I often get asked “How often should I do yoga” by people that are just starting their yoga practice. The answer is that it depends.
How often you do yoga a week depends on which stage of your yoga life your are in. There are typically three stages that you go through with your yoga practice.
Three stages of a yoga practice
How many days a week should you do your yoga practice?
The three stages of a yoga practice are:
- stage 1 – checking out yoga;
- stage 2 – I think yoga might be good for me and
- stage 3 – yoga is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
Let’s look at the first stage – checking out yoga.
Stage 1 – Checking out yoga
This stage is the first step that you take towards developing a yoga practice. In this stage typically you will practice yoga once a week.
You are trying to make up your mind about several things including:
- do I like yoga;
- do I like the studio
- do I like the teacher; and
- is there any benefit for me.
This stage does not last very long. This stage usually lasts about 2 to 3 months. By then you have either quit yoga or you move on to stage 2 – I think yoga might be good for me.
Stage 2 – I think yoga might be good for me
In this stage, you will automatically increase the number of classes that you are taking in a week. You increase the priority and importance of yoga in your life and you may decide to remove some other activities from your weekly routine to make room for more yoga. In this stage you will move from taking yoga once a week to 2-3 times a week. This stage last longer than stage 1.
This stage can last for quite a long time. It could be from months to years in duration. Eventually a few people will move from this stage to the final stage – Yoga is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
Stage 3 – Yoga is the best thing that has happened to me
In this final stage you once again feel compelled to increase the amount of yoga you do a week. You move from 2-3 times a week to a daily practice and sometimes twice a day. That is more than 7 times a week.
Through each stage of your yoga practice you have been increasing the frequency of your yoga practice from once a week to a daily practice.
Is a more frequent practice better
The more often you practice yoga the more benefits you will get and the quicker the benefits will come.
There is an upper limit to how often you should practice yoga in a week. You do need a day of rest every now and then.
Why should I take a rest day
A rest day once a week gives the body a chance to rest and recover and rejuvenate. This rest day once a week will also give your mind a chance to rest as well. After the day of rest you will return to daily practice with renewed enthusiasm.
If I can not do yoga daily, am I a bad person
Not everyone can commit to a daily yoga practice. That does not mean that you are a bad person. Everyone needs to make a decision about how much time they are willing to commit to their yoga practice.
If you can only commit to 4 days a week then that is the correct amount of time for you at that time in your life. You will get benefits from your yoga practice no matter how often you get to yoga class.
Summary
There are three stages that you go through as you develop your yoga practice:
- stage 1 – checking out yoga
- stage 2 – I think yoga is good for me
- stage 3 – Yoga is the best thing in the world
At each stage the frequency of your practice increases from one day a week to several days a week to finally a daily practice.
Next Steps
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