Which yoga is best – online or in-person?

Yoga is becoming more and more accessible. With the growth of home workouts due to the recent pandemic, yoga has become increasingly available online. No specialist equipment is needed; just space to move. But which yoga is best – online yoga or in-person? Put on your yoga outfit and read on to find out!

Time

It might seem obvious, but practicing yoga in your home without having to travel to class gives an obvious time saving. The average yoga class lasts an hour (maybe just over with a Savasanna resting pose at the end). If you add on travel time, you’ll need to put aside at least double that to get to an in-person yoga class. If your schedule prevents you from finding the time to make it to a yoga class, an online class is a great alternative. There’s also the option of following an online video or class recording, so you can do it at a time and place that suits you. If you travel a lot, this can provide some consistency to your practice.

There are lots of online options, but we love feel breathe flow for a choice of live online classes and recorded videos. Top tip: use code TRYFREE to get one of their videos for free.

While reducing the amount of time you need to do a yoga class can be great, make sure the time you spend is meaningful and focused on you. If you’re trying online yoga in your own home or space, be sure to shut off from distractions to get the most out of the time you made for yourself. Start slowly, and you can turn your practice in to a regular habit.

Experience

One of the main benefits of an in-person yoga class is the opportunity to share your practice. This applies to other participants as well as the teacher. Once you’ve been an in-person yoga class, you’ll know there can be a real sense of community and collective energy from practicing together. Of course, there is the opportunity for social interaction as well.

The teacher can give valuable feedback as they can see you in real-time, monitor alignment and how someone is holding a pose. They can provide advice on how to explore different areas of your practice. They can also discover what your needs and goals are, and how best to help you achieve them. An online live class may offer this, but it can’t replicate the insight you can get from doing it in-person. Take your time to find the best yoga studio in your area.

Something that’s easier to implement while doing online yoga at home is using your own essential oils to create a calming atmosphere – something to bear in mind if this is important to you.

One final note! An online class removes the physical barrier of distance. You can experience classes by teachers based in different countries that you wouldn’t ever get to do in-person.

Cost

The price of a class is always going to be a consideration. Both in-person and online classes vary a lot in price. You can take classes as part of memberships or pay per class with either online or in-person.

Online classes have the benefit of allowing you to do more shopping around. You can also find free class recordings on sites such as Youtube. In general, for a paid class, we’ve found online classes tend to be the same cost or slightly cheaper.

So there you have it. We hope this article has given you some insight in to which is best – online or in-person yoga. Our advice is to choose the one that will allow you to do it consistently. Maybe that means a combination of the two? Whatever you choose, let us know in the comments what you like most about online and in-person classes.