Gaia Yoga Online is where you can practice yoga at home with their online membership to their entire platform. The question is: Should you pay for it?
We decided to get inside and actually try it out as we heard that Gaia’s membership is certainly one of the better platforms to learn yoga from home.
Please note that we don’t have a commercial relationship with Gaia and our thoughts/opinions/experiences are our own as paying customers.
Let’s begin.
Gaia Yoga Membership Review
We got started with an annual plan which came with a 1-week trial to the platform.
After this, Gaia leads us through a process to help get to know us better:
This isn’t a privacy compromise. It’s more-so designed to help get an understanding of where you are right now.
From there, you’re welcome on the inside:
We’ve covered several online yoga learning platforms in recent years and this is definitely one of the better apps. You actually feel welcomed in as a nurturing experience.
Clearly the team behind it knows that a real human is going to click through on this thing.
From here, we’re on the inside.
The Gaia dashboard
After that nice experience, we find ourselves inside the Dashboard to see what it has to offer:
That’s quite an appeasing dashboard area. Their ideal student isn’t the commercial make-up wearing ‘yogi’ that is typical of other platforms. Here we feel it’s more immediately…authentic.
From here, we’re shown much more as we scroll down the dashboard. We start with Boosting Spiritual Resources:
From here, it’s about Boosting Your Immunity:
Then we’re on to the Emotional Healing series which has documentaries:
Then we’re back to asanas on the mat with their Top Yoga Picks:
But for some of us, we’re also needing a mental release off the mat. You’ll find that with Gaia’s Calming Meditations:
Then we have the Recommended Series. It’s definitely a beautiful place to find solitude:
What we love is the New On Gaia series so you can be one of the first to see new content:
Then we have the Popular series:
And finally, you can explore by topic:
Yoga on Gaia
Yoga makes up a big part of the Gaia platform. Their entire premise is on expanding your mind and nurturing your body, while elevating your soul.
As we went through multiple videos, we realized that they really have filtered their platform to ensure users are having the best experience possible.
That is to say – you won’t find 2nd-hand YouTube videos here. What’s in here is really built for the Gaia network.
There are featured practices:
Following this, we have the Stay at Home series from Gaia:
As with many apps, you’ll eventually find your favorite yoga teacher. Here is where we can find a teacher that suits us:
Often yoga classes are divided into series or episodes. Here’s where you’ll find such content, such as Yoga Every Day and Yogic Paths:
Sometimes we’re stranded for time and might only have a short period in which to practice yoga. Searching around for a super short or, on the other hand, a super long video can be challenging. Luckily, Gaia has thought about this with their time-allocated series:
And for those who still read in this decade, Gaia has plenty of written content exclusively for members of their platform:
Clearly we can see massive value here. And yet…we’re not even done yet!
Meditation series
It’s not just about yoga on Gaia. They have hundreds of meditations to help you find inner peace and acceptance off the mat:
Given the average Gaia class length is 32 minutes, you’ll easily be able to find a meditation to fill in that 1-hour block.
You can select your duration, focus and level of intensity. For parents or caregivers with limited time, this is a great escape from your daily challenges.
Next, we’re on to Gaia Originals.
Series on Gaia
One of the best parts about Gaia and what really drew our attention was their Originals series. Essentially Gaia is the Netflix for the mind-expanding yogi.
If you love the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza and Dr. Bruce Lipton, then you’ll love this series.
Even popular new age authors like Marx Hubbard and Gregg Braden have exclusive content inside Gaia’s platform.
Documentaries
Have a bunch of friends from the studio over for a documentary-night with Kombucha and cacao? Then you’ll want to pop on one of these documentaries:
These are very popular and something we really love about Gaia’s platform.
Some of their most popular documentaries include Samadhi, E-Motion and The Abundance Code. For the conspiracy theorist, there is also content on UFOs and more.
However, Gaia does their best to keep a clean and holistic platform focused on positivity while also being mind-expanding. Therefore, you aren’t likely to find that much content on how our world might be controlled.
For some criticism towards Gaia, much of what is featured within their documentaries series can be found for free on YouTube. But on the other hand, you won’t find these featured inside most other yoga at home teaching apps.
Gaia Events
As part of your membership, you’re one of the 1st to know about upcoming events. These are held at Gaia’s headquarters in Boulder, CO.
These are held by well-known speakers such as Nassim Haramein, Bruce Lipton, Graham Hancock and Gregg Braden. These may be done in conjunction with Hay House publishing.
If you upgrade to the Gaia Live Access Membership, you can stream all their events live from any device of your choosing, as well as interact with hosts and attendees. This doesn’t include a live ticket to the event which are sold separately.
For many of us, we want the community as much as we love the online platforms. GaiaSphere is their event centre where you can meet others on the same spiritual path as yourself.
The ideal student
Gaia isn’t cheap and happens to be one of the most expensive yoga platforms out there. However, given the amount of content and value provided, it certainly has immense value.
Most of the students are on a voyage to thrive and expand their mind. That’s through yoga, meditation and mind-altering documentaries.
Is this for everyone? Not quite. And does everyone join for the yoga? We would say most people don’t. We personally joined for the documentaries mainly.
The reason why Gaia has so many students is the depth of what it offers. 8,000 hours of content and much of it you won’t find on YouTube.
For the person who’s ready to pay a premium, this platform certainly delivers.
In summary
If you’re ready to do yoga at home and need structured classes, then Gaia is a great solution. And yet, that’s only a small portion of what’s offered with their platform.
The community is strong and the content is world-class for sheer quality.
Clearly they have put a lot of effort over the last 10 years to make this one of the most holistic yoga platforms out there.
We’re still enjoying our membership despite the higher price of other apps, as are 500,000 other people. We look forward to seeing you on the inside real soon.
