While we’d all love to be practicing yoga while overlooking the ocean…by a pool…at sunset…it probably isn’t happening in the next few days (and if it is, take me with you!).  We know that practicing yoga can seriously benefit us physically, mentally and emotionally.  Sweating and stretching it out on our mat and fully relaxing into Shavassana can have us leaving our yoga class in a blissful state of relaxation and contentment.

But let’s be honest, it’s a constant struggle to balance our careers, families and social lives.  Our yoga mat can sit rolled up in the corner for days if not weeks!

This is where our best friend technology comes in with some fantastic and free yoga apps that you need to download right now.  Whether you’ve never tried yoga before or are a true yogi, there are some awesome free yoga apps out there that will have you oming to your heart’s content.  So unroll that mat and start practicing yoga today with my top 4 picks for the best free yoga apps around.

Down Dog

I. Love. This. App. The Down Dog app is free to download and use (get it here), and is the highest rated yoga app in the app store!  You can purchase a pro membership for upgraded options if you choose, but I’m only discussing the features of the free version for this review (and they’re great!).

As soon as you open the Down Dog app, you notice that it has a beautiful, aesthetically appealing layout with simple and easy menu options.

Choose your sequence type (full practice, restorative or quick flow), your level (two beginner options, two intermediate options and advanced), and length of time.  I love that you can select the duration of your practice to be anywhere from 15 minutes to 80 minutes.  So no more saying that we don’t have time!

The free Down Dog yoga app also gives you the choice to “boost” certain areas of the body where you’d like to direct more attention.  Tight hips or hamstrings?  Select to boost a specific area and you’ll be stretching them out in no time.

The music options for this free yoga app are a really cool bonus too.  You can select the type of music you’d like to play from a diverse selection of tunes and if a song comes on that isn’t getting you into your groove, you can just skip it.

Once you’ve made your selections and you’re ready to go, press “Start Practice” and a unique, personalized yoga class is prepared just for you!

The poses are shown very clearly by the instructor and the voice used to explain the movements is pleasant and calm, perfect!  As you go through the yoga practice, you can easily pause/un-pause as needed.  A pose countdown is also shown to let you know the amount of time until the next pose.

I LOVE the fact that no two yoga sessions with this free yoga app are the same; the variety is perfect to keep it interesting and to keep us motivated!

For all of these reasons and more, the free Down Dog yoga app is one of the top (if not THE top) free yoga app available today!

FitStar Yoga

The FitStar Yoga app is a beautiful, thoughtfully designed free yoga app to add to your yoga library.  When you first open the app, it begins with a nice video intro page to get to know you better. This allows the app to tailor a yoga program just for you.  It describes itself as a yoga teacher in your pocket that takes you where you want to go.  I’d say that’s a pretty good description of what you can expect with this free yoga app.  FitStar Yoga has premium content available for purchase, however I’m reviewing the free option.

Once you create your profile, you can check out the cool freestyle options they have available like Dancer Day, Simply Sequenced and Lunge and Lift.  When your selected yoga session begins, you immediately notice the professional video quality, nice music and clear instructions.  There’s no intimidation factor here and you can even tap your screen to rate individual poses as too hard or too easy to adjust your future sessions!  Very cool!

Whether you are a yoga beginner, intermediate with some experience or are really advanced, the variety of skill levels offered in this free yoga app should work for you.

The free FitStar Yoga app allows you to track your progress on your Fitbit which is the perfect way to stay motivated and hopefully encourage us to keep practicing! This is a comprehensive app that allows for some personalization and it’s beautifully designed.  Give it a try, this might be the best free yoga app for you!

Gaia Yoga

The Gaia app is slightly different than the other free yoga apps reviewed here because this app is not solely for practicing yoga.  Gaia has a popular website which describes itself as a community streaming thousands of consciousness expanding, yoga and transformational videos. This review is only for the free yoga practices on the app, but the guided meditation videos look interesting! They might just be a part of a future review!

The yoga section of the free app is very good and allows you to choose the style, teacher, level, duration and focus of your yoga practice.  With all of these choices, you’re certain to find a yoga session that works for you.

Unlike the Down Dog and FitStar Yoga apps, there’s no personalization for the yoga sessions.  You just play the instructional video and follow along on your mat.

If you’re looking for beautiful yoga videos and would like to explore mediation and other practices, the free Gaia app might become your go-to!

UPDATE: Since this post was published, the Gaia Yoga app is no longer free to use!

I contacted Gaia for details and this was their response: “the Gaia application will be free to download but it will require that you have an active subscription through www.gaia.com to access the videos.”

They offer two plans to choose from, an annual plan for $8.33/month or a monthly plan for $9.99/month.  I have to admit, I’m pretty disappointed that it’s no longer free! Good thing we have three other awesome free yoga apps to use!

Yoga Workout – Meditation and Fitness Plan at Home

This free yoga app is quite different from the other free yoga apps listed.  You might even wonder if it deserves to be on this list or not.  But the free Yoga Workout app provides an amazing resource of yoga instruction and that’s why it’s included in this list.

The Yoga Workout – Meditation and Fitness Plan at Home free app is essentially a massive vault of hundreds of yoga videos all in one place.  From “How to do Yoga” and “Beginner Yoga” to “Yoga for Strength”, there are close to 400 videos available!  Unfortunately, there are some pop-up ads as you search through the videos. This is likely a trade off for not having to sign up or make a profile.  But if it’s a ton of yoga videos you’re looking for, look no further.

Just download the free Yoga Workout app, choose from the hundreds of videos available and start practicing yoga!

Conclusion

What do we want? The best free yoga apps!  When do we want them? Now!

We love yoga and the way it makes us feel (see how yoga breathing can positively impact us here).  But we need the flexibility to work on our yoga practice when and where we want to.  We can’t always rearrange our lives to make it to the yoga studio (as much as we would love to!).

There are countless free yoga apps available from the app stores today, but quite honestly, most aren’t worth the download.  If you’re looking for the best free yoga apps available today, go ahead and try these options.  They’ll have you dusting off that mat, practicing yoga and feeling amazing in no time!

Modern technology and the ancient art of yoga….turns out they’re a perfect match!

Do you agree with my selections?  Do you have another awesome free yoga app that you use?  Let me know!

Wishing you happiness!

Jen

www.wavesandwillows.com

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