Te acher zone
And so she began uploading her own
yoga classes, filmed by her husband
Bas, to YouTube. They became incredibly
popular and this led to the idea of starting
a paid subscription website. EkhartYoga
(EkhartYoga.com) went live in 2011.
Today 37 teachers offer over 2,000
classes covering all things yoga, including
meditation, pranayama, mantra, anatomy,
mindfulness, philosophy and food, to more
than 450,000 people in 152 countries.
There are more than 70 guided online
programmes available and around 700
articles on the blog.
The audience is typically women between
the ages of 30 and 50 – American, British
or European – though EkhartYoga also has
members in places as far flung as Timbuktu,
Papau New Guineau and Kazakhstan. Many
are yoga teachers themselves.
EkhartYoga remains a site run by yogis
for yogis and dedicated to the principle
that yoga is a functional rather than
aesthetic practice. In Ekhart’s own words,
it’s for “people who aren’t perfect, who have
troubles, go through good and bad days –
experiences that all of us share.”
When I asked Kirsty Tomlinson, editor and
writer at EkhartYoga, what she thought were
the one of the main advantages of online
yoga today, she said: “It gives you access
to a wide range of extremely high-quality
teaching whenever (and wherever) you like.”
One of the site’s most popular teachers
is David Lurey. He says: “Offering my
classes through the site gives me a great
opportunity to reach new students globally.
Also, I receive many comments on my
classes from online students who are
teachers themselves looking for new creative
ways to teach. I’m the same. I have an
established personal practice but I’m oftensays Blum. “We simply trust that people are
honest and will support the author of the
course with whatever they can afford. The
results have proved us right.”
He has no doubt that online yoga and
mindfulness is here to stay. “I believe we’re
only one or two generations from advances
in artificial intelligence and robotics making
it unnecessary for people to work for a living.
I’m sure these technologies will eventually be
used purely for the good of society. When
that happens, education will become more
about personal rather than professional
development because the ability to live a
happy, healthy and fulfilling life will be the
primary goal for most of society. We will
continue to develop and enhance the tools
to accommodate this rapid evolution.”
Going it alone
Online yoga platforms offer teachers
the potential to reach enormous
audiences without investing large sums
of time and money. Mirjam Wagner is one
teacher who has chosen to go it alone
(yogatherapymallorca.com).
Wagner’s first exposure to online yoga
came when she filmed two sets of 10-class
programmes offering a therapeutic approach
to opening hips and relaxing shoulders for a
German online platform. She discovered “to
my surprise that I was very much at ease in
front of a camera, talking to an imaginary
audience.”
For Wagner, going online is all about
“supporting healing from within through
yoga, especially yin, osteopathy, Chinese
medicine and the feminine archetypes, in an
easy-to-use and affordable way.”
But why did she decide to go down this
route? “An idea grows bigger when it’s
shared,” she told me. “I can only give as
many courses, trainings and workshops a
year as my energetic level allows. My online
studio is a perfect way to spread healing
teachings with more people on a global level.
Students who have already trained with me
can continue to deepen their understanding
and practice. People who can’t learn with me
in person receive the benefits this way.”
Ekhart Yoga
A few years ago, yoga teacher Esther
Ekhart’s studio in West Cork, Ireland was
in danger of becoming a victim of its own
success. Waiting lists were growing all the
time. Also, Ekhart lived up a mountain in the
middle of nowhere. She sought inspiration
for her own practice and teaching by going
online - but she was disappointed by the
quality of the yoga she found.
hungry for something new. Taking other
EkhartYoga teacher’s classes helps me keep
growing and discovering myself.”Other courses
The online yoga options I’ve considered
so far are all about reaching as wide an
audience as possible by offering classes at
a low cost. But that’s not the only route. My
own online course, the Introduction to Yoga
for Writers course - devised by me with the
help of the Professional Writing Academy
(PWA) and based on my own experience -
works differently.
The approach is to create a small
community of likeminded people who follow
a carefully worked out course structure but
who interact mainly with each other.
Students are a mix of serious writers,
people trying to find a way into writing,
newcomers to yoga, practicing yogis and
yoga teachers.
Among other things, it’s a reminder that
a little bit of practice every day can have an
immense impact on creativity and writing.
Tutoring online also reminds me that the
internet can be a massive force for positive
change. For me, the experience of seeing
students blossom in a safe, calm space,
away from the distractions of their everyday
lives is surprisingly moving.
As the opportunities for yogis and
teachers to meet online grow, so does
yoga’s potential to trigger a global
movement of personal, social and
cultural transformation. Wouldn’t that
be wonderful?David Holzer’s next Introduction to Yoga
for Writers starts on May 8. For details
visit: profwritingacademy.com/courses/
yogawriters