Free Online Yoga Classes: Five Full Classes to Try at Home

You can take five full Yogateket classes for free on this page: a Hatha hamstring stretch, an Ashtanga Sun Salutation with Ujjayi breathing, a Vinyasa twist flow, a pranayama class and a kettlebell yoga workout. Each one is 20-30 minutes long and level 1 or 1-2. Press play on the video, no account and no login needed.

What you get on this page

• Five complete classes, filmed for Yogateket by our own teachers. They are the same classes as in the library, not trailers.
• Four styles and a breathing class: Hatha, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, strength work with a kettlebell, and pranayama.
• Short and beginner friendly: 20 minutes for four of them, 30 for the breathing class. Level 1 means new to yoga is fine. Level 1-2 asks a little more.
• What you need: a mat and enough floor to lie down with your arms overhead. The kettlebell class needs a kettlebell, or you can do it without one.

New to yoga? Start with the hamstring class or the Sun Salutation. If you have never practised at all, read what yoga is, a beginner's guide first, and our tips for doing online yoga at home.

Five free yoga classes

1. Open Your Hamstrings (Hatha, 20 minutes, level 1)

Twenty minutes of Hatha for the back of your legs. You stretch the hamstrings from several angles and work step by step toward the splits. Go slow. Ease into each position and stay there for a few breaths before you go deeper. If your hands do not reach the floor, rest them on your shins or on a pile of books.

Teacher: Lizette Pompa. More in the same style: Hatha yoga classes. Why the back of the legs gets tight, and what a stretch does there: hamstrings and yoga.

2. Ujjayi meets Sun Salutation A (Ashtanga, 20 minutes, level 1)

Back to basics. Sofia Soori teaches Ujjayi, the breath with a soft sound in the throat, and then links it to Surya Namaskar A, the Sun Salutation that opens every Ashtanga practice. One breath, one movement. By the third round you will be warm.

Read more about the breath in Ujjayi Pranayama, the victorious breath, and the sequence pose by pose in Surya Namaskar A step by step. On the class page: Ujjayi meets Sun Salutation A.

3. Twisted Twists (Vinyasa, 20 minutes, level 1)

A Vinyasa flow built around twists. B.K.S. Iyengar called twisting a "squeeze-and-soak" action: you compress as you turn, then let go. Lengthen through the spine on the inhale. Turn on the exhale. You will feel it along the sides of your waist.

Teacher: Amaranta Aguilar. The seated twist from this kind of class, broken down: Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half Lord of the Fishes Pose). More flows: Vinyasa flow classes.

4. Beat the Monday Blues (Pranayama, 30 minutes, level 1-2)

Two breathing techniques to start the week, or any day. First Nadi Shodhana, alternate nostril breathing: slow and even, one nostril at a time. Then Sitali, the cooling breath, drawn in over a curled tongue. A good reset after a heavy weekend.

Guy Powiecki teaches it as part of the weekly pranayama program. You sit for the whole class, so a cushion or a folded blanket under your hips helps. If you feel dizzy, stop and breathe normally for a minute.

5. Full Body Kettlebell Class (strength, 20 minutes, level 1-2)

Yoga with a kettlebell. Extra load makes your muscles work harder, and over time strength training makes muscles, tendons and bones more able to take load. Pick a weight you can control for the full 20 minutes. If it gets too heavy, put the bell down and keep going without it.

Lizette Pompa started out with at-home yoga workouts on YouTube and has since filmed a series of strength classes for Yogateket. More like this: yoga strength classes and the Monday yoga workouts collection.

How to practise with a video at home

1. Clear the space. Lie on your mat and stretch your arms overhead and out to the sides. If you touch nothing, you have room.
2. Put the screen where you can see it from the floor. Side on, at the short end of the mat, works for most classes.
3. Watch the first minute before you move. The teacher tells you the level and what you need.
4. Pause when you need to. Nobody is waiting for you. Rest in Child's Pose, then pick up where the class is.
5. Stop if something hurts. A stretch pulls. Pain that is sharp, burns or sits in a joint means back off.

If you are pregnant, recovering from an injury or have a heart or blood pressure condition, check with your doctor or a physiotherapist before you start, and choose level 1 classes.

Free video classes: where the advice differs

Teachers, researchers and sceptics do not agree on how much you get from a free video, and it is worth knowing where they differ.

• Video or a teacher in the room. Many teachers say a beginner should take a few live classes first, because nobody corrects you through a screen. Small studies of home and online yoga programmes, for example for lower back pain, have reported few injuries and results in line with supervised classes. Both are partly right: a video teaches the shape and the rhythm, a teacher in the room sees what you cannot. If you have a history of injury, a few live classes are worth it.
• How short is too short. Twenty minutes feels thin next to a 90-minute studio class. For most people the class they do beats the longer one they skip. A short class you repeat three times a week gives your body the practice it needs to learn the poses.
• What the class claims. Plenty of free yoga online promises to flush out waste, melt fat or make you a new person. Our own old texts did too. We have taken those claims out. A twist turns your spine. A breathing class slows your breath. That is what we can stand behind.

When you want more than five classes, the yoga for beginners program takes you through the basics in order.

Frequently asked questions

Are these yoga classes free?

Yes. The five classes on this page are complete Yogateket classes that you can play here for free, without an account or a login. They are 20-30 minutes long and level 1 or 1-2.

What is the best free online yoga for beginners?

The best one is a class at your level that you will repeat. On this page, start with Open Your Hamstrings (Hatha, level 1) or Ujjayi meets Sun Salutation A (Ashtanga, level 1). Both are 20 minutes and need only a mat.

Is 20 minutes of yoga a day enough exercise?

Twenty minutes a day adds up to 140 minutes a week, close to the 150 minutes of moderate activity that the WHO recommends for adults. Gentle yoga is lighter than a brisk walk, so mix in stronger classes like Vinyasa or the kettlebell class, and some walking or cycling.

Can I learn yoga from online videos?

Yes, many people do. Start with level 1 classes, watch the first minute before you move and go slower than the video if you need to. A few classes with a teacher in the room help you check your alignment, especially after an injury.

What do I need for an online yoga class at home?

A mat, enough floor to lie down with your arms overhead and a screen you can see from the floor. A block, a strap and a blanket help in many classes. Books, a belt and a folded towel work as well.

Is Yoga With Adriene still free?

Adriene Mishler's videos on YouTube are free to watch. She also runs a paid membership with extra content. If you want free classes with a different teacher and style, the five classes on this page are another place to start.