Yoga during lockdown: stats and trends UK

Is online yoga here to stay?

Back in March 2020, 59% of yoga students practised in yoga studios and another 21% practised on their own at home. Only 9% practised yoga online.

Then the pandemic happened.

As a result, yoga teachers started offering their classes on Zoom. But teachers often don’t have a website with a class booking facility. They asked their students for their email addresses, opened a personal Zoom account, and gave their bank details for students to pay.

At Live Yoga Teachers, we practised yoga on Zoom straight away. We quickly realised the potential of practising via livestreaming and we decided to build a platform to make the process easier.

Here are the results of a survey we organised for the launch. You can also find a pdf version here.

46% of students said they would like to keep practising online after lockdown

We are seeing a near 400% increase in online yoga in one year.

Live online yoga helped students practice more often

In March 2020, yoga studios in many countries were asked to close down and had to cancel their classes. Despite the national closures, only 7% of yoga students didn't practise at all during lockdown.

9% of respondents started practising yoga during lockdown, 24% practiced less, and another 36% practiced more yoga during lockdown than before the lockdown.

Students like to practise on Zoom

46% of students practiced yoga on Zoom

Students enjoyed being able to just turn up to the yoga mat without a commute.They also liked the flexibility of practising from home: being able to decide to join at the last minute, being more focused on your own practice and less disturbed by other participants, while having a teacher watching you to keep the motivation going.

How can the process be improved?

Students receive a lot of emails from multiple teachers, and often have a hard time finding the right email with the Zoom details, just as the class is about to start.

Sometimes they even miss the class because they don’t have or can’t easily find the right information. They also have to pay via bank transfer after each class, which they might forget.

Online yoga : an opportunity for teachers

Before lockdown, 50% teachers were teaching in studios, 29% in private classes (at home or student home).

76% of teachers started teaching on Zoom during lockdown.

30% have been teaching as much during lockdown as before lockdown, 15% haven been teaching more. Some teachers even saw an increase in revenue per class. 43% of them would like to keep teaching online after lockdown.

How can the process be improved ?

Teachers’ main concern is to find new students. They also find it difficult not knowing how many students will attend a class, having to send them many emails, or not knowing who has paid.