I don’t know if you know this, but I’ve had on online yoga/movement studio for a long time now.
I opened the doors of my online studio almost 4 years ago, after a year of testing the waters with weekly online class series. Still, despite my enthusiasm for teaching online yoga and movement, it took me a long time to join someone else’s online studio membership.
I love online yoga. And I’m also really picky about who I choose to take classes with.
I considered joining several online studios within the last year before I finally landed on the one I am currently in. And I’m really, really happy with my choice.
It’s also taught me a few important lessons about what can make or break an online studio.
5 Lessons I Learned From Joining Someone Else’s Online Yoga Studio
60 Minutes is way too long.
Long practices are great at a studio.
Short practices are ideal at home with more distractions (aka my kids, my business, my real life)
This is my only major complaint about the online yoga studio I joined. All of the live classes are 60 minutes long. That’s a huge time commitment for me twice a week. And it only works because of the timing (see 3rd reason), although I often still leave before the class actually ends.
This is why in my own online studio, my live classes are 30 minutes long. And all of the pre-recorded classes are 8 -20 minutes long. 60 minutes is just too long at home.
Props are a hassle.
Yes, they can be fun and educationa. They also take a lot of time to set up and explanation to work with them. I also think props can be prohibitive. Most people have a yoga mat, maybe a set of blocks. But unless you state you’re working with specific props when folks sign up, they might not have everything you need.
Yes, you can come up with reasonable substitutions; books or water bottles for blocks, a belt or a scarf for a strap, a pile of pillows for bolsters. But not all work as well as the original intended prop.
Accountability is the key to success.
For me, this is in attending 2 live classes a week — knowing that a class is happening at a certain time helps me get on my mat. The timing matters, though because the classes happen at the same time I usually workout on my own. The live classes also happen on days that I am not teaching, which also helps.
Connection is the result of a great teacher, not the format.
Being at a studio doesn’t guarantee connection or community. I’ve taken lots of studio classes in which the teacher simply stays on their mat for the duration, performing the sequence. There are lots of yoga/movement teachers who don’t connect with their students at all, whether they’re teaching offline in a studio or online.
Choose a teacher who will actually teach you.
This is a biggie because it will motivate you and excite you so much more than a teacher who teaches exactly like you or in a more conventional way.
Here’s another way to look at this:
I am great at creative sequencing. I can get inspiration for creative sequences from pretty much everywhere. I might see a single move from a flow on instagram that I think is cool and I will build it into something completely different than what the original teacher created.
So I don’t need to join a membership in which the teacher is also known for “creative flows.”
Instead, I am drawn to teachers who think outside of the box (or the mat), similar to me, but take a totally different approach. They might focus more on strength or kettlebells or lifting weights rather than creative, intelligent sequencing.
These are the 5 lessons I’ve learned from joining someone else’s online yoga studio.
I also love how participating in another teacher’s online studio has not only strengthened my own practice, but it’s strengthened how I offer classes in my own online studio.
It’s a WIN-WIN.
If you’ve tried online studios before and they haven’t worked for you, I’d love to know why.
If you’re thinking about joining an online studio, I am inviting you right now to try mine. I have 2 different membership options, based on your needs.
You can click here to learn more about MOVE with Naomi and MOVE 15.
You can also get a little taste of how I teach in my live classes online in my latest video on my YouTube channel, which features me a quick and fun hands-free standing flow for hip mobility.
