Remember when we didn’t know what online yoga was?
Thanks to technology, we’re able to practice yoga at home anytime we want – which is great – but! ….
Now working from home is the norm …
Spending even more time in front of a screen to practice Yoga / Pilates / Fitness (whatever your preference is) isn’t so appealing as you’re already spending hours in front of a screen for work. This could mean you practice yoga less often or, opt for short, quick practices.
For me, one of the things I absolutely LOVE about practicing yoga, is how great my body & mind feels after a long(er) practice. Not just physically better – ie. more open, stretched, stronger, taller – but infinitely calmer in body & mind too. These benefits are pretty hard to achieve with short practices. So please, don’t think of your yoga practice as something to be rushed. Allow yourself the time & space to immerse yourself in a lovely long juicy practice again .. even its the occasional long practice just to remind yourself how great it feels.
Yes, it’s convenient to practice at home but! …
Nothing beats practicing yoga in the ‘real world’ where you feel part of a community, uplifted by group energy. Where a teacher is giving personalized support, where you can speak to the teacher after class or, chat with your class mates or grab a coffee together. Not to mention the technical issues that can bring a home practice to a sudden halt – aargh! Online classes are helpful but you can’t replace the connection that’s made in person.
It’s easy to skip a class – or ten!
When you’ve signed up for a yoga class at a local studio – & probably paid in advance – you’re more likely to turn up. Whereas at home, it’s easy to keep putting your practice off & suddenly, you run out of time. What starts as “I’ll do it after work” soon becomes “I’ll do it before bed” which often turns into “I’m too tired, I’ll practice tomorrow”!
A home practice can stagnate
When you do online yoga, do you choose short 20-30 minute practices? Do you gravitate towards the same teacher/the same channel or do you jump around? Do you find it hard to practice the postures AND see what the teacher is doing at the same time? Overall, do you feel your practice is moving forward .. or stagnating?
With no teacher in the room to see what you’re doing, to correct you & offer tips, how do you know if you’re practicing safely, building bad habits & risking a potential injury?
When you practice yoga at a studio, more often than not, the teacher will have a carefully curated plan that ensures your practice progresses. Their plan will ensure a) a variety of postures & b) various options of the postures for those students that want to dial things up – or down. In an effort to keep things simple & available to all levels of yoga experience, online classes often stick to the same foundational poses – down dog, plank, chataranga, triangle, the warrior poses etc etc – so you get good at the basics but your practice doesn’t really progress.
Missing the final relaxation
When practicing at home, it’s very easy to skip the final relaxation (savasana) or spend as little time as possible there. Why do we do this? Is it because we feel guilty relaxing at home when there’s ‘things’ to be done?
The final long pause at the end of a yoga practice is one of the benefits of being in a live, in person class. With no disruptions, no judgment, no-one bursting in the room or knocking on the door you can totally bliss out.
It’s often said that savasana is the most important pose & I tend to agree. Many of us don’t give ourselves the opportunity to really relax – and I don’t mean flopping in front of the TV of an evening – that’s not relaxation, our minds are being stimulated which creates a reaction in the body – such as cortisol spikes, heart racing, senses on high alert, body tensing etc. Our bodies need to be given a chance to release all the accumulated tension & stress that seeps in throughout the day.
So, should you practice yoga online or at live, in-person environments?
The answer is …. both!
Online yoga IS convenient and it’s most likely here to stay but to reap the full benefits of yoga, it’s absolutely worth attending real world classes, workshops & retreats too if only to ‘fill up’ on immune boosting energy when a group flow & breathe together. To hear the teacher’s tips & personalised support so that you grow in your yoga practice. For a lovely, long – undisturbed – relaxation but, most importantly, because it would be a huge shame & a huge loss if we didn’t keep supporting the small business owners – yoga teachers, yoga studios, yoga retreats & workshops – that put so much effort & passion into what they do – creating a space where like minded people can come together and just ‘be’.
Come join us for a Yoga Retreat!
We’d love nothing more than to help you kickstart or dive deeper into your yoga practice with one of our – ‘real world’ yoga retreats we offer in Spain and the UK.
Not only will you get to spend time with lovely, like-minded people, but your practice will definitely grow in the twice daily yoga sessions with experienced senior teachers who take their time to deliver a carefully constructed yoga programme that ensures every part of your body is worked with personalized feedback & adjustments and where you’ll get to immerse yourself in that wonderful post yoga ‘glow’ that seems to disappear real fast with @ home yoga! Oh and of course, we’ll have plenty of other ‘fun but good for you’ things to do too and you’ll stay at really beautiful locations that help you stop, look around & see just how beautiful this world is.
Check out our latest retreat offerings here and feel free to contact us with your questions.
Thanks for reading to the end!
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