New to yoga

[kateclarke]

I have been doing 30 days of yoga on you tube and am really enjoying it.
Obviously, as a beginner I can't do every pose correctly.
I am trying to summon up the courage to go to a yoga class, what should I do when I can't do the poses? Do my best? Sit and watch?
I know I am over thinking this!!

I used to just try my best. A lot of teachers give you alternative poses if you are doing more difficult poses and they realise not everyone will be able to do them.

If you don't even try the pose, you'll never be able to do it correctly!

I am an Iyengar yoga teacher and we adapt poses, sometimes using props, to allow students to get the shape of the pose so they learn to do it correctly. We spend a lot of time working on poses - breaking them down and learning them bit by bit.

There are lots of styles of yoga and it's important to try a few to see which is right for you - it sounds like you might enjoy Iyengar or a similar style rather than a faster moving one where you go from one pose to the next (but I might be wrong, you might want a flow / power yoga style class). Can you try a few classes to see which one is best for you?

Just tell the teacher before class starts that you are new to yoga. Nobody will judge you if you can't do a pose. Everybody was a beginner once

Thank you everyone. I will pluck up the courage to try a class and see how I get on.

I found this old thread of mine while browsing. Thought I would update in case anyone felt like I did.

I started a beginers course in January and it's been fab.

Loads easier than the you tube vids I tried.

Everything has been explained really well and I wasn't the only one who hadn't a clue!