Do you have to be flexible to be ‘good’ at yoga?

Are you put off by yoga thinking you have to very flexible or strong? Here’s why ‘good’ or ‘not good’ is just such a limited way of looking at yoga.

I often hear potential new students say that they’d like to come to a class but they’re not very flexible, as if it’s a limitation, which is understandable given the dominance of visual media with people in ‘bendy’ yoga poses that require a greater than average flexibility.

But yoga is so much more than just postures! It’s about the way you breathe when you practice, your physical and mental wellbeing and about meditative practices, lying or sitting still and being comfortable both physically and mentally with that.

But let’s get back to the poses or asanas as this is where most people first come across yoga and it’s association with flexibility. Yoga isn’t a performance, or a set of stretching ‘exercises’ with required ‘standards’ so being good or bad just isn’t a thing.

The reason is that everybody’s body is so different: our bodies are differently proportioned, our bones vary hugely in shape which means our joints move differently. A ballet dancer’s hip sockets will have great range of movement in all directions and will most likely be very different to a sprinter’s hip sockets.

Our activities over time may have affected our strength and flexibility: doing gymnastics as a child or lifting weights as an adult will strengthen the upper body, while playing football will tighten the hamstrings. A very sedentary desk based job will bring tightness in the middle of the back and underused abdominal muscles.

So to say one way of doing yoga is ‘good' and another way is ‘bad' isn't really the best approach. There are often different ways of doing the same thing that achieve the same outcome i.e. downward dog with bent legs is just as good as a downward dog with straight ones if it helps the student create a stretch through the back. One isn't better than the other. They're both totally valid. 

(There is of course, being in a less than optimum position for the intended outcome of the pose, but that’s another subject for another day)!

I’m often asked if practicing yoga will help someone to become more flexible.

To a certain extent we can increase our flexibility within the limitations set by the structure of our bones.

We can certainly regain flexibility that we may have lost from particular activities or sports (as in the case of footballers’ tight hamstrings) or flexibility that has been lost through cultural habits, like sitting on chairs rather on the floor cross legged.

Increasing or regaining flexibility can be done over time through training the soft tissues, (the muscles, tendon and fascia) and to do that, the nervous system needs to be trained that it’s ok to introduce changes.

There are ways to do this: moving dynamically, moving in and out of a pose and using breathing that synchronises with movement, is a great way to get the nervous system used to the position the body is moving towards and it prepares for the next stage appropriate to the individual.

Repetition of movement or poses, particularly if its done often, will stretch specific tissues and so get the nervous system used to what the body is doing.

Teaching the same poses in different ways is also helpful as the nervous system likes variability and learns from this too. Teachers often teach the same pose in different ways as a way of introducing different aspects of a pose.

Using props like blocks and straps are a great way to support different bodies in a poses. If your fingers don’t touch your toes or the floor when you bend forward, the knees can be bent and with a block in hand, the floor is made to reach you! Props provide support and they can provide a focus which aids learning.

Small gains in flexibility take time. Some poses are technically nuanced and require flexibility and strength. I have been practicing for many years, and I’m still learning inversions such as handstand and forearm stand (although I have always been able to do a headstand). By working in tiny steps, being patient, using props, trying things in different ways, slowly working things out, I notice that things are shifting and I’m making progress slowly, bit by bit. Little and often is better than too much at once.

It can be useful to know that stretching and strengthening are not opposites and yoga postures uses body weight in many poses for stretching and strengthening to occur together, so changing how the load is distributed or by using an external weight can be helpful in learning.

So for me, yoga is something we do because it feels good, it’s enjoyable, it’s about learning and it helps our physical and mental health. That is more than enough!