<div><em>As the International Yoga Day nears, <strong>Mala Bhargava</strong> and <strong>Kunal Khullar</strong> suggest some Yoga apps for you</em><br><br>With India going crazy over Yoga, this may be your best time to take it up as you’ve always promised yourself you would. And if you know how to be very careful and attentive, you can try it without the instructor. Let an app teach you instead. But watch and listen with great care first and always be alert for discomfort. The best way is to study the session first and then use the audio while checking your pose in the mirror, if you can.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Yoga Studio</strong></div><div>Available on iOS, this app is beautifully made. You download classes based on your needs – beginner, advanced, etc – or even make your own mix of asanas, and watch the gentle and careful instruction. When you’re ready, schedule it on a calendar provided in the app, and let the soothing voice guide you through the movements. There are also written instructions, in case The file sizes are small, so you won’t have to worry too much about download time or data usage. The plain white background to the videos makes it easy to see exactly how to do the pose. Yoga Studio costs Rs 60 on the App Store.</div><div> </div><div><strong>5-Minute Yoga</strong></div><div>A short spell of exercise is better than no exercise at all. If you go in for it, you’ll find that the more you move, the more you want to move. But 5-Minute Yoga, on iOS for Rs 60, focuses on quick sessions for those who are too busy. You can even schedule reminders. Videos of a number of poses will show you how to do the poses. Watch first, try, and then include into your daily routine. The app uses simple but effective poses and is particularly good for stretching and flexibility.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Ramdev Yoga</strong></div><div>If you’d rather stay Indian and in fact loyal to the current reigning king of Yoga, Baba Ramdev, look for his apps on Android. Ramdev Yoga, while not a very slickly made app, it’s got text instructions on 7 pranayams and 7 essential asanas. Ramdev Yoga 2 is better made and in Hindi. Unfortunately, there’s no video in either, which is not nice at all for those who’ve never done yoga before. An app called Baba Ramdev in Hindi is also all text based. </div><div> </div><div><strong>Yoga.com</strong></div><div>37 Yoga programmes, 289 poses, and audio and video guides. The app is free, but you get limited content until you go Pro, which is just Rs 97 anyway. With that done, you can access the database of poses, see them performed individually or get audio instructions or you can choose a level and see the associated poses in that way. But even with the free version you can access programmes that last anything from 9 minutes to 50 minutes. The instructions are a bit stilted and there’s no commentary on why a pose is useful. But it’s still a rich repository of poses. In fact, this app is useful even if you’relearning with a teacher because you can use it to refine your poses.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Daily Yoga</strong></div><div>Also on Android is Daily Yoga, Fitness on the Go, a free app with a Pro version and some in-app purchases for lots of different modules including Yoga Sun Salutation, breathing, weight loss etc. You download the module you want and run the class. There’s even an office Yoga module here. It’s a slight nuisance that they’re all separate on the store, but they are accessible through the main app.<br><br><br><div><strong>Yoga Apps for Windows Phone</strong></div><div> </div><div><a href="http://www.windowsphone.com/en-in/store/app/yoga/cd78f496-8df6-4411-8fd8-68f848da9a17"><strong>Yoga</strong></a></div><div>This app gives you info about the various asanas and how to perform them in 10, 30 and 60 minute regimes. The app also includes diagrams showing how each asana is performed. It is free of cost and available on the Windows Phone app store and is available for devices with Windows Phone 7.5 and up.</div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div><a href="http://www.windowsphone.com/en-in/store/app/baba-ramdev-yoga/386435fc-bba0-4569-91b9-d85dcc994913"><strong>Baba Ramdev Yoga</strong></a></div><div>Free of cost for all Windows Phone users, this app comes with a variety of yoga videos of the well known Indian Yogi, Baba Ramdev. The videos explain how to perform asanas and yoga exercises to keep a check on diseases and health issues like diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.</div><div> </div><div><a href="http://www.windowsphone.com/en-in/store/app/pregnancy-care-prenatal-yoga/f2c58d88-0652-e011-854c-00237de2db9e"><strong>Pregnancy Care (Prenatal Yoga)</strong></a></div><div>According to this app, prenatal yoga is a good way to prepare for birthing process as it helps in lessening the discomforts of pregnancy. This is app is custom made for pregnant women who want to learn prenatal yoga exercises to bring fitness and relaxation in day-to-day life during pregnancy. </div><div> </div><div><a href="http://www.windowsphone.com/en-in/store/app/facial-yoga/3248b4fd-033d-e011-854c-00237de2db9e"><strong>Facial Yoga</strong></a></div><div>If you thought yoga is only for your body and mind, think again. This app offers more than 85 exercises to tone up the muscles of your face and neck. Face yoga exercises help you in getting a leaner face reducing the fat even the ageing process.</div><div> </div><div> </div></div>
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