How do I get more flexible for yoga? 3 Steps!

When I talk about my love for yoga, I often encounter people who are super interested in practicing yoga themselves. They’ve heard all about the amazing benefits yoga has for your mental and physical state, and they want some part of it!

But they think, they’re not flexible enough. So when I ask them why they don’t just start they ask, well, how do I get more flexible for yoga?

First things first!

First of all, let me say that you do not have to be flexible to do yoga! That’s like saying you have to be clean to take a shower. Yoga will make you more flexible, it’s made to stretch out your muscles and give you more flexibility!

But I do understand that it can feel awful when you go to a yoga class and the class moves super fast and offers no beginner modifications.

It’s not very encouraging, and you just feel like you can’t keep up. It’s easy to have an experience like that and start to believe you simply can’t do the things everyone else is doing.

I get it. It’s difficult.

So I’m going to give you a few tips on how to work on your basic flexibility without having to go to a yoga class.

1. Learn to stretch the right way

First of all, you’ll have to learn how to stretch properly.

To do that, you’ll have to understand which parts of your body you can stretch, and which ones you shouldn’t.

To apply that knowledge, you then have to learn some basic body awareness. This will help you avoid over stretching.

You don’t want to pull anything and you don’t want to become sore. That would actually make you less flexible!

Related: Why can’t I touch my toes? Reasons & solution!

2. Learn some basic stretches

You’ll need to learn some basic postures and how to do them properly. That’s all. No fancy contortions or a million poses needed.

To get started, have a look at my free guide to foundational yoga poses! There, I explain in detail how to do some basic poses, where to feel the stretch and how to do them safely.

You can read through it and practice it all in the comfort of your own home. And over time, practicing these regularly will give you more flexibility.

Which brings me to the third point:

3. Stretch regularly

You will have to build up a regular stretching practice to see results.

So just start moving regularly. And no, it’s not going to be enough to stretch once a week.

If you actually want to increase your flexibility, find a few stretches for your tight spots – (for most of us that’s the hamstrings and the hips) – and do them every day.

For example, if you’re working from home: every time you get up to get a coffee just also stretch your hamstrings a little bit.

Again, the free foundational poses guide gives you a few ideas which stretches you could do. There are many more out there!

Want to get more flexible for yoga the easy way? Check out the 14-day Toe touching challenge! It helps you touch your toes in 10 minutes a day or less.

4. Build on your foundation

If you can follow these three general steps, you’re golden. You will gain flexibility and soon you’ll be able to super comfortably join any yoga class!

To increase your confidence, you could simply start out with some YouTube classes. I have a great list of the best YouTube channels for yoga beginners!

This is how you get more flexible for yoga or anything else

Basically, what I’m saying is, start where you are.

Don’t let the false belief that you have to be flexible already to do yoga, stop you from just starting to move!

You got this!