It's common for a beginner to be posture-oriented, using only the body to achieve postures. I recommend a different attitude that uses postures as tools to explore and expand one's limits. Here the process of doing yoga is primary, while accomplishment is secondary. Yoga plays between intention, what the mind wants, and execution, the limits of the body. Utilizing breathing both to open postures and relax into them is the key that coordinates mind and body, which generates the unique psychophysical energy that yoga offers.
Yoga involves an interplay between focus and attention.
Focus is the ability to energy into different parts of the body, while attention is essential to read feedback. The quality of mind that one brings to yoga is far more important than what the body can do on any given day. She has trained in gestalt, group process, and other growth oriented approaches, with a view towards synthesizing Western psychology with yoga and Eastern perspectives. Using attention and breath to expand limits brings you into postures more deeply and safely in the long run than pushing to achieve goals. The trick is to stay interested in the process rather than in achievement.