Why I Moved My Yoga Classes to YouTube

Trying to offer care while the world’s on fire.

The people I teach are not being served by the mainstream wellness world

When I first started teaching yoga online, I used a patchwork of platforms: Zoom links, Patreon tiers, the occasional Instagram Live. It worked well enough, but only for people who had the time, energy, tech setup, and money to access it. As time went on, that started to feel completely out of sync with my values and with the needs of the people I actually teach.

My students are fat, queer, disabled, neurodivergent folks navigating a world that is constantly demanding more from them while offering less. Many are dealing with chronic pain, low energy, sensory overwhelm, financial precarity, or some combination of the above. These are people who don’t just benefit from rest practices, they need them in order to keep showing up for their lives, their communities, and their movements. Rest isn’t a break from the work. It is the work.

YouTube makes yoga more accessible

I moved my classes to YouTube because I wanted to offer something that felt like actual care, not another thing you have to budget for, schedule around, or mentally prepare to access. On YouTube, there’s no login required. No paywall. No live-only access that disappears if you’re too burned out to attend. You can practice in bed at 2 a.m. while holding a heating pad. You can rewatch the same video ten times if that’s what works this week. You can arrive exactly as you are.

And it’s not just better for the folks I teach. It’s better for me too. I live with a chronic condition. Sometimes I am in so much pain I can't practice asana (postures). Sometimes my brain fog is so strong I can't lead a class in real time. YouTube gives me more flexibility. It lets me livestream when I’m able, pre-record when I’m not, and create a growing library of rest practices that stay available even when I need to rest myself.

This is about ethics, not just ease

This shift also reflects my personal ethics. I believe rest should not be a luxury, and that embodiment practices shouldn’t only be available to those with disposable income and spare time. I want my teaching to function more like mutual aid than like a subscription service.

Offering my classes on YouTube makes it easier for me to share free, high-quality resources with the people who need them while also making it possible for me to build something sustainable. Folks who can afford to support the work can do so through Patreon, which helps fund continued free access for everyone else. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s a model that lets me center care over capitalism while still trying to make a living wage.

We all need a soft place to land

So no, I don’t think this is the perfect platform. But I do think it’s the right one for right now. People are exhausted. The world is on fire. You shouldn't have to jump through hoops or empty your bank account to find a little quiet in your nervous system.

If you’re looking for gentle, accessible yoga designed with your body and brain in mind, or if you just want a soft place to land when everything feels like too much, come join us. The door’s open.

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