The Best Free Virtual Yoga Classes and Apps
April 29, 2021
The sheer volume of free virtual yoga that's available can be overwhelming. So, let’s sort through the vast offerings to look at the best virtual yoga classes you can take.
Do Yoga With Me
One of the internet's most popular sites for free yoga, Do Yoga With Me has hundreds of yoga videos, and about half of them are free. The classes range from beginner to intermediate and advanced—across a variety of yoga styles, such as Ashtanga, Kundalini, Vinyasa, and Hatha. Plus, they have a nice selection of meditation videos. Got a busy schedule? Then you might want to check out their quickie videos in the ten to 20-minute range.
Sorting Through the YouTube Overload
Search "yoga" on YouTube and you'll be looking at a staggering number of results. So which videos should you choose? One good strategy is to figure out what kind of yoga you're looking for, such as beginner, intermediate, or an advanced level. Maybe you're looking for more meditation and less power yoga. Or vice versa. You should also familiarize yourself with the basic styles of yoga (Vinyasa, Hatha, etc.) before you search.
While this is no means an exhaustive list, some popular YouTube channels for beginners include Yoga With Adriene, featuring Adriene Mishler and her credo "find what feels good." Aham Yoga offers great free online classes each day. Newbies to meditation might want to check out Faith Hunter. And if you're turning to yoga to manage a weight issue, Body Positive Yoga might be the right choice for you.
Looking for more advanced yoga videos on YouTube? Yoga With Tim is sure to give you an intense workout that focuses on strength training. It's named after a city in India, but "Mysore" Yoga Teacher Training Institute might describe how your body feels after your first advanced yoga session with these YouTubers. And for those who are ready to take on some upper-level Ashtanga yoga, Purple Valley Ashtanga Yoga has some fast-moving classes waiting.
Yoga Download
While most of Yoga Download's more than 1,700 yoga videos come with their paid plan, you can still get a nice sampling of their online classes with over 100 free videos. These classes run in length from five minutes to over an hour, categorized by different personal goals and various styles. Plus, the site has a free live streaming class once a week.
Yoga Journal
As the name suggests, Yoga Journal is more than just yoga videos, offering lots of yoga-related articles and content about health in general. But they've also got lots of free yoga videos, ranging from beginner to advanced, from core workouts to guided meditations, and all things yoga in between.
Best Free (and Almost Free) Yoga Apps
"Free" yoga apps can be deceiving. Most are only free to download. Yes, they do have some free videos, but to take full advantage of the app you have to pay a fee that can go as high as $20 a month. So, let's look at the best truly free and low-cost options out there.
5 Minute Yoga
This is a good yoga app that actually is free. Though, as you can probably guess by the name, the videos on 5 Minute Yoga are quite short. Still, the bite-sized videos are pretty awesome, and they show you the correct way to do poses and breathing exercises that you can later do for longer stretches on your own.
Pocket Yoga
With a flat price of $2.99, Pocket Yoga is a great low-cost yoga app. And an unusual one in that it doesn't have instructors. Instead, the Pocket Yoga app uses illustrated instruction graphics to follow as you go through different movements. So, if you get annoyed by yapping yoga teachers, this app might be right for you.
Daily Burn
Exclusive to the Apple App Store, Daily Burn's premium annual plan of $23.99 works out to about two dollars a month. The app has one-on-one training sessions, workouts that are tailored to your fitness goals, daily stretches, and more, all customizable according to weekly plans.
Down Dog
At $7.99 per month (or $49.99 annually), Down Dog is one of the most affordable options among the paid apps. With thousands of classes and about 60,000 different configurations, it's nearly impossible to get bored with the same old yoga video. Plus you can choose from different instructors until you find a guiding voice that suits you.
Daily yoga can truly change your life. So, download a yoga app, find your favorite free yoga online, and see what virtual yoga can do for you.
Written by William McCleary for Knockaround.
