Gaia Yoga and Meditation Online is a wellness subscription service with a difference. It’s home to a wealth of yoga, pilates, dance and HIIT workouts, as well as endless meditation classes and workshops. Gaia is recognized as one of the best online fitness programs for yoga bar none, but there’s more to it than that.
Gaia yoga was initially created to help people deepen their wellness practice, but of course there are many different paths within that. As such, there are hundreds upon hundreds of films and documentaries available for streaming. These range from a history of yoga to, well, more mind-expanding and ‘woo-woo’ topics.
In our Gaia Yoga and Meditation Online review, we’re focusing on the fitness and wellness side of the service. So let’s take a look at how much it costs, what’s on offer, and whether it’s worth signing up to compared to taking a more general fitness subscription, or downloading one of the best meditation apps instead.
- View Gaia Yoga and Meditation on the App Store
- View Gaia Yoga and Meditation on Google Play
Gaia Yoga and Meditation Online review: What’s on offer?
There are hundreds upon hundreds of meditation, yoga and pilates lessons on Gaia. These classes and workshops are taught by an expert teacher and are aimed at all levels, from yoga beginners to advanced students soon to embark on yoga teacher training.
You can also find other types of exercise classes on Gaia, including dance cardio classes and strength training. However, the service is far and away dominated by yoga content, so if you want a service that offers yoga plus many other types of workouts, take a look at our Peloton Digital Membership review.
The monthly and standard yearly Gaia subscription offer unlimited access to all content, and you can cancel your subscription at any time. If you choose the more expensive Live Access yearly subscription, extras include a Healthy Habits Guide and a digital Health Magazine.
You’ll also be able to livestream all GaiaSphere wellness events and participate in Q&As with event speakers. Plus, you’ll get access to a library of past events.
Gaia also features cooking recipes and health advice for a well-rounded approach to your wellbeing. Another perk of a Gaia subscription includes ad-free streaming and scrolling, so you won’t be interrupted with any marketing nonsense when you’re in the middle of a Downward Facing Dog.
The cost of a Gaia Yoga and Meditation Online subscription is $11.99 a month. But if you pick the annual plan, it’ll only cost you $8.25 a month (a 31% saving). For a cheaper service that also includes yoga and meditation classes, check out our Fitbit Premium review.
Gaia Yoga and Meditation Online review: Yoga classes
You’ll find pretty much all yoga disciplines on Gaia, and it’s all expertly taught and varied (in terms of ability level) to suit you no matter what your needs or level and style of yoga.
The videos are easy to narrow down by Style, Teacher, Level, Duration and Focus. If you don't have room for a proper home gym weights setup yet want to get stronger and leaner, the flow yoga and Level 3 classes are excellent.
Some of the yoga styles covered on Gaia Yoga and Meditation Online include:
- Fusion
- Ashtanga
- Hatha
- Restorative
- Beginner
- Yin
- Kids
- Kundalini
- Chair Yoga
Chair yoga is superb for people with extra mobility requirements, or if you fancy stretching it out while working at your standing desk. Most yoga classes on there are ideal for walkers and runners too, whether you're hitting the road or jumping on your treadmill most days.
There are nearly 100 yoga teachers to choose from too, each teaching in a clear, friendly and easy-to-follow manner. The levels range from beginner yoga classes to advanced – categorized as Level 1 to Level 3.
How long do Gaia yoga classes run for? Anywhere from 5 minutes to 90 minutes, so you’ll easily be able to find a yoga class to fit in with your routine. What we really like though is the Focus category, which enables you to choose yoga classes according to what you need at that time. For instance:
- Concentration
- Flexibility
- Upper Body
- Vitality
- Yoga for runners
- Sleep
- All-around
- Lower back
- Morning
And there are many more of these Focus categories to choose from too – in fact, there are nearly 40. If you can’t decide, Gaia also lists featured yoga practices for you to try, which is brilliant if you want to experience lots of yoga disciplines to find your mainstay type of yoga.
You can also read the viewer comments for each yoga video, without having to play the video itself; these user review comments are handy and give you a quick idea of whether the class is suitable for you.
Each yoga session is graded by difficulty and duration, so you can quickly decide if you would like to give it a go. There is also a library of yoga poses for reference, so you can perfect individual postures and make sure you’re nailing correct form.
If you want to really explore yoga fully, there are also multi-part yoga series, including sessions and programs for a deeper dive into yoga practice, meditation and philosophy.
Gaia Yoga and Meditation Online review: Meditation
As with the yoga content, there is lots on offer when it comes to meditation too, and the videos come with the same structure. There are not as many sessions as with yoga, but there is still plenty to choose from.
Meditation and mindfulness can be helpful for coping with a range of mental health conditions, ranging from depression to anxiety. It can also help you cope with burnout, and learn how to manage anxiety so that it doesn't take over your life. There are physical health benefits too, including lowering blood pressure.
Each Gaia meditation class is broken down into Style, Teacher, Level, Duration, Focus. Again, this is a great user experience as it really helps you narrow your search.
We reviewed the Gaia app for a month and found that most of the meditation classes are ideal no matter your prior level experience. That’s because you will be led through each practice in a safe and straightforward way.
Gaia meditation sessions start from 5 minutes for beginners and those in a rush, and go up to 60 minutes for more experienced meditators. The meditation sessions are guided and cover different themes. These include:
- Peaceful Sleep
- Inhale Trust, Exhale Fear
- Meditation for Everyone
- Reset Meditation for Mamas
- Awareness through Grief
- Pre-Race Meditation for Runners
- Morning Intentions
The choice is excellent, and many Gaia online meditations are available as audio-only. So if you have a specific bedtime routine as part of your overall approach to sleep hygiene, or you want to listen outdoors on your phone, you’ll have no trouble with these.
Gaia Yoga and Meditation Online review: Membership cost
Gaia offers a free seven-day trial so you can get a feel for what’s on offer. While this isn’t a particularly long trial – considering the amount of content available, 14 days would have been more generous – you can certainly explore enough to see if Gaia ticks your boxes.
You can pay for a subscription by month or by year and cancel at any time, so if you feel the seven-day trial isn’t enough, simply pay for an extra month, then cancel, so you explore the content more fully.
For a monthly subscription the cost is $11.99, which, as mentioned, can be cancelled at any time. A cheaper option is to pay for a yearly subscription at $99 (the equivalent of $8.25 a month), which is a 31% saving on a monthly subscription. There is also the aforementioned Live Access option for $299.99 a year, which includes live-streaming events.
If you need to cancel or pause your subscription to Gaia, this is easy enough to do, and there are clear instructions for billing support in Gaia’s Help Center section of the website.
Gaia Yoga and Meditation: How do you access the service?
Both the monthly and standard yearly subscriptions to Gaia offer unlimited access to all content from your laptop, TV, smartphone (Android or iOS) or tablet. When you subscribe, you can stream the content from any of Gaia’s supported devices, which include:
- Laptop or computer (Windows 10 with Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox; Mac OS X with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Apple Safari)
- iPhone or iPad (iOS 14.0 or later with Google Chrome or Apple Safari)
- Android phone or tablet (OS 9.0 or later, )
- Roku device (most later Roku devices work well, with earlier versions being slower – check Gaia’s online Help Center for full details)
- Apple TV (iOS 13.0 or later)
- Android TV (OS 9.0 or later)
- Amazon Fire TV
Should you subscribe to Gaia Yoga and Meditation?
Gaia has a wealth of yoga, meditation, pilates, dance and general fitness classes available to stream. So no matter where you are on your wellness journey, you should get plenty from this service if you predominantly love yoga.
The subjects are broad and deep, and the yoga and meditation on offer is best in class, catering to all levels and needs, with expert tuition safely guiding you through each asana.
However, not all of the films and documentaries will appeal to everyone, and if you want basic yoga classes, we’d recommend looking elsewhere. Our Daily Burn review is a good place to start, especially if your main focus is weight loss or maintenance.
But if you are keen to increase your awareness of all things mind, body and soul, Gaia could be the perfect resource for you to expand your knowledge and deepen your yoga and meditation practice.
- View Gaia Yoga and Meditation on the App Store
- View Gaia Yoga and Meditation on Google Play
Looking for more fitness content? Then check out our guides to the best elliptical machines for a full body workout, and the best handheld massagers to ease tight muscles.
