Is online yoga dead?

I’ve been teaching yoga for 11 years now and I teach about 15 regular classes a week which sounds like a lot. That’s spread over 6 days and 5 of them are only 15 minutes long so it actually only amounts to 10 hours and 45 minutes per week. Still, I definitely couldn’t fit that into a day! Or even a week?!

However, most of these classes are online. In fact, 85% of the classes I teach are all live, online and have been for a number of years. I do teach at other in-person events throughout the year, including teaching training days and retreats, etc. but I haven’t included the numbers within this. 

Of these regular classes, I only do 2-3 of these classes in person. We have a good size online community that’s been growing over the last 4 years, with no signs of stopping, despite people coming together for various events in person nowadays. The online community/the membership I’ve created, which gives you full access to everything online, allows people to dip in and out, daily and weekly, depending on their work/life loads, etc. It means you can literally fold your laundry whilst waiting for the live online class to start! You can have your children/pets in another room or even the same room! You don’t have to waste time travelling. A physical in-person class can sometimes take 2 hours out of your time, by the time you’ve got ready, made yourself presentable (washing, teeth brushing and applying make-up/ deodrant, brushing hair even!) and travelled to class, arrived early, etc. 

From my perspective as the Teacher/Business owner, 15 of those hours could actually be more like 30 hours in-person, if I include the travel time there and back, parking, getting into class, setting up etc. (Not to mention making myself in-person presentable!) I really benefit from having that extra time to market my business; create content; deal with customer enquiries, explore advertising, update my website, send invoices, etc. which is a full time job in itself. However, on the days where I’m purely online, I often find I can have a really productive day at home in my office only to get to the school run at 4pm before I realise I haven’t showered or even brushed my teeth yet! I do make time to eat properly and exercise though. It’s just clearly higher up on my values than being hygienic! 

I do think there’s a lot to be said about the beauty of learning online. You can shout, swear even or make bodily noises for example, which you might not otherwise get away with in a physical class! Well, I can’t! I think you’d notice but for everyone else joining in the class, you’re on mute! You can have your dinner cooking in the oven, ready to go the minute you finish savasana! 

There’s definitely a certain amount of discipline required to follow a recorded library class which I know quite a few people do, because it fits their schedule better. A live class requires a little less discipline in that once you’re there and can see everyone, or more everyone can see you. You’re fully committed. A live class does give you that accountability. 

I’m very lucky in that the majority of people joining my live online yoga and core classes keep their screens on in Zoom. It provides that level of commitment to the class from the get-go. Whilst I can’t always see exactly what people are doing, I do get a good sense of the energy levels of the group. I always give options throughout for different levels; for example like taking down dog or child’s pose and it gives me chance to see if I need to up the energy of the flow or take it down a notch, depending on what the majority of people will choose. 

But it also really speaks to that sense of community. We may not know everyone on screen but they become familiar faces and sometimes I find people are already having a really good chat about the weather or how hard the last class was, just as I log on to the class myself! 

Yes, some people leave their screens off, though usually not before explaining why, which I always think is a really lovely polite thing to do. But I really don’t mind. We have our reasons and that’s another beauty of online. Hey, if I could join 15 minutes of morning core drills in my pyjamas then I probably would! Now there’s an idea! Even then though, we see the dark screen of someone but with their name on screen and we know they’re there, everyday with us, gruelling through another 15 minutes of core drills! 

I think the biggest advantage of online yoga is being able to do more than one class a week. Prior to Covid, I had a group of people that would attend just one physical class a week. Once we moved online, the majority of people jumped to 3-4 classes per week and their progress was phenomenal. Still is! Which is great because then I have to up my game too! 

Teaching yoga online has it’s challenges, for sure, but it also continues to have huge advantages too. I find teaching online yoga to be far more technical. I can be far more descriptive and we hone in on engaging particular muscles to help us build strength in muscles we never knew we had. Most of my online classes provide more descriptive techniques that really build strength in those under developed muscles within our body; allowing us to properly stretch the naturally tighter muscles. We can spend a full hour just developing the muscles in the forearms, for example, which help hugely in reducing wrist aches and pains, which people typically experience. 

It’s also down to not having those other distractions in the room, where you can completely be yourself. You’re not necessarily looking at what other people are doing and whether it ‘looks right’. You’re not wondering if you put the wrong knickers on under those see-through leggings! You’re listening in, focused and concentrating on your next, detailed set of instructions, whilst still holding the previous instructions engagement. 

Layering up the engagement in our muscles, one by one, until your leg or shoulder or foot feels like it’s on fire and might fall off! 

That said, practising at home can bring up it’s own distractions, like your cat for example, or a child in the next room, or the neighbour’s lawn mower. But there’s an element of being challenged, from the get-go; allowing you to get stuck in. We try to go deep with our focus and concentration into what we’re trying to achieve that we feel those ‘home’ distractions disappear quite quickly. If you’re thinking about your dinner or whether you heard the post got delivered, then I’m not doing my job properly! 

The true spirit of online

I think the real spirit of online though is the community. People of all ages, from all over the world coming together to learn about more their bodies. About how it moves, and why it moves (or doesn’t) but most importantly feeling it! And feeling it together. 

Personally, I think online is here to stay and in lots of industries too. 

I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts.