I love doing yoga, but sometimes it isn't affordable to pay for a lot of classes and it's hard to schedule time to go to studios. Instead, I practice a lot online, especially with DoYogaWithMe.com. This website is awesome because they have so many different versions of yoga, difficulty levels, and instructors. It really allows you to customize your practice depending on the area of your body that you want to focus on and how you like the class to feel. The classes vary anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, which is great for individual needs. Some of the classes require you to have an account, which requires a subscription of $55 a year. However, my top three favorite classes are all from the free access classes.
In the next few paragraphs, I have outlined my three favorite free classes. Just grab a mat, a comfortable outfit, and find a quiet place in your house whenever you have the time to practice.
Hatha Yoga for Beginners
This class by Melissa Krieger is one of my personal favorites because it focuses on better balance. As a runner and someone who loves yoga, it is really important for me to focus on better balance. I find it really helps me become more centered and advanced not only in my life, but in the practice of yoga itself.
This class is definitely best for beginners because it is very slow and easy to move through. One of the only down sides to online yoga is that I have to be careful not to hurt my neck looking at the screen while in a pose. Luckily, she is really good at talking through each instruction, making it easy to follow along.
A big positive to this class is that Melissa Krieger, the instructor, has a very soothing talking voice, which is a really important part of a yoga class for me. It is only 34 minutes long, which is shorter than most yoga classes and really easy to fit in at the end of a busy day. I love this class for the totally calming atmosphere, while still getting me onto my feet to work on stronger legs and better balance.
Gratitude Vinyasa for Intermediates
With the amount of yoga I do, I consider myself an intermediate yogi, but definitely not advanced. This is one of the harder classes that I would do online and without a professional instructor watching me. It is a great "power yoga" class with Tracey Noseworthy that focuses on core strength, while mitigating anxiety and stress.
Vinyasa, which is a type of yoga focused on fluid movements in between poses and rhythmic breathing, is one of my favorite types of yoga because it feels like more of a workout and strengthening routine. I fully believe in its ability to connect my body and mind because of the repetition of the vinyasa "flow," which requires moving through several poses like plank and downward facing dog. This forces me to use my strength while maintaining a graceful body and establishing free flowing movement.
This class is about 50 minutes in length, so it is on the longer side. However, it is fully worth the time because Tracey, the instructor, really incorporates her title "gratitude" in order to give back to the body and gain a stronger sense of inner peace. This class makes my arms and legs sore even though it seems relatively easy in the moment, which is great for summer body toning.
Back to the Mat with Intermediates
Last but definitely not least is this class by Fiji McAlpine that focuses on re-establishing a yoga routine and Vinyasa flow. She takes a pretty challenging class like the one above, but makes the effort to slow down the pace in order to focus on creating the correct poses and movements. This is really helpful because Vinyasa can be hard to do without an instructor present.
Even in this picture, my head is tilting towards the screen and my shoulders are starting to round over. This is something she makes sure that to mention and correct while going through the flow. She goes extremely in depth about what muscles to squeeze in order to feel the pose even more. Even though this class is for intermediates, it's a great way to start learning a flow routine.
The class is 40 minutes long, which is not too short and not too long. It serves as a great in between of the first two classes I mentioned. She is a very helpful instructor and starts off the class with a calm beginning, but this is not the best class to do for lowering stress and anxiety. While all yoga helps with this, I find this class to be more geared towards learning Vinyasa yoga and the poses that come with it.
This website is a great to start a yoga career, to learn how to do a certain pose, and to fit in a calming period during the day without the added stress of making it to a class on time. The only draw back to this website for me is that I don't have anyone watching me to make sure that I'm doing the poses correctly. I have to be very careful because doing yoga alone, especially advanced or new poses, can cause injury. However, it is a great way for me to keep up my yoga practice while working around my schedule and preferred routine.