Yoga guides for beginners
Everything we publish on starting, learning and keeping a yoga practice. Written in house, reviewed by teachers, free to read.
25 guides
Yoga Safety: How Beginners Actually Get Hurt
Where yoga injuries really come from, which poses account for most of them, and the conditions that need a doctor before your first class.
Which Yoga Style Should a Beginner Choose? A Plain Comparison
Hatha, vinyasa, yin, restorative, ashtanga, iyengar and hot yoga compared on what they feel like, what they give you and who should avoid them.
Common Beginner Yoga Mistakes and How to Fix Them
Ten mistakes almost every beginner makes, why each one happens, and the single correction that resolves it.
Restorative Yoga for Beginners: Doing Almost Nothing, Properly
Fully supported poses held for ten minutes with no stretch at all. What it is for, how to build the props from cushions, and who benefits most.
Yoga for Lower Back Pain: What Helps and What Makes It Worse
A gentle sequence for the common desk-related ache, the poses to avoid entirely, and the symptoms that mean stop and see a doctor.
Desk Yoga for Neck and Shoulders: Five Minutes, No Mat
Six movements you can do in an office chair in ordinary clothes, plus the reason stretching your neck is usually the wrong fix.
Yin Yoga for Beginners: Long Holds and Why They Work
Three to five minutes in one shape sounds unbearable and is the point. What yin does, who it suits, and the two rules that keep it safe.
A 30-Day Yoga Plan for Beginners You Can Actually Finish
A month-long plan built around rest days and short sessions, with a deliberate minimum you can hit on your worst day.
Vinyasa Yoga for Beginners: When You Are Ready to Flow
What flowing actually means, the readiness test before your first class, and how to survive a vinyasa class without learning bad habits.
What to Wear to Yoga: The Only Three Things That Matter
Forget the brands. A top that stays put, a waistband that does not dig in and bare feet cover everything a beginner needs.
Bedtime Yoga for Better Sleep: A 15-Minute Wind-Down
A fifteen-minute sequence of supported poses and slow breathing, and why the breathing matters more than any of the shapes.
10-Minute Morning Yoga Routine for Beginners
A ten-minute sequence you can do before coffee, designed around a stiff morning body rather than an already-warm one.
Hatha Yoga for Beginners: The Safest Place to Start
What a hatha class is actually like, why it is the standard beginner recommendation, and when it becomes too slow for you.
Yoga Poses for Flexibility: What Actually Changes Range
Why stretching harder does not work, how long a hold needs to be, and the six poses that give beginners the most range for the least risk.
Yoga Props for Beginners: What to Buy and What to Improvise
Blocks change more poses than anything else you can own. What each prop does, what you can substitute from the house, and what to skip.
Sun Salutation Step by Step: A Beginner Version That Works
The classic sequence broken into eight steps, with a knees-down version that removes the two moves beginners cannot yet do safely.
How to Choose a Yoga Mat: Grip, Thickness and What to Ignore
Grip is a safety feature, thickness is a trade-off, and most of the price difference buys durability rather than performance.
Warrior Poses for Beginners: I, II and the Knee Problem
The warriors build the leg strength everything else depends on. How to set up the feet, protect the front knee, and tell warrior I from warrior II.
Downward Dog for Beginners: Why It Hurts and How to Fix It
Sore wrists, tight hamstrings, heels nowhere near the floor. A step-by-step fix for the pose beginners meet in every class and dread in most of them.
Basic Yoga Poses for Beginners: The Only Eight You Need
Eight poses cover almost every beginner sequence. Learn these properly and you can follow any class — each with its alignment cue, common error and easier version.
Benefits of Yoga for Beginners: What the Evidence Supports
Which benefits of yoga are well supported, which are plausible but overstated, and roughly when each one shows up in a beginner practice.
Your First Yoga Class: What Actually Happens
Where to stand, what to bring, what the Sanskrit means and what happens if you cannot do a pose. The unglamorous logistics nobody explains.
How Often Should Beginners Do Yoga? Frequency vs Length
Three short sessions beat one long one, and here is the physiological reason why — plus how to know when to add a fourth day.
How to Start Yoga at Home: A Practical First Week
You do not need a studio, a teacher or a plan you will abandon. Here is how to set up a corner, choose a first sequence and get through week one.
Yoga for Beginners: What Nobody Tells You in the First Month
What actually happens in your first month of yoga, what progress looks like, and the five expectations that make most beginners quit before week four.