‘The thing is,’ said the woman to her friend, ‘is that I can’t reach anywhere near my toes, and everyone else around you will be going so much further, and then you just feel so stupid and like this really isn’t for me. And that,’ she concluded, ‘is why I can’t do yoga.’
My heart sank a little as I overheard this and I wondered if I should say something, but I didn’t, and instead just watched the pair walk away as I stayed seated in the park. Of course, yoga isn’t for everyone, in so much as not everyone wants to do boxing or go for a run. But equally, yoga is for everyone, in so much as if you do want to do it, I truly believe there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to.
If you’re someone who would like to do yoga, but thinks you can’t, I’d like to show you that you can.
The conversation I listened to that day was not so unusual.
When people find out I’m a yoga teacher, and we get chatting about yoga, and they find themselves getting attracted to all its amazing benefits – promoting calm and relaxation, building strength and flexibility, developing mental resilience and clarity, improved sleep, to name but a few – often then comes in a reason that they think they won’t be able to do it, that isn’t actually true. Here are the top 10 that come up, and why I believe they aren’t true.
1 – I’m not flexible enough/can’t touch my toes. If anything, this should be a reason why it would be great for you to practice yoga, as it will improve both your flexibility and mobility, which are both so important at all stages of our life so we can continue to do all the things that we want to as we age. Additionally, if flexibility is your main challenge right now, it’s important to remember, yoga is not all about being flexible. It is also about strength, quietening your mind, working with your breath and learning how to actively relax.
I think that at the heart of the ‘I’m not flexible’ reasoning though, is the very human concern of ‘I’m worried I won’t be good enough’. A qualified yoga teacher, however, will help you to work with modifications and variations of every practice to meet you where you are. They’ll also create a class environment that is not competitive, but instead a place where everyone is encouraged to focus on their own individual practice, with their own unique body. Joining a beginner’s course can also really help you to feel confident about starting a yoga practice.
2 – I’m too old. I think this is really a relation to reason number one, but with some subtle differences, including an even greater sense that this is an absolute reason, because age is fixed.
I’d love to change the dialogue around age and ability in this context. ‘Age is not a disease’, a clinical anaesthetist I used to work with always said, and as Dr Edward Phillips, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School writes, ‘Even people 100 years or older can build muscle strength.’
Also, the aging process isn’t as straightforward as we might think. Drawing on an array of amazing studies, David Hamilton writes how, aging is, to a startling degree, mindset related, rather than a biological reality, as he reports how research has shown ‘that ageing, rather than being a one-way street of fixed decline governed entirely by a persons’ genes, is flexible, changeable, can be accelerated, slowed, or even reversed.’
And finally, if you needed any more convincing, there is an 84 year old yoga teacher in the UK, who only trained at age 80.
You really are never too old to start, practice, or benefit from, yoga.
3 – I’m a bloke. When speaking to male prospective students, I often get asked, ‘is it only women in your class?’ It can seem like modern yoga is predominantly populated by women, but my experience has been that I have had numerous male students of yoga in my classes. There are also numerous high profile male yoga teachers and many of the pioneers of modern yoga were men. And for those that want them, there are also men’s only yoga classes offered by many studios and teachers too. So blokes, you can definitely practice yoga.
4 – I can’t sit cross legged.
Let’s put this myth to bed right now – you do not need to be able to sit cross legged to practice yoga, do breathwork or meditate.
If sitting cross legged isn’t accessible to you right now, options include kneeling, sitting with your legs out in front of you and even sitting on a chair. If the latter appeals, there are even entire chair yoga classes, with no need to sit on the floor at all.
It’s also worth noting however, that a qualified teacher will also be able to show you how the use of props might just make sitting cross legged much more possible for you than you realise.
5 – I don’t like chanting/don’t want to chant. Most community yoga sessions do not include chanting, and if they do, everything in yoga class is an invitation – you don’t have to join in, and the teacher will be aiming to ensure that you feel comfortable to choose the options of all practices which feel right for you.
It may be however that over time, you could find yourself wanting to explore the practice of chanting, which has been shown to have numerous benefits. In his book Breath, James Nestor writes of the scientific research showing that many traditional chanting methods work to naturally slow the breath, having a calming effect; they additionally increase blood flow to the brain and enable the circulatory and nervous systems to coordinate in such a way that improves wellbeing.
6 – I don’t have the right gear. This one is hopefully easy to dispel; in fact one of the things I love most about yoga is that the key thing you need is you!
You don’t need fancy work out gear, any comfortable clothing that you can move freely in will work great; when you are at home you can even practice in your pyjamas if you wish!
And whilst you will probably want to get your own mat, to start with you don’t even need that, as most teachers will be able to lend you a mat to use for your first few classes.
Even when it comes to using yoga props, there’s lots of objects from home that you can use instead of purchasing anything specific. For example, an old tie or dressing gown belt can stand in for a yoga strap, and big sturdy books can be used instead of yoga bricks or blocks.
7 – I’m too busy. This was my reason why I couldn’t do yoga when my friend asked me to join her at a class all those years ago; luckily for me, that friend didn’t take no for an answer and eventually got me hooked!
If you are truly time poor, nowadays there are lots of apps and platforms that offer shorter yoga practices, and you can also find some great five minute yoga sequences in books such as Dr Chatterjee’s Feel Better in 5 and Om Yoga Today by Cyndi Lee. I also wrote about my own favourite five minute yoga snacks in my blog here.
And if you attend a class regularly, or commit to a course of yoga, you will start to learn short practices you can use at home, throughout your day, whether that is a quick movement snack or even two minutes of mindful breathing.
8 – I have too many thoughts/my mind is too busy. Yoga is a complete system which is designed to help to lead you towards a quieter state of mind, so doing yoga will help you if this is how you are feeling. Additionally, the mindfulness and meditation aspects of a yoga practice will aid you in changing your relationship to your thoughts, so that you become able to watch them from a place of inner stability and clarity, realising that we will always have thoughts coming and going, and that that is ok.
9 – I can’t afford it. With so many high quality free yoga videos now available on YouTube, thankfully this need no longer be an obstacle to get you started. Whilst Yoga with Adriene is a firm favourite for many, I personally love Yoga Happy with Hannah Barrett Yoga.
If your budget is tight and you are specifically looking to attend in person classes, many teachers offer a concessionary rate to a limited number of attendees per session.
10 – I tried yoga once and I didn’t like it.
One of the many great things about yoga is that there are so many styles, and even within the styles of yoga, no two classes will be the same, as teachers bring their own individual stamp to their sessions. This means if you didn’t like one class, you may well like another.
For example, if you found the pace of vinyasa – a flowing style of yoga – too fast, you may enjoy a slow flow class or the longer holds of a hatha class. Or perhaps you would enjoy a completely floor-based practice, such as yin or restorative yoga.
Whatever style appeals to you, it is really worth giving it more than one class to see if you like it.
Committing to a beginners course, and having a teacher and fellow students on a similar journey to support you, can also make a big difference to getting you to a point where you feel more familiar with the practices, so that you can then really experience the wonderful benefits of yoga.
© Catherine Rolfe 2025
I hope this blog has inspired you into stepping onto the mat. Yoga has been such a transformative force for me in my own life that I am passionate about sharing it, so if you have any questions or would like to join me on the mat, please drop me a line here.