Can you practice yoga without a teacher?

[EarthyGirl]

I recommend a teacher in the beginning. It's more about learning proper alignment to avoid injury. We can't see our bodies from all angles and a teacher can and use the opportunity to gently adjust us into proper alignment. Once you know how proper alignment feels, it's okay to practice on your own.

There is a great online place to join (18 a month) called yogaglo. They have all sorts of classes, but if you are a beginner, I suggest classes where the instructor actually gives you a lot of instruction on how to position your body into the poses. Remember that just because yoga is gentle (except the advanced stuff) doesn't mean you can't really injure yourself!

[Free1]

As I see it, the yoga comes from within. The body knows what it want to do, and how to do it, given that you relax, take it gently, and put aside your ideas. As we repeat the same poses, the body finds the most relaxed way to do it, and progress comes naturally. And one must be ready to start ridiculously simple.

I just look up charts of yoga poses on google image search, and take inspiration. I also do other stretching exercises. Someone may say I am not doing yoga, and I do not care much what it is called. And I am not very knowledgeable about the yoga systems, but I reclaim my ability to know by my intuition and by my own body.

I believe the urge to stretch and strengthen (and thereby purify) the body comes naturally with spiritual progress.

Do other exercises of purifying yourself, and your intuition will guide you better.

I have respect for those teaching it, but I also believe one can do it oneself given the other spiritual practices are done. If the yoga is not done as a spiritual practice or to aid spiritual practice, then I guess it is best to do it in class.

[Flexi-Girl]

This is going to sound cliche but it's still true. The best teacher is experience hands down. You can spend thousands of dollars taking classes, hiring trainers, and everything else but in the end it really comes down to just doing it. Truthfully, a teacher might point out some areas that you need to work on, act as a cheerleader, but the real growth comes from within.

[Free1]

For my goal (make my body assist my spirituality by becoming relaxed, and possibly a few other things) I need not to do yoga more then what it is beneficial for, but I see some people doing yoga (asana) for the sake of yoga (asana), and then one may need to have a teacher to push beyond the what is required for basic finer health.

[Lance & Rite]

I've been doing clubbell yoga lately. It's pretty amazing. Clubbells in general are good, yoga is good, putting them together was ingenious.

I can't post the URL because I don't have enough posts yet (it says I need 15 and I have more than that ) so you guys will have to google it if you're curious.

[Ilovecats]

I took a beginning class for yoga and it helped me to learn certain positions. Later I bought a book and now I practice on my own.

I'm glad that I took the class because I believe I learned to perform certain positions better than I would just from reading a book. The yoga I learned also taught us to practice alone. So the class was more just for learning for once a week and the point was that you did then those asanas at home every day.

I really enjoy doing yoga alone. I am more relaxed and I have my own rhythm and I also love to practice spontaneous asanas. So it works better for me.

But maybe I will try another class some day to learn new asanas.

Try and see what feels best for you. And have fun

[joehall]

Originally Posted by Baybee123

I really want to start practicing yoga but I'm not sure whether it's possible to do so by watching DVDs and not going to a yoga class?
I thought with postures you needed a teacher to tell you if you're doing it right?

First, take some lessons .. make sure you are comfortable with yoga. You may need to consider hiring a certified yoga teacher or join yoga classes. If you run through the practice you normally do, the teacher can be by your side, offering adjustments that will stick with you if you continue to practice.

But self-Practice is the most tried and true path to becoming an advanced yogi. Developing a personalized practice and continually (gently) pushing yourself will in turn make you more motivated to pursue yoga in the long term. By sequencing asanas and breathing exercises which best suit your needs, you will be getting what YOU want out of your practice, not just what an instructor wants to show a class today. :)