Yoga is a set of exercises made for the improvement and betterment of mental and physical health. It started in India under the tutelage of the Hindu philosophy that teaches a person to control his body, mind, and will to attain inner peace. Nonetheless, when we do exercises and athletic activities like sports, one of the most important things to consider is the clothing or apparel that we will be wearing. Perforce, does yoga clothing dressing down to dressing up matter?
In yoga, will exercise outfits from dressing down to dressing up matter?
It is but important to have comfortable clothes or apparel in endeavoring yourself into fitness exercises. Exercise comfortability may reduce the occasion of suffering from any injury. Comfort can, therefore, be had in an appropriate and proper exercise outfit. The same is true in the performance of yoga executions.
As another example, let us say in basketball, you must wear loose clothing like a jersey and shorts which would allow you to move your arms and body without any restrictions from your outfit.
Owing to the fast and sudden movements in basketball, you should also wear basketball shoes that have a good grip so that you would not slide and be injured in the court.
This similar principle applies to yoga. You should not wear a too-tight outfit when doing aerobics such as yoga so that you could breathe easily and not be restricted in your movement.
What is suggested outfit in yoga are those comfortable clothing and exercise apparels that easily evaporate sweat, as too much drenched clothing would dissuade someone from continuing his or her workout. Necessarily, it would hamper the person doing the exercise on account of the sticky feeling and moist clothing.
Relevant information you need to know
The first sole clothing dedicated for yoga is sold on 1998 by Lululemon.[1] There store was located in Vancouver, Canada, far from the origin of yoga in India. Its founder, Chip Wilson, was also a yoga enthusiast that started in 1997 and got his inspiration from his instructor back then that was wearing dance attire which looks and feels like he has a second skin.[2]
Also, there are different kind of venues of yoga and kinds of it. For example, most yoga sessions are now done within an indoor environment, and are often air-conditioned for the comfort of the yoga enthusiasts. Thus, this would need a long-sleeved outfit due to the cold temperature brought by the air conditioner.
There is also the Bikram yoga, which is done in a warm room to make the muscles expand more and perspire more, thus more appealable to people losing weight or getting their dream body.
This would call for a looser outfit and less clothed outfits like crop tops and sleeveless shirts as this would let more airflow through the body and would give a more comfortable feeling in the midst of a hot workout.
What to wear to yoga first time?
Taking into consideration the increasing number of yoga enthusiasts, yoga apparels are now starting to become mainstream clothing. It is now not just used solely for yoga, and is used in numerous other exercises and sports, such as biking, where you would need a great scope of movement for your legs, which is coincidentally also done in yoga.
Comfortability
It also used for running where a breathable and comfortable is a must as your lungs and heart would need a lot of oxygen. A restrictive exercise might cause a person running to run out of oxygen or hyperventilate, which may result in not finishing your exercise or worse, may result in health issues.
Some other people even use yoga apparel on a normal day as the everyday clothing or casual wear since it really does feel good wearing one. It is also is good when you are just relaxing in the comfort of your house.
In addition, doing chores may also be exhausting, and wearing breathable clothing such as yoga apparel may lessen this exhaustion from doing tons of chores in your house as it allows air circulation inside the cloth fibers.
Strength and durability
Aside from using yoga apparel due to bandwagon and also for being comfortable, it is also trusted by a lot of people, yoga enthusiasts or not, due to its unparalleled strength. As we know, yoga does unimaginable stretches and exercises that would need extreme flexibility of the human body and sometimes would reach the limits of a human body that it may be considered to be included in the Ripley’s Believe it or Not records.
Owing to this, yoga outfits should be strong and durable, for if it would break or rip in the middle of a yoga session, may result to humiliation of the person wearing one and may curse the clothing company and might propagate words for its unreliability.
This then may result to eventual downfall of the yoga apparel company. No company would want this, thus, most companies ensure that the yoga apparel that they are selling are 100% reliable, strong, durable and would not embarrass you in the middle of your work-out.
Specific preference
You may also opt out of this “mandated” apparel and wear your outfit of choice when doing yoga. But also do consider that you must also wear outfits that also give you the comfort and strength similar to yoga apparel.
You can wear shorts, designed specifically for yoga movements, for your lower body, in order that your leg movement would not be hampered. On the other hand, if you prefer tight clothes, you could wear leotards or leggings, but just be cautious when wearing one due to its stiff cloth fibers. Choose the right outfit or your own preference.
What not to wear to yoga?
The most basic answer is not wearing clothes that may impede your proper yoga executions. Necessarily, when doing yoga, one should not use exercise apparel that is fit and designed specifically for other sports. Basketball clothes, as an example, is not proper outfit for yoga exercises.
Of course, people would not wear dull looking yoga apparel. People like to be stylish and fashionable while experiencing the benefits of yoga. Therefore, to meet this demand, most yoga apparel companies design stylish yoga apparels that many people would love to wear not only in doing yoga but also as a casual wear while doing their daily routine.
Most of the buyers of this kind of clothing are nonetheless also already into athletic activities such as running and doing workouts. In connection with the “mainstreamization” of yoga clothing, it is also used now for formal events. Surprisingly, it has already an evening gown version for those persons that has a prior or after workout session before the formal event.
What to wear for male to yoga?
The good thing about yoga apparel is that it is becoming more unisex as time goes by, more male yoga enthusiasts have also now started to wear leggings or leotards as their lower body choice of clothing. Most of these people have discovered the benefits of using stretchable apparel as a yoga outfit.
Accessories such as headbands, bandanas, and other athletic accessories that would help you alleviate the heat and the exhaustion brought by the exercise are well-accepted. It may only be an accessory but is of great help as it helps the hair, especially for individuals that have long hair preventing heat build-up.
Final Thoughts
Therefore, we could conclude that comfortable clothes are of paramount importance for people doing their exercise. It would still be upon these yoga practitioners what they would wear.
In the end, they can wear whatever they want, and we are just here to guide everyone on what is the suggested outfit should be. Since even the non-yoga practitioners use these clothes, this form of yoga outfit is now entering the mainstream fashion market, not only cataring yoga enthusiasts.
[1] Bhasin, Kim and Gerald Porter Jr. “How America Became a Nation of Yoga Pants”, bloomberg.com, 2018
[2] Thompson, Derek, “Everything You Wear Is Athleisure”, theatlantic.com, 2018
