One of the questions I get most often about my yoga classes is “Is this a beginners class?”. What people usually want to know is if the class is suitable for people with no prior experience of yoga and in some cases for people with a more sedentary lifestyle. And this question gets me thinking: What is a yoga beginner anyway?
The way I see it, every yoga class is a mixed level class. All people are different and almost everyone has an issue. It can be headaches, knee problems, back problems, tight hamstrings, sciatica, stress. Or their issue might be they have no body awareness. Whatever it is, every person has something.
So who is a beginner? Here are some ideas:
1. Someone who doesn’t practice on their own.
The study of yoga is very much like studying an instrument. You don’t practice in the lesson itself, you practice on your own. The class with the teacher is helping you refine your practice. Similarly, teaching a yoga class is not just about giving someone the experience of yoga and putting them through a series of poses. It is also giving them feedback on their practice and giving them tips how to get better. The real insights and questions and clarity come from practicing on your own.
2. Someone who doesn’t see the connection between their yoga practice and their life.
If someone is pushy and aggressive and stressed out in their life, they will be the same on their mat. You can’t separate the way you “do yoga” from the way you “do life”. So growing out of the beginner state is to understand that the yoga pose is an expression of who I am. The way I approach it, what I believe and tell myself about it has meaning.
3. A beginner can be determined by age.
With the advancement of age, our tissues get older and dryer, bone and muscle health become harder to keep. So if you are in your 50’s, even if you are athletic or have done yoga before, a more beginner class could be a better place to start until you have a better picture of how the practice feels for you.
4. You can be a beginner in yoga even if you are an accomplished dancer or athlete.
When you play the piano that doesn’t make you accomplished on the clarinet. It will make it easier for you to learn because you already know the language of music (or movement) but you still need to start from the beginning. Besides, yoga is much more than physical activity.
5. Someone who cannot feel what they need in their practice.
There are poses where we can challenge ourselves more. And there are poses where we need to stay humble and do less. The advanced, aware yoga practitioner won’t be putting the same amount of effort in every pose. For some people forward bending can be difficult while back bending can be fairly easy so they can be more adventurous in back bending. It’s the same in our life. Imagine waking up in the morning and treating every thing we need to do with equal weight. How stressful this will be. We know we need to prioritise.
I have been practicing yoga for decades now. And the truth is, I still feel like a beginner. When I go to my mat in the morning I don’t know what kind of body I will find there. Sometimes it’s a loose, pliable, comfortable body. And sometimes it’s a tight, resistant body. Sometimes my brain is bored, sometimes hectic, sometimes clear. I am changing day to day and I am also ageing. My practice needs to change with me as well so I need to keep learning.
The practice of yoga is always about listening and keeping a beginners mind. No two practices will ever be the same, even if you keep doing the same thing over and over. And my role as a teacher is to simply be a guide and to support you in your exploration. I don’t know better than you what you need and what will work best for you.
We are all beginners in a way.
That’s what we call practice
Why sign up for a yoga class if there’s so much free yoga online?
Photo by Anupam Mahapatra on Unsplash
