it wrong. After so long in Bikram I am always desperate for a modification in class as it always seems to make you feel lighter and stronger. And better for next time!

This made me smile as it doesnt matter which beginners thing i have ever tried, the others there are already very good at it.
I did French once 20 odd years ago, a group of the students just used to go along for a laugh, they knew the teacher really well and were doing the beginners class for the 3rd year in a row, they didnt want to progress any further. It was a bit off putting although it was a friendly class.
The same with the yoga i joined once too, the teacher thought my belly was because i was pregnant ( i wasnt!) and the others were all bendy and fab at it. I didnt last long at that class, moved away anyway, so often wonder if its still going.
keep at it though, i know its off putting but you are there to learn and become fit, the same as them. He should show you the easier version to start with and i bet in a few months time, you will be as good as they are too! ( currently doing pilates really badly, but i just grit my teeth and hang around the back of the class)

When I was a beginner to yoga I could still 'do' all the moves. I'm flexible. I've never had an issue touching my toes or performing the poses, I've got years of martial arts and other sports under my belt. It doesn't mean we all sneak in to upset 'real' beginners. It frankly isn't difficult for many people to adopt warrior pose, or plank, or pigeon. Crow, yeah, I'd be surprised if beginners were doing that.

Want to know what I hate about fitness classes? Having a nice chat with people and smiling and saying hello and being sneered at and glared at and they say "And what are YOU doing here?" because being thin and fit, I'm apparently not allowed in these places. People with this sneery attitude:-

"It bothered me a bit but then figured it was probably because they had low self esteem and had to be better than everyone else!!!!"

Because to be good at something, or already know a few words of a language but still being a beginner, is a position of superiority to be sneered at? Tall poppies indeed. But then I'm reminded of my language class, where a couple of beginners just sat and wailed "this is too hard!" at everything, while the rest of us did what the teacher told us. So yes, we looked and sounded better than the big babies in the corner bellowing "FACK OWF this is WELLARD." They probably told everyone what terribly snooty experts we were.

I must anit, i am very very bendy and supple and when i tried a yoga class for beginners i had no problem at all physically, so probably looked as though i knew what i was doing.

HOWEVER, as things progressed for others, they regressed for me because i simply do not retain the names of things, so 'Aaaaand downward dog' and i would cheerfully do the sun salutation (i might be getting the names wrong, was a few years ago).
It was funny the first couple of times, then embarrassing - i would just wait and copy, and then be 'behind', which would set people off giggling, until i was asked to leave one day, i was causing chaos!

So, although in my mid fifties, i can bend myself in half and still get my toes in my mouth, it really, truly, honestly does not make me a yoga expert i also got banned from a line dancing class many moons ago 😨

This happened to me at uni. I joined a beginners class and loads of advanced people came along and complained it was too easy. Teacher tried to keep everyone happy but as there were only two beginners in the class it was mainly keeping the advanced practitioners happy. We ended up leaving and going to the pub instead

Hmm I think you're a bit unreasonable. I am very bendy and go to a range of classes, usually the most convenient. I can tell you straight out that I'm not looking at other people.

I know it might be a bit intimidating, but really, I have been doing yoga for years, on and off, I've never heard anybody negatively judging anyone else's poses or practice. I really don't notice what others are doing - if you're concentrating on your breath and your own pose what someone else is up to really won't matter. I have recently gone back to hot Ashtanga and I don't have the stamina to keep up the flow throughout the session - I just rest in child's pose when I need to, nobody cares.

YANBU. I found this when I went to a 'Back to Hockey' session a few years ago, inspired by the Olympics I think. It felt like everyone was amazing and could have been in the Olympics themselves! I never went back.

It felt like everyone was amazing and could have been in the Olympics themselves! I never went back.

Then you don't deserve to improve.

I'd stick with that class because it sounds like the teacher and assistants are ace and you'll be able to get into the poses correctly.

I started yoga in 1996. I probably looked like one of those bendy, floaty people. I was a ballet dancer in my youth and then a rock climber and hillwalker. But I started because I'd injured myself and wound up with 3 knee surgeries back to back and pins in my right knee. I couldn't climb or hillwalk for a year. I'd had to walk with a brace for months.

Would hate to think someone was checking me out and assuming I was smug and a guru. I can honestly say I never checked others out because I was so focused on what I was doing (and paying close attention to my knees).

I was really lucky to have some great instructors and can now practice with online clips.

It's really important to get a good teacher when you begin practice.

YABU but that's only because you don't realise that you will seem like a person who knows it all if you go for a few weeks.

Don't take being adjusted as a negative thing- it means you have a good teacher, and is part of going to a yoga class. I've been doing yoga for 15 years and I get adjusted/told to do things a bit differently too. It's actually really helpful- your body will remember where to go and what it feels like to get into a pose correctly. Yoga is something where you never stop learning- the 'easy' poses can actually be bloody difficult. And bendiness is no marker of how practised you are at yoga. Some people are just bendy, some aren't, some bend in some ways and not in others.

Please don't let it put you off. Remember yoga isn't competitive. It's about working with and challenging your own body, not anyone else's.

Thank you to all the people posting kind things - I think if i hadn't started this thread I wouldn't be going back. As it is i've been googling yoga classes and am going to try again this saturday if possible.

dangermouse that's a really good point about being 'adjusted'. Will try to bear it in mind. It just kept happening and I felt really stupid

I'm making an effort this year to try new things and meet new people. I'm doing my best.....just got in a bit of a grump about it!

may admit to being a teeny bit U

Very few things that are worth doing are easy. You must have something in your life that you couldn't do once (drive a car, ride a bike, juggle) and at points thought you'd never learn, but now you can. Think of that. And find your centre. You'll have a great time. Good luck.

I think that sometimes classes can become a bit competitive. I have been to so many over the years, some i have stuck with others i didnt like as everyone else seemed more advanced, fitter etc.
its a shame as the government want people getting fitter and doing things, but if people go along and dont feel comfortable then they wont bother.
Mind you, i did step once in the 90s ( its not so popular now) and the teacher said ' i had no co ordination at all' - i didnt go back!

I would keep going, stuff what everyone around is you doing. I would probably speak to the instructor before or after the class about your concerns, they can either suggest a more basic group or give you some tips. I remember going to a yoga class for the first time and trying to do more then I was ready for, couldn't walk straight for a week! go at your own pace.