Yoga at Home for Beginners: 10 Tips to Get Started

Yes, you can start yoga at home as a beginner. You need a floor space the length of your body, a mat or a folded blanket, and a class that is labelled for beginners. Start with 15-30 minutes, two or three times a week, and repeat the same class until you know the poses before you try something new.

Can you do yoga at home as a beginner?

You can. Most beginner classes are built from a small set of poses: standing poses, a few forward folds, Downward-Facing Dog, a gentle twist and a rest at the end. A clear video teacher can talk you through all of them. What you lose at home is the teacher's eyes. Nobody corrects your knee when it drifts in, and nobody tells you to back off. So the home beginner has one extra job: move slowly enough to notice what your own body is doing.

If yoga is completely new to you, read what yoga is, a beginner's guide first. It explains the words you will hear in class.

What you need to practise yoga at home

• Space. Enough room to lie down with your arms stretched overhead, and to reach out to the sides in a standing pose. About two by three metres is plenty.
• A surface that does not slide. A yoga mat is best. A rug or a folded blanket on a carpet works to start with. Avoid a towel on a wooden floor: your hands slip in Downward-Facing Dog.
• Stand-ins for props. A thick book or two works as a block. A belt or a scarf works as a strap. A firm cushion or a rolled blanket works as a bolster.
• A screen you can see and hear from the mat. Put it to the side, at the front of the mat, so you can glance at it without twisting your neck.
• Clothes you can bend in. Bare feet on the mat.

10 tips to start yoga at home

1. Pick a regular time

A habit forms around a fixed slot more easily than around good intentions. Many people like the morning, before the day fills up. Others prefer the evening, when the body is warm and stiff joints have loosened. Choose the time you can protect, and put it in your calendar.

2. Keep the classes short at first

Fifteen to thirty minutes is enough for a beginner. Short classes are easier to fit in, and you will do them more often. Three 20-minute sessions a week will teach you more than one long class you dread.

3. Start with a beginner program

A program gives you an order to follow, so you do not have to choose a class every day. Our four-week Yoga for Beginners program teaches the basic Vinyasa postures in twenty-minute classes, one step at a time. You can also filter classes by level 1, which means new to yoga is fine. To try before you commit, take one of our free online yoga classes, no account needed.

4. Repeat the same class

The first time through, you spend most of your attention on the screen. By the third time you know what comes next, and you can feel the pose instead of copying it. Stay with one class for a week before moving on.

5. Learn a few key poses properly

A handful of poses come back in almost every class. Learn Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog), Balasana (Child's Pose) and Savasana (Corpse Pose), and the rest of the class gets easier to follow. Our list of essential yoga poses for beginners covers the others.

6. Use props before you force a pose

If your hands do not reach the floor in a forward fold, put a block or a book under them. If you round your back when you sit, sit on a folded blanket. Props bring the floor closer. That lets you keep a long spine, which is the point of most poses.

7. Let your breath set the limit

A good rule at home, where nobody is watching you: if you cannot breathe slowly through your nose, you have gone too far. Come out a little until the breath is smooth again. Sharp pain, or pain in a joint rather than a stretch in a muscle, means stop.

8. Leave the mat out

A rolled-out mat is a reminder. If you have the space, leave it on the floor, or at least somewhere you see it every day. Five minutes of getting ready is often what stops a practice.

9. Count the short days too

Some days you only have ten minutes. Take them. A few rounds of Sun Salutation, or five minutes of breathing, keeps the habit going. The Surya Namaskar A guide gives you a sequence you can learn by heart and do without a screen.

10. Try more than one style

After a few weeks, try something different. Hatha yoga holds each pose for several breaths and suits a first slow look at the poses. Vinyasa flow links the poses to the breath and moves more. Yin yoga holds floor poses for minutes at a time. One of them will fit you better than the others.

Home practice or a studio class: where the advice differs

Teachers do not agree on how a beginner should start, and both sides have a point.

• "Take a few studio classes first." Many experienced teachers say this, and the reason is feedback. A teacher in the room sees a knee that collapses inward or a lower back that sags in Plank. A video cannot. If you have an injury, a medical condition or are pregnant, this advice weighs more: see a teacher, or ask your doctor, before you practise on your own.
• "Start at home, it is fine." For a healthy adult doing a slow beginner class, the risk is low, and home practice removes the two things that stop most people: the time it takes to get to a studio, and the worry of being watched. A survey of American yoga practitioners (Ross and colleagues, 2012) found that how often people practised at home was linked to better reported health, more than how many years they had been going to classes. It is a survey, so it shows a link, and it cannot tell us that home practice is the cause.

What both sides agree on: start slow, start with beginner classes, and treat pain as a signal to stop. If you can, mix the two. A few classes with a teacher, then home practice in between, gives you both the feedback and the frequency.

What yoga at home can and cannot do for you

Regular practice stretches tight muscles such as the hamstrings and hip flexors, and poses you hold on one leg or on your hands build strength and balance. Slow breathing with long exhales can help you calm down, which is why many people practise in the evening. Those are defendable effects of moving and breathing on a regular basis.

Yoga is a poor tool for weight loss on its own. A gentle class burns about as much energy as a walk. If losing weight is your goal, what you eat matters more, and a faster style such as yoga strength will do more than a slow stretch.

If stillness is what you are after, add a few minutes of sitting at the end. Our beginner's guide to meditation shows you how to start.

When you want a structure for the first month, the guide to yoga challenges for beginners explains how a day-by-day challenge works and which ones suit a new student.

Frequently asked questions

How should a beginner start yoga?

Choose a class labelled beginner or level 1, 15-30 minutes long, and do it two or three times a week. Repeat the same class until you know the poses. Use a block, a book or a folded blanket wherever a pose feels out of reach.

Can I teach myself yoga at home?

Yes, with a good video teacher to follow. Start with beginner classes, move slowly and let your breath tell you when you have gone too far. If you have an injury, a health condition or are pregnant, see a teacher or your doctor before you practise alone.

How many days a week should a beginner do yoga?

Two or three days a week is a good start. That is often enough to feel a difference in how your body moves after a month or two. Once the habit is there, short sessions on more days work well too.

Can I lose belly fat by doing yoga?

Not on its own, and no exercise removes fat from one chosen spot. A gentle yoga class burns about as much energy as a walk. Yoga can be part of a routine with more movement and a change in diet, and it strengthens the muscles around your middle.

What do I need for yoga at home?

A space where you can lie down with your arms overhead, a mat or a non-slip rug, and clothes you can move in. Books can replace a block, a belt can replace a strap, and a firm cushion can replace a bolster.

How long should a home yoga session be?

For a beginner, 15-30 minutes is enough. Include a few minutes of rest in Savasana at the end. A short class you do three times a week will teach you more than a long one you keep putting off.

Is it better to do yoga in the morning or the evening?

Either works. In the morning the body is stiffer, so warm up slowly. In the evening you are more flexible, and slower classes with long exhales suit the end of the day. The best time is the one you can keep.