One of the main reasons people are afraid to begin a personal yoga practice is the inevitable feeling of, “I’m not flexible enough for all of those poses.” However, this is one of the most common misconceptions about a yoga practice, and prevents many people from attending a class. Yoga doesn’t require you to be flexible enough to pull your leg behind your head or even to touch your toes from a standing position.
The purpose of yoga is to increase your body’s flexibility while building internal and external strength and connecting your body to your mind through your breath. The purpose of yoga is to help you find inner peace through meditation and asana practice. You don’t have to be flexible, strong or thin to begin a yoga practice.
How Yoga Increases Flexibility
A regular yoga practice increases your body’s flexibility and strength while also working toward inner peace and the calming of the mind. Though there are many styles of yoga, each one inherently makes the body stronger and more flexible by working from the inside out. Through a mindful practice, where you connect your body’s movement to your breath, you tell your body to go as deep into a pose as you are physically capable. You challenge your body to go deeper into the poses, pulling the muscles, ligaments and other connective tissues, creating a system of muscle memory.
The muscle memory created by a regular yoga practice tells your body that you’ve been in a certain position before and that you can go further into that position. Yoga allows your body to move through every range of motion, and though it may be sometimes uncomfortable to remain in a pose, stretching the muscles and joints allows you to move deeper into the pose.
Test the limits of your body and increase your flexibility with a regular yoga practice. Many of our beginners enjoy the Bikram-method Hot Yoga classes, as the poses are static and provide a great foundation to pursuing other styles of yoga. Check our schedule to find the perfect beginner class!