Each person has their own personal reasons why they think about doing yoga and why they start. These are as unique as each person setting foot on a mat.

Physical

Physically, yoga helps with balance, spinal health, lengthens and strengthens muscles. Even the most basic mountain pose (tadasana) has benefits.

Yes, yoga is a good physical practice for many reasons. It can be a gentle way to ease into more consistent movement. Maybe someone has never had an “exercise regimen” and needs to start somewhere. Many doctors recommend yoga to help after an injury or recovery after a surgery.

Beyond a gentle practice, yoga can challenge even the most physically fit. Using just the weight of the body, practitioners push, twist and bend into the most challenging poses.

Mental

Moving into a yoga pose takes some mental forethought. Shifting from the floor to standing, reaching for the sky or down to the toes all require thinking about how to move the body. Once in the pose the mental aspect of stillness and staying in one position brings its own challenges. We are a society rushing from one trend, news story, social media post to the next. The act of staying in one position (even just sitting) will show just how little we actually slow down in our day. Many times we are ready to move, thinking we’ve been in a forward fold for 5 minutes when actually it’s only been 30 seconds.

Spiritual

Yoga is not a religion. Practitioners from all religious paths and those with no religious connections are drawn to yoga. The roots of yoga are connected to Hindu & Buddhism on many aspects. Connected. All 8 limbs of yoga are tenets of these eastern religions & traditions. Studying the yamas & niyamas will even show they reflect many moral aspects of Christianity. But doing yoga does not mean you are converting to any particular religion. The spiritual roots of yoga focus on becoming the best you. Once you start doing that you positively effect the space & world around you.

So, these are some reasons why you should (or could) do yoga. I bet you never thought there might be reasons why you should not do yoga.

Injuries

The main obvious reason would be some sort of injury that you still need to recover from. The physical aspects of yoga (asanas) would be limited to a point. Rest is best at that point. The mental aspects of yoga would be more beneficial. If there are physical limitations in the joints, limbs and muscles then modifications and support are necessary. Again, the mental aspect of yoga is the focus.

Quick Fix

There is no such thing as a “yoga body”. Doing yoga is not a quick fix to loosing weight, spot reductions or shifting your body proportions into some unattainable “ideal”. Society and the media tries to sell us beauty standards that normal, unedited bodies cannot attain without significant sacrifices.

However, the practice of yoga may just help you heal your relationship with your body as you learn you are already worthy and accepted in each moment.