No, You Don't Need Lululemon — Here's What "Yoga Clothes" Really Look Like

Let it all go. Choose joy. Breathe.

At least that's what the inspirational yoga photos on Instagram tell us to do. But it can be hard to let go when you're contorted in front of a mirror wondering how your butt looks in those $98 yoga pants.

Yoga, which first arrived on our shores over a century ago and remained a relatively niche practice until the 1990s, is now a massive $10 billion industry. Much of that money is spent on yoga clothes. With yoga's mainstream popularity has come a uniform, developed over several decades, but codified by the likes of Lululemon and its peers in recent years.

Tight pants, crop tops, neon colors, fitted tanks — that's the uniform worn by models like Gisele and Instagram yoginis alike, the kind we tend to assume we need if we want to hit the mat. But that modern vision is, unsurprisingly, far removed from the Indian tradition yoga is rooted in.

Back in India, yoga didn't traditionally involve legging-like "yoga pants."

Scholars say yoga dates back over two millennia to ancient India. In more recent centuries (since photography has been around), yoga practitioners in India traditionally wore a loose piece of clothing called a dhoti, according to Malika Baruah, co-founder of Proyog, an apparel company that makes modern yoga clothing inspired by the traditional garment. Men left their chests exposed and women covered themselves with a bandeau top or even a sari.

"A lot of urban practitioners [in India] wear tights and pants with tees, but traditional schools continue to encourage the use of the dhoti," Baruah told Mic. "Serious yogis in India definitely continue to wear variations of the dhoti. Also, in India most practitioners would consciously choose a material that is natural, like cotton."

"Materials that are tight fitting and compress the body are not right for a practice that is centered around breath."

As yoga made its way to the United States, practitioners wore a variety of clothes, from tights and leotards to looser pants and T-shirts.

Ultimately, yoga clothing should facilitate movement and make you feel comfortable. That doesn't mean you have to wear a dhoti, but it is worth paying heed to the birthplace of yoga, especially if you don't want to wear "yoga pants."