Can You Do Yoga if You’re Not Flexible?

Because of the complexity of many advanced yoga asanas, many people are under the impression that yoga requires flexibility from the start. However, a recent study showed that almost 80% of people that practice yoga do so to increase their flexibility, making it the number one reason people practice yoga. The truth is, yoga may be the perfect exercise for you if you lack flexibility!

Considering the range of difficulty and number of positions, yoga can help even the stiffest of muscles. Yoga helps train your muscles to become strong and flexible over time, so there’s no reason you would need to start out as flexible as can be. Eventually the beginner moves will become easier for you and you’ll be able to progress to more difficult positions, so don’t let your stiff, un-flexible muscles get you down! Not only are there plenty of positions that are great for people that aren’t flexible, but you can also find variations of intermediate positions that can help push you along as well. Just remember, yoga does not require that you be able to twist your body like a pretzel…though over time it may certainly allow it!