MyYogaTeacher Community

Not necessarily avoid — but you might want to modify deep forward folds or intense balances initially. The focus should be on how it feels, not how it looks. With consistent, mindful practice, your range will improve naturally. What kind of class to start with?
Beginner-friendly, gentle flow, or chair yoga are all excellent starting points. Once you feel more comfortable, you can explore other styles. Most important is finding a teacher who makes you feel supported and seen.

The most beautiful thing about yoga is that it’s not a performance — it’s a practice of awareness, compassion, and progress, one breath at a time. You already took the first and hardest step by expressing your wish to begin.
Trupti Parikh
Your yoga teacher

I did my first instant booking session and it was amazing.

My regular teacher Dushyant M was away learning to para glide - which is why I did not have my regular session.

So I requested an instant session with the note “Ran today - regular teacher is away - need a gentle session to help stretch hamstrings and quads”

My session was accepted by https://myyogateacher.com/yoga-teachers/rachna-2

After she accepted, we were practicing in minutes - She was ready with a plan - she started with gentle warmups, then some leg and hip stretches and finally some stretches with the belt for the legs followed by meditation and pranayama - it felt great.

I got to know that she is an amazingly accomplished teacher - living in Noida and has done MSc from SVyasa university. So happy that I got to meet her.

Thank you!!

Maria I’m not a teacher, nor am I any kind of medical person, I’m just a student. I don’t think the teachers go on this chat very much. I don’t know what time zone you are in, but I just wanted to recommend my class, Yoga for Hormonal Balance with Gomati Woli. If you message Gomati on the OTHER chat with your concerns, she will reply. This class is a really great group of ladies, we all support each other. Nobody cares if you can’t do the pose, Gomati would give you a simpler version and keep a close eye on you to make sure you don’t hurt your joints. It includes breathing exercises, Kriyas, and other things, and four times a week. Don’t be scared, just join. It’s in just over 2 hours, see you there if it’s a suitable time xxx

I’ve been wanting to try yoga for a while now but honestly feeling pretty nervous about it. I’m overweight (about 40-50 lbs over where I’d like to be) and not very flexible at all.

My main concerns:

• Will I actually be able to do the poses?
• Are there poses I should avoid at my size?
• Do I need to lose weight first before starting yoga?

I really want to get moving and improve my health, and everyone says yoga is so gentle and accessible. But when I look at yoga pictures online, everyone is thin and super flexible, which is… intimidating.

For the yoga teachers here - is yoga actually realistic for someone my size? Should I look for special “beginner” or “chair yoga” classes, or can I just join a regular class?

Looking for an honest advice!

We’ve made it even easier to book your next yoga class.
With Instant Booking, you can start your session right away — no need to plan ahead!

Here’s why you’ll love it:

• Find teachers available now — just like booking a ride on Uber!
• Perfect for spontaneous practice — when you suddenly have free time or feel like doing yoga.
• Ideal for missed sessions — if your regular class got canceled, hop into a new one instantly.
• Practice anytime — morning, afternoon, or evening — whenever you’re ready.

Watch the short video below to see how it works
https://vimeo.com/1134573764?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci

Give it a try and experience the freedom of yoga on demand!

Hello Yogi !
We’re excited to introduce a brand new experience on MyYogaTeacher, the Personalised Yoga Plan 🧘‍️

After your first trial session, our team will now create a custom 3-month plan just for you, designed around your lifestyle, goals, and how you practiced in your first session.

What You’ll Get
Your personalised plan includes:

1. 🧠 Custom 1-on-1 and Group Class recommendations based on your goals
2. A clear, 3-month roadmap to help you stay consistent and progress confidently
3. Personalised notes from your teacher about your first session
4. Curated class suggestions that fit your level and interests

How It Works

1. Complete your trial session
2. Within a few hours, your personalised plan will be ready
3. View it on your dashboard or through the link we send via SMS/email
4. Choose the plan that fits you best and begin your practice journey!

We believe every student’s yoga journey is unique and now, your plan will be too.

Do let us know about your experience & share feedbacks.

Rahul Bohra Great question - my logish answer to your question https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ykfak9tlf0xpagjwg2xo4/Jitendra-Muscle-movement.mov?rlkey=lp70mltk23bot0osi2t396gmh&dl=0

Hey Ketan, thanks for sharing … Vaibhaw please respond to this …

Had sent this feedback but adding this to the community post!
Dear Team,
I’ve truly enjoyed being part of the MYT community over the past three years, especially the yoga and meditation sessions that have become a meaningful part of my routine.
I wanted to share a small suggestion that might resonate with other members as well. Would it be possible to introduce Zumba classes, perhaps led by instructors from India, structured with a short yoga-based warm-up, followed by 30–40 minutes of Zumba, and ending with a gentle cool-down?
For those of us who love dance-based workouts, this would be a fantastic addition. It would also make MYT a more comprehensive platform, allowing long-term members like me to find everything we need in one place without having to look elsewhere.
Just a thought, and if it’s something that works out, I’d be personally thrilled! Thanks, Emal

Love this question, and sharing from a Yin Yoga Perspective – a form of yoga that’s perfect to balance out the yang activity be it a workout of dynamic yoga.
Yin yoga is slow, grounding, and focused on deep connective tissues rather than muscles. It’s about stillness and release — not activation or warm-up. So timing does matter, but it depends on what you want out of the practice.

If your goal is performance and safety during lifting:
Do the yin after your workout.
Yin postures help your body cool down, calm the nervous system, and release tension in fascia and muscles after effort.

Doing yin before lifting might make your joints and muscles too relaxed, reducing stability and strength during your workout.

If your goal is flexibility and mindfulness on rest days:
Do yin on separate days from your lifting.

That’s when you’ll really benefit from long-held poses. It’s also great for recovery and soreness — yin increases blood flow and parasympathetic activity (your body’s “rest and repair” mode).

In short:
Yin yoga after training or on rest days works best.
Avoid yin before strength or cardio sessions — your body needs tone and engagement, not deep relaxation.

Hey Rahul! Great question - and no, you’re definitely not overthinking it!

This is one of the most common questions I get from students who do both yoga and gym workouts.

Quick answer: Based on your goals, I’d recommend doing a SHORT yoga warm-up BEFORE lifting (5-10 minutes) and a LONGER yoga cooldown AFTER (15-20 minutes).

Here’s why this works best for your situation,

Before Your Workout (5-10 Min Dynamic Yoga):

• Since you’re doing weights, a brief dynamic yoga warm-up will:
• Wake up your joints (especially hips, shoulders, spine)
• Improve your range of motion for exercises like squats, deadlifts, overhead presses
• Reduce injury risk by literally warming up cold muscles
• Focus on: Cat-Cow (spine), hip circles, arm rotations, a few gentle Sun Salutation movements.

After Your Workout (15-20 Min Restorative Yoga):
This is where the magic happens for flexibility and soreness relief! Post-workout yoga helps:

• Release muscle tightness
• Reduce next-day soreness (DOMS)
• Focus on: Hip openers (pigeon pose), hamstring stretches, spinal twists, child’s pose. Hold poses longer here (1-2 minutes each).

So, Yoga before or after workout? The answer is both! Post-workout yoga is essential for recovery and pre-workout yoga helps prevent injury.

My Recommendation
Since you’re new to both gym and yoga, I’d suggest starting with just 5 minutes before and 10 minutes after for the first 2 weeks. As it becomes routine, extend the post-workout session to 20 minutes.

Check out our blog: Yoga Before or After Workout: Which is Better? - it covers exactly what poses to do when!

Not a teacher, but I do Zumba five times a week, daily Tai Chi practice , and general gym workouts on machines a couple times a week.

I always practice Yoga first thing in the morning, then allow at least an hour before other classes. Yoga makes my muscles relaxed and warmed, my spine feels open and flexible. It also sets my mind in a good place and gives me a feeling of strength.

A gentle Yoga session after the gym activities is also beneficial if I am feeling tired after a class, which at 71 is almost always :-).

Hi everyone!

I just started going to the gym 3x a week (mostly weights and some cardio) and want to add yoga to my routine. But I’m getting conflicting advice!

My gym buddy says to do yoga AFTER lifting to cool down and stretch. But I saw a YouTube video saying yoga BEFORE workouts helps prevent injury and warms you up better.

Now I’m totally confused

My main goals are:

• Don’t want to injure myself
• Build some flexibility
• Maybe help with muscle soreness?

Would love to hear from the yoga teachers here - does the timing actually matter? Or am I overthinking this?

Thanks for sharing this Angela. I see there are 4 reviews on this group class since 23rd October. One from 23rd October with 4 star rating, another on 25th October with 5 star rating, another on 30th October with 5 star rating and the last one from 31st October with 5 star rating.

We really appreciate the love you share in these feedbacks. I am sure you have noticed something we might have missed. We will check on this more and address the issue on priority.

For clarity, if I remember correctly, it was written on 23rd October, but only published on 30th October.

kuldeep thank you. I just know that this is first time any review of mine of less than 5 stars has ever been published (there haven’t been many) and I have brought this up in the past. Whereas I usually see my reviews appear the same day, this particular review only appeared I think a week later. I understand the system whereby the newest review replaces the oldest one, but as mine took so long to appear and went into date order of when it was written rather than going to the top of the list, after a couple of days it was replaced by more recent ones rather than being there for a week or longer. Finally, in case anyone is wondering, this review is obviously not for one of Rohan’s classes taken by Rohan himself.

Hi Angela Broadbent , thanks for bringing this up. As a matter of fact, we do show all reviews with less than 5 stars. There was an issue and it was fixed a couple of weeks ago, if you don’t see your review immediately that would be because the pages are cached for a couple of hours for faster response.

We show recent 8 reviews on all group class pages, your last review less than 5 stars was published on 23rd October on https://myyogateacher.com/group-classes/kriya-pranayama-and-meditation-by-rohan. We can see your review on 31st Oct here but not the one from 23rd October as there are other reviews in recent 8 received on this class.

Some example of reviews less than 5 stars can be seen at

https://myyogateacher.com/group-classes/30-min-power-rise-and-shine
https://myyogateacher.com/group-classes/yoga-fusion-sweat-and-stretch

Hi Angela Broadbent thanks for brining this to our attention. we are fixing this so that all reviews are visible. thx !

Jitendra I have noticed previously that whenever I have written a review of less than 5 stars, it has never been published, as I have mentioned before. I have taken probably 2000 classes and probably submitted over 1000 reviews, the vast majority of which have been completely positive, with only maybe 3 or 4 exceptions. I recently messaged you on the subject on the other chat, but I don’t think you’ve seen the message.

We do appreciate all feedback especially constructive feedback that helps us improve…