For many of us our approach to yoga in the last 2 months has changed drastically. I was quite surprised by my own journey and I wanted to hear back from people and get your thoughts on pros and cons on the three approaches .
Me: I dipped in and out of yoga all my life, mostly in studio classes. I always liked it but went long periods with doing nothing at all due to time constraints / laziness. Whenever I tried doing it at home I got bored or distracted so the do-your-own didn’t really work for me. I never did classes online, I thought I wouldn’t like them as they seemed too mechanical and impersonal.
I have always slightly struggled with the “religious” side of yoga, some classes have teachers go on for ages with mystical musings which I’m not into at all.
Now studios are closed and I have loads more time, so went online and I came to this site. I found I really like doing these classes, it focuses my attention, I can choose the teacher whose style matches my own and I learned lots. I now do it every day as part of my routine, who knew ?!?
What are your experiences on this topic ? what do you get from studio classes that you don’t get from the online ones ? do you manage to create your own routines and stick to it without the teachers’ pacing ?
Hello @elenaLon. Thanks for sharing and for the great questions. Just fyi, we have a thread that asks the same question, that goes back a year or two. You may want to scroll through the conversation there and contribute.
Not to discourage anyone else from answering, though!
Hi, I was going to answer you longer, but the thread says everything I wanted to… I came to choose only online teatching (well the situtuation first chose for me, but I was already hesitating).
The ability to adapt my own schedule, the quality of the teatchers I don’t find at home, and I find it easier to concentrate alone. The challenges make it really easy to practice everyday, instead of 3 times a week before (and the fact my work is mostly off at the moment). And I join you about the “mystical musing”, which is different from philosophy, and really not my thing.
Have fun!
I started yoga about 3 years ago and I started with online classes. I never went to a studio for a long time. Before Covid, I went to the studio which is really just a gym with a yoga teacher, once a week. And I did this just for the social interaction as I retired last year. I really get much more from online teachers. I started with Yoga With Adrienne and then I discovered DYWM and never looked back. I love the various teachers and their styles. I’ll will take one key message or tip from on teacher and then one tip from another. I don’t know where you can get all the services, advice, interaction and discussion as what DYWM offers. I have had an injury lately and most yoga poses can bother it. But no problem, the many restorative and PNF classes is where I am now.
So…as a retired 58 year old female, I can say online is the way to go. With an in-person class every once in a while, or once a week to stay motivated and connected socially. I guess it’s back to balance like everything in life.
Love online at home personal space comfort of not going to a studio…been doing it for years, and my practice has deepened. Wouldn’t recommend as a start up, but for a more familiar person…game changing.
