I can’t tell you how many times people tell me that they can’t do yoga because they aren’t flexible. Usually from people who are afraid that they’d be asked to do some complicated pretzel thing. It really doesn’t matter if you can touch the floor in a forward fold or can only get your hands to your knees. Both are yoga. You need to be ok doing the pose that your body allows you to do, and not try to force it into something it can’t do yet.
It’s called yoga practice, not yoga perfect. (That is another one of those phrases that’s so ubiquitous in yoga that I can’t find a source to attribute it to.) Yoga is about showing up, with whatever flexibility you have or don’t have. And that flexibility isn’t just about your body, but about your mind as well. When people tell me they can’t do yoga because they’re not flexible enough, I ask them if they can breathe and when they say yes (because of course, they have to) I tell them they can do yoga. Yoga has never been about the pose, it’s about the practice.
