Yoga can be a low investment fitness program, since it does not need anything particular in the way of equipment or yoga wear.
Regular sweats could work quite well for yoga wear, for men as well as women, however there are specifically designed yoga pants that may help you perform the yoga poses in the most comfortable manner, facilitating optimal range of movement.
When it comes to sports or fitness clothing you usually think of an upper garment, a lower garment and shoes.
However, for yoga you don’t need foot wear of any kind, except the shoes that you need to wear to and from class.
Yoga is best performed barefoot so that there is never any need to buy any particular yoga wear for your feet.
In fact many classes require that you remove your footwear before entering class.
Ideally yoga wear should be of natural, breathable material that is comfortable for the wearer.
While the pants should be well fitting but not too loose, the top should be a little form fitting so that it does not slide up or down, embarrassing you by exposing skin and making you self consciously tug it in place, disturbing your concentration.
As for lower half of yoga wear, the pants should allow you the full range of movement without restricting you.
They should be fitting enough that they don’t ride up or down, and also not have the kind of baggy or extraneous material that will get in the way, or bunch.
Yoga wear for men and women should be such that you can not only perform all the ‘asanas’ properly but also enable you to check your alignment. Many yoga pants are mid calf length of cropped to let you observe your positioning and alignment.
Also the material should be stretchy and flexible but it is best not to use pants made of material such as Lycra which could cause slipping, not letting you hold a pose properly.
The waistband of yoga pants should not be a fitted one, which could dig into the waist and get uncomfortable. Rather an elasticized waist or drawstring pants are preferable.
Yoga pants often offer the option of rollover waistband, that can let you decide how high or low you want the waistband to ride. Keeping the waistband high you can make sure that nothing is seen that you don’t want seen when stretching to perform the ‘asanas’ that require a lot of bending.
Yoga pants for men and women can be of different types and lengths – the cropped or calf length variety, that are fitted at the waist but roomy near the waist.
Women also find that leggings that are snug fitting all along the leg and which end at the ankle can be very comfortable for performing yoga exercises. Then there are the longer, boot cut length of yoga pants.
And last but not least, choose the kind of yoga wear that is flattering to your shape. Not only will you feel better when you know you look good, this will also enthuse and motivate you to stick to the program.
