For full disclosure purposes, I received a one year subscription to The Yoga Collective for free in return for an honest review. I am not being paid to talk or advertise their website. All opinions of the product are my own.

It will come as no surprise to you when I say that I'm quite a big yoga fan. If you're following me on Instagram especially, you'll see daily yoga photos from me. It allows me to zone out after a stressful day and allows me to focus on me. That and it goes hand in hand with running and yoga has been a fantastic way for me to stretch and relax my muscles.

A few weeks back I was asked if I wanted to try The Yoga Collective free for a year. As someone that does all of their yoga in the comfort of their own home, the website sounded like an amazing place to be able to take a yoga class without having to go out!

The Yoga Collective is a Yoga Studio in Venice Beach, CA. They have a  wide variety of yoga teachers for all sorts of classes. The Yoga Collective also have a website where they have a plethora of  online yoga classes to take.

All the videos on their website are shot in their studio and are done VERY well. The environment is clean, inviting and soothing to the eye. All the videos are in HD and the sound is clear so there are no issues with hearing instructions.

The Yoga Collective strongly believe in Karma Yoga. In the spirit of giving they donate 50% of their profits to Charity!

WEBSITE

The website itself is SO easy to navigate and find the classes for you. Classes are sorted into different categories so it's easy to find something specific that takes your fancy. If you want to have a class on arm balances, that's there, yoga classes targeting different areas of the body like hips and core. It's all there!

There's also a great search section on the site where you can make searches based on your Level, the duration of the class you want to take, what style of yoga, or what part you want to focus on.

CLASSES

I'm used to doing online yoga classes for practice and classes but didn't know what to expect when I joined The Yoga Collective. I was surprised at just HOW much content there is available. There's over 100 yoga classes/videos to choose from which is perfect as I usually repeat videos I've done in the past. This gives me more variety.

I've tried a few classes so far including the Mini Core Flow with Mary Beth LaRue, The Bedtime Flow with Shayna Hiller and also Release The Hamstrings with Steve Jones(which was great after a long run to help stretch out tight legs!).

The videos either have a teacher/demonstration or a class structure to the videos. All instructions are very clear, videos are very high quality and filmed very well.

There are a couple of free yoga videos on the website for people to try out. They also have a free 15 day trial if you want to try out the website and find out if it's for you.

PRICE

In terms of the price for joining The Yoga Collective, the options are below:

That works out at £8 a month in the UK or £88 for the year. The Yoga Collective is perfect for those that prefer to workout/do yoga in the comfort of their own home. Possibly for those with busy schedules that don't have the time to get to a yoga class.

It also perfect for those that travel! As long as you have an internet connection, you can access the website to play the videos wherever you are and still be able to get in your yoga practice!

I've never been to a yoga class or any sort of workout class before but I know the sorts of prices that people pay to go to classes and just a general look at yoga classes online shows classes ranging from £5 upwards for a single class. For that you can get a months worth of classes!

GIVEAWAY!

Now onto the exciting part! The Yoga Collective have allowed me to give away 2 x One Year Subscriptions for 2 of you!

Giveaway is open to EVERYONE! Wherever you live, as long as you have an internet connection, you can access The Yoga Collective! Giveaway ends 21st April 2015 that's 10 days to get in your entries! :)

All you have to do is fill out the rafflecopter form below to enter and be in with a chance of winning.

Like this post?

Follow me on Bloglovin' OR Subscribe for Email Updates

Other places to find me:

** Twitter ** Instagram ** Pinterest ** Facebook ** Google+ **

Disclosure: I am part of the OM Yoga Blogger Programme. I have been provided me with a free subscription to the magazine in exchange for writing a blog post for each month. All opinions and thoughts are my own. Links/Ads for OM Yoga are affiliated referral links. See my policy page HERE for more detail.

Although I love Yoga, I've never taken a yoga class. Something about it really intimidates me and I just prefer to go at my own pace and practice in the comfort of my own home. That's why this article caught my eye and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to give you my 'Home Yoga Essentials' that I personally use for practicing Yoga at home.

A Good Quality Yoga Mat

When I first started with Yoga, I had a pretty bobby basic mat, which is perfectly fine if you're starting out and don't want to spend a lot of money. However, there are a couple of pros to getting a better yoga mat. Thickness and Material are two big things to look at when choosing a mat.

Thickness - Having a thin mat can be tough on pressure points such as your tail bone(boat pose) and doing a headstand on a mat where you feel like you're using just the floor can be painful.  Standard mats are usually 1/8 inch thick, whereas premium mats are 1/4 inch. The downside to a thicker mat, is you may not feel as much of a connection to the floor, so balance may be slightly off whilst you get used to a new mat.

Material - Yoga Mats come in all sorts of material - Most standard mats are PVC, stickiness, eco-friendliness and sponginess all come into play. Stickiness was a key factor for me as I was slipping and sliding on my mat when holing certain poses so I bought a mat with a material that was sticky for extra grip.

Clothing Choices

Although not imperative, I think its fair to say, that when in downward dog, you don't particularly want your top coming up over your head, or going into tree pose and standing on your trouser leg and toppling over.

There are affordable workout clothing brands that you can buy to help out with this issue. Tops/Tanks with bands around the waist to secure them from coming over your head or riding up and crops/leggings so you don't have issues with getting tangled up in extra material.

There are more expensive clothing brand options available around too and if you're already a committed Yogi, this is a good option as they will last and be of good quality! Brands like Teeki, Kismet and My Inner Fire have some gorgeous pieces that I've been eyeing up! Like these gorgeous leggings!:

Environment

Yoga is usually a time to wind down and relax and be stress free, at least for me. You should pick a room and make space for your mat(and also some extra for arms and legs either side of the mat). Make the room comfortable and serene for your practice. You should give yourself time to enjoy yourself and be in the moment with no distractions.

Home Yoga Classes

The OM Yoga Magazine gives a plethora of online resources that people use all over the world to  practice yoga in their own homes. So, if you're like me and don't feel comfortable doing yoga among other people, don't have the time to travel to a yoga class or maybe you don't have anything close to you, then online yoga is the next best thing!

The magazine reviews some of the best Online Yoga resources, so its well worth a read if its something you're considering!

Online yoga isn't usually free, however, many sites offer a trial period and some limited free content for you to try. Prices vary from site to site, but they are usually subscription based, where you will pay a fee for a certain time, for e.g. a month. You will get to do as many online classes as you like for that monthly fee and I'm sure it would turn out to be more cost effective.

I'd definitely heard of some of the sites the article recommended like Ekhart Yoga (I'm a fan of her Youtube channel!)and I'll be having a look into all of them and testing the waters with online classes. All the sites/classes differ with different types of Yoga like Astanga and Vinyasa, so there is something for everyone!

Thanks again to OM Yoga for providing me with the subscription to the magazine, I look forward to reading more editions of the magazine. If you'd like to find out more about the magazine, then you can check out the other OM Yoga Bloggers for their posts on different articles in the magazine *HERE*

If you're interested in the magazine and maybe you want to read the full article, OM Yoga Magazine is available in digital and print versions and there is also a US version of the magazine too! You can buy the magazine as a one off just to get a taste of the content or you can jump right on in and get a 5 or 10 month subscription by clicking the link below*affiliated ad/link*.

You won't be disappointed, I will definitely continue to get the magazines!

Question: Is Yoga a part of your routine? Have you ever been to a real Yoga Class? Would you consider online classes?