My best recent discovery has been free online yoga. Seriously, I had no idea you could access quality yoga instruction without paying a dime.
YES, it’s hard to pick out the good classes when you realize there are a lot to choose from, but, I was lucky to get some great recommendations from Rebecca to start me off. Once I got a sense for what quality instruction looked like and was able to feel the difference for myself, I started picking out home practices much more easily.
As you guys might know, I’ve been linking to many of these practices in my Saturday weekly workout posts already. But, after a reader request a couple of weeks back, I’ve decided to put together a more organized post about the home yoga practices I do for different purposes and with different blocks of time. Because I think we know that I need a little extra encouragement to do anything in an organized fashion! This is just as helpful for me, guys 🙂
This yoga home practice guide will include only free online classes that I love and have been doing regularly in my cozy little living room. I’ll categorize them based on level (that I believe they are), video length, and describe the focus of the practice (core/hip opening/post run/etc.) Realistically I do not usually have an hour to do yoga on most days, but, when I do I really like to take advantage!
Beginner – Short. Great under-30-minutes “yoga for runners” focused practice. I often practice one (sometimes two) of these after a weekend long run when I want runner-specific stretches and I’ve found them so beneficial!
Beginners Yoga for Leg Strength – 20 minutes on Do Yoga With Me
Yoga for Runners – Pre Run – 22 minutes on Do Yoga With Me
Yoga for Runners – Post Run – 20 minutes on Do Yoga With Me
Yoga for Runners – Injury Prevention – 23 minutes on Do Yoga With Me
Yoga for hips, back, and hamstrings – Not a “flow” but some great post run stretches targeting all the right spots, 26 minutes
Lesley Fightmaster – Yoga for Runners – 25 minutes and Lesley is amazing! Her voice is so soothing. Definitely check out her other videos on Fightmaster Yoga.
Lesley Fightmaster – Yoga for Beginners – 20 mins. You will love Lesley! A great intro class to get you going.
Beginner – Long. Longer beginner practices (45+ minutes) that helped me start to understand what yoga is really all about. I do still consider myself a beginner even though I’ve been doing classes of different levels.
Yoga for hips – 45 minutes long and beginner/intermediate. This is great for runners and slow enough for a beginner to keep up with. Involves deep stretches for the hips and the instructor is very soothing. My Free Yoga.
Beginner Basics in Flow – This class helped me understand the alignment and form for poses in a way I didn’t think could be possible online! Very much worth waking up early to do if you’re starting out – slow and focused. 75 minutes – Do Yoga With Me.
Deep Release for Hips, Hamstrings, and lower back – The name says it all! Perfect for deeper stretches post run, suitable for beginners – 47 minutes – Do Yoga With Me.
Intermediate – Short. Under 40 minutes but more intensity than the beginner classes.
Backbending from the Base – Somewhere along the line as a runner my back became really tight! Highly recommend this practice for focusing on back strength and flexibility. 40 minutes – Do Yoga With Me.
Total Body Yoga Workout With Tim Senesi – 35 minutes of precise, focused instruction suitable for beginner – intermediate. Fightmaster Yoga on You Tube.
Happy Hamstrings – I love this after a run! Only 20 minutes long but very deep hamstring stretches and a faster pace. Do Yoga With Me.
Rise and Shine – A full beginner – intermediate level vinyasa class compacted into 35 minutes. Definitely one I try to squeeze in when there’s not much time.
Intermediate – Long. 45 + minutes, these practices are the ones I’ve been turning to when I have a good block of time for yoga.
Vinyasa Flow Class – Yoga With Tim Senesi – I love how precise his instruction is and the class is quite intense, I would say advanced with some of the postures but able to be easily modified without missing anything. 45 minutes – Yoga With Tim on You Tube.
Total Body Workout III with Lesley Fightmaster – All of her total body workouts are great, and her style is very nurturing. This one is about 45 mins, including savasana.
Renewing Power in Flow – Twists – This is an hour long segment of a longer 80 minute full vinyasa flow. I never actually have 80 minutes for the full one, so, I do this far more often! Do Yoga With Me.
Heavenly Hips – This is a 67 minute vinyasa practice with many deep hip opening stretches, intermediate to advanced. This is definitely challenging for me in every way, but a great one. Do Yoga With Me.
Power Yoga for Shoulder Stability – This has become a favorite for me. My upper body strength as a runner was neglected for a long time, and this class has really helped me reconnect with my shoulders! Because of this video I have also been able to feel pretty stable in a forearm stand, although it took several times before getting it. 62 minutes – Do Yoga With Me.
Progressing to Headstand – …and this video got me doing headstands. For what it’s worth, I DID do gymnastics for many years as a child, so, I think some muscle memory was activated while doing these classes, but, this one is still really fabulous. 65 minutes – Do Yoga With Me.
Total Body Vinyasa Flow with Lesley Fightmaster – Another one of my favorites on Fightmaster Yoga, 55 mins long.
Advanced – Long. 45+ minute practices that are above my level, but I still do them when I’m feeling like I want a challenge. I also like seeing what’s ahead and what to work toward.
Although advanced, most can be modified, or, you can stay in the “prep” pose without standing on your mat too awkwardly.
Fun Poses and Hip Openers with Lesley Fightmaster – The “fun” poses are challenging! This is just under and hour and great for intermediate/advanced.
Connections to Core – Great core workout and flow. 57 minutes – Do Yoga With Me.
Sukha Flow Class – Intense and creative flow. 77 minutes – Do Yoga With Me.
Power and Precision – Somehow I always feel more advanced than I am when I attempt this class (key word attempt) but I believe it’s due to the sequence of flow and instruction that allows me to hold poses I simply can’t seem to do otherwise. A very talented instructor! All the really advanced poses can be modified. 67 minutes – Do Yoga With Me.
Ashtanga Yoga One Hour Intro with Lesley Fightmaster – Not a full primary series, but a great intro into Ashtanga for intermediate bordering on advanced yogis.
Ashtanga Yoga Primary Series with Lesley Fightmaster – 1 hour 24 mins, this is a full length Ashtanga Primary Series for advanced yogis who want to try out Ashtanga from home.
Do you practice yoga at home? If so, what’s your favorite class?
Any other great online classes to add to the list?
This is such a great post, thanks Michele!! I only do yoga at home so this is really perfect for me 🙂 I am already excited about all those videos, especially the hamstrings one and the vinyasa hips one! Both areas that are constantly tight for me!
This is great! I am thinking of doing some easy yoga classes at home to experiment with what my hips can handle before heading back to the studio. This guide will be really helpful! You should also add this post to the “Tried it Tuesday” link-up on Sara’s blog- http://www.LakeShoreRunner.com!
Added it, thanks for letting me know! Hope some of these are helpful 🙂
Mine always feel tight too with running, yoga is addressing that and I love it! Hope you find this helpful 🙂
As you know I practice at home, but I mostly do the same thing as I have sound that the sequence is really helpful for me for running. I would love to redevelop my practice though.
A little variety might be fun! Although a tried and true routine is a great thing 🙂
Thank you so much for this Michele! I have been using your recommendations for yoga recently and you are always spot on with how you describe them and the level they are at. Looking forward to checking these out!
Awesome! Hope you like some of these and find them helpful 🙂
Thanks for putting this list together. It may actually motivate me to try yoga again. What has been the biggest change or benefit you experienced doing it?
I would say mentally just switching up the way I move my body has helped me reconnect back with pre-running days when I was more gymnastics focused. Also really seeing the imbalances that I suspected were there and addressing them. That has been good, also I have always loved the feeling of stretching and going upside down. I should have started yoga sooner 🙂
Woo hoo! Thanks so much for this. So I used to be a devoted yogi–I practiced in a studio about 4 days a week about 10 years ago. Then I got really into running. Now I just do stretches from yoga after I run. Finding you actually made me drag out my mat, BUT I really only want the 30 or so minutes after a long run. I love the hip one but have wanted some others.
I think I am happy that I had a lot of time practicing with instructors cause I feel like I know how to do most of the poses well with good alignment. I think it is so great to have all these resources online now, but if you don’t have a fitness level or in some cases, know what you are doing, you can really hurt yourself doing yoga.
I can totally see where you can go wrong if you have no knowledge base. A lot of the videos I came across in the beginning had terrible instruction and no guidance in terms of form and alignment. I think my gymnastics background helped a bit with that part. Glad you’re back to doing yoga and your knowledge from past practice will make it easy for you to get back into! I’m realizing how great yoga can be as a complement to running.
Awesome list! Now I have lots of options for when I can’t get to the yoga studio. I love Yoga With Adrienne and she has a great library of video flows.
Just looked it up and I’m going to try it, thanks Jill!
This is awesome. I’ve been bookmarking your posts with the workouts as you’ve mentioned them, but all in one place is great! Thanks so much for doing this. Now if I could only find the motivation to actually do them at home. I have such a hard time working out at home!
I find it hard to do anything besides yoga at home! Even though yoga can be really challenging I think I go into it each time craving the mental part and relaxation. Forget doing a Jillian Michael’s or something at home though, no motivation for that! Hope this is helpful 🙂
Bookmarking this! I normally just google “free yoga videos” and do whatever pops up first so it will be nice to have a go-to site.
I did that in the beginning and did some strange ones, the ones I have listed have become my favorites though 🙂 Hope it’s helpful!
Haha, some of my favorites 🙂 I’m glad I was able to help you out!
You definitely pointed me in the right direction! Otherwise it’s really overwhelming!
Awesome post- in the past few months I’ve been trying to do more yoga for running (and my mental sanity) and I definitely feel like I get alot out of each class. I struggle with practicing at home but this definitely helps motivate me!
Some of the shorter ones specifically runner-focused are really great and once you do it once, you’ll want to more often. 20 minutes is very doable in my head 🙂 Hope it winds up being helpful!
wow this list is brilliant, i’m going to check out the beginner ones! i love how you organized them, it makes it much less daunting to embark upon for someone like me.
i downloaded a free yoga app on my phone so i will be exploring that as well. i’m VERY into workout apps right now, they have been giving me something fun to do during lunch breaks at our work gym. love workout apps, now i’ll have to try the yoga one.
thanks, Michele!!!
I should try the yoga one! Hope you like a few of these!
This is a great breakdown and list! I don’t practice yoga but I may take a look at some of the easier/shorter/beginner classes you list above and check it out.
The post run stretches are great, I love doing them on a long run day 🙂
Thanks for such a fantastic post! I am saving this so I can use it in the future. I love taking yoga classes, but my gym does the same routine for 10-week stretches and it gets a bit boring. I can’t afford my gym membership and a yoga studio, so I rely on online classes. It’s so intimidating looking for a good video, so thank you so much for compiling these! I’ll have to add this as a goal for the year to make my way through your list (at least the beginner one!)
I like the variety for the mental side of it 🙂 The beginner runner-focused videos are really great, I think you’ll like them!
This is great! I love online workout videos but am super picky about yoga vids. I just found Budokon yoga–it mixes yoga and martial arts, and I am loving it! Find it on youtube, it’s a great way to mix up your practice 🙂
Ooh that sounds very cool! Thanks, I will have to check it out 🙂
I’m always saying I’ll work on my flexibility (hips! hamstrings!), but somehow I never do. This may be the resource list that finally gets me started. Bookmarked with big thanks!
That was me for years! I did gymnastics as a kid so I used to have it but let it go for a long time. Yoga has been great that way, it feels amazing and turns out to complement running really well 🙂
I’ve been doing a lot of yoga at home, but I usually just do whatever pops into my head. I’ve pinned this post, I’ll definitely be checking some of these out 🙂
Hope you like some of them 🙂
Book marking this post thank you! I just got a new mat so hoping to practice more. It finally sunk in that I could stream them to my big tv on my amazon prime account instead of my kindle…game changer!
A new mat = more motivation I think! Hope you like a few of these 🙂
Love love love this post!! It has it all layered out where to go and what to try. You did the homework I’ve been slacking on doing. Thank you so much for sharing this. Saving this for this weekend. I am going to try to do yoga once a week once I move to San Diego.
Great! Hope they are helpful for you and get you going 🙂
Thanks for this list, it is really helpful to learn what good instruction actually is. I do home yoga very sporadically, I just type in what focus I’d like in youtube and choose one witha suiting lenghth… haha. For me yoga is a great way to practice flexibility and a nice active.rest day workout!
Same for me! I love that I can do it right at home because otherwise it just wouldn’t be practical as a regular activity.
Thank you so much for this list Michele! A lot of these look very applicable to what I do in CrossFit as well, such as opening up the hips and working on handstand progressions. Just like with everything else online, anyone can be an “expert” so by getting this already screened list… I will check some of these out on my rest days!
Definitely a great complement to CrossFit I would think. Just getting in some quality stretches in the beginning was huge for me. I neglected it way too long!
Nice! I have pinned for later. This looks like a great list. Thanks for putting it together.
Great, hope you find a few you like!
Thank you! So happy that Canada introduced you to gyms and the pleasures of working out. It really is a pleasure… whenever I’m not in the mood or start making excuses, I remind myself I’m alive and able-bodied so get to it. Always feel better after. 😉 Doing what works for us is so, so, SO important.
I just tell you that my BFF this past wknd that I should start YouTubing some yoga videos and doing it at home, as I don’t get myself Medical Answering Service to a studio and I’d much rather do it for free in my bedroom! Good reminder.
It is really helpful to learn what good instruction actually is. I do home yoga very sporadically, I just type in what focus I’d like in youtube and choose one witha suiting lenghth… haha. For me yoga is a great way to practice flexibility and a nice active.rest day workout!
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