11 Best Yoga Videos for Beginners on Youtube of 2016 to Get You Into Yoga Mode

These amazing yoga teachers help you to keep your yoga routine alive and kicking!

New experiences are scary. When I first decided I wanted to do yoga, the idea of going to a studio was terrifying. I had visions of ending up at the front of the class as I bumbled through the entire practice while everyone stared at me.

Like everything else, though, the anticipation is always worse than the actual experience. Yoga studios are very accepting and non-judgemental places, but there is comfort in learning at home.

Practicing yoga at home until you don't feel like such a beginner might give you the confidence you need to finally attend a class at a yoga studio. It's also a great way to save some money in case you end up not liking yoga.

Yoga studios are pricey with drop-in prices ranging from $15-25 per class. Some of the best yoga videos for beginners are found on YouTube, so they're not only accessible to everyone; they're also free!

If you are looking for something more focused on weight loss, check out our review of the Yoga Burn System by Zoe Bray Cotton.

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30 Minute Yoga Beginner Series with Celeste Pereira

This slow-moving practice is intended for waking up the body after a night of sleep, but I think it's a great introduction to the basic structure of a yoga class with lunges, warrior poses, and just the right amount of alignment information.

The instructor is good at throwing in alignment tips without making you feel like you're taking an anatomy class. The video is filmed on a rooftop, but the audio is excellent and there was almost no background noise. It's a nice change watching someone practice somewhere other than their living room.

Brett Larkin, the creator and teacher, has been a presence on YouTube for a while, and her website details her in-person schedule in San Francisco in case you're local.

Yoga with Adriene: Yoga for Complete Beginners - 20min Home Workout

Sometimes the hardest part of starting yoga is that period where you have no idea what the poses are called. Adriene's sequence for "complete beginners" moves slowly enough that the Sanskrit and English names of the poses start to sink in naturally.

Maybe I'm fussy, but I really like well-shot yoga videos. Adriene has someone shooting the video for her, so you get a variety of angles during some of the poses.

The only thing I didn't like about this video was it was more of a gentle warm-up with stretches and very little strength work. If you're more focused on flexibility and lengthening your muscles, though, this is a great place to get started.

Yoga with Adriene: Yoga for Beginners - 40min Home Workout

I'll admit: I really like Adriene's videos because she's so genuine and happy. This class focuses on "foundation and flexibility" for beginners.

She runs you through balance poses like tiger and low lunge twists, as well as poses designed to increase your spine's flexibility like seated twists and bridge pose. She gives a lot of great alignment pointers like squeezing your legs into the midline during lunges and keeping your hips level in a variety of poses.

All of her videos have a transcript to them, so if you have a hearing disability, this feature will be of some help to you as you're practicing.

Jullian Michaels: Yoga Meltdown 1

This is actually one of the first yoga workouts I did when I first started practicing! Jillian Michaels may be notoriously hardcore and gruff from her time on The Biggest Loser, but she's a bit more accessible in her Yoga Meltdown video.

If you want a fast-moving class, I highly recommend this. It feels more like a power class because Jillian moves you through tweaked poses like a pulsing Warrior II and a flowing camel. I wouldn't recommend this class if you're looking for a gentle or soft-spoken teacher.

Jillian is neither of those things even on a yoga mat! You will be sore after this class; I could hardly walk the next day. Since this is the class that got me hooked on yoga it--and Jillian--holds a soft spot in my little yogi heart.

Yoga for Complete Beginners - 20 Minute Class

Whew, this is a really relaxing class! The voiceover is incredibly soothing, as is the music playing in the background. This is a wonderful calming practice to take before bed or if you've just woken up.

There is no strength to this video; it's focused completely on building your flexibility. However, just a few minutes into the class, the combination of the music and the teacher's voice is enough to make you glad you're spending most of your time in a forward fold or on your back so you can drift between that lovely space of consciousness and blissful sleep.

Ekhart Yoga: Yoga for Beginners

I really like this class for learning how to align your hips in standing poses like warriors one and two. Esther Ekhart is very thorough in showing you how to positios your feet to get the right hip alignment.

I remember during my very first class, heel-to-arch (warrior II) and heel-to-heel (warrior I) were the hardest things for me to grasp.

If you feel like you could be in that predicament, then I recommend this video. It's extremely slow moving and detailed, so this is really ideal if you have never taken a lick of yoga.

Yoga with Adriene: 30 Day Yoga Challenge - Day 1

Yay, we're back to Adriene! This class starts to incorporate strength into your practice even though the meat of the class is still a lot of stretching and flexibility (but it's going to feel amazing if your neck and shoulders are tight).

She continues to incorporate a host of handy tips for improving your alignment without overwhelming you with a ton of terms and information. Since it is the first video in a complete 30-day challenge, that could explain why it's relatively slow moving.

I recommend it as a stand-alone practice for you because flexibility is just as important as strength when you're developing your yoga practice.

Beginner Yoga with Tara Stiles

Tara Stiles is a New York City yogi who founded Strala Yoga, one of the hottest yoga studios in the Big Apple. She's known for creating a style of yoga that emphasizes making room in your body and moving gently and freely in both yoga and life.

I've been following her since the beginning of my yoga practice and she's like the Mama Bear of the yoga world. This is a fluid class that gets you moving with ease (Tara's catchphrase) into forward folds, gentle twists, and hip-opening low lunges.

There isn't anything I dislike about this class. It's slow but still engaging, and you will walk away feeling ironed out and completely relaxed.

30 Day Yoga Challenge for beginners - Day1

Erin Motz is the founder of Bad Yogi, a movement created to eliminate the snobbery and elitism sometimes found in the yoga world. This class focuses on opening the hips which is vital in a new yoga practice.

Unless you're naturally flexible in your hips, you will be surprised at how tight your hips actually are. They're sometimes known as the garbage cans of the body because we tend to dump our ugly emotions into them. If you've ever held a really long, deep hip opener, you know that it can become incredibly emotional.

Erin has created an accessible class to make hip openers relaxing and juicy instead of painful and filled with misery. In order to get into a lot of yoga poses, you need soft, open hips, so I always recommend lots of hip openers for beginning students.

Yoga Stretches for Beginners for Back Pain Relief

A lot of people get into yoga as a method of pain relief. I can't tell you how many times my back or neck have been screeching at me and a thorough yoga practice is almost better than pain relievers.

This 40-minute class is a combination of a yin and restorative practice without the intensity of a more advanced yin class. Yin classes make you hold poses for as long as seven minutes, and this might be too intense for you.

This class is geared for beginners with short holds in seated twists, cat and cow poses, thread the needle, and reclined spinal twists. These all work together to loosen the muscles in your neck, shoulders, and back to alleviate and prevent back pain.

Yoga For Weight Loss & Flexibility Day 1 Workout - Fat Burning 20 Minute Beginners Class

Weight loss is another common reason why people get into yoga. If you dedicate your practice to flow classes like Ashtanga, Bikram, Iyengar, or vinyasa flow, you'll notice an increase in muscle tone and definition, the size of your waist, and your overall strength.

This particular class starts to get you into the groove of a typical strength-based class. You'll be doing a lot of core in this class, and that's about it.

This wasn't my favorite class because it was all core-based with very little focus on any other body part, but the core moves are effective.

I hope you enjoyed this breakdown of some of the best yoga videos for beginners that I rounded up from YouTube. A variety of classes is integral for creating a solid foundation for your yoga practice, so don't ever feel like you need to stick to one type of yoga to get started!

I think having good quality videos and teachers available in your home with no subscriptions, fees, or pressure to join is incredibly important to new yogis. I hope this list is as helpful to you as it is important to me.

Namaste and thank you for reading! If you liked our little roundup of yoga videos for beginners I would be thrilled if you would share it with someone who is important to you and who could benefit from this post. Thank you 🙂