Bikram yoga has become the world’s most popular form of yoga, thanks in part to it’s clear set of 26 postures and the fact that you’re pretty much guaranteed to experience the same class no matter where you practice. As with all types of exercise, there are always key things to learn in the beginning. Let’s examine a few Bikram yoga tips to make everything smooth when starting out.

One of the key things to learn is the concept of form before depth. It’s much more important to get the foundation of each pose solid before moving into greater depth. This can be really hard for newbies because we see folks around us in class who seem to practice each pose with seemingly little effort. As difficult as it can be, we must ignore how others are performing the poses and just concentrate on our own bodies.

The first step is to get the initial form of a pose solid before moving on. For instance, in the standing leg series it’s super important to make sure that our standing legs are rock solid before moving into the further expression of the poses. Bikram yoga dangers our body only when we don’t get this foundation solid. So make sure to listen to your teacher when they remind us “form before depth.”

As with all forms of yoga, the most fundamental part is our breath. It’s often our instinct to hold our breath in complicated postures, but this is the worst thing we can do. If a pose is making you hold your breath, back off a bit until you’re bringing air in and out consistently. Again, it’s not about how deep you go, but that you remember what yoga is all about — stretching while breathing.

Everyone has a different body — different injuries, tension, strengths and weaknesses. While everyone can perform yoga, no two people will do each pose exactly the same way. Think of it more as a journey instead of destination and you’ll do fine.