While your gym or yoga studio may no longer be offering in-person yoga classes right now, you can still get in your fix at home: The best YouTube yoga videos can bring your favorite kind of classes right to your living room.
“YouTube yoga is a great option for people during the pandemic because it increases access to yoga,” registered yoga teacher Heather Freeman, the program manager of YogaX at Stanford University, tells SELF. “During this time when we are under an unprecedented amount of stress, anything that we would normally do for our mental health or for social connection is limited to what we can do in our home.”
Not only are these YouTube yoga videos convenient, but because they’re also free, they can be a great option for people who are under financial strain right now, she says. This also makes them a low-stakes choice for beginners who are curious about yoga, but may not want to commit to a streaming service for classes right off the bat.
Interested in getting started with some YouTube yoga? There are a ton of choices out there—here’s what you need to know to find the best YouTube yoga classes for you.
How to choose the best YouTube yoga channel for you
With the vast number of yoga videos available on YouTube, it can be completely overwhelming to know where to start—and which will be the best fit for you. But an easy place to begin is to search by keywords you identify with most as a yoga participant.
“For example, if you are new to yoga, look for ‘beginner classes’ or ‘introduction to yoga,’” Carlye Cole, a registered yoga teacher specializing in hatha, vinyasa, yin yoga, and meditation, tells SELF.
It can also be helpful to familiarize yourself with some yoga terms so you can know what each class is offering. From vinyasa to hatha to yin, there are many different styles of yoga (you can learn more about yoga styles here), and the practice of each is quite different. That’s why it can also be helpful to do some research on some of the YouTube instructors who surfaced on your initial search, says Freeman.
“By looking them up ahead of time, you get to learn about their teaching styles and the type of yoga that they teach—vinyasa, Iyengar, hatha, or kundalini, for example,” she says.
Once you have some possibilities in mind, you should start with a shorter session. This will help you get a feel for the teacher and the kind of content they offer. “As you sample the channels and narrow the ones that resonate with you, you can increase the duration,” Cole says.
Additionally, it can also be helpful to find classes where the instructors offer multiple variations for each pose so that you can find a shape that works for you, rather than forcing your body into one set kind, says Freeman.
The best beginner YouTube yoga videos
Yoga teacher Arundhati Baitmangalkar, an Indian immigrant, former Bollywood dancer, and choreographer, founded Aham Yoga, a studio based in Washington state that posts videos and offers online yoga classes daily. The channel is for anyone interested in yoga, including those who want to follow along with a workout—whether it’s a 5-minute intro for beginners or a morning yoga flow— perfect their poses, or simply understand more about the practice of yoga. For people looking to delve a little deeper into its background, Baitmangalkar also hosts a podcast, Let’s Talk Yoga, where discusses things like the authenticity of yoga, cultural appropriation, accessibility, and yoga as self-care.
Adriene Mishler is one of the undisputed queens of YouTube yoga. Quirky, down-to-earth, and very much someone that you may want to be best friends with, it’s not surprising that Mishler has a fiercely loyal following.
Another reason for her massive popularity? Mishler lives and breathes by the motto “find what feels good.” All of her videos stress the importance of doing away with comparison and finding your own unique expression of each pose. Total newbies, or anyone who could use a refresher, can also benefit from her “Foundations of Yoga” series, which breaks down the basic alignment and benefits of tons of yoga poses.
Faith Hunter exudes that deep sense of peace and tranquility where you can’t help but wonder about her secret to life. The answer, it seems, is meditation—lots of it! Hunter offers a number of guided meditation videos in addition to her yoga classes, which lean on the relaxing-and-restorative side.
Check out her channel when you’re searching for a soothing flow with a soulful quality, rather than just a physical workout.
The Yoga Room totally sounds like a cozy place where you’d want to hang out, and this warm and fuzzy feeling definitely extends to its YouTube channel as well. The studio’s owner, Zelinda Yañez, welcomes you into her Texas-based studio with tutorials and yoga flows for those seeking a gentle, therapeutic practice. Yañez is super tranquil, and her intent is to help yoga practitioners of all shapes and sizes enjoy a safe, comfortable practice. Check out her 30-minute video, “Strengthening Yoga for Bigger Bodies,” and her chair yoga series.
Not only is Koya Webb a yoga teacher, but she is also a personal trainer, health and wellness coach, author, and motivational speaker. And she takes a holistic approach to all of that.
She’s one of Cole’s favorites because she offers more than just yoga classes, like recipes, interviews, meditations, and workouts. “Her content is fresh and consistently updated; it’s essentially an all-encompassing wellness channel go-to,” Coles says.
If you’re looking for more technical instructions and help nailing the right physical alignment of each pose, you’ll adore yoga instructor Candace Moore. There’s a striking simplicity about each of her videos—Moore has a concise style that’s perfect if you’re pressed for time or looking to get straight to the point.
Her efficiency is also reflected in her homepage, which breaks down classes by every possible organizational meter: time of day, body part focus, length, etc.
These videos are a conglomeration of videos curated by Tahtahme’s Diary, founder of Spiritual Black Girls. While she is not a yoga instructor herself, she has created an amazing resource of yoga classes by instructors of color.
“The classes they have on this channel range from guided relaxation to full-length asana classes,” says Freeman. “They also have classes with some mixes of other practices, such as tai chi, dance-infused yoga, yogalates, and Kemetic yoga, the ancient Egyptian system of yoga.”
SELF columnist Stanley is a body-positive yoga teacher—she wrote the book Every Body Yoga: Let Go of Fear, Get on the Mat, Love Your Body—and an advocate of destigmatizing cannabis use and incorporating it into her yoga practice. She’s known for her high-energy vinyasa flow.
“These inclusive yoga classes led by Jessamyn emphasize that yoga is for every body,” says Freeman. “She has classes that range from beginner sequences to more challenging sequences that are specific to building a home practice. She shows up authentically.”
Amber Karnes created her channel, Body Positive Yoga, which is a “low-pressure, judgment-free yoga for big bodies, creaky joints, and beginners.” On her channel, she shares how yoga has played a huge, life-changing role for her, and offers tons of tips and modifications that all her participants should keep in mind.
“Amber’s channel is all about body-positive yoga; she offers plenty of helpful variations for larger bodies,” says Freeman. “She is also very candid about her own experience with working on body acceptance and empowerment through her yoga practice.”
YogaVibe 585 is a body-positive yoga studio in Rochester, New York. Their classes are led by queer and trans instructors who focus on different themes for LGBTQIA mental health and identity, such as empowerment, acceptance, and social justice. This channel offers inclusive yoga for people who may feel marginalized or not often recognized within the yoga community.
“The teachers show up authentically and offer multiple variations of each posture,” says Freeman.
A certified yoga teacher who has taught for over 25 years, Becker strives to “create more flexibility, mobility, and resilience with self-acceptance” with her practice.
“Patricia offers inclusive yoga for older populations,” says Freeman. With that in mind, she has created lots of content for her followers with mobility challenges and limitations, including chair yoga, hip mobility videos, and even videos that address sciatica.
She also offers lots of variety, including classes specifically for your hands, shoulders, or arms. Becker even has a video on face yoga, too.
Led by Bird, a certified yoga teacher, these videos focus on restorative yoga, morning yoga, and yoga for beginners. She uploads videos weekly, so her content is always fresh and current.
Plus, if you’re feeling more in the mood to freestyle your yoga for the day, she also has a Spotify playlist that you can put on for any yoga routine.
If you are currently pregnant or have just entered postpartum life, this channel might be a great option for you. Instructor Jessica Pumple, who is also a registered dietitian and certified diabetes and bariatric educator, leads the yoga videos here. Her videos cover everything from pregnancy floor exercises to birth ball exercises to postpartum core strengthening. If you’re looking to make your exercise a family affair, this channel also offers workouts you can do together (like this fun Christmas workout for kids).
The best advanced YouTube yoga videos
Ashtanga is a style of yoga that links breath to movement, similar to a vinyasa flow class, but is faster-moving, more specifically structured, and has earned a reputation for being somewhat intense. Because of that, ashtanga can be intimidating for some people.
There’s no better way to get initiated with ashtanga than with one-on-one instruction from some of the world’s leading teachers, who gather at the Purple Valley Ashtanga Yoga Retreat in India. The Purple Valley channel regularly features classes with renowned instructors, such as Deepika Mehta, David Robson, and Kino Macgregor. It also offers a bunch of meditation videos.
While ashtanga has a reputation for being physically demanding, kundalini is considered to be a style of yoga that’s more spiritually focused. It’s deeply focused on things like connecting your mind and body, expanding consciousness, increasing awareness, and activating energy throughout the body (via what’s known in ayurvedic medicine as the “chakras,” or energy centers). Despite the growing number of yoga studios in the U.S., kundalini classes are much less common than flow classes.
If you’re interested in focusing on the more spiritual aspects of yoga, such as breathwork, chanting, and hand gestures, Spirit Voyage is a wonderful channel to help you get familiar with kundalini. The Spirit Voyage channel is packed with videos from the Sat Nam Fest, a yoga festival featuring classes and workshops from teachers and master instructors nationwide to guide you through unique classes and meditations. The ultimate goal is spiritual transformation, but in the meantime, all the breathwork is incredibly energizing.
Each week, Tim Senesi posts a new vinyasa flow that leans on the physically challenging side, so you’ll definitely be into his classes if you’re looking to focus on the more physical part of yoga. Senesi is open about how yoga has helped him develop a healthier self-image, so it’s cool to see how far his yoga practice has taken him.
The majority of his classes fall into the half-hour range, and he also has a great 30-day challenge, if you’re feeling ambitious about kickstarting your at-home workouts through yoga practice.
The Samyak Yoga Ashram in Mysore, India, is a well-respected yoga school that posts hatha, vinyasa, and ashtanga classes that typically last anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half, if you’re looking for longer workouts. The videos here aren’t one-on-one, but actually give you a glimpse into a roomful of other students who are practicing at the Mysore Teacher Training Institute.
And if you’ve always dreamed of getting your yoga certification at a traditional yoga school in India, there are lots of brief, inspiring videos where students share tidbits about what the experience is like.
Founded in 2008, Do Yoga With Me is a collaborative yoga community with the goal of making yoga accessible to everyone.
“The instruction is clear and concise—they have been creating online content for over a decade, and offer an amazing variety of class styles, lengths, and difficulty,” says Cole. Through their website, you can easily search for your favorite teacher, she says—Fiji McAlpine is one of her favorites—and take guided meditations and yoga challenges.
This channel is from the YogaX team, a health care-focused yoga school housed in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University.
The classes here incorporate yoga philosophy and intention in the practice, says Freeman. “We are a team of psychologists and researchers, and we bring yoga psychology into what we teach while also doing our best to honor yoga’s roots,” she says.
The channel is also great because instructors offer tons of variations in their poses, so you can always find a version that works for your body and makes you feel comfortable. It’s also super chill and no-frills.
“We are teaching from our own living spaces, and so there is a touch of humanity in our classes—with some cameos from my cat,” Freeman says.
Chance, who is a registered yoga instructor and Thai yoga massage teacher, offers a different angle with her classes: They come from the perspective of her addiction recovery. She is open with her followers about her recovery journey, and often creates videos related to recovery support (like topics of sober curiosity and relapse). Her yoga videos range from relaxing, slow flow videos to sweaty vinyasa flows, and vary in length: You can find short, medium, and longer options.
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