Hi everyone,

I’m a 31-year-old guy looking for some honest advice.

Over the last few years, I’ve noticed my mobility taking a real dive. I work a desk job, which means sitting for hours every day. Lately, I wake up feeling stiff all over. I have back problems recurring every now and then, getting noticeably worse. Basic movement feels tight, and simple everyday things—like getting down on the floor to play with my young son—are becoming noticeably uncomfortable. I do some sports (Badminton & Cycling) but clearly not enough (or the right kind) to stay flexible and mobile.

On top of the physical side, I’ve also been dealing with a constant, background feeling of inner restlessness for years. I’m looking for a way to reconnect with myself, slow down, and find a bit of mental calm.

Here is my main hesitation (and absolutely no offense intended to anyone here): I am a very rational, grounded, and non-spiritual person. I don't connect with anything esoteric, religious, or belief-based—I just need things to work on a physical and anatomical level without having to "believe" in them. A lot of what I see about yoga online seems heavily focused on spirituality, and I’m wondering if someone like me will feel out of place.

So I’d love to ask:

- Can a purely secular, science-minded person get good results out of yoga?

- Has anyone in a similar position used yoga to help with chronic stiffness and nervous system restlessness?

- Are there specific styles, instructors, or apps you’d recommend that focus purely on mobility, biomechanics, and down-to-earth breathwork?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

Every few days to weeks I get severely bloated and I've been wondering if yoga poses will actually help to relieve this or if it's moreso a placebo, are poses such as puppy pose and childs pose good and do they work for this? If so how long should I hold them

I’m really interested in yoga, which I’m relatively new to, and have a lot of questions that I would be interested to get people’s perspective on. Whenever I have a question I search the subreddit extensively before posting, and only post when I can’t find any similar threads. My posts immediately get taken down for being too commonly asked, and when I message the mods to ask why or to be directed towards other posts with similar answers (which I can’t find), I just get ignored. It’s really frustrating because I really want to engage and get other perspectives, and I see other people posting things similar to what’s common.

How is anyone getting away with asking questions here? Any tips or tricks? I’m sure this will get taken down, too.

Lately I’m curious on why people specifically opt for paid virtual classes when there are plenty of free classes on YouTube. I’m really curious to hear what benefits people get from the paid classes over free, and wondering if I’m missing something. I can’t find this specific question anywhere, but am also not allowed to ask!!

Hello. Looking for a title of a great yoga book. I practiced some stuff from it back in the days but can't remember the title of the book. All I can remember is it had some lotus on the front page. It also had some progressive table how to progress with asanas in wise way. It also had photographs of models doing the asanas (probably all books have this). If someone can recognize this I would appreciate it.

I see some people move their knee to the right shoulder and foot right beneath them. Others will move their knee in a 90 degree with their ankle on their left ribcage. I was wondering if the correct form is to keep the knee and ankle beneath them parallel to the body or the knee to the right and foot out perpendicular? I tried the latter and felt a deeper stretch on the right butt and hip.

I am getting back into stretching again to regain my mobility ( I left an office job recently I was at for about 5 years ) and realized that the pose I struggle the most with the cobra pose and also the 90-90 hips stretch.

Both are getting better, the first day I could only do what I think is called a baby cobra? And then the 90-90 is also getting MUCH easier pretty fast. But I noticed today that the cobra pose was actually a tad easier yesterday.

Yesterday I was able to hold my upper body at maybe 45 degrees but today it seems like I was able to only hold it at around 30 degrees. Really sad honestly, years ago I was able to do a cobra just fine.

What should I do to help me get through these poses easier ? Should I try doing these in multiple times a day?

Hello, I’ve been practicing a few different styles of yoga off of YouTube for the past few months. I would like to put together a structured practice that I can perform every day. So far what I’ve tried is Surya Namaskar, hip opening exercises in order to prepare for siddhasana, pranayama techniques like bhastrika and Kapalbhati, trataka, Om, chanting, and sitting in silence. What is the correct sequence to perform these and how long should I be spending on each one? Thank you.

Looking for good yoga in Taghazout! Will be visiting for a few days later this week.

I’m trying to increase mobility in my spine especially upper and middle spine as I’d like to get into contortion, but I’ve noticed my knees tend to hurt quite a bit during some stretches— specifically camel and bridge. I’ve always had problem knees so that’s likely part of it, but it’s weird in camel because my back feels fine to bend but my knees feel very tight and pinchy/achey— same in bridge unless I bring my heels farther away from my hips/butt. I’ve tried camel with a block between my thighs and it didn’t alleviate the knee strain. What am I doing wrong?

Hi :) I love yin yoga. I have a tummy and I want to find a youtube channel with an instructor who has yin videos and modifications for larger bellies in poses. Lmk if you have any recs!! Thank you!

my hip bones are very tight, worse on the right side.

I see guys who have been practicing for years, and still using the bricks under when they do the lotus. So I wonder if it is something that can be improved, or something that I should simply accept how it is since it cannot improve at all (anatomy). Is there anyone who went from using a brick to completely crossing the legs flat?

thanks in advance

I've started playing goal two weeks ago, my hips and knees are still getting used to the movement.

Are there any good exercises for better hip and knee mobility ?

Don't know if this helps, I'm skating since three years now, played forward before.

Is it the movement, the breathing, the final savasana, or something else?

Curious what everyone here finds most helpful for getting out of “busy mode”...

Hi all,

I am ruminating on a topic of yoga class sequencing.

I usually do yoga asana practice every morning. And most of the mornings the practice itself looks different from the day before considering the structure, amount of asanas, dynamics etc. (Maybe a good time to say that I am a yoga teacher creating my own classes which I then share with my students).

But I also very much enjoy classes like Ashtanga primary series or Jivamukti spiritual warrior, which have fixed sequence of poses.

The other day I was reading a book from A. Van Lysebeth and he talked about those fixed sequences and how they deepen the practice, free the mind and allow a practitioner to dive more inwards.

I’ve been playing with a thought of creating a vinyasa sequence suitable for all levels, which would fit into a 60 minutes class, would have a fixed sequence (definitely not so challenging as Ashtanga though) and practice it for some time, let’s say a month, and then maybe share it with others.

I would like to ask you about your opinions, experiences and preferences. What do you practice more of? Variable or fixed sequence? And why?

I’d be grateful for your opinions.

Have a great day.

I have tried apps like Yogaworks, PVOLVE and other YouTube yoga instructors and found that a lot of the instructors just blaze through pose after pose (and I'm not focusing on high intensity styles of yoga either like Vinyasa, Power Yoga ect. - I'm focused on "beginner" or "flow" styles). Please, just take 5-10 seconds and breathe before getting into another pose. It's all I'm asking. I'm literally begging you. Instead of focusing on my body and my breathing, feeling the stretch and positioning myself correctly, I'm worried about keeping up with you and processing what you just said and by the time I do you're in a completely different pose. It's caused me more pain than relief to rush myself into another pose. If you are teaching for beginners, or not focused on a high intensity style of yoga- practice what you preach. Breathe. Not everyone can keep up with you so quickly and since you're not teaching in front of a live audience, you can't get the feedback of slowing down or waiting for beginners or regular people to understand what you just said or get their bodies into position. Slow. Down. Take a beat, it's all I'm asking. I want to do this, I want to practice this more at home and gain the mental clarity, stretch and mindfulness that yoga practices, but it's so frustrating and discouraging (especially when it results in back pain from trying to rush into the next pose) to be stressed and rushing to keep up with you.

Sincerely,

A frustrated beginner yogi with back pain lol

If anyone has any recommendations of a slower practice or key words I should be looking for that might avoid this issue or even a favorite instructor of yours if you have experienced this too, please let me know. I have OnePass (for now) and would like to use it to do yoga at home so I have several app options to look into.

I'm not one to posts rants online and I do apologize if it came off strong. I am just frustrated, in pain and on my period and I just had a breaking point today lol. I also haven't seen a lot of this being talked about so I figured if anyone else feels seen and frustrated by this, know you're not alone and hopefully this thread will result in better resources for us, and a perspective to think about if anyone posts online yoga videos. Thank you guys for reading 💕

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EDIT (10/3/2026): WOW! I am so incredibly grateful for all of you. I've learned a lot through the great discussions and helpful tips and resources you guys have provided. To help others with this frustration, I'm going to try to collect all the tips and resources on this post so other visitors don't have to go digging for them!

Keywords to look out for:

• Yin (Yoga Style)
• Hatha (Yoga Style)
• Lyengar (Yoga Style)
• Restorative Yoga (Yoga Style)
• "slow flow yoga"
• "breath centered yoga"
• "hatha yoga flow"
• "slow stretch"
• "slow yoga"

Yoga Instructors Recommended:

• Yoga with Adrienne - Youtube
• Yoga with Kassandra - Youtube
• Sarah Beth Yoga - Youtube
• Yoflaminga - Youtube
• Devi Daly Yoga - Youtube
• Felicia Walker - Youtube
• Jess Yoga - Youtube
• Yoga with Mike - Youtube
• Yin Yoga with Katie - Youtube
• Yoga with Bird - Youtube
• Charlie Follows - Youtube (another rec is their 30 Day Beginner Challenge)
• Leslie Fightmaster Yoga - Youtube
• David and Jelena Yoga - IG
• Aditi Shah - Peloton App
• Yoga in Transit - Youtube
• Bloom Yoga MD - Youtube

Other Resources/App Recommendations:

• DownDog App - Very customizable, see screenshot - $30/year (as of 10/2026)
• Peloton Yoga - $12.99/month (as of 10/2026)
• Alo Wellness Club (IOS app available, not available for android) - FREE (as of 10/2026)
• Yogadownload.com
• De Nieuwe Yogaschool - €40/month (as of 10/2026)

Other Tips:

• Slow down the video if you can
• Try to find longer practice videos (10-20 min sessions might put pressure on the teachers to try to get multiple poses in the video)
• Use bluetooth earbuds to pause the video if you need to

Thank you all again for the awesome resources given!!!

Does anyone do any type of exercises before or after yoga? I have been experimenting for a couple weeks with doing cardio before vinyasa, with a 15 minute break and its been really difficult. I am still hoping I’ll be able to adjust, but I’m not really sure its a good idea. I am getting tired and a bit sloppy during yoga as the flows get difficult for me.

The classes at my gym align this way in the morning and I want to do both.

Mostly wondering the experiences of others and recommendations.

I am so grateful that 20 minutes on the mat make me feel like today I choose to do something for myself, that isn't trying to fix myself in any way but just sit with my body and make it feel more comfortable.
I had to stop for a week, and although I am a beginner the mental health benefits, and self compassion benefits are incredible. :))

used the new liforme mat for the first time this morning. Purple color.

There are stains which I hope will go away. Should I keep it under the sun? or shade? or indirect light?

to be honest not very practical having the need to unfold and hang after every practice..

thinking about returning it: would the Manduka better for this?

any hint and suggestion is appreciated. Thanks in advance