Yoga is taking the world by storm and you can’t wait to be wrapped up in its whirlwind goodness. We hear you! But before you rush into it as fast as your blood rushes to your head in a headstand, here are a few rookie mistakes you might want to avoid before declaring from the mountain tops your undying love as a yogi. 

#5 Being bogged down by expectations

“I’m not ________ enough.” Feel free to insert any kind of adjective you’ve ever heard yourself use in that phrase when thinking about all the excuses why you can’t do yoga or why yoga isn’t right for you. Eg. “I’m not good enough, fit enough, strong enough, flexible enough, slim enough, determined enough…”

Maybe it’s all those pictures of sun-kissed athletic limbs in tree poses on the beach that is clouding your mind, but why do we feel that we have to already be a certain way in order to even start doing yoga? When have you ever signed up for a beginner’s class only to be given a long list of prerequisite skills that you already need to have before you can join?

Never! Yoga is for everybody because all you need IS your body. And there is no ONE yoga body that you need to strive to attain. Instead of comparing your body to others in class, leave all your expectations at the door, and embrace the unity that no matter how short, tall, curvy or angular our bodies may be, all these bodies are in the same class right now, doing the same poses, and each and every single one of them looking just as kickass as its neighbour.

#4 Being too focused on “leveling up”

For all of us that spend our subway rides blasting candy for high scores, we can be all too familiar with the concept of “leveling up” is one’s sole purpose in a game. But yoga isn’t like that. Our yoga instructor is not going to go around the room giving us 1 to 3 stars based on how well we did each pose.

We don’t go to beginner yoga classes with the mindset of improving fast enough to join the intermediate and advanced classes. (You don’t actually get a certificate for “completing” beginner yoga class either, by the way.) And thankfully there’s also no real way to brag to a friend that you’re “tackling a serious Level 5 pigeon pose this week”. Yes, yoga is about pushing the limits of our bodies, but it is a long-term, continuous journey of self-advancement, not a destination to scurry towards.

#3 Buying everything and the kitchen sink

“I’m going to do yoga!” you yell to nobody in particular. Then you run out and buy an anti-sweat, anti-slip yoga mat, a breathable mesh bag for your mat, high-density performance yoga blocks, and now you’re watching YouTube videos on how to DIY install inversion harnesses to your kitchen wall. You know, that’s great. At some point, we’re sure that you’ll be using all those things too, but if you’re just starting out, there’s no rush to purchase everything at one go. In fact, most yoga classes even provide mats, so all you need is a mat spray and a towel, or cleaning wipes, for good hygiene.

One thing you may want to invest in from the get-go, though, is a set of quality yoga clothing. Sure, you can wear any loose t-shirt and slacks. But yoga clothing is sewed specifically for it to move along with your body and it can definitely take more tugs and pulls than general sportswear.

And one thing you don’t want to be worrying about in yoga class is who can see what of yours when you do what. Sounds to us that paying a little bit for the peace of mind that your quality yoga pants will keep everything where they need to seem like a very sound investment indeed! On top of durability and flexibility, Yuriyasa’s stylish yoga pants which take you easily from stretches to the street, also promise no dreaded 🐫-toe or VPL!

#2 Being too serious

We know you’re taking your yoga practice seriously, incorporating it into your life, changing up your lifestyle habits, working good clean food into your diet… But don’t forget to have fun, and breathe! Doing your best and pushing your limits doesn’t mean forcing your body through a rigorous battle of struggles that ends up in nothing more than frustration.

Yoga practice requires discipline and commitment, but never at the cost of joy! If there’s one thing you should leave at the door together with your expectations, it’s your ego. You should be able to laugh at yourself and find humor in your practice. Just like how farting is a completely natural release during yoga!

#1 Not being there

The most important thing you can invest in your yoga practice is your time and effort. We know that some days you just don’t feel like getting out of bed or leaving the house. We admit that a Sunday waffle breakfast in bed sounds wayyyyyy better than fighting traffic to get to yoga class. But have you ever noticed how during your practice or after, you feel like you’re on top of the world and capable of achieving anything you put your mind to? You might not even remember what was stopping you from going in the first place. Yes, yoga can have an extremely positive effect over your body, mind, and soul. It can improve every facet of your life from health to self-esteem to happiness.

But in order to benefit from it, you just have to take the first big step and be there. See you on the mat!

The words “It’s over” can be the most devastating two little words ever, that run in your head endlessly on loop, haunting you from the moment you open your eyes till the lonely moments you lay in bed alone surrounded by deafening silence before you fall asleep.

Name one person in the world that likes to get their heart truly and painfully broken and we will give you a million bucks.

Heartbreak is often trivialised in movies and sitcoms, but it is very, very real, and not something that can be easily fixed with a pint of B&J’s and your favorite sad movie.  In fact, “broken heart syndrome” is an actual heart condition brought about by stressful situations, such as the loss of loved one, which breakups are. The pain one can feel from this syndrome can even be akin to having a heart attack!

Here are the 5 things that you go through when you get your heart broken – and yes, they’ll all suck – but don’t worry, we’ll also tell you how yoga can help make things better. And it isn’t some mambo-jumbo-sounding “breathe in peace, breathe out negativity” kind of thing, we promise.

1. It Hurts Like F

It hurts, everywhere, inside, outside, you can’t even pinpoint where exactly, but everything hurts and it feels like the pain will never cease. Your mental state is very closely intertwined with your physical state. Just as your heart felt like it was soaring through the air when you were newly in love, so too does your heart feel pangs of agony when it is figuratively broken. Your body really does go through a real physical and neurological process which leads to pain, nausea, tensed muscles and chest tightening.

HOW YOGA HELPS: We all know the numerous benefits yoga has on the physical body, thus physical aches, whether brought about by mental causes or not, can be effectively relieved through the various poses and asanas in yoga practice. And when things are tense, you can always trust yoga to untie your knots and loosen up tight muscles.

2. It’s Stressful

Breakups are very literally stressful. Gone out the window are the feelings of happiness brought about by the dopamine and oxytocin in your body. Now, all you experience in its place are stress hormones like adrenaline, cortisol and epinephrine, which tell your nervous system to get into fight-or-flight mode.

HOW YOGA HELPS: The various meditation and relaxation techniques in yoga practice helps modulate stress response systems, and reduce our heart rate, lower blood pressure and ease our respiration systems. You can literally breathe easier and feel calmer.

3. It’s Depressing

And not just because it makes us feel sad as hell, but because we could very easily spiral into a depression. According to Psychology Today, a study conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University found that “losses that involved lower self-esteem were twice as likely to trigger depression.” Sound familiar? All those questions in your head like, “Was it me?” “Could I have done something better?” “Where did I go wrong?” We always take a personal hit when we go through breakups, and we can’t help that. Breakups are personal.

HOW YOGA HELPS: Yoga can thwart depression earlier than later, by naturally increasing serotonin production. According to the Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, “exercise increases brain serotonin function in the human brain” and “a comprehensive review of the relation between exercise and mood concluded that antidepressant and anxiolytic effects have been clearly demonstrated.” Or in English, exercises just like yoga raise our serotonin levels – which helps fight against depression.

4. You Would Want To Be Alone

Maybe you can’t even begin to think about leaving your bed. Maybe all you want to do is sit in the couch and cry and cry and cry. But isolating yourself can be a really scary place to be, especially as you fill your head with negative thoughts, when what you need is to get those dopamine levels up, stat. The best way to do this is by doing the things you love, activities that bring you joy. And we know what you’re thinking, “What joy??? How could I ever feel happy again when I’ve just lost the thing I love the most?”

HOW YOGA HELPS: It might seem like the last thing on your mind but dragging yourself to a room full of people in awkward poses will help you feel that you are, in fact, not alone, and that everyone is struggling with their own shit. Not to mention, where once your evenings were filled with texts, calls and dinners, it’s best to keep yourself busy by filling the void with something else – so why not something productive and meaningful that brings benefits to your body, mind and soul?

5. YOU’LL DOUBT YOURSELF

As we said earlier, our self-esteem takes a big hit when somebody literally rejects us and everything amazing about us and every good thing we stand for. Suddenly we don’t feel so confident anymore about ourselves. All these questions, fears and doubts flood our minds. Not to mention worries like, “Will I ever love again?” “What if I never meet the right person for me?” “Will I be #foreveralone?” are completely natural.

HOW YOGA HELPS: And that’s why on the mat is the perfect place to be. You don’t doubt yourself on the mat. You’re in control and you know exactly what your body can do or can’t do. You’ve done all these poses and asanas before. You know it like the back of hand. You’re so badass-ed you could even do it blindfolded. When you do something that comes naturally and so familiarly to you like your daily yoga practice, you can really appreciate yourself for what you have accomplished, and all that you will go on to accomplish. Even 15 minutes of yoga every day can give you the empowerment you need to remind yourself that you’re in control of your own destiny and you have the power to make things happen – even one day not too far from now, recovering from a broken heart.

Funny how we seldom remember our list of strengths but when it comes to our weaknesses, the parchment roll is so long it can roll right out our front door. Don’t you ever wonder why Life, being as hard as it is and being thrust upon us with no instruction manual whatsoever, then decides, almost cruelly, to throw us this huge baggage of insecurities that seems to weigh us down even more?

As with a lot of other things in life, however, it’s a matter of perspective. Here are three times in life when it’s actually good to embrace your insecurities and reap the benefits they bring.

1. When You Cry

You and I all know someone who has said to us that we shouldn’t cry because it’s a sign of weakness. In fact, it might even have been our mothers who first reprimanded us with, “Don’t cry, don’t cry…” And thus, we learnt, even from such a tender age, that crying was wrong and if we were tough, strong girls (like we should be), we needed to hold everything in and remain stoic.

And crying has retained its bad reputation even through adulthood. If you’re a woman and you cry too much, you’re weak, too emotional, full of drama, hysterical, can’t be taken seriously – and get this, this is a good one – you’re “feeling too much”. And it’s probably even worse that when men cry, they’re told to “stop being such a woman!”. Oh no they didn’t!

Well then, why do some of us feel this innate urge to cry when we feel upset or heartbroken? Why do the tears just fall? And should we really stop them from falling?

It’s a fact that we usually feel better after we have a good cry. This isn’t just something in your mind but is supported by biology and psychology. Our sympathetic nervous system is activated beforehand and when you cry, your heart rate and breathing slow down and your body relaxes automatically. Releasing our tears does break down our emotional dam and lets all the negative feelings out. The converse is also true; by holding back our tears we are also holding onto the negative feelings that led to them in the first place. Crying also releases stress hormones and helps your immune system.

If anything, crying is a sign of strength simply because you’re telling all those people who told you it was “wrong to cry” to go fish themselves. It means you’re matured enough to face your truest and more difficult emotions, that you’re willing to work through them in a healthy manner and find your way to move on in life. When you’re feeling lost, crying is sometimes the best way get everything back under control. It’s also saying to all those people who think it is womanly and feminine to cry, “So? What’s wrong with celebrating my womanliness?”

The last thing you need to remember is that tears are not toxic, in fact they are made of water – and water makes things grow. Going through a tough situation and feeling like giving up, crying, and them picking ourselves back up – that is growth. And that is always to be commended.

2. When It Comes to Style

There is a ton of pressure from societal standards when it comes to fashion, even if we don’t follow trends or care about what walks down the runways. There’s always some kind of regimental dress code hanging over our heads; to dress up for professional events, to dress down for going out with the girls… the key question here is probably the same one Aladdin asked Princess Jasmine in song: “Now, when did you last let your heart decide?”

What we wear is always going to make a statement and an impression; it is part of our voice and our expression of who we are. But instead of it speaking to others and trying to project someone we’re not, it should speak to ourselves and help us discover just who we truly are inside. Some days, it’s okay to let our insecurities show. It’s okay to say, “You know what, today I’m not going to try and look Instagram-ready. Today I’m just going to be me.”

Maybe our idea of casual chic is pairing Yuriyasa’s V-Short Pants with a Super Mario graphic tee and a blazer over it. Maybe today what we feel like wearing for our girls’ night out are the same pants paired with a boyfriend shirt, and we don’t even feel like doing up all the buttons.

Fashion shouldn’t be about wearing what other people tell us to wear or looking at ourselves in the mirror and feeling so frustrated we can’t see past our flaws. It should be about understanding ourselves and our body, flaws and all, our likes and dislikes, and most importantly, how we feel in the clothes we wear. We should take our insecurities and run with them; buy clothes that fit us, that flatter us, that make us feel sexy and confident, and that let us forget what we have on and focus on making new connections and experiencing all there is to life.

3. When It Comes to Love

You may be single, dating casually, dating someone special, engaged, married, divorced, remarried, in a long-term relationship, in a long-distance relationship, living together… or it might say “It’s complicated” on your Facebook relationship status – we still all have insecurities when it comes to love and relationships.

But sometimes our insecurities have a good spin to them. If you’re single, there’s always this pressure to keep marketing ourselves to find a person to be with. We might worry if we’re not good enough or have enough to offer. But what you don’t realize is that these insecurities are what keeps us growing as a person, discovering ourselves, and discovering our self-worth.

If you’re in a relationship, the worry of breaking up with our other half can make us treasure them more and find ways to spice up the relationship and keep things fresh and exciting.

If you have been burned by love before and have second thoughts about getting into another serious relationship, those insecurities can help you keep an eye out for any red flags you may need to address early in a relationship, and set some standards of what a loving, healthy relationship should look like.

Our insecurities keep us humble, motivate us to learn and grow, and help us acknowledge that we are only human, we are bound to fail, but we are also stronger than we know, and we always get back on our feet and push on. So good job, insecurities. We couldn’t do it without you!

YURIYASA is the labour of love by one fearless woman who decided to challenge the notions of comfortable stylish yoga wear that at the same time serves as a platform that supports women’s rights and education.

Did you know that YURIYASA launched our first pants in the color black inspired by Coco Chanel’s love of black? Indeed, Chanel is a legend that continues to inspire even now, and she is but one of many women through the ages who have broken boundaries and raised the bar for generations ahead, women who have made a difference, who had a voice and didn’t hold back from using it. Today we pay homage to seven of these trailblazers in honor of International’s Women’s Day in March.

Coco Chanel

Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel came from humble beginnings, but that didn’t stop her from pursuing her dreams and becoming one of the world’s most famous fashion designers.

Learning the art of sewing in the orphanage she grew up in, she became a licensed milliner in 1910 and opened a small little boutique in Paris named Chanel Modes.

Who knew that this little French designer would go on to revolutionize women’s fashion so drastically and completely? She liberated women from the constraints of the “corseted silhouette” and “dresses in which one can’t move”, boldly mixing what were considered traditional masculine and feminine looks to create the iconic Chanel suit which has withstood the test of time.

She outraged the fashion world when she wore pants in Venice, to make traveling by gondola and on horseback easier – without her, who knows if we might not even be wearing pants right now!

In a world ruled by men, Coco Chanel dared to defy all the rules set upon women and created her own empire doing so.

Nina Simone

We will always remember this famous American singer songwriter by her stage name Nina Simone, but Eunice Waymon was also a huge civil rights activist. One of eight children in a poor family, the musically talented Waymon started singing in her local church, but at her debut, her parents were forced to move to the back of the hall to make room for white people. She was just 12 years old, but this sparked something in Waymon and contributed to her later involvement in the civil rights movement.

To make a living as a young woman, Waymon started singing and playing the piano in nightclubs. She had to change her name to Nina Simone so that her mother wouldn’t find out she was playing “the devil’s music”. Simone’s unique concoction of jazz, blues and classical music earned her a loyal fan base and she went on to release over 40 albums during her career. She always used her music as a platform for her voice, including songs that drew on her African-American heritage, addressing racial inequality in America, speaking and performing at civil rights meetings. In her autobiography she wrote, “I felt… alive then… because I was needed, and I could sing something to help my people.”

A champion for human rights who sang from her soul – Nina Simone is a legend whose music has influenced so many other musicians even to this day. In fact, today she still lives on through her music, even on two Kanye West tracks – “Famous” featuring Rihanna and “Blood on the Leaves” with JAY-Z.

Rei Kawakubo

“I make clothes for a woman who is not swayed by what her husband thinks,” says design icon Rei Kawakubo and we love her for it. Just like Chanel, this was a woman who dared to dream up subversive, gender-bending clothes for men and women at a time when no one else was.

Interestingly, Rei Kawakubo never trained in fashion design; she studied art and literature but later took up a job in a textiles factory and then became a freelance stylist. Two years later she began making clothes under the label Comme Des Garçons, which attracted a global cult following for her spirited belief in unadulterated and raw creativity and style.

Comme Des Garçons is famous for being “anti-fashion”, a label that rebels against mainstream fashion and challenges established ideas about beauty. Kawakubo says that she “never intended to start a revolution” – she wanted to show “what I thought was strong and beautiful. It just so happened that my notion was different from everybody else’s.” This is an idea we subscribe to at YURIYASA, where we are always challenging the norm and trying to create the most unique shapes and designs.

Kawakubo changed not just the way we think about fashion but also the way fashion and thought can coexist in culture and commerce, inspiring a new generation of fashion-designers-cum-thought-leaders. The extremely successful businesswoman launched her line at the age of just 27 and had more than 100 stores in Japan selling her distinctive avant garde looks within a mere decade. She brought Comme Des Garçons to Paris fashion week in 1981, which set the global fashion industry alight, in turn sparking an empire which today turns over $220 million a year.  She credits her success to taking her work seriously – “When things are too easy, you don’t think, and you don’t make progress. Not just in fashion. In everything,” she says. “The only way to hope to make something new is not to be satisfied.”

Billie Jean King

Billie Jean King (Moffitt before she married Larry King) loved sports even from a tender age, and from the moment she put racquet to ball, she knew what she wanted to do with her life. “I am going to be No. 1 in the world,” the young tennis player told her mother back then, and at the age of 23, King achieved the goal she set for herself when she was ranked #1 in the world in women’s tennis, a ranking she held for five additional years. Throughout her tennis career, King won a record 39 Grand Slam titles, but her tennis championship titles are only half her story.

Off the court, Billie Jean King was a huge activist for gender equality. She became the first president of the Woman’s Tennis Association and lobbied for equal prize money for men and women to level the playing field, even threatening not to play the next year if the prize money were not equal. Her threats were clearly taken seriously – that same year, in 1973, the US Open became the first major tournament to offer equal prize money for men and women.

That year, King also defeated Bobby Riggs in an exhibition match – a match which had half the world tuning in thanks to Riggs claiming that the women’s game was so inferior to the men’s that even a 55-year-old like himself could beat the top female players. King said, “I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn’t win that match. It would ruin the women’s tennis tour and affect all women’s self-esteem.”

Billie Jean King became the first woman to be honored as Sports Illustrated ‘Sportsperson of the Year’ in 1972 and Time ‘Persons of the Year’ in 1975; and BBC Sports ‘Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award’ in 2018. King is also a continuing supporter of LGBT rights in America and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in American society. Billie Jean was truly a game-changer in every sense of the word.

Maty Ezraty

Speaking of amazing women, how can we not mention one of the most inspiring ladies in the field of yoga. Maty Ezraty is a woman of firsts. As a young adult seeking meaning in her life, Ezraty found in yoga calmness of mind, confidence, and a strong feeling of being centered. Travelling round the globe to learn the intricacies of this art, she became one of the first women to complete really advanced techniques and poses.

She is also considered one of the original pioneers in bringing yoga to the Western world and one of the first women to study Ashtanga Yoga. At the age of 23, she opened YogaWorks, the first school of its kind to offer different styles of yoga from Iyengar to Ashtanga, when other yoga studios only taught one kind of yoga.

“I created [YogaWorks] because I fell in love with yoga, and I felt that yoga had a place in the world for helping and – this is going to sound corny – to create world peace. I wanted people to see that yoga could be for everyone,” she says.

A prominent figure in the evolution of yoga in the United States, including having trained some of the leading teachers in the US, Maty Ezraty has been called an “innovator” by Yoga Journal. In a world that seems to constantly tear us down, we are thankful for people like Maty Ezraty who reminds us that “when you practice yoga, you’re not practicing to improve yourself. You are perfect. The practice is there to help you know that.”

Melinda Gates

Melinda Gates’ famous last name comes from her husband, Bill, whom she met at work when she joined Microsoft as a product manager after graduating from Duke. Interestingly, she initially turned her boss down when he tried to ask her out at a company picnic, thinking he “wasn’t spontaneous enough” for her, but undeterred, he called her up that very night and tried again.

After their engagement in 1993, the couple took a trip to Africa, where they encountered people suffering extreme poverty, and it started the conversation between them about how they might use their fortune to help others. That’s when the idea that would ultimately become the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation began to take root.

“It’s not fair that we have so much wealth when billions of others have so little,” Melinda says. She has thus dedicated her life to helping the needy by initiating various charitable endeavors. Through the Gates Foundation, Melinda has donated over millions of dollars to help empower women, uplift the underprivileged and provide equal opportunities to minorities across the globe.

In 2016, Melinda Gates along with her husband was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama for their philanthropic efforts. Bill Gates has always referred to Melinda as “the heart” and “the driving force” of the Foundation. She has a keen hand in shaping Foundation strategy, solving tough global challenges from education and poverty to contraception and sanitation. 

She has devoted much of her work specifically to women’s and girls’ rights, and that is something that we firmly support here at YURIYASA. Helping others is a core part of the YURIYASA mission, and for every pant purchased from us, a portion of the proceeds go into supporting women’s rights and education.

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga has made headlines in the music and fashion scenes since she first stepped into the spotlight. From her outrageous meat dress to her controversial song lyrics, you’d think that Lady Gaga is all show and tell but there’s actually more to her than we think.

Lady Gaga was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, who was sent to a private, Catholic girls’ school and introduced to the piano in the hopes that it would make her a more “cultured young woman”. She took to music immediately, and it became her one escape where her artistic oddities were welcomed, whereas her unique personality brought on bullying and taunting at school, making her feel insecure, anxious, depressed and isolated.

Lady Gaga worked as a waitress, at downtown cabaret clubs, and even as a go-go dancer. When she finally got the chance to sign on with a label, they tried to mold her into a mainstream pop star, even asking her to dye her hair blonde to look “more like a pop star”. Finally, enough was enough and Lady Gaga realized she had to take back control and re-invent herself on her own terms.

When she finally made it, she opened herself up to her fans on controversial subjects like addiction, feminism, sexuality, depression and fibromyalgia – and even created her own charity for mental health support called the Born This Way Foundation. “Fight and push harder for what you believe in, you’d be surprised, you are much stronger than you think,” she says. If there’s one thing to take away from Lady Gaga, let it be that!

We hope you liked out list. A big salute to all the amazing women out there. #StrongWomenEmpowerOtherWomen

Who is that one woman you look up to or has always inspired you?