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Getting started with yoga can be intimidating. Suddenly you find yourself in an unfamiliar shape with your teacher cueing you to try something seemingly gravity defying with your left leg while you’re still figuring out what, exactly, they want you to do with your right arm. It can feel like no matter how hard you try, you’re a poster child for making the same yoga mistakes common to all newbies.
And beyond the overwhelming and sometimes difficult learning curve for the practice of yoga itself, you also have to learn the names of poses, completely rethink your understanding of how to breathe, and even interpret and understand yoga class descriptions.
I work with a lot of beginners to yoga and am accustomed to helping them through the numerous challenges of the physical practice as well as the other common yoga mistakes that happen to newbies. Here’s what I tend to see again and again and again. I also witness plenty of experienced yoga students fall into these same oversights.
What Are Some Common Yoga Mistakes Beginners Make?
Keep in mind that there is no “perfect” way to practice yoga. In fact, striving for perfection is pretty much the antithesis of the larger philosophy of yoga. It’s more helpful to reframe yoga “mistakes” as “areas that need attention.” With practice and awareness, you will see improvements in both the physical and mental aspects of practicing yoga as you move past these common yoga mistakes and start to learn yoga’s lasting lessons.
1. Attending the Wrong Class
It can sometimes feel like you need a translator to understand yoga class descriptions. Vinyasa. Bhakti. Foundations. There are many different styles of yoga, so certain classes may be more appropriate for you and your goals than others. Classes marked “beginner-friendly” yoga usually have more instruction and feedback from the teacher and go at a slower pace.
It can be tempting to join a friend who takes a more experienced yoga class, but even if you might have the physical strength and flexibility to perform the poses, taking a yoga classes that’s geared toward more intermediate or experienced practitioners can be problematic for beginners. Teachers will assume a certain level of experience and will tend to move through the poses more quickly and won’t provide as many cues or feedback. Let yourself be a beginner.
2. Rushing
I find myself constantly reminding beginners to slow down. I remind them not to rush into a pose and not to rush out of a pose. I remind them to take a class that’s appropriate to their experience. I remind them to slow down their practice as a whole and not rush the learning.
This all requires self-awareness and patience, both of which yoga can teach you. But for starters, when you’re finding alignment in a pose, gradually move your body into the basic shape and then check in with your body before deciding whether or not to intensify the pose by refining your alignment. You’re far more likely to make common yoga mistakes when you’re rushing.
3. Pushing Through Pain
Many students who start to incorporate yoga into their wellness routine harbor the mindset of “no pain, no gain.” However, yoga should never hurt. There may be some discomfort, particularly if you are exploring positions that are new for your body and building up strength. But pain is a sign that something isn’t right.
If you experience intense discomfort or pain in a pose, slowly back off the intensity or ask your yoga teacher to assess your alignment.
4. Not Grounding Your Body
Each yoga pose requires you to find a strong foundation before you can maintain your stability in the posture. So think about where your body is connecting to the mat. If you are standing, spread your toes nice and wide and focus on all the points of contact between the soles of your feet and the mat. Root your body down into the earth.
In poses where your hands are on the mat, spread your fingers wide and distribute your body weight over the entire surface of your hand.
5. Failing to Activate Your Core
Many beginners either forget to activate their core muscles or simply don’t know how to do so. Your core comprises the abdomen as well as the lower back, side body, and supporting muscles in the hips and glutes. Engaging these muscles supports the spine, increases your stability, and ensures proper alignment of your upper body relative to your lower body.
Although sometimes a teacher will simply cue “engage your core,” it’s not as simple or as straightforward as that. Practice exploring the various ways to engage your core so you become familiar with the sensations in your body.
6. Obsessing Over Alignment
It can sound hypocritical to point out that proper alignment in yoga is essential and then say that a common beginner yoga mistake is to obsess over alignment. Hear us out.
While it is true that you want to have your body aligned in a safe and functional way, many beginners are so focused on getting a yoga pose exactly “right” that they ignore signals from their bodies that beg for modifications. For example, not everyone can come into a Standing Forward Bend without straining their lower back muscles or hamstrings. Allowing yourself to bring a bend in the knee to compensate for tightness in your muscles and rest your hands on yoga blocks can prevent overextension.
7. Ignoring or Holding Your Breath
Probably the single most common mistake when beginners start yoga is overcoming a disconnection with the breath.
Many beginners do a warm-up and perhaps 3 to 5 minutes of breathwork at the beginning or end of a yoga workout but ignore their breath during the rest of the session. Your entire physical practice of yoga should be intimately connected with your breath. Every movement in yoga should be connected with an inhale or exhale and you should be focusing on your breath throughout the practice. You might forget sometimes. But your breath is as essential to yoga as the shape of the pose. Without the breath, the shapes are just exercises.
Similarly, do not hold your breath when you hold a pose. Move into and out of a pose with an inhale or exhale and breathe steadily through your belly during the pose.
8. Overthinking It
When you are new to yoga, there’s a tendency to overthink it by obsessing over the poses. Sometimes, the best and most beneficial experiences with yoga come when you simply listen to your body and do what feels right at the moment.
9. Holding Unnecessary Tension in the Body
Although many yoga poses are challenging, you should never experience full-body strain in a yoga pose. Many beginners tend to hold unnecessary tension in the upper body, particularly in the shoulders, neck, and face. Try checking in with all parts of your body during each pose and focus on breathing and relaxing those areas that feel unnecessarily tense.
10. Progressing Too Quickly
As with all forms of exercise, it is important to gradually increase the frequency and duration of your yoga workouts to prevent overdoing it or injuring yourself.
It can be really exciting when you can finally hold Tree pose for 30 seconds. That doesn’t mean that you are ready to jump to Dancer’s Pose. Give your body time to master the foundational yoga poses and get accustomed to connecting with your breath and body before trying to check off “milestones” or tackle buzz-worthy yoga poses.
Yoga is not a race and not a competition—with others or yourself. It is about becoming increasingly aware of what feels right in your body on any given day.
11. Being Too Self-Critical
The focus in your yoga practice should be on doing your best while respecting your body where it is on that particular day. Everything can become a lesson if you allow it. Just make sure you are practicing safely and mindfully. If you ignore all the other common yoga mistakes, keep this sense of self awareness as your primary focal point.
