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How Effective Is YouTube Yoga?
Here’s what the research says about online yoga practices (and how to make them work for you)
Since the beginning of January, over 1.8 million people have set out to complete a 30-day online yoga challenge posed by the most popular YouTube yoga channel — Yoga With Adriene — which boasts nearly 5 million subscribers.
Shannon Mentges, 33, is among the thousands of viewers who successfully reached day 30. The stay-at-home mom from Erie, Pennsylvania, decided to take self-care more seriously in 2019 and, so far, she says she’s been loyal to her daily practice. The convenience of being able to unroll her mat on the living room floor whenever her two toddlers are asleep and hit play on a class from her laptop has helped her keep her New Year’s resolution.
“Even though I am used to lifting heavy children, I now feel stronger in my upper body, and I have been able to walk up hills with more ease,” she says.
Research has found that yoga may help relieve pain, anxiety, and depression, as well as prevent heart disease and aid in weight loss. And now there are seemingly endless opportunities for people to practice from the comfort of their home, either through livestreamed classes or YouTube videos. But can people glean the same health benefits of yoga through…
