So, you've decided to try out yoga. You've heard all the benefits - a great way to get toned, stay in shape, lose weight, make new friends, merge with the higher consciousness - and you feel you owe it to yourself to give it a go. After attending one or two yoga classes a week regularly for over 6 months now, I can say for certain that you won't regret it - especially if you push yourself to go a second time. Yoga offers so many benefits its almost impossible to argue against - unless your sick, fatigued, dehydrated, etc. Please check with a licensed health adviser before going to your first beginner's class.
I put off yoga for years. I had all kinds of fears associated with it. What if I couldn't do the "poses"? What if I wasn't spiritual enough? What if I was the only guy in a class full of girls? Wait, how could that last one possibly be a fear? The excuses went on and on, but I finally threw caution (and really.. laziness) to the wind and went to the local yoga studio. I was very quickly addicted to it. I may write an article in the future about all the ways yoga has impacted me, but for now - here are the three things you need to know going into your first yoga class.
First off, you will be surrounded by women. If you're a dude, this has its benefits and its downsides - you'll discover both if you start going regularly. If you're a woman, you will have girls who can stretch in any number of extreme, exotic ways - you either come from a flexibility-promoting background (like cheer leading, gymnastics, etc.) and can do a split without blinking an eye or you don't and this display of limberness will bum you out and make you green with envy. The first thing to know for either sex: Leave your ego at the door. Yoga is not a race or a contest. If you sit all day long (in cubicle or class) or haven't exercised in a while and try to mirror (or out-stretch) your yoga mat neighbors - you're in for a painful morning after. The girl next to you has been coming for years and couldn't care less about how well you do the poses. She is there to deepen her practice further, keep in shape, or de-stress after a long week at work - not to time how quickly you can swing your flabby backside up into a downward-facing dog. The practice of yoga is really about going inward and becoming "body-conscious" - not of denying the ego, but of re-focusing your awareness to listen to the body. The first few classes will probably test your level of self-consciousness. Stick it out two or three classes and you will be surprised how quickly you'll want to keep going back. But, remember - leave your ego at the door.
Second,.. relax. This relates to the "no ego" thing, but also its nice just to keep in mind - especially your first few classes. Some of the poses (or "asanas"; or "yogasanas") you will be attempting are going to be fairly easy. Some will be difficult. Some impossible. Asanas vary in difficulty for different people, and even from class to class for the same person. One thing to keep in mind is you are not going to immediately graduate to spiritual nirvana if you do each pose exactly right - what you will do is be unable to walk normally for the next week. Go through the motions with strength and confidence, but don't force anything - respect your body's yes's and no's. The more you go to class, the more easily you will "flow" into asanas that on your first day seemed inhuman. Also, yoga classes are usually not very structured. Even though I'm in the same building, the same room, say "hi" & "namaste" to the same instructor, all at the same day & time every week, I have never been to the same class twice. Teachers like to mix it up and you will be immersed in a completely different environment from class to class. Pay attention to this - its insightful to witness the emotional baggage carried into class - by other people and yourself. Also don't think that every class will be as difficult (or easy) as your first. Just relax (and be aware).
Lastly, wardrobe malfunction,.. and how to avoid it. Guys, and I can't stress this enough, don't wear boxers under loose shorts! Many asanas and flows in yoga are performed on your back, with your legs flailing in the air, with your shorts riding down your thighs, with your.. well you get the idea. So, wear tighty-whities or some other underwear that keeps things firmly in place and hidden. Girls, well its really up to you and your self-image. Many girls wear spandex shorts with spandex tops or just tight(er) tops. If you wear a t-shirt, make sure you wear some type of sports bra or something - this is really just to avoid some creepy guy watching your every move the whole time. I tell you from experience.. as the creepy guy. If you are embarrassed by some extra holiday pounds that just won't go away, wear some sweat pants or exercise-type tights (sorry, don't have a clue what they are called - leggings??). Anyway, the most important thing for members of either sex:: Wear comfortable clothing - for you and those around you.
That's all you really need to know going in. You might want to go with a friend (if they are up for it), but, in the end, yoga is really a practice for you to reconnect with your body. After a a couple months of going (shoot for one or two times a week), you will feel better, more flexible, less-likely to stop at the fast food joint on the way home, and baffled as to why you didn't start going to yoga earlier. Have fun and..
Namaste.
