When thinking of yoga, many concepts come to mind – the community you build in your classes; the support as you try to master poses difficult poses (and avoid injury!); there’s even the shared sweat and germs! No doubt that in most studios, peace, harmony and tranquility reign (even among the masses with a simple SHHHH). And nothing compares to the feedback you receive in a class with beautiful living, breathing souls around you.
”When it comes to rolling out your mat at home, it’s a different story. We’ve shared some of our favorite resources on how to get your yoga on at home, via Yoga Journal, YogaHub and Pilates Anytime for the non-yoga days. Search for yoga on YouTube, or go to more exercise specific channels, like those found on Livestrong or ExerciseTV to find living room yoga exercises.
The web opens doors to trying new forms and types, but it falls flat in one BIG way. No corrective cues, no feedback and no one to ensure your practice is preventing injury. Unless you are the yoga instructor, most of us long for that feedback. Secretly (okay, not so secretly!) it’s one of the main reasons I’m willing to go to a studio or class at a gym. I want that interactive feedback and someone to push me just a little more.
Enter Yoga 3.0, the era of the interactive and internet-connected yoga teacher!
One yogi believes its time for the ancient meditative practice to meet modern video conferencing technology. Shall we set up your Skype date now? Yoga teacher Sarah Hamilton thinks so. She holds free classes from her home and uses the high-powered web conferencing technology that gets her through her day job to stream live video to your computer or phone, so you can practice along with her. Since it’s live, she’s able to ask students to give her feedback throughout the class, and if they have a video camera they can aim it to their mat so she can see them too. Order our WAGs padded yoga gloves to help alleviate hand and wrist pain during your living room yoga. Check out our selection of workout gloves with wrist support, here.
While it’s not the personalized attention you receive at an in-person yoga class, it seems like it could bridge popping in a tired DVD or working from streaming video or podcasts. What do you think? Is a video conference living room yoga class an alternative to studios, or should there be a line drawn between yoga and technology?
I want yoga to stream live into my living room!