Do I need to buy special yoga clothes?
I get these questions a lot from people that are about to start a yoga practice:
- “What kind of clothes should I wear?”
- “Do I need to get special shoes?”
- “Do I need to wear special yoga clothes?”
Let’s work through these questions one at a time.
What kind of clothes should I wear
The kind of clothes you need to wear to yoga is the same as you would wear if you were doing any physical activity. You will need a top, and pants or shorts that will let you move freely. First let’s look at your top.
Your Top
Your top should be long enough so that it does not ride up. You do not want to be always pulling down the bottom of your top. At the same time you do not want to be pulling up the top of your top either. Always having to stop and adjust your top can be disruptive to your yoga practice. It can also be distracting to your neighbours.
How to find out if your top will be okay
In your yoga practice you will be lifting your arms up over your head and lowering your body down below your hips as well as twisting from side to side.
Try these movements out at home with your top on to make sure that everything stays in place. Does it ride up too far when you lift your arms up. Does it fall down to far when you fold forward and come back up.
You want to make sure everything stays in it is proper place. Your private parts should stay where they belong and not suddenly pop out for a look around. And now lets move on to your pants.
Your Pants
Your pants should be loose enough that you are able to move your legs through their full range of motion without them binding or trying to split you in two. In addition to the range of motion there are two other areas to consider: how high is the waist and how long are the pant legs.
High waist or low waist pants
Your pants should have a high waist. You do not want to wear hip hugger or low rider pants. Constantly pulling up the top of your pants can be a distraction to you and your neighbours and will interfere with your enjoyment of your yoga practice.
You can check out how suitable the waist of your pants is by bending forward and backwards several times and checking to see that the waist has not fallen down your hips. Once again private parts should stay private and not come out for a visit.
Now that we have checked out the top of your pants let’s check out the bottom of your pants.
How long should your pants be
3/4 length or Capri length pants are the best length. There are two reasons for this.
The first reason is that the teacher needs to be able to see your feet and ankles. Being able to see your feet and ankles will enable the teacher to check out the alignment of your feet and prevent you from possibly injuring yourself. Now let’;s look at the second reason.
The other reason that you want to wear 3/4 length pants is for your own safety. If you have pant legs that reach to the floor you are in danger of stepping on the leggings and possibly tripping, stumbling or falling over.
But what if you would rather wear shorts instead of pants. Let’s look at that next.
Shorts
If you are wearing shorts make sure that they do not gap. You do not want to be flashing your neighbours or your teacher. They are supposed to be concentrating on their own practice however a sudden exposure from you may distract them.
Some of the considerations for your pants apply to your shorts as well. The waist should be high enough to make sure that your shorts do not fall down your hips. Check out the section high waist low waist above for more details.
That takes care of the first question about what kind of clothes should I wear. Now lets look at the second question. The second question is all about shoes.
Do I need to get special shoes
No shoes are required. Special or otherwise. Yoga is a bare foot practice. No expensive foot wear is required.
Because yoga is a bare foot practice you should leave our street shoes outside of the practice space. Grit and stones that are attached to your shoes can really hurt when you or someone else walks on them.
Well that question was easy to answer. Now on to the last question. This question is about special yoga clothes.
Do I need to wear special Yoga clothes
There are lots of companies selling clothes especially designed and marketed to people practicing yoga. These are very nice clothes and tend to be fairly expensive.
Do you need to buy these special clothes in order to do a yoga practice. The short answer is no. You can use your regular tops and pants that you already have. No special yoga clothes are required.
You may later decide that you want to buy some of these clothes because you like the style, the fit or quality of the material. These are all good reasons to have some of these specialty clothes in your wardrobe, but you can start a yoga practice with your regular clothes.
Using your regular clothes for your yoga practice will help to manage you expenses. Once you decide you want to continue your yoga practice then you can make a decision about the specialty yoga clothes and adding them to your wardrobe.
Summary
There are three questions that are usually asked about clothes and yoga
- What kind of clothes should I wear? A top, pants or shorts is all you need.
- Do I need special shoes? No shoes are required. Yoga is a bare foot activity.
- Do I need to buy specialty yoga clothes? No you do not. Regular clothes are okay.
Next Steps
Before you buy any yoga clothes, check with your teacher to find out what kinds of clothes are appropriate for the style of yoga that you are doing.
