How to start doing yoga every day & stay consistent
beginner friendly
The benefits of daily yoga practice can be life-changing, starting with the joy of a regular asana routine.
If you want to make this practice a daily routine, you might be wondering where to start, how to build a practice, and, more importantly, how to keep it up.
This article will help you find answers to how to start doing yoga every day, how to keep yourself motivated, and much, much more.
Let’s start!
How to motivate yourself to do yoga every day?
The best way to motivate yourself is to think about what you would like to achieve from your practice. Setting a goal, whether it is building strength, flexibility or your spiritual side, will become the driver for you to come back to the mat every day.
What you want to achieve from yoga is an important question to ask yourself if you’re going to make yoga a part of your life.
Most of us start with wanting to achieve a physical benefit – you might want to find relief for your back pain, you might want to be able to touch your toes, or you could be looking at yoga as a replacement to a workout.
These are valid reasons to build a regular practice, including using yoga to become a kinder, saner, healthier you.
Stating the reason to yourself will help you with returning to your mat every day.
The next step is to find how to bring that goal into reality.
1. Find inspiration
If there’s a teacher or style of yoga that you particularly like, stay connected for inspiration.
Once you feel the momentum, it’s much easier to get motivated to create a practice of your own.
2. Remind yourself of what you have to gain
There can be days where you feel demotivated, lazy, or tired.
On days like these, thinking about the beautiful effects of yoga practice and how that day will be incremental towards you achieving your goal can serve as an excellent way to motivate yourself to go on the mat.
3. Stick to the schedule
This does not mean not respecting your body.
It does mean that on days an intense practice does not feel right, choose something more manageable, perhaps a restorative class.
What is essential is not to break your routine and keep up with it.
That’s a great way to stay motivated.
If you are looking for tips on how to start doing yoga every day, read on.
How to start doing yoga every day?
Starting to do yoga every day can be fraught with initial challenges. Here are some tips that can help you overcome inertia and build regularity.
1. Motivate yourself
All that we have talked about above.
Find your reason to practice and set a goal.
Once you have a goal, find what inspires you and stay connected with it.
When you feel off, remind yourself what you have to gain and how you are moving ahead towards your goal.
And stick to your schedule; if you feel you are not up for a particular class, create variations in your practice but do not give up.
2. Start small
Rather than aiming to do 90 minutes of yoga every day, start with smaller duration sessions and gradually build up.
You can even split the amount of yoga you would like to do into smaller pieces and spread them through the day, preventing the overwhelm from setting in.
Also, on days where you don’t find yourself with much time, finding a 15-minute gap to come to your mat will help you sustain a regular practice.
3. Set a schedule
Create time for yoga in your daily schedule, whether it means putting it in your calendar or setting the alarm.
To Build time for yoga amidst daily activities is vital not to get lost in life that has a way of keeping you busy.
Once you have scheduled the hour for your practice, it becomes easier to put your laptop away and take that time out for yourself.
4. Join online or offline classes
Having access to classes, especially as a beginner, is a helpful way to start.
Choosing a suitable class is equally important as it will ensure that you can move towards your goal.
For instance, if your goal is to build strength, a beginner-level hatha yoga class could be a good choice. If your goal is to find relaxation, you could opt for a restorative class.
You will build regularity, have a teacher answer for doubts, and feel part of a community – all essential factors when you are starting.
There is a wide variety of online yoga options available that are affordable and that enable you to be flexible with time and speed.
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5. Create a physical space for your practice
Even if you attend regular yoga classes, having a dedicated space at home to spread your mat and practice is a great way to build regularity.
Make this space your own, someplace where you have your mat, props, books altogether.
This altar or sanctuary will be a place you feel like going to for your practice and will help you build a routine.
It will also serve as a reminder for your daily asana session.
6. Invite a friend or family member to join you
Having someone to practice with can be a big motivation, especially when you feel out of sorts.
It can also infuse some new energy into your routine.
Practicing with someone can make yoga more fun, and a human nudge almost always works better than an alarm clock.
However, rather than creating a dependent practice, use the company intermittently, say a couple of times in the week, so there is something to look forward to, and it keeps the momentum alive.
7. Track your progress
You can break your goal into milestones and use that as a tracker for your progress.
There are yoga challenges that you can take up, something like a 30-day daily yoga challenge.
There are apps, YouTube channels, and communities that you can join to help you with daily progress setting and even reporting.
8. Pay attention to how you feel
You might have sick days, and then you might have days where you just feel lazy.
It is essential to learn to differentiate between the two.
With regular practice, the difference becomes apparent, making it easier to stop making excuses.
There comes a point in practice where yoga will start to feel integrated into your day.
Until that time, being mindful of our excuses and overcoming that initial inertia can lead to a sustained and effortless practice.
Wondering how long you should be practicing yoga every day? Let’s find out.
For how long should I practice yoga every day?
How long you should practice yoga every day will often depend on your life circumstances. Rather than focusing on the length of your practice, making sure you develop a consistent routine is more important.
A two-hour practice is not necessarily better than a daily half an hour practice.
Under any circumstances, it is essential to respect your body.
If you have any lifestyle diseases, heart issues, or respiratory issues, making sure you do not overexert is critical.
Also, if you are in a phase of your life which demands that you are careful with your yoga practice (pregnancy, for example), it is crucial to be mindful that your daily routine does not create fatigue.
Exercising beyond your capacity or doing a yoga practice that does not consider the contraindications can create more harm than good.
There is no ideal duration of practice, and we must give up our expectations on a rigid version of how our asana practice should be.
Looking for a yoga style that meets your needs? 👉 Here we talk all about Iyengar yoga, learn if its made for you!
Do you need rest days from yoga?
You need rest days from yoga to allow your muscles to recover and build; it ensures that you prevent any chances of physical or mental burnout. Finding time to sleep and rest is crucial to derive the joy of practice.
A rest day also helps break the pattern and gives time and space to assimilate the benefits of the practice and connect with it more deeply.
Let us now look at the time gap that the body needs between one yoga class and the next.
How much rest does the body need between yoga classes?
If your style of yoga is strong and athletic (Ashtanga yoga, Vinyasa), you will need a whole day before coming back to your mat again. Even then, taking a day off is advised every once in a while, say at least once a week. If your style of yoga is more accessible and gentler, you can even practice twice a day.
It is also possible to break a bigger practice into smaller bits and scatter them through the day, so if your goal is to do yoga for an hour and a half every day, you can break it into three sessions of half an hour each.
This helps with practicing every day without exhausting yourself physically and mentally.
Yoga without rest can be detrimental to the muscles and tissues.
If the body is not getting enough time to rest and build itself, it will give up at some point.
A strenuous yoga practice can also lead to injuries, burnout, and fatigue.
Can I do yoga every day as a beginner?
As a beginner, you can do yoga every day. However, it is essential to start with the basics and make sure that you are not overexerting yourself. If you are practicing every day, half an hour of mild to moderate yoga should be sufficient.
Another alternative is to do hourly sessions thrice a week.
As a beginner, you can practice any style of yoga, including Vinyasa and Hatha; however, you must start from a class that caters to beginners.
Even a strenuous practice like Ashtanga yoga takes into account the pace and intensity for beginners, so do not feel intimidated by the look of any yoga style.
If you are a beginner, it helps to keep in mind that being patient with your practice is as important as being consistent.
Doing yoga every day should ideally not be a goal; instead, focus on building your practice.
Rather than starting with a self-practice (which you can also do), it is preferable to opt for a guided practice since it gives you the essential support in terms of alignment and technique.
Guidance will help you determine how much you should exert in your practice, considering the intensity of the course and your body’s needs.
Is it good to do yoga every day? This comes next.
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Is it reasonable to do yoga every day?
It is good to do yoga every day, but only if your practice is balanced and takes care of your body’s needs. If your course is athletic and intense (Ashtanga yoga or Vinyasa), you need rest days for the muscles to recover and develop, which is at least once a week. If your practice is lighter and easy on the body (Restorative yoga or Anusara yoga), everyday practice is also ok.
A balanced practice, when done daily, can be very beneficial.
At the same time, there is no need to feel obligated to practice every day.
A yoga practice that creates competitiveness is counterproductive to the spirit of yoga.
Trust that your body knows its limits and that it will guide you if you listen to it.
A safe practice is more important than a daily practice.
Curious about what a consistent yoga practice does to your body, mind, and overall well-being? We address this next.
What does it do to your body?
The most significant benefit of steady asana practice is that it enables you to stay connected with your body, making you feel anything off before it manifests into something bigger. It also helps beat stress, toxicity, and anxiety at a much faster pace.
The body has its intelligence that we do not always listen to.
When we show up for ourselves day after day, we learn to listen to our bodies.
This article from John Hopkins Medicine talks about the various science-backed benefits of yoga for the body.
Consistent yoga practice improves strength, balance, and flexibility, helps with back pain relief, eases arthritis symptoms, and improves heart health.
It also relaxes you and helps you sleep better, which can mean more energy and brighter moods, promoting better self-care.
What does it do to your mind?
When you practice yoga every day, it creates a time of peace and calms for the mind, consistently developing a space to become more balanced, which aids in becoming less reactive to different situations.
The daily practice also provides a constant in life, especially during periods of change.
It has a grounding effect on the mind when life around you is haphazard and uncertain.
Much research has been done on the benefits of yoga for mental health.
This article throws light on how a regular yoga practice can keep us mentally fit and help fight mental diseases.
Some of the things that yoga can do for the mind include decreasing stress, relieving anxiety, boosting your mood, and help fight depression.
What does it do to your overall sense of wellbeing?
A daily asana practice can make you feel increasingly better in all ways.
Asana, over time, becomes less about how well you are doing the poses and more about self-care.
Your mat becomes the place where you go when you feel sad, angry, or unsure.
It becomes a refuge.
This study shows how a regular practice of yoga can help improve quality of life.
Studies also show that yoga can promote healthy eating habits that help control blood sugar, increase weight loss and treat disordered eating behaviors.
Can I do hot yoga every day?
As recommended on the official website, hot yoga should be practiced at least three times per week and, to see more significant changes, four or more times a week.
They also say that a daily practice for 60 days can bring perceivable results if one is trying to lose weight.
Can I do vinyasa yoga every day?
It is generally recommended to do vinyasa yoga 3-5 times a week and leave out the other days for the body to rest and recover.
How many times you can do vinyasa in a week is also dependent on the duration of your practice. If you are practicing for half an hour, you can perhaps sustain a daily routine.
An hour-long intense vinyasa practice should ideally come with off days.
Can I do power yoga every day?
You can do power yoga every day.
However, since power yoga is an energetic, almost like a workout style of yoga, giving it a break is recommended.
You can practice 3-5 times a week and leave the other days out for rest and recovery.
Can I do Ashtanga yoga every day?
For a serious Ashtanga yoga practice, consistency is key.
However, Ashtanga students are supposed to take moon days off (both full moon and new moon), and in the more traditional Ashtanga practice, Saturdays are also taken off.
The day off in Ashtanga helps students to physically and psychologically recover.
Should I do a different type of yoga every day?
You do not need to do a different type of yoga every day. If you are a beginner and are still unsure about the style of yoga, you would like to practice, exploring different classes helps find out the one you like best. Once that happens, the more you practice a particular style of yoga, the deeper you will be able to imbibe its benefits.
It is ok even to choose as many as five postures and practice them every day. Over time, you’ll be able to assess the physical and mental progress that you have made using those five postures.
A yoga sequence for building a daily yoga routine
If you are looking for some inspiration to create a daily yoga routine, this sequence can help.
1. Standing poses
These poses help align the whole body and improve posture.
You can start with Tadasana or Mountain pose and bring in variations like raising both arms and coordinating raising both arms with raising both heels.
2. Forward bends
Some forward bending poses that you can build into your practice are Uttanasana or Standing forward bend, wide-legged forward bend, and Paschimottanasana or Seated forward bend.
3. Poses that strengthen the core
These poses help strengthen and energize the abdomen.
Some poses to try are Parivrtta Trikonasana, Revolved triangle pose, Adho mukha svanasana, or Downward-facing Dog Pose.
4. Backward bends
These help counter gravity and strengthen the back.
You can include Setu Bandha Sarvangasana or Bridge pose, Bhujangasana or Cobra pose, and Ustrasana or Camel pose.
5. Twists
Twisting poses help increase blood circulation in the abdominal area.
Some twists to incorporate in your practice are Namaskar Parsvakonasana or Prayer twist and Jathara Parivartanasana or Belly twist.
6. Inversions
These are poses in which the heart is higher from the ground than the head.
They help with improved blood circulation, increased energy, and relaxation.
You can insert these inversions in your practice: Salamba Sarvangasana or Shoulder stand and Halasana or Plough pose.
7. Final relaxation
This is to assimilate the benefits of the practice.
Savasana or Corpse pose for at least ten minutes after asana is something to not avoid in your yoga routine.
The takeaway
Regular asana practice is a gift that can hold and support you as you navigate through life.
Something to watch out for is if your yoga practice or a lack of it becomes the source of guilt or stress.
No routine or ritual should come in the way of the joy that you derive from your practice, and if it does, it is probably time to reassess where you are in your journey.
At the same time, a fun and joyful practice is as much an end in itself as a means for a healthy and happy you.
If you are an absolute beginner looking for some online yoga inspiration, this is a great class to try.