BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Yoga Yoga Clothes

I've noticed there's a huge trend now in stylish yoga wear.
More magazine featured some cute yoga looks in their last issue, and lately I've noticed several boutiques dedicated solely to yoga clothing.

So what does everyone wear to yoga? Do you just throw something on, or do you have special yoga clothes? Do yoga-specific clothes have any special features?

I like a top that keeps me covered in downward poses. I also like either tight stretch shorts or loose pants something you can move in and really stretch. When in trying on clothes try a few poses to see how they feel. In our class folks wear what they are comfy in not so much the latest style which seems to me to be sort of yoga based...do what is right for you. Nameste

Great question Stephanie.

I would agree with sadona. I wear a somewhat tight top with prana pants (the somewhat loose hiker kind).

Jen

Definitely agree with you on the tighter top- last time I was at yoga, my somewhat loose one was inching up in several of the positions. Here are some pictures of the yoga outfits they had pictured in More-


Are these the kind of pants you're talking about? Anyways, I really like the top on the right- I think I would just wear it around on the weekend, I bet it's so comfy!

I have a favorite line, Shiva Shakti by Marika. If you Google discount marika, a bunch of great stuff comes up. My absolute favorite shoes are Nuala Yoga Shoes...google that and you'll see why!

There's a Canadian brand called lulu lemon that use lycra so are very stretchy and use natural fibers to keep cooler and dryer. They're very durable as well - I've had some of their pants for a couple of years already.

Namaste

Eva

I have seen the lululemon clothes - they seem lovely but are they expensive?

I would like to check 'em out.

OK see on this page, the woman on the top?

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Ok - so...I need a video, a mat, and now special clothes? I'll go for that. I like those pants, too. Upside down? I have to learn to do something upside down eventually? Is there an easy yoga for older ladies? Just getting on the floor is hard for me. But, I am thinking, after listening to all of you on this yoga, that if I go ahead and get these things, it will motivate me. I feel better already just thinking about it.

About yoga clothes....the operative word in the original post was "stylish". That word is not in my vocabulary. "comfortable" is my key word! Depending on the season I wear sweat pants, lightweight pants or shorts with long-or-shortsleeve knit shirt. The clothes musn't bind or slide around when you stretch and twist.
Phyllis, your age has little to do with your approach to yoga, your current degree of agility does. If you have trouble getting up and down, take it easy. Get down slowly as best you can and then do floor poses and stretches slowly. The point is to reach your limit but not go beyond that into pain. Little by little your limit will move further and further. When it is time to get up again, roll over onto your side and slowly push yourself up into a sit. If you need to hang onto something to get all the way up, make sure there is a chair nearby. Be faithful in practising at least 5 times a week and you will see your strength and agility improve.
And always enjoy!

Phyllis - I don't think you need special clothes But it depends on what you count as "special". If for example all you own is skirts and blouses, it would probably be hard for you to do yoga.

So if you own sweats or shorts, and a loose top, then you don't need special clothes. But if you don't own any casual clothes, then you'd need some "special clothes" to do this in

Yoga definitely starts easy - the DVD I has starts with VERY basic shapes, like just laying on the mat. But I looked on Amazon and they even have DVDs for yoga for seniors -

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I've heard yoga teachers say "You're only as young as your spine is flexible."

I think yoga is great for seniors. Definitely start out really slow, and use only beginning or senior lessons. I don't know if this is completely accurate, but to me yoga feels like a huge amount of it is just stretching out and limbering up your muscles. It feels wonderful. (I'm addicted to it!)

Thanks, Lisa. Then I think I will just wear my jersey's. I am really looking forward to getting started on yoga and maybe eventually joining a class with people my age.

Phyllis - try going to your local library and seeing what they have. Maybe they have a yoga DVD or two for you to try out if you don't want to buy one yet. That way you can learn some of the basic steps and get started. I'm sure if you have something comfy to wear that it will be fine. Just a t-shirt and sweats if you have those will be fine.

I think usually people do this barefoot but my feet get cold really easily so I do it in socks. I'm not doing any positions yet where my feet might slip, so it doesn't matter in that sense. My positions are all laying down

I throw on the most comfortable and moveable clothes I can ;0)

You will not catch me in those cute yoga clothes LOL

I think at some point if I manage to get into more advanced positions where my top half is pointing downwards that I might worry about "close fitting tops" so my tshirt doesn't flop up to my shoulders But other than that I think I'll just wear my normal casual clothes and be happy with that I already considered it a splurge to buy my purple mat

I can't believe some of the prices they want on those websites. $50+ for a pair of casual pants??

I like the pants I got at walmart they are danskin? something like that anyways they are the best! I have never liked pants that dont have a zipper and button because they dont stay where I want them to. like sweat pants will twist or ride down or up and it is just a fight all day to keep them wear I want them. These are tight fitting but they arent skin tight wear they show every roll and camel toe... they also move with you and they dont pinch or rub like a draw string does! I wear them every day to work with a large tshirt or blouse. I can dress them up or dress them down! oh and I paid like $10 a pair. I got a top made out of the same stuff and it was $15 I like it but It is not long enough for me to wear with the pants because it doesnt cover my rolls.... so $25 for a top and pants is a great bargen!

You know I had never even heard about "camel toe" until recently when the Weatherman came on TV. Was that really a phrase before then or did they invent it??

I'll have to take a look in Walmart the next time I'm there! I tend to like loose clothes, I think it's the shyness in me. I'm lucky, sweats tend to stay put when I wear them but then again I'm usually not very active

lol my problem is that I wear cotten panties so the sweats will cling to my panties and walk the opposite way I do or at lest that is the way it feels!!

Camel Toe is a real phrase that has been around for years at lest here anyways I didnt know how to phrase that politly so...

I guess I was way behind in popular slang then!! The things I learn from movies ...

Do most people do yoga barefoot? So really the only clothes are a top that stays on you for the positions you do, and longish pants of some sort?

Barefoot is the way to go. Shoes would be bothersome for many of the sitting positions. I tried socks at first but my feet slip in downward dog if I wear them. My instructor has some socks that are missing the toes. And, I've seen gripping socks and gloves on Amazon.

And, I'll probably be doing yoga in shorts soon. I'm typically quite hot-natured and our room has lots of south-facing windows so it'll be warm there.

Right now, I wear sweats or "yoga pants" --got them at Walmart for $11--they are pretty thin & loose. Or, capri-lenghth sweats.

It actually snowed here last night!! I thought we were into spring. Sheesh. So my feet are freezing even in socks. But again I'm only on the "simple" positions so it's not causing me a sliding problem yet.

I'm going to go right now and try out Part 2 of my yoga DVD! I'll be back in 20 minutes.

OK I just did the 20 minutes "standing poses" with bare feet - now granted they were a little wet and soapy because I just steam cleaned the downstairs carpet - and the were sliding on my mat I think the lesson here is to make sure your feet are clean. But I didn't use socks, I think the socks would have been worse.

I have another comment on clothes based on this 20 minute standing run. I had a shirt with elbow-length sleeves on and I switched into a halter top style shirt (strings at the shoulders) because it was much easier to move my arms through the poses. So despite my saying before that tshirts would be fine as a top, for me at least the sleeved top seems not as comfortable now that I'm trying more complicated things.

I think as long as the cloths stay put and you can move freely in all direction anything goes! Comfort first modesty 2nd!

Well yes I'm not quite ready for naked yoga yet

Gack! My yoga teacher mentioned naked yoga once and nearly had a mutiny on her hands!

he he he well I'm just working out in my own home but I think I'd be paranoid about a friend coming around to the back sliding glass door for some reason and peering in. Not that people ever drop by here, but that would be the first time of course!

However speaking of yoga clothes, I nearly killed myself going down the basement stairs earlier today because one of my feet got caught against the "bell bottom" of my yoga pants. I swear, as much as I like these pants, I am going to give them all away and get some new ones that are not so bell-bottomy on the bottom. This is like the 5th time I've almost tripped and if I keep ignoring it, sometime I really will lose my balance.

So maybe that will be my task for tomorrow, to go out to WalMart where I hear they have cheap light pants.

I actually have yoga clothes that i just wear everywhere as 'fashion'. My mother in law buys me these yoga pants all the time, but not the bell-bottomy kind. They are very comfortable. So today I got to actually DO yoga in them! It was pretty cool.

And I just paired it with a smaller tee shirt. Not tight, not loose.

I am not comfortable in tight tops. tighter pants are fine.

LMAO well naked yoga would be fun if I was in a class with a bunch of hot guys and I got to keep my cloths on and just enjoy the view! I dont however see myself doing downward facing dog naked in public anyways!!!

I would do naked if everyone was also naked. If everyone's bellies and boobs are hanging down, and it's not just me, I would be fine with it.

Oh, and yes, Lisa, camel toe is an old term. If a really not nice one. But it is also apt for what it looks like. lol

Deb, yeah, when i do my "fake yoga" - ie - a slow stretching session - I am always barefoot.

Today was my first real yoga session, with my new mat, and i was barefoot. The mat was nice and sticky. I can't see doing yoga with shoes since it seems that so much of the poses need to be really fine-tuned with your stance and feeling the ground through your feet.

Lisa, if you are cold in barefeet you might want to move your space heater in your yoga area.

I thought that it was a nicer term then describing what it is.... I guess I could have said widge in the front or something but...

Jilly definitely I agree with you that barefoot seems to be the way to go.

I'm doing yoga in our main living room so I think I will just turn up the heat a little during daytime hours for the next month or so, until it gets naturally warmer outside. I shouldn't be freezing to death in my own home I think

So Jill I've lost track, are you doing yoga with a DVD, or just doing poses that you know?

just with a few yoga books i picked up at Goodwill. I was doing it with dan today when i realized it's pretty hard to be trying things out while also using a book. since i have to keep referring to the book, it might take me while.

We realized that Dan had downloaded a yoga DVD from a few years back, so then we tried that. I'll report on that in the yoga DVD thread.

Yes I imagine using a book would be hard - it really does help to see the poses in motion and to hear the descriptions. I think there are many YouTube yoga videos, can you see a computer screen while you work out?

Oh on clothes which was the whole reason I was in here, try going to amazon into their Apparel area and searching on "yoga". Pretty much EVERY pair of pants they show has the boot / wide bottom hem problem that is trying to kill me!! It's on ALL of them.

I normally don't like capris because to me it seems like the pants are "too short". I think this is because in school when I was young I often had too short pants (we weren't rich) and I was made fun of for it. But I have to just get over that feeling and get some I think. With the capri I won't be killing myself which is a good thing.

Oh and also none have actual waists!! They all come across the hip. I finally realized on these "yoga pants" I wear now that they are meant to ride across the hip and not up at my waist. Which is why they felt a bit tight to me. I like pants that are on the waist, not across the hip. Maybe that's impossible in modern times

OK I just got off the phone with Bob - we're going to cut 2" off the bottom of these 3 pairs of pants I have and re-hem them. That way they stop killing me and I don't have to buy more pants. I'll do that tomorrow. I just have to be careful on the stairs until then!

I have yoga pants that come close to my legs instead of belling out. I don't know where they come from since my MIL buys them.

And yeah, they are all low-riders with ties. Which i like as I have no waist to speak of and with boy hips.

Well my pants are now chopped off so I am safe from death, at least from stairs

One item off my to-do list!!

I in fact wore my chopped-off pants with Bob to Target this evening and I got me a few cheap "biking tops" or whatever they're called, the tops that are just like a sports bra but in a nice fabric. I wore one while dancing tonight and it was really nice. When I first go down there I'm cold so I wore a tshirt over the biking top and then partway through the songs when I had gotten too hot I took the tshirt off and was all set.

So I have a plan now!

I did look at the pants and all of them had the flared base. So I think I'll stick with my hand-chopped pants for now I don't worry about them looking silly, nobody will see them. Well I suppose except the people at Target oooops ...