25 yoga goals for beginners, daily practice and harder poses

Yoga goals for beginners

Beginner goals are about getting to the mat and learning the basic shapes. If you want the core strength without the tradition around it, Pilates goals are a close neighbour.

• Practise 2 times a week for 6 weeks.
• Learn a sun salutation well enough to do it without a screen.
• Hold downward dog for 10 breaths.
• Finish a 20 minute class, rest at the end included.
• Try 3 different styles of class.

Daily practice and 30 day yoga challenges

A day-count challenge is the natural shape for yoga, because the practice is the point.

• Practise 10 minutes a day for 30 days.
• Practise on 20 days out of 30.
• Do 5 sun salutations every morning for 21 days.
• Take one full 60 minute class a week for 3 months.
• Do 100 days of yoga in a year.

Yoga pose goals

Pose goals are fun to chase, as long as you treat them as a direction and not a deadline.

• Touch the floor in a forward fold with straight legs.
• Hold tree pose for 60 seconds on each side.
• Hold crow pose for 10 seconds.
• Push up into a full wheel.
• Hold a headstand for 30 seconds, learned with a teacher.

Breathing and focus goals

Breathing goals are the quiet half of yoga, and they need no flexibility at all. They lead straight into meditation goals.

• Breathe through your nose for a whole class.
• Do 5 minutes of breathing practice a day for 2 weeks.
• Stay in the final rest for 10 full minutes.
• Count 10 breaths in a row without losing count.
• Practise a full session with no music and no phone.

Bigger yoga goals

Bigger goals stretch over a season or a year, and most of them are still simple counts.

• Take 100 classes in a year.
• Build your own 20 minute sequence and practise it from memory.
• Go to a weekend workshop.
• Practise outdoors once a month for a year.
• Take someone to their first class.

What is a good yoga goal?

A good yoga goal is one you can tick off today. A review of 35 years of goal research found that specific, hard goals lead to higher performance than being told to do your best. In yoga, "be more flexible" is the vague version. "Practise 10 minutes a day for 30 days" is the specific one.

Count the practice, and let the poses follow. Bodies open at different speeds, so a pose with a deadline is a goal you only half control. A number of days is fully yours.

Expect it to take a while to feel automatic. One study of how long it takes to form a habit found a median of 66 days, with a range from 18 to 254. That is why a 30 day challenge is a good start and not a finish.

How to track yoga goals

Tick the day as soon as you roll up the mat. A review of 138 studies found that people who monitored their progress reached their goals more often, and that recording it beat keeping it in your head.

Practice days are a day count, the same shape as most 30 day challenge ideas. Minutes and classes are amounts that add up, if you would rather watch a total.

Keep the count where you see it in the morning. A picture that fills in one practice at a time is a quiet reminder that does not nag.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good yoga goal for a beginner?

Practise twice a week for 6 weeks. Twelve sessions gives you time to meet the basic poses and find out which style of class you like. After that, try 10 minutes a day for 30 days.

Should my yoga goal be a pose?

Have one if it excites you, and do not put a date on it. Set your real goal as days of practice. You control those, and the pose comes out of them.

Is a 30 day yoga challenge a good idea?

Yes, if the daily amount is small. Ten minutes a day is easier to keep than an hour, and missing one day should not end it. Aim for 30 days of practice, not 30 days in a row.