To the uninitiated, yoga is an unapproachable Jedi dojo of spandex-wearing gymnasts with the flexibility of rubber bands. Attempting your first class can be intimidating, so it helps to tag along with someone familiar with the discipline.

If you don’t have anyone like that around, there’s always Jenaé, who shares yoga survival tips on her fitness blog, Yoga.Eat.Run. Here are five to get you through that first yoga class:

1. Get ready to sweat. You won’t be running laps or hitting the weights, but you will get a workout. Wear clothes that let you breathe and won’t irritate you when sopping wet.

2. Don’t overdo it. If your body tells you to stop with all the twisting and bending, slow it down. Don’t over-exert yourself, because going too far, too fast can lead to injury and end your yoga career before it starts.

3. Make peace with the fact that there will be people with much, much, much better bodies than you. Don’t shame yourself by making ridiculous comparisons to the yoga gods and goddesses. No one’s there to laugh at you. Just do your thing and be comfortable in your skin.

4. Speak up if you don’t want hands-on attention. Teachers try to correct posture and position you correctly by touching and moving you. If that style doesn’t work for you, speak your mind before you get started.

5. You don’t need to be fluent in the vocabulary. Don’t be intimidated by the jargon you hear. You don’t need to know it in advance, and you’ll learn what you need to know as you go.

Click the source link for the post’s full slate of 10 yoga-prep tips.

How to Survive Your First Yoga Session [Yoga.Eat.Run]

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