Can you learn yoga well from just online classes?

[Miriam101]

Posted this on Exercise before realising there's a whole board devoted to yoga!

I am so achey at the moment. Every day seems to bring a new pain or twinge. So thought I'd try some yoga. Have heard good things about this instructor and really enjoyed a first session this morning but wondered if it was ok to start yoga like this at home online, with noone to actually check I'm doing it right? Half the time I had no idea. I remember a yogi friend of mine saying that you can do real damage to your body by doing the poses and stretches wrong/badly aligned.

I'd love to hear what experienced yogis think and if anyone has learned properly from Adriene or another online teacher.

I have a yoga centre literally at the end of my road so I know I should combine online with in-person once a week just to check I'm on the right track... but that would involve getting my arse out of the house on a Sunday morning.....

I would definitely recommend an in person class. Good form and alignment is so important in yoga, especially in helping out with all the aches and pains. An in person teacher will be able to help you adjust and modify to your own body and its needs.

Please go to a class. People do real damage to themselves trying to learn yoga online.

Thanks for replying @KevinDeBrioche and @thedevilinablackdress . I will sign up for the beginners class at my local studio, and maybe complement with a bit of Adriene...

Back in 2020 I was paying £75 a month to attend a ridiculously packed yoga class twice a week.

Then a friend (who earns a six figure salary) told me she'd had to give up her expensive club due to Covid, but had found this online class actually so much better. We've both followed it ever since.

The worst thing I ever did when younger was to start my yoga journey with ashtanga yoga (in a class) and totally over do it. Injuries galore! It's a form of yoga developed for teenage boys so it is rather energetic.

I ended up in an iyengar class where they spend time using props to get your alignment correct. So, I would recommend iyengar for a while (whilst avoiding all the excessive standing on your head poses that they like), then when you have a better understanding of your body and how to move it without injuring yourself (surround all movement with the breath - that's a good start) move on to other classes.

Though maybe not ashtanga as it's a bit like being beaten up as a friend of mine beautifully phrased it after she attended a class with me.

You do need to have attended a good quality in person class for at least a year, maybe more, to gain the right muscle memory and alignment to avoid injury.

Having done yoga for donkey's years, I instinctively know how to do poses with alignment and adopting techniques to avoid injury (for example, not locking knees, not doing the slingshot effect of letting go of a limb such as quad stretches etc) but I wouldn't have trusted myself without having had the in person coaching and attention of an experienced yoga teacher to guide me.