What To Wear to Yoga: A Beginner’s Guide

Wondering what to wear for your next yoga class? Choosing the right yoga outfit is crucial for maintaining comfort and concentration during your practice. 

Our comprehensive guide will provide all the information necessary to select the ideal outfit to transform your yoga experience!

Why Choosing the Right Yoga Apparel Matters

Choosing the right clothes for yoga is about more than just looking good. It’s essential to have clothing that allows comfort, ensures ease of movement, and promotes breathability to maximise your experience. Particularly during your inaugural yoga class, you don’t want apparel that restricts or disrupts your flow—imagine the frustration of needing to fidget with ill-fitting garments while trying to maintain a complex pose.

Comfort & Fit

When deciding on yoga clothing, the highest priorities should be comfort and a proper fit so that you can move freely without restrictions. Your yoga wear must offer breathability and a snug, skin-like feel so that you remain focused on your practice rather than being bothered by what you are wearing.

For an optimal experience, it’s essential that the clothing provides both flexibility for stretching and support across all poses. When shopping for yoga attire, pay attention to the following:

• Elastic yet supportive materials
• Fabrics with moisture-wicking properties to maintain dryness
• Smooth seams designed to minimise rubbing
• Elevated waistbands deliver extra coverage as well as support

Breathability

Opting for breathable materials like polyester, spandex, or bamboo viscose is advantageous due to its sweat-wicking properties and comfort. This becomes particularly vital during vigorous yoga sessions or when participating in hot yoga classes, as these fabrics excel at maintaining coolness through moisture management.

What To Wear to Yoga for Women

In women’s yoga wear, comfort, support, and flexibility are paramount. Each garment, from flexible yoga pants to supportive sports bras, improves your yoga practice.

Supportive Sports Bras

A yoga sports bra is essential for women. It delivers both the necessary support and the flexibility required to keep concentration intact. Compression-style sports bras offer ample support during vigorous or dynamic forms of yoga.

Unlike some other bras, yoga-specific sports bras have adjustable straps that enable a snug fit, ensuring unimpeded movement and eliminating any disruptions during your session.

Yoga Tops

Selecting the right yoga top can significantly boost your comfort and performance during sessions. Tank tops are particularly advantageous for hot yoga classes because they eliminate the need to adjust sleeves during poses, allowing you to maintain concentration without concern over accidental exposure, provided they aren’t made with a low-cut neckline.

For optimal coolness and comfort during your practice, choose athletic tops with moisture-wicking capabilities and a form-fitting design. These style tops will help you manage your perspiration effectively while you perform various yoga poses in class.

Yoga Shorts, Pants & Leggings

When shopping for yoga shorts, pants or leggings, it is essential to select materials that offer breathability and flexibility while also wicking away sweat. The fabric should be quick-drying and have plenty of stretch to facilitate unrestricted movement. These properties will ensure your comfort during yoga sessions so you can concentrate on your poses without any interference.

What To Wear to Yoga for Men

When selecting attire for men’s yoga, it is crucial to prioritise items that offer comfort, allow the skin to breathe, and provide flexibility to ensure unrestricted movement throughout the session. Clothing from close-fitting shirts to stretchable pants should enhance your yoga experience by supporting each pose and transition.

Men's Yoga Tops

Men’s yoga tops need to:

• Offer support while allowing for a stretch and a complimentary range of movement
• Come in the form of slim-fitting short-sleeves or tank styles
• Be constructed from light, airy fabrics

These characteristics will help to promote comfort and peak efficiency throughout your yoga practice.

Men's Yoga Bottoms

Men’s yoga pants must be:

• Shorts, joggers or close-fitting sweatpants designed to facilitate unrestricted movement
• Garments that remain secure and comfortable during active motions, thus eliminating interruptions and unease

Yoga shorts with a built-in compression layer are especially beneficial for vigorous yoga workouts, as they provide ventilation, the capacity to wick away moisture effectively, and additional reinforcement.

Specialised Yoga Wear for Hot Yoga Classes

Selecting appropriate yoga attire for a hot yoga class can drastically improve your experience. Due to the elevated temperatures and increased perspiration during a hot yoga session, it’s essential to choose clothing that is light and capable of moisture management to maintain comfort and allow for total concentration.

Lightweight & Sweat-Wicking Materials

Selecting breathable fabrics such as nylon and polyester is vital to maintain coolness and comfort. These materials are adept at sweat-wicking, ensuring excessive perspiration doesn’t lead to discomfort while practising hot yoga.

Yoga Shorts vs. Bottoms

When choosing between yoga bottoms and yoga shorts, consider their support, coverage, and the ability to allow a full range of movement. In a hot yoga setting, yoga shorts provide superior flexibility with less restriction, whereas yoga bottoms can be more beneficial for those who seek full coverage and additional support through vigorous sequences.

Footwear & Accessories for Yoga Practice

Although practising yoga barefoot is typical, opting for yoga socks can provide extra traction and cleanliness during yoga.

Barefoot vs. Yoga Socks

Practising yoga without footwear allows for the complete extension and stretching of feet and toes, aiding in stability and balance during various poses. Nevertheless, yoga socks can enhance protection and warmth when practising in more relaxed settings. These specially designed socks also afford extra grip that helps prevent slips, thus contributing to stability throughout different asanas.

Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages, so it’s best to decide what works for you and run with it!

Yoga Accessories

Yoga equipment and accessories such as non-slip mats, cushions, and bricks are crucial in supporting and proper alignment during yoga practice. Cushions for yoga can be particularly beneficial to beginners, assisting them throughout their sessions. Bricks designed for yoga help novices enhance their techniques and make poses more accessible.

Adding sweat-wicking headbands and wristbands to your yoga wardrobe can significantly increase your overall comfort levels, too!

What Not to Wear to Yoga

We generally advise people to avoid clothing made from thick materials as these may limit flexibility and cause discomfort.

Wearing skirts or apparel that include zippers can be unsuitable for yoga as well since they might provoke discomfort and detract from the focus required during the practice.

Restrictive or Unbreathable Clothing

Tight clothing may hinder movement and create discomfort, which could negatively affect your yoga practice. To gain the most from your yoga sessions, it’s crucial to select garments that are both loose-fitting and breathable.

Heavy or Loose Clothes

Baggy or oversized clothing can also become problematic during certain movements, particularly inversions, adding unwanted weight and causing excessive warmth.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Normal Yoga Attire?

Normal yoga attire consists of clothing that fits snugly while being made of moisture-wicking, breathable materials like nylon or polyester. A supportive sports bra is recommended for women, along with a top that is both form-fitting and capable of wicking away moisture. Men should opt for close-fitting tops or tanks, as well as shorts, joggers or light sweatpants. 

What Is the Best Fabric for Yoga Clothes?

The best types of fabric for yoga wear are breathable, moisture-wicking fabrics such as nylon, polyester, and spandex. These materials allow a full range of motion and ensure you remain comfortable and dry throughout your practice.

Are There Specific Clothes To Avoid for Yoga Practice?

It’s best to avoid wearing yoga clothing that’s tight-fitting, lacks ventilation, is bulky, or is overly baggy, as this will obstruct movement and cause discomfort during the practice.

Is There a Dress Code for Yoga?

Most yoga classes do not enforce a strict dress code. Comfortable athletic wear is widely encouraged and often does the job perfectly fine. However, some yoga studios might have certain clothing policies in place to promote and maintain a conducive environment for concentration and comfort during sessions.

Final Thoughts

Choosing the right yoga apparel can significantly enhance your practice by providing comfort, flexibility, and breathability. 

For women, we recommend a supportive sports bra or top and flexible yoga pants, while men should opt for slim-fitting, breathable tops and bottoms.

But don’t just take our word for it! Experiment with different styles and variations and find the solution that feels most comfortable for you.