By Brette Bliss
Want to add more activity to your life but don’t know where to start? Maybe you're on a budget, can’t make it to local classes, don’t know what interests you, or aren’t sure if you’re ready to commit. Regardless of your barriers, YouTube might be able to help.
YouTube is a free tool that can help you find and try out new activities, interests, and even exercise classes. I use YouTube to take yoga classes in the privacy of my own home.
I had taken yoga classes in the past and never felt like I was getting the most out of them. As someone with anxiety, I was always worried about making mistakes, if I was wearing the right thing, who was watching me, and God forbid what if I fart in the middle of class. So, I just figured group exercise classes weren’t for me.
When I realized YouTube was a treasure trove of free exercise videos and classes I knew I had to try it out. Because I had done yoga before, I figured it was an easy one to start with.
I started looking for short videos labeled “beginners” or “easy” because I didn’t want to figure out halfway into a 60-minute class that it was beyond my abilities and have that sour the experience for me. I started doing quick and easy 15-minute yoga sessions in the morning to build a routine for myself. I used my laptop at first to watch along and later my phone to listen. I started to increase the length of the classes as I felt more dedicated to the time commitment. As I improved I started picking more varied and harder classes until I was doing intermediate power yoga classes for an hour every morning. Every yoga session I did was guided by a YouTube video.
