How to Start a Yoga Practice

Practicing yoga has changed my life. You’ve probably heard many people say this, and that’s because yoga has an endless list of physical, emotional and mental benefits. I won’t get into the WHY you should start a yoga practice, since most of us get into it for different reasons - but I’d love to help you with the HOW.

A question I get often is “How did you start your yoga practice?” - and while my personal experience might be different from other yogis, I’d love to share the (free & paid) tools I used to get started!!

I started practicing yoga in 2014, and like most other yogis, I started out as a beginner, feeling very intimidated by it. I went to a few classes and always felt very self-conscious. The teachers always used words I didn’t understand and every other student seemed so advanced next to me. So I decided to take it back to basics - and learn at home.

Let’s Start Yoga

I used Jessica Olie’s guide: Let’s Start Yoga. I really enjoyed using this ebook/guide. It had detailed descriptions and pictures of different poses, and instructions on how to safely grow your practice. What I loved most about using this ebook, is that I could use it at home, without feeling embarrassed by other more advanced yogis around me. I slowly became familiar with the main poses (asanas), and learned a lot in the process.

Price for this guide: $29.99 USD

Yoga With Adriene

Another great (& free!) resource for Yoga: Yoga With Adriene on Youtube. Adriene has such a sweet, gentle and loving energy about her, and I think this is what has caused her community to grow (she has over 5 million subscribers!). She has yoga videos of varying difficulties, and lots of videos for beginners. Whether you’re starting out or are already well into your yoga journey, Adriene has a yoga video for you! Also, her dog is super cute and sometimes practices yoga with you :) hehe

Price: FREE

oneOeight

One of my favorite online resources for Yoga is oneOeight. It’s an online platform with hundreds of yoga videos, as well as meditation and wellness videos. They even have some astrology videos (which I looove). What I like most about this platform, is you can choose the different types of yoga you want to practice (Vinyasa, Hatha, Prenatal, Kundalini, etc), the different levels of difficulty, and also by length of videos. I usually go with 30 minute Vinyasa videos, and I personally love Jennifer Pastiloff’s videos, which are usually themed around Intentions (more confidence, releasing fears, loving your body, among many others).

Price: They have a 10 day free trial, and then it’s $14 USD a month.

Private Yoga Lessons

One of the best ways to ease yourself into yoga: Hire a Yoga Teacher to teach you at home! With an abundance of yoga teachers out there, there’s probably a Yoga Teacher out there perfect for you. Private yoga teachers vary in prices, but if you want to find a teacher who doesn’t charge much, you could look for teachers who have recently graduated from they Yoga Teacher Trainings. Having a private yoga teacher is a great way to get yourself familiarized with the basic yoga asanas, and most importantly, to check and correct your form. I spent years doing “chaturanga” wrong, until I had a teacher correct me and teach me the right way to do it. We can spend years doing yoga at home, but part of learning and practicing yoga is letting other yogis correct our postures so we can grow in our practice!

And lastly…

Get out of your house and into a Studio!

Chances are, wherever you live, there’s a yoga community. I practiced yoga at home for years, and after a while, it got a bit repetitive (and lonely!). While I lived in Australia, I tried out lots of different yoga studios (with classpass). Most yoga studios have a free trial class or even some free month promos. Look into yoga studios around your area and try a free class! This is a great way to experiment with different types of yoga and different teachers. I’ve practiced with many teachers and some of them have touched my heart and left me feeling inspired for months to come (I’m looking at you, @charlottewald!). Also, look into festivals like Wanderlust - take a friend, go for a fun run, practice yoga under the sun… it’s one of my favorite festivals cuz it’s such a high vibe day full of fun activities!! What I love most about going to a Yoga Class is CONNECTING with other people. Whether that’s the person next to you on the mat, or your teacher, I always leave a yoga class with my cup feeling full. Also - the best classes are the ones that end in Savasana (corpse pose), with a blanket on top, the teacher giving you a small head or shoulder massage and dropping some essential oil on your forehead - HEAVEN!!

that’s me up on stage on the right hehe

So there you have it! These are the things i’ve done in order to start my yoga practice. I look forward to getting my Yoga Teacher Training done next year so I can hopefully start teaching others the magic of yoga :)

Let me know in the comments below if there’s any other tools, free or paid, that you’ve used to begin or advance in your yoga practice!

Lots of love,

Nati