aNewDomain — As part of a new fitness regime I downloaded two different apps to help support my goals. The first app was Couch to 5K (click here to see my post I should’ve called “Holy Cow, Am I Really Going to Try Running?”) and the second app I downloaded was yoga.com. There are apps for Apple iOS and Android, but I’ve got an iPhone, so here’s my yoga.com for Apple iOS review.
Upon opening the app — which shows up on my phone as All in One Yoga — I wasn’t totally clear on where to start.
Clicking on the “Programs” section at the top opened a list of 45 different yoga programs to choose from, grouped by categories including Beginner, Flexibility (stretching), Joint Warm-up, De-Stress and many others. I picked one from the Beginner section titled Breathing: Prithvi Pranayama, with a goal of breathing exercises, which sounded about my speed.
One thing I appreciated as I worked my way through this program is that for each move, the app displays the Sanskrit words as well as an English description to help you understand the movement. As you move to each new pose, the app will introduce it with words, such as “easy pose,” then explain in a sentence or two how to do it or what technique to use.
Some of this was gibberish to me, but I know I can go back and review the techniques later.
For any of the poses focused on breath, there is a little circle that will appear on the left side. The circle will gradually fill with what look like parts of a pie chart to show you when to inhale, hold a breath or exhale.
This visual helps you see how long to do each of the parts of the breathing practice and helped me stay more focused on my breath.
I’m honestly not a big fan of the background music, but it’s not distracting and helped keep me feeling more focused on the breathing and other aspects of the movements. After completing the 26-minute breathing practice session, I went back into the app and found the Pose Base, which is an encyclopedia of different yoga movements.
Each pose used in the practice sessions is listed along with a video of the pose and a written description of how to do it. An audio description is available, and there’s even a visual description that details the muscles you are working with in a particular pose.
The poses are listed in three ways: the type of pose, the level of difficulty or, if you prefer, alphabetically.
For poses that focus on breathing, the snippets in the Pose Base will also include the pie chart circle so you can practice different poses and get used to the timing.
So far, I’m enjoying this app. It seems like a great option for beginners, but also has routines that are more suitable for advanced practitioners. If I ever get to a point where I’m bored with the routines included in the app, there’s also an option to create my own routine so I can build one to suit exactly what I want in my yoga practice.
I’m using the Apple iOS app, which is available for $3.99. The app is also available free for Android in the Google Play store.
For aNewDomain, I’m Becket Morgan.
Screenshots: Becket Morgan
Featured image: Project Yoga Richmond by Eli Christman via Flickr
