No excuses yoga! Three Tips on How to Choose an Online Yoga Teacher

A detailed guide on how you can find the right online yoga teacher for you - practice anytime & anywhere! No excuses. This detailed piece includes a variety of yoga teachers and practices too.

Practising yoga virtually online has its pros and cons!

Doing yoga online can be challenging for some people, but it's worth a try if you haven't done it yet. No excuses! Something I always look for in an online instructor is how detailed they are with their instruction AND the timing of the instructions. If the timing is off, it feels uncomfortable, and you can injure yourself. Or you might even feel confused or rushed. That’s why you need to find the instructor that works for you. Here are some tips for finding someone to lead you in practice online.

Tip No. 1: Try out different teachers.

One thing to consider when choosing a practice or lesson to follow is, do you vibe with the teacher? Try out different teachers. Not all teachers are for all people. It's important to choose a person that you feel comfortable with and that you can easily follow. Can you follow along easily with their verbal and visual cues? Verbal cues are extremely important when practising with others online. We don't want to spend a lot of time twisting our bodies and looking at a screen. When you continually work with a teacher, you will become aware of their cues and style through repetition. I found and followed two different teachers regularly online, choosing their videos depending on my energy level and mood and knowing when I need to push myself. I've even met both of them in person and practised with them (I share info on both below), travelling thousands of miles/km to do so, and I look forward to participating in their retreats in the next couple of years. The internet is an amazing connector and tool! Sometimes, I try other yoga teachers as well. Find the teacher that works for you.

Tip No. 2: Preview portions of selected videos first.

Preview portions of selected videos before getting on your mat. When I started to follow various yoga practices online, trying different teachers, beforehand I would watch a portion of the video before getting on the mat. You can adjust the speed as well so you can quickly get an idea of what's included in the video. Once chosen, it was onto the mat.

Tip No. 3: Do at least two videos from a specific instructor.

Practices even with the same teacher can vary since they may be focusing on different things in each video or offering various levels of practice. Then the goal is to try a couple of different practices with one teacher. Plus, there may even be some technical issues. It's important to find out if they are someone you can follow easily, feel challenged but not overly stressed and that you feel comfortable practising yoga together.

My Teachers: Erica and Lara

Erica Vetra and Lara Dwyer have been my teachers, and I love their videos and have had the privilege of meeting them in person and practising yoga with them, as mentioned earlier. They are both amazing teachers but are not “YouTube” instructors.

Erica Vetra

Erica does not offer YouTube generally, so if you’re interested, you can sign up here and try a class. She does offer one on YouTube for lower back pain. She will challenge you.

You’ll also find a link to a free yoga practice in our Five for Friday edition here - it’s item no. 3 in this edition of the newsletter.

Five for Friday No. 9

Lara Dwyer from Sukha Yoga Australia

Lara also does not regularly post on YouTube, but there are two practices on YouTube that you can try out before joining her virtual classes. They are 30 minutes each and will challenge you. Personally, I love both of these practices because her style is very similar to my very first in the flesh yoga teacher from the Unitarian Church in Montclair - not the VHS Video teachers that I used to follow – nice steady flow and easy to follow.

Vinyasa Yoga Practice Evening Flow

The practice is 29 minutes and is led by Lara from Sukha Yoga in Australia and focuses on shoulder opening. It is very easy to follow. There is no music throughout the practice. However, the beginning and end have the eFIT30 Channels intro and end music – it’s loud and, for some, may be annoying, but frankly, I feel so good after the practice it doesn’t bother me. There is also a couple of seconds pause at some point if you want a drink of water. That was more distracting to me. If you know about the pause and music, it makes it easier. This practice is SOLID. Paced well I like it a lot.

Start Your Morning with Vinyasa Flow Yoga Practice

The practice like the one listed above is also on YouTube. It’s free, 28 minutes, and is led by Lara from Sukha Yoga in Australia. Very easy to follow. There is no music throughout the practice. Also, like the video above, the beginning and end have the eFIT30 Channels intro and end music – it’s loud. Another solid easy-to-follow vinyasa flow practice, but this one is for the morning.

Popular YouTube Instructors

Yoga with Kassandra

I like Kassandra Rhinehardts’ earlier videos and belonged to her lunar yoga membership for two years (no longer available) some years ago. Kassandra started her YouTube channel in 2014 to share her passion for yin yoga. What’s different about yin yoga is that practitioners essentially hold poses for longer periods of time. The physiological aspects of a yin yoga practice focus more on connective tissue and joints rather than muscles. Still, the mental benefits are no different than any other form of yoga.

Yin: Slow & Steady

Since each pose is held for several minutes or several breaths (however you like to count it) there are not as many poses. So even though this type of practice is slow & steady, I often find myself wondering where the time went. In my experience, the practices seem to fly by. The poses can still be challenging but in a different way. You’ll hear many yin yoga instructors make reference to finding your ‘edge.’ To find your edge strive for that space between challenge and comfort. When you are at your edge, you should never feel pain or discomfort. Also, there is no rushing in or out of poses or quickening of the flow. Actually, after holding a pose for some time, it’s better to move slowly out of it, staying in tune with the practice and your body.

Here are two videos that I liked:

Upper Body Yin Yoga

Vinyasa Flow 60-Minute Practice

Yoga With Adriene

One of the first and the most subscribed to yoga instructors on YouTube is Yoga with Adriene. I’ve tried several of her videos. Although I think she is an excellent teacher, her intensity level is too low for me. Personally, I prefer longer practices. That is a holdover from my younger years – back in the 80s, taking dance classes at the Clark Center with Lenore Latimer, where classes were 1.5 hours long, 1/2 hour at the barre and 1/2 hour of stretching before a 1/2 hour of modern dance and we used to wear leg warmers too! But millions of people love her, so try it.

Adriene gets the timing and cues right. She also has a sense of humour and doesn’t say ‘yummy’ at all. I think things are yummy, but yoga isn’t one of them, so that is one thing I dislike immensely when teachers use the word yummy.

The practices that I’ve followed thus far, in general, are not very challenging in an athletic way. Now it might just be that I haven’t found those videos yet, or they are the ones available with a paid subscription. That doesn’t mean that I don’t struggle sometimes. It also doesn’t mean that I don’t sweat either. For me, one day, I can follow a practice by an instructor, and it is refreshing, and I feel strong, and other days the exact same practice is more difficult. Sometimes my balance is off, or I feel weaker on one side of my body or simply weaker overall. So that’s not what I am referring to when I say they aren’t very challenging because yoga can be challenging on any given day.

I’ve followed many of her practices, and here are two that I enjoyed:

Compassion Yoga – Core Strength Vinyasa

Yoga practice description:

A mindful yoga flow that targets core conditioning and love of self. Move from a place of connect and tone & build muscle with mindfulness. This one is sure to welcome results in both mind and body. Balance is your natural state. Explore your body, your breath and be present for yourself.

When I choose to follow any of her practices, they are just what I need when I do them. They are easy to follow and overall get the job done. Plus, she also has a giant fur beast named Benji who joins her periodically, and dogs are beings of love.

Yoga For Weight Loss | Strengthen and Lengthen

Yoga for Weight Loss Description:

40 min Yoga For Weight Loss series continues with this Strengthen and Lengthen sequence! Learn proper alignment and how to infuse mindful energy and awareness into your practice. Adriene offers modifications as well as inspiration to detail the practice to suit your needs and desires! Breathe deep and enjoy the at home yoga practice. This is a full body experience, work it out!

I have also published and shared a couple of videos after receiving my certification from Devvrat Yoga Sangha in Kerala, India. I’m sharing one below.

Beginners Standing Balance Practice

About this 60-minute session: We begin warming and preparing the body with Cat and Cow, plank pose and child's pose, moving to Sphinx Pose and Locust Pose. We continue with moving the body before we practice Sun Salutation A. We then practice our balance with Eagle Arms in Chair OR Garuda pose with legs wrapped, a variation of Chair Pose where our legs are in a figure 4 shape, and then Tree Pose. Finally, we move to Crescent Lunge, Half-Splits, and Warrior One. We begin to close our practice with Camel Pose, Seated Forward Fold, Bridge Pose, Reclining Bound Angle Pose and, of course, closing with Corpse Pose, aka Savasana.

​I am unable to express both Camel Pose and Garuda Pose fully, so I've included some graphics below the video to show you the full expressions and have included modifications for Garuda Pose. The modifications are explained and shown in the video as well.

You can find timestamps in the video's description on YouTube if you want to jump directly to the practice and skip the intro. Finally, I no longer offer weekly free online yoga classes to the general public.

Practising Yoga Virtually Online: Read this!

​If you suffer from any injuries or diseases, please consult with a physician or medical professional before practising yoga. Please consult your physician before beginning any new exercise program. Everybody is different. Do not force poses or strain yourself. Overexertion will prevent you from sustaining a practice. Some days we'll feel stronger or more flexible, and other days we need to take it easy. Find the middle path where you can exert yourself yet relax into a pose. I cannot stress enough that you are responsible for your own well-being. An instructor can assist and guide you, but since we are practising online, you will have to monitor and know your own physical limitations.

10 to 15 minutes of yoga each day will change your life. It’s worth finding an instructor online and enjoying the many benefits yoga has to offer. Do you practice with an online instructor? Share your experience or any other tips or recommend an instructor in the comments below. Namaste!