Online yoga with real posture correction: what it is and how to check you are getting it

Almost every online yoga service now describes itself as personal. Very few can actually tell you what your body is doing. This article explains the mechanics of correction over video, so you can judge any class — ours included — before you pay for it.

What correction over video actually requires

• A live class. A recording cannot see you at all.
• A small group. A teacher watching forty tiles is watching nobody.
• Camera on, with your whole mat in frame from the side.
• A teacher who uses your name and gives specific cues, not general ones.

When those four things are in place, a teacher can see most of what matters: the line of your spine, whether your weight sits evenly, whether a knee collapses inward, whether your shoulders climb in a posture. What a teacher cannot do over video is place a hand on you, so the correction arrives as a precise verbal cue and a demonstrated modification instead.

How to set your camera so you can be corrected

• Place the device at the side of your mat, not in front of your head.
• Raise it to roughly hip or knee height so the whole mat fits.
• Stand back until your fingertips and feet stay in frame in a standing posture.
• Light your front, not your back — a bright window behind you turns you into a silhouette.

Questions worth asking before you pay

• What is the maximum number of students in a live class?
• Is the class live, or a recording played at a set time?
• Is my camera required to be on?
• Will the same teacher take my classes each week?
• Can the teacher modify a posture for me during the class?

For reference: Yog Jivan live online group classes run 60 minutes on Zoom, are capped at eight students, require camera on, and are taught in English, Vietnamese and Hindi. Private 1-on-1 online sessions go further — the full hour is yours, and the pace and posture selection are built around you.

Group correction or private correction?

In a capped group you are seen and corrected several times in a class, inside a sequence designed for the group. In a private session every cue in the hour is yours, and the sequence itself is chosen for your body and schedule. If you have a specific limitation or a difficult schedule, private is the more efficient route. If you want routine and company at a lower cost, a small live group is usually enough.