FAQs on Yoga: What to wear? What to eat? What to inform the teacher before class?
What do I wear to yoga class?
Wear comfortable stretchable clothing (sports/aerobics wear with 95% cotton and 5% lycra or spandex is suitable). Wear clothes that are not too baggy so that your teacher can check your body alignment in poses and so that you will not have your clothes’ fabric flopping over your face in inverted poses. Yoga is practised without footwear.
Can I eat just before a yoga class? Do I have to change my diet when I practise yoga?
Avoid heavy meals anytime less than 4 hours ahead of the class. If you are hungry, you can have a light snack 2-3 hours ahead. If you have a heavy meal before yoga class, you will experience discomfort during class as many poses will twist and bend at the abdomen. Also if your stomach is digesting a heavy meal, you will be lethargic during class. And yes! You can and should eat after class!
You do not have to be vegetarian or change your diet when you start yoga. Some yoga practitioners are vegetarian because they believe in Ahimsa, non-harming or compassion for all beings. However, this change is a personal choice and it is up to the individual. What I find does result from yoga practice is that you will naturally tend towards healthier food choices because you have developed a sensitivity to your body. This heightened sensitivity allows you to feel which foods promote a sense of well-being versus those which do not make you feel good after consumption. You will be able to differentiate between what in yoga we call the sattva (pure, fresh, light), rajas (fiery, processed, spicy), tamas (stale, cold, heavy) as the qualities of different foods. As your meals become more sattvic, your body and personality also adopts the same sattvic qualities.
What do I need to inform my instructor at the start of a new yoga class?
If you have any serious medical conditions or injuries, please consult your doctor on the suitability of yoga classes before you begin. Generally, if you have any heart problems, high or low blood pressure or if you had any recent surgery, accidents, fractures or sprains, you should mention these. Slipped discs and other spinal problems need special care too.
Many teachers make adjustments to your posture during yoga class. If you are not comfortable with the teacher touching you or if any of such adjustment is too severe, inform the teacher immediately. I find it helpful when a teacher lightly touches a muscle that is too tensed to draw my attention to it. But everyone’s comfort zone is different so you need to give your teacher some feedback on how you feel about these kinds of contact. It is possible to teach you about proper posture and adjustment without any touch at all. Indeed, we were trained by our Indian instructors to correct a student’s posture without any physical contact. However, as a teacher, I found that nothing beats a gentle momentary tap on the shoulder, for example, to remind the student to bring awareness there to relax the shoulders and ease the whole body into a steady warrior pose.
Wear comfortable stretchable clothing (sports/aerobics wear with 95% cotton and 5% lycra or spandex is suitable). Wear clothes that are not too baggy so that your teacher can check your body alignment in poses and so that you will not have your clothes’ fabric flopping over your face in inverted poses. Yoga is practised without footwear.
Can I eat just before a yoga class? Do I have to change my diet when I practise yoga?
Avoid heavy meals anytime less than 4 hours ahead of the class. If you are hungry, you can have a light snack 2-3 hours ahead. If you have a heavy meal before yoga class, you will experience discomfort during class as many poses will twist and bend at the abdomen. Also if your stomach is digesting a heavy meal, you will be lethargic during class. And yes! You can and should eat after class!
You do not have to be vegetarian or change your diet when you start yoga. Some yoga practitioners are vegetarian because they believe in Ahimsa, non-harming or compassion for all beings. However, this change is a personal choice and it is up to the individual. What I find does result from yoga practice is that you will naturally tend towards healthier food choices because you have developed a sensitivity to your body. This heightened sensitivity allows you to feel which foods promote a sense of well-being versus those which do not make you feel good after consumption. You will be able to differentiate between what in yoga we call the sattva (pure, fresh, light), rajas (fiery, processed, spicy), tamas (stale, cold, heavy) as the qualities of different foods. As your meals become more sattvic, your body and personality also adopts the same sattvic qualities.
What do I need to inform my instructor at the start of a new yoga class?
If you have any serious medical conditions or injuries, please consult your doctor on the suitability of yoga classes before you begin. Generally, if you have any heart problems, high or low blood pressure or if you had any recent surgery, accidents, fractures or sprains, you should mention these. Slipped discs and other spinal problems need special care too.
Many teachers make adjustments to your posture during yoga class. If you are not comfortable with the teacher touching you or if any of such adjustment is too severe, inform the teacher immediately. I find it helpful when a teacher lightly touches a muscle that is too tensed to draw my attention to it. But everyone’s comfort zone is different so you need to give your teacher some feedback on how you feel about these kinds of contact. It is possible to teach you about proper posture and adjustment without any touch at all. Indeed, we were trained by our Indian instructors to correct a student’s posture without any physical contact. However, as a teacher, I found that nothing beats a gentle momentary tap on the shoulder, for example, to remind the student to bring awareness there to relax the shoulders and ease the whole body into a steady warrior pose.
