Philippine D, a yoga beginner, shares her first impressions

My name is Philippine D., I am 24 years old, I am a student at EFAP in Lille. I am quite sporty, a good rider and I started yoga this summer. I wanted to share with you my first impressions and feelings about this new practice. I thought it could help beginners in yoga or those who want to start and are still apprehensive.

My first studio yoga class

I had been wanting to try yoga for quite some time and get involved in it. I had heard a lot about it and I really wanted to get started, but I was a little apprehensive. Finally, after having learned a lot about yoga,  I finally started my first studio class. Registered for a Vinyasa yoga class, which seemed to me to be the most in line with my desires, here I am on the big day in front of the room. I'll let you discover my first impressions in the rest of this article.

My doubts and apprehensions about yoga

Yoga has always intrigued me a lot but also scared me. Why? Because I have never been flexible. My doctor even told me that I was “anti-flexible”.

Just touching my feet with my hands was simply unimaginable, so performing yoga postures like those seen on social media seemed simply impossible to me.

Taking a class in a studio with a bunch of seasoned yogis didn't feel very reassuring, I was afraid that I would be laughed at and that I wouldn't be able to follow the class in its entirety. To my surprise, all these fears turned out to be useless.

Why did I sign up for a Vinyasa yoga class?

When I first started researching yoga, I didn't expect to find so many different types of yoga. Which one should I start with? I quickly felt overwhelmed, so I read a lot of articles on the internet and opened Yoga for Dummies which explains yoga terms very well.

My primary goal when I started yoga was to expend energy and remove all my negative energies. I came across the definition of Vinyasa yoga, a very fluid yoga (flow) and made up of a succession of non-fixed positions in a fairly precise breathing tempo. What struck me the most in addition to what I was looking for is the fact that it sculpts the body without making it swell.

So here I am, signed up for a Vinyasa yoga class at the Yoga Searcher studio with Adriano Nogueira.

The first yoga session

On D-Day, equipped with leggings, a sports bra, a t-shirt and a 4.5 mm thick yoga mat, ideal for beginners, here I am in front of the studio. The teacher arrives, I rush to tell him that I am a complete beginner and talk to him about my flexibility. He tells me that there is no problem and that everything will go well. The class lasts 1h30, which seems very long to me.

The students all arrived, I am reassured, there are only 8 of us.

The class starts quite quickly and I find myself chaining together asanas (yoga postures) at a steady pace. The teacher regularly comes to correct me in my positions so that I don't hurt my back. I understand quite quickly that certain positions are made to relieve the muscles and that you shouldn't hesitate to use them when it becomes too complicated. The one I prefer is called the child's pose or Balasana. You have to get into a kneeling position, knees as wide as the shoulders, pull your hips towards your heels while stretching your arms forward on the ground. Your forehead can rest on the ground and your breathing should make you feel comfortable.

During the session, I am faced with a problem, I have difficulty holding my downward dog on my mat, not easy to always keep the right position when you feel yourself sliding forward. I also have pain in my hands, elbows and knees because I use them very often.

And there, the teacher explains to me that it doesn't only come from the mat as I could believe but from the anchoring of my hands to the ground. Because I don't put enough pressure on my fingers. Normal, I'm a beginner :-).

The end of the session is approaching, and here we are in a relaxing position "Savasana or the dead man's position" that I really appreciate after these very physical 1h30. In a lying position, eyes closed, I really manage to forget everything and let myself go, under the benevolent voice of the teacher. Besides, I almost fell asleep :-)

A Namasté to thank everyone for this moment of exchange and love practice, here we go again with only one desire... to start again.

After my yoga session

I feel completely reassured after this first class. First of all, despite my lack of flexibility, I managed to complete the entire class. I also really appreciated the kindness of the entire group. I didn't feel any judgment or mockery and it was really very pleasant.

The difficulty I encountered was breathing. I tended to hold my breath and the movements then became much more complicated to perform. When people say that breathing is one of the key points of yoga, I really understand the meaning of these words, because for the positions for which I was able to breathe, I quickly realized that I could push them much further in the practice and that it was also easier.

The first benefits appeared the same day, I felt soothed and relaxed, which is not often the case, very stressed as I am. The next day, however, the aches and pains were really felt.

If you are a beginner like me, I hope this article has helped you take the plunge and enter the incredible world of yoga. For my part, I am only waiting for one thing, to start again and evolve in Vinyasa yoga and then why not try others?