Is real yoga really better than a one-on-one class? I tried to find it
If you want to practice yoga at home, you can stream a class on YouTube or download a dedicated app like Alo Moves. These can be a great alternative to private lessons and mean you can practice when you have some time.
But even the best exercise equipment has potential drawbacks; videos and displays on your phone screen make it difficult to see small changes in posture that can make a big difference in your practice, especially yoga.
Alo Moves thinks it may have found a way to solve this problem for home classes with the introduction of Alo Moves XR, a mixed reality yoga app for Meta Quest headsets. The new app is available starting today (Oct 10) and costs $9.99 per month.
There are 32 yoga classes and meditations created in partnership with the Magnopus reality studio. You can immerse yourself in one of the groups, or throw an instructor in your home for a truly mixed experience.
Of course, if you work out regularly, 32 moves isn’t much, especially compared to the more than 3,000 currently available in the standard Alo Moves app. Fortunately, Alo is willing to add at least four sessions per month to build its library.
The brand actually launched the app earlier in the year, with several months of beta testing to improve the experience. But Alo also boldly says that the experience is “like IRL, but better” so I wanted to put that to the test.
I tried the real truth of yoga – this is what happened
My colleague Kate Kozuch tested the Alo Moves XR app back in May and loved how there’s so much variety of the trainer in your field of view so you can see the scene or flow no matter where you look.
So I had a vague idea of what to expect when I strapped on one of the best VR headsets. But as I practiced yoga at least three times a week at a local studio before the pandemic, I was curious how it would compare to real-world experience.
The current library has classes from 5 to 20 minutes, so I went for the 10 minute session. The app maps your room so it can cover the immersion class. enough space to practice without bumping into things.
You don’t need Quest controllers either, as the app uses Meta’s hand-tracking technology instead. I chose the immersion type of classes so that I could be ‘transported’ to a more desirable location than my office room.
I was a bit skeptical but I found that I quickly got into it, despite the strange feeling of the headset being placed on my face. I’m sure it will get easier with time, but I found that every now and then I hit the Quest on the floor during the move like a downward dog.
The class was well-paced, as I’ve always found Alo Moves classes to be, and it felt good to incorporate into my days when I’m usually sitting at my desk working. But does it really live up to Alo’s claim that it’s better than real-world teams?
It was definitely different, and it was much easier to follow the instructor’s demonstrations than when you stream the class on your phone. But the experience of being ‘immersed’ seemed to go against the way I was training before.
To me, yoga is an expansion of the mind, helping you connect with your body and focus on the present moment. Pretending to be somewhere other than where you are made me constantly aware that it was a digital construct.
But from a technical point of view, it is impressive. The videos are of high quality, although there is a slight ‘unreality’ about the instructor’s avatar as if it is being decorated in your room. And being able to see the monuments from any angle was very helpful.
Based on my first impressions, I think the Alo Moves XR can help you improve your routine, and if you find that drifting into an interesting digital space works for you, great! But it won’t be for everyone, and I still prefer real life lessons.
Technology is great, but to me, yoga, or any physical activity, is more than just checking off an activity on a to-do list. And building a community, learning to be present and developing awareness of your body are important things to me.
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