How often should you do yoga? A guide for how often to practice yoga to achieve your goals.
That depends on what you’re looking to get out of your practice. This would be a very short post if the answer were merely “every day”. Surely, yoga is about the process, not the progress. But let’s be real here. Many end up on the mat for the sake of reaching specific goals.
Whether it’s calmer mind, stronger muscles or leaner reflection in the mirror, feeling and seeing the progress remains the best motivation to actually focus on the process and keep moving forward in the lifelong yoga journey. Daily yoga practice can definitely help to improve your mood. Yoga helps you to cope with anxiety and depression. And besides becoming stronger and more flexible, you will start to change your whole outlook on life. With a regular yoga practice you will find yourself with increased natural energy and vitality, a better mood and the ability to stay calm when faced with the daily stress of adult life.
Yoga is an awesome practice that offers so many benefits. But how often should you be practicing yoga? What’s the minimum effective dose to reap the benefits of this ancient practice? In this article, I’ll answer these questions and give you some advice on which types of yoga can benefit you most. For this article I’ll focus on the asana (yoga pose) aspect of yoga practice. Originally, asanas were intended as meditation postures. But in modern times, asanas can refer to a range of different poses which may or may not involve movement.
The benefits of practicing yoga asanas:
There’s a huge list of benefits associated with practicing yoga asanas including:
- Pain relief
- Breath control
- Improved sleep and overall quality of life
- Anxiety and depression reduction
- Increased strength and flexibility
Practicing yoga poses is a great way to take time out for ourselves. Something most of us need.
How many times a week you can safely practice yoga?
You know your body best but, in general, a healthy practice for vinyasa yoga is usually around 3-5 times a week. This gives you adequate time for rest. Rest is crucial to recover, get stronger and maintain your health
If you are not planning on doing any other training outside of your yoga practice, you could get away with training daily or 6 days per week. As you will be training more frequently, you’ll want to keep your yoga sessions to about 15 – 30 minutes each. If you are fit and workout regularly, you might want to aim for around 2 or 3 yoga sessions per week. In this case, you should choose a type of yoga that compliments your training.
Can you practice only once a week?
What if you can only practice once a week? Yes, you will benefit from such a practice, though the effect may not be the same. The optimal yoga frequency for you is based on what you want to achieve through your practice.
Types of Yoga:
There are many different styles of yoga, each with its own set of principles, targeted outcomes and techniques. Your goals in practicing yoga will help determine the style or combination of styles that work best for you.
Some yoga styles are more vigorous and physically demanding, such as vinyasa or ashtanga. These styles are well-suited to those looking for a challenging workout or weight loss. Other styles are slower-paced and ideal for stress relief or a stretching-focused routine, such as restorative yoga. There may be a set sequence of postures, as in Bikram yoga, or there may be room for creativity and variations in sequencing.
Hopefully, these tips below will clear up the picture and help you create a yoga schedule that will bring you closer towards the set goals.
How often should you do yoga to relieve stress and anxiety:
One reason many people seek yoga is to bring greater peace and tranquility into their lives. Yoga for a calmer mind can be done daily and as often as you need. Everyone can benefit from a daily restorative yoga practice, because its relaxing nature helps promote stress relief, anxiety reduction, better sleep, and balanced emotions. Although most types of yoga practice can help reduce stress and anxiety, you would most likely benefit the most from a Yin yoga class.
How often should you do to improve balance:
When it comes to balance, the frequency of your yoga practice is only one of the factors that comes into play. Balancing is a daily practice. It will change depending on how you sleep and what you have done during your day.
How often should you do yoga for increased flexibility:
If you want to finally get your flexibility game on point and perform a perfect forward fold or even drop into a full split, aim for 3 – 5 sessions of yoga per week. It will also likely reduce muscle soreness and improve your posture. Most people experience tightness in their hips and hamstrings—these are also the areas that, if tight, can sometimes cause chronic pain, so they are very important to keep loose. Having a few days for rest between your yoga sessions will help to reduce any muscle soreness and improve your posture.
How often should you do yoga for increased strength:
If you want to use your yoga practice to get stronger, it’s more about the type of class you’re taking than how frequently you’re hitting the mat. Focus more on strength-based classes like power vinyasa or power yoga. Do these classes three times a week and being sure to give your body the appropriate amount of rest time in between to let it recover from the vigorous practices.
I suggest adding some bodyweight exercises to the end of each session to focus on areas of the body not typically targeted during yoga, such as rows, band pull-aparts or pullups for the back and rear shoulders
I want to lose weight. how often should I practice yoga?
Create a calorie deficit to lose weight. That means you must eat fewer calories than your body burns.
Yoga is not as efficient for weight loss as cardio exercises like running, dancing, aerobics, etc. because it burns fewer calories compared to high-intensity training.
That said, it can still be a part of a successful weight management program. Practice fast and vigorous yoga styles such as Power Yoga, Vinyasa, Ashtanga that will keep you moving throughout the class.
The most optimal number would be between three to six yoga sessions a week (at least 1 hour each), depending on how much weight you want to lose and how fast. Beware of the burnout and give your body at least one rest day per week to restore and regenerate.
WARNING! People do get injured practicing yoga.
It happens all the time. Repetitive strain injury (RSI). The treatment for RSI is typically rest and/or strengthening exercises. People do get injured practicing Yoga because our minds and egos get in the way. If you want too much progress too quickly, you can tear a muscle or injure a joint. If you start doing long and intense practices every day out of the blue, you can bring on a repetitive strain injury. Some pain is ok, especially if it’s mild and dull, but serious pain and sharp or stabbing sensations are clear warning signs for you to dial things down.
An important part of Yoga practice is discipline and that means knowing how to work with yourself – not always pushing yourself to the limit but knowing what works for your body and when to stop, rather than let your ego take over.
The takeaway
Whether you’re training 2 days per week or 6, the important factor in achieving your goals is consistency. It’s also important that you’re practicing yoga in a way that is aligned with what you want to get out of the practice.
There’s no point burning yourself out with a daily Ashtanga yoga class if you are trying to build strength and muscle.
So, practice at a frequency that makes sense for you and your goals. Don’t base your yoga routine around someone else’s. Make it work for you and own it.
Practicing yoga is a lifetime endeavor.
When you first start, try to practice at least twice per week. This should initially be under the instruction of a competent instructor, but once you know the basics you can practice at home too. The most important thing is to practice regularly.
