How to set up your practice profile with Svayam Yoga
Complete the seven onboarding steps that tell the platform what your body can do, what you are aiming at, and when you practise.
When this is useful
On day one, and again whenever something real changes - a new goal, a new sore area, a different schedule. Guidance can only be pitched at what it has been told.
Before you start
- Ten quiet minutes. Rushing step four is what produces a practice that ignores your knee.
- An honest read on your experience level. Overstating it makes the practice harder, not better.
- Your timezone, since it drives every time shown on the platform afterwards.
Steps
Step 1
Step 1 - who you are
Your age group and timezone. Both are used to shape what is suggested and when, so a wrong timezone quietly spoils the schedule later.
Step 2
Step 2 - experience and approach
Your experience level, how confident you feel, the pace you want and how you prefer to practise. This is the difference between being shown a foundation course and being shown something you will abandon in week two.
Step 3
Step 3 - your goal
Pick the primary goal you are actually practising for. One goal, chosen honestly, does more here than a list of everything that sounds good.
Step 4
Step 4 - body and conditions
Select the body regions that give you trouble, and for each one say how severe it is and how often it happens. This is the step that matters most, and the one people skip.
Step 5
Step 5 - functional ability
Questions about balance, dizziness on movement, and whether you need a gentler practice. Answering yes here changes what you are asked to do, which is the point of asking.
Step 6
Step 6 - schedule and lifestyle
Which days you have available, what time of day suits you, anything you are currently finding hard, and whether you want nudges.
Step 7
Step 7 - read and accept
The terms and the code of conduct. The progress bar tops out here; you cannot finish onboarding without reading them.
What happens next
Your dashboard and suggestions are built from these answers, and what you said about your body carries through to drills, mobility results and courses. You can change any of it later from Update Your Preferences without redoing the whole thing.
An example
You put yourself down as a returning beginner rather than an intermediate, flag your lower back as mild and occasional, and say Tuesdays and Saturdays. What comes back is a foundation course and short drills on the two days you named, rather than a schedule you were never going to keep.
Tips
- Understate rather than overstate your level. It is easier to move up than to recover from a week of being over-faced.
- Revisit the profile after a few weeks. Almost everyone's first answers are slightly wrong.
- If something changes mid-week, the Daily Check-in catches it without touching the profile.
Safety and limitations
- Onboarding collects what you tell it about your body so guidance can be pitched around it. It is not a health assessment and does not diagnose anything.
- Anything painful, recent or medically managed should go to a clinician first. Bring their advice back and set the profile accordingly.
- For a condition that needs an eye kept on it, a living teacher who can watch you move is still worth more than any profile.
Svayam supports a general wellbeing practice. It does not diagnose, treat or cure anything, and it is not a substitute for medical advice, physiotherapy, or an in-person assessment by a qualified yoga teacher.
Related how-to guides
How to practise around an injury or sore area with Svayam Yoga
Tell the platform which area is a problem and how bad it is, keep that record current, and read the cautions attached to what you are asked to do.
How to check your mobility with Svayam Yoga
Complete a seven-movement mobility check and read the result for each area of your body.