The first yogis probably never imagined that there would someday be technology so advanced and widely available as to put all the extensive information about yoga in everyone’s pockets!
While it might not feel ‘zen’ to pick up your smartphone to improve your yoga practice, you can utilize this amazing technology to help genuinely make your life better.
There are numerous yoga apps available these days, all promising to get you hooked on a healthy, daily yoga habit. Of course, no app can replace your consistency and discipline - that’s all on you!
So, which apps should you check out if you want to build or expand your yoga practice?
1. Best Yoga App for Beginners
Down Dog
This comprehensive app allows you to customize more components of your yoga practice than most other apps!
The biggest draw of this app for beginners is that you can customize your preferences to include or exclude certain poses and other practices, like breath (pranayama) to suit your wants and needs. Like yoga but hate a certain pose? Skip it!
Other great features include:
- You can choose what type of music you want to play
- Adjust the music-to-voice-instruction volume balance
- Up or down-vote songs
- Change the view of the instructor as needed (left side and right side)
- Download sequences for offline use
- Choose the length of savasana
- Adjust the level of explanation given for each pose
- Choose the length of the class
As far as yoga offline apps go, this one allows you to take your practice with you whether you have an internet connection or not.
Practice outdoors, on vacation, or with no risk of distractions when you download your sequences.
Why is this app good for beginners? You can ask for as much explanation and help as you’d like by adjusting the settings before your class begins. If you’re not sure if you’re doing a pose properly, you can see the instructor from the left or right view to help you get on track.
The only way to get better instruction is to find a yoga teacher near you!
If you get bored with pre-recorded classes, this app is for you. It boasts over 60,000 possible class flows, depending on your preferences!
2. Best Yoga App for Weight Loss
Asana Rebel
This app offers both yoga and other fitness classes so you can reach your specific health goals. When you sign up, you will answer some questions about your health goals and the app will help suggest a plan to help you achieve them!
More than 100 health experts have helped weigh in on the science behind the advice and content on the Asana Rebel app, making it backed by real science.
Other benefits of the app include:
- Studio-quality classes
- Health forecast
- Fitness-focused approach to yoga classes
- Includes some recipes and meditations
- Quizzes designed to increase your knowledge of health and fitness
- Daily plan
- Short classes available
Many yoga apps are more focused on the spiritual side of yoga, but Asana Rebel was designed to address the physical fitness aspect. If you don’t want or need your yoga app to address the philosophy of yoga at the same time as asana, then this is perfect for you!
“Inhale lots of love in. Exhale lots of love out.” -Adriene Mishler
3. Best Yoga App for Spirituality
Gaia
According to ChoosingTherapy.com “Gaia is a video streaming service that promotes mindfulness, spiritual growth, alternative healing, and a yogic lifestyle. Gaia offers yoga and meditation classes taught by world-renowned instructors. Both beginners and advanced yogis can enjoy classes on Gaia’s platform.”
If you want your yoga app to teach you yoga and philosophical subjects, Gaia is the way to go. They have tons of videos to teach you asanas, the history of yoga, and many deep-thinking ideas in many aspects of life.
People frequently praise:
- The option to take live or pre-recorded classes
- Learning about conscious living and having interesting conversations about what they’ve learned with friends and family
- Wide variety of teachers and styles of yoga and meditation
- Download videos for offline use
- Variety of class lengths and difficulties
One word of caution about Gaia is that some of the videos veer into “conspiracy theory” territory. While it can be interesting and fun to think about these topics, it’s important to remain logical and avoid becoming too heavily influenced by ideas with no factual basis.
4. Best Yoga App for Learning Poses
Find What Feels Good
You may already know about the Yoga With Adriene YouTube channel with Adriene Mishler. This app is a way to access even more of her approachable, well-explained yoga content!
I began my personal yoga journey with Adriene’s channel in 2012 when she first started out. Back then, I did yoga very casually but was interested in the idea. Adriene’s friendly and fun demeanor and explanations on how to do poses, how to breathe, and how to slow down were vital to my continued yoga practice over the years.
If you want to learn more about the details of yoga poses and other yoga habits, you can find out everything you need to know to be a confident yogi with this app.
Users love:
- Curated “Paths” playlists for different yoga goals
- 3-, 7-, and 30-day series/challenges
- Variety of yoga classes, workouts, and meditations
- Helpful tips for mindful living “off the mat”
- Download videos for offline practice
- More than 900 videos are available
- More than 300 exclusive videos
- Hyper-specific classes (like “Yoga for Text-Neck”)
For an easygoing and wholesome approach to yoga, Find What Feels Good can help you learn how to be confident on your own!
”Move your joints every day. You have to find your own tricks. Bury your mind deep in your heart, and watch the body move by itself.” -Sri Dharma Mittra
5. Best Yoga App for Building a Daily Habit
Glo
If you feel overwhelmed by committing to a yoga practice, but you really want to start doing it every day, Glo can help you work on your habit.
It offers a wide variety of classes both in content and length, so you can choose whatever strikes your fancy on any particular day and fit it into the time you have.
Even 2 minutes of your practice each day will help you build up the healthy habit of fitting yoga into your daily life, even if you are super busy.
The benefits of Glo include:
- Tons of different types of classes, like Ashtanga, Hatha, Kundalini, Restorative, Prenatal, Strength, Vinyasa, Meditation & Breathwork, and Iyengar
- On-demand, pre-recorded classes, and live classes are available
- When you sign up, Glo asks you about your fitness and yoga goals to help tailor your experience
- You can filter classes by style, intensity, props used, body parts to focus on, type of music, and more
- Download classes for offline use
- Great for beginners and advanced yogis alike
If you’re looking for help to build a yoga habit by working on it a little each day, this app can help you get the foundations you need to keep up your practice for many years to come.
How to Use Apps to Build Your Yoga Practice
Building your yoga habit can be challenging at first, like any new addition to your routine.
By leveraging apps to help you stay committed to your new habit, you stand a better chance of making lasting impacts on your life. Here’s how apps can help you make these important changes.
Personalize your app as much as possible.
Answer all the questions (if any) the app asks you about your fitness and yoga goals so it can help recommend classes and a schedule for you.
Look at all the settings and get familiar.
When you only have 2 minutes to use the app, you don’t have time to figure it out. When you download the app the first time, take 15 minutes or so to look around and get familiar with the user interface. This way, when you really only have a few minutes to dedicate to yoga, you don’t need to spend any precious time figuring out where to find the class you want.
Add it to your daily schedule.
Whether you can dedicate a few moments in the morning, afternoon, or evening, add yoga to your daily plans. Try to keep it at the same time each day. If you can’t, make sure to add it in where you know you’ll have a spare few moments. Many short yoga classes are gentle enough that you don’t need to change clothes or worry about working up a sweat, so you can even do them on your lunch break or in-between classes.
Download media for offline use.
Nothing is more irritating than getting ready to start your yoga session and finding that you don’t have a stable internet connection - your videos won’t load! Save a few of your favorite videos for offline use so you never find yourself stranded without guidance.
Have patience and commitment, and don’t be afraid to come back to the habit even if you’ve missed it for a few (or a lot of) days. You don’t need to be an intense practitioner to reap the benefits of a yoga practice.
Begin adding it to your day and soon you’ll find that the mental, emotional, and physical benefits make you feel so good that you’ll have more time for even more yoga!
Enjoyed this article? Leave a rating!
Loading...
