Glo

Glo, previously known as YogaGlo, is a yoga subscription service that gives you instant access to thousands of yoga, Pilates, and meditation videos.

For a monthly subscription fee of $18, Glo gives you access to its exclusive video content, which ranges from prenatal yoga to core and strength training, chakra cleansing, and more. You can choose from over 3,800 classes in 16 styles designed for any fitness level, taught by a global network of yoga experts.

This fitness subscription promises to provide you with boutique-quality classes from the comfort of your own home. But what will you sacrifice (if anything) by moving your yoga routine out from the studio and into your living room? Let’s look at what this service really offers.

Benefits of At-Home Yoga

Yoga is considered an effective way to improve your flexibility and strength. Most yoga poses are designed to stretch out your muscles to help you move better and remove stiffness and soreness from your daily life.

When practiced correctly, yoga can help you:

• Improve your flexibility
• Increase muscle strength
• Promote better posture
• Enhance your breathing
• Cultivate a sense of calm

It doesn’t take much yoga to start noticing improvements. One study found that male college athletes experienced significant gains in their sports performance after just ten weeks of regular yoga practice, even without changing anything else in their routine.

While people have traditionally practiced yoga in a class setting with an instructor, the rise of the internet has led to more options for practicing yoga at home instead.

Online yoga classes are a convenient option for many people because these classes make it simple to fit a workout into your day without having to commute to a studio. Remote classes also let you start and stop your workout on your timeframe.

Online classes like Glo also improve the range of routines and teachers you can learn from, as you aren’t limited to what’s available around you. This gives you a lot of flexibility for expanding your routine compared to in-person practices.

Perhaps the most significant benefit of online yoga classes is its low price tag. Services like Glo tend to be priced between $10–$25 for a monthly subscription, or approximately the cost of a single in-person class.

Features

Glo offers a variety of class categories, including meditations and workouts suited for beginners, runners, cyclists, prenatal care, travel, and more. Some classes are also gender-specific.

When you first sign up for Glo, you’ll take a short quiz that lets you share the areas you want to focus on. You’ll then indicate what kind of teaching style appeals to you, and how many yoga and Pilates classes you have taken over time.

Based on your answers, the company will share a selection of recommended classes with you. The class preview will include each class’s length, level, instructor, and a short description of its contents

You can also search through the full Glo content library or narrowing your search by yoga type, whether classes are appropriate for injuries, whether they might promote better sleep, and more.

You can also choose from a variety of yoga styles, including Vinyasa, Hatha, Ashtanga, restorative, and Yin. Each class ranges from 5 – 120 minutes long, and they are all categorized by difficulty and type of workout.

You can also enroll in Glo Programs, which are a series of classes with specific goals to help you learn new poses or improve your yoga knowledge. Topics include “Breathe Into Your Day,” “Prenatal Happy Break,” “Meditation for Energy,” and more. Programs tend to include at least five classes and are designed to be followed for several weeks.

Beyond their subscription service, Glo has a physical yoga studio in Santa Monica, California. All the classes featured on the subscription website were recorded in the studio. Approximately two new videos are added to the site each week, and subscription members can also take classes for free at the Santa Monica Studio.

Glo has been adding new yoga content to their website since 2009, and currently has more than 3,800 videos available. These videos can be watched on numerous devices through Roku, iOS-enabled products, and Android services.

Courses

Glo also offers downloadable courses for purchase. You don’t need to have a Glo subscription to use or purchase these courses.

These courses range in content from how to practice and teach yoga, how the body works, how to live a healthy life, and other topics.

Examples include ‘The Art of Teaching Beginners,’ ‘The Teacher’s Guide to Yoga Sutras,’ ‘Women’s Moon Circle,’ ‘History of Yoga,’ ‘Essential Yoga Anatomy,’ and ‘Radiant Body Cleanse,’ to name just a few.

Most are taught through three types of video: lectures, interactive practices, and demonstrations. You will also get access to supplementary materials like manuals and images, and your competency and retention is tracked through quizzes and assignments.

Each course includes a discussion board that makes it possible to connect with instructors and other students.

While the courses vary in price, most fall between $54–$499. Upon purchase, you will have permanent access to the course’s content, so that you can complete it at your pace.

Pricing

• Glo offers a simple $18 subscription service for full access to programs and individual classes.

• You’ll receive a free 15-day trial to test out the service upon signing up.

• You can cancel your subscription at any time through the company website.

Analysis of Customer Reviews

Here are key takeaways from customer reviews across the web:

Common Compliments:

• Affordable, quality yoga classes
• Fitness content that appeals to a variety of skill levels
• Mobile website and iOS app work great
• Made a significant difference in many user’s mental health after regular use
• Many subscribers used the app for years
• Excellent teachers, even for yoga beginners

Common Complaints:

• Playback issues with the Android app, videos freeze constantly
• Navigating the Android app can be cumbersome, difficult to search for specific classes
• Not all subscribers got email updates for when their subscription renewed
• Some difficulties canceling subscriptions

Alternatives to Glo

The options have never been better for home-based yoga practices, so how are you supposed to decide what makes sense for you? Let’s look at some of the most popular options to narrow down the search: subscription services, one-time purchases, and free streaming content.

Glo is just one of many wellness brands that fall within the subscription yoga category. Other popular options include Gaia ($11.99/month). This service offers a wide variety of premium yoga content as well as other inspirational courses for improving your life. However, the content is somewhat limited compared to Glo.

You can also choose to sign up for a fitness subscription service like Peloton App ($12.99/month) or Aaptiv ($14.99/month or $99.99/year). While both put the emphasis on other forms of exercise like running and indoor cycling, each offers lots of yoga content as well.

Just keep in mind that Aaptiv only offers audio-based workouts, which might be difficult for yoga beginners who need to watch an instructor to understand each move.

For those that want to own their workout videos instead of paying a subscription, buying a program like BodyBoss could be a solid option. BodyBoss pricing starts at $49.50, and each program is a one-time purchase, usually available as a workbook, downloadable classes, or even in CD form.

This means that you can complete a workout independent of your bandwidth limitations, but you also won’t have access to new videos or content updates like you have with a subscription service.

A final option is to forgo paying for yoga videos altogether and instead stream them from YouTube. For the inconvenience of watching a few ads, you can browse thousands of channels devoted to yoga videos. However, this content varies considerably in quality, so it might take some sleuthing to find a style and instructor you work well with.

So what yoga platform is preferable? While it’s likely best to start with in-person training until you learn the basics, an online subscription service like Glo or Gaia might be what you need to take your practice home. If you prefer to branch out into other forms of fitness, the other options listed here will likely be a better fit.

The Bottom Line

The research is clear – a regular yoga practice is excellent for your body. Well-executed yoga poses will improve your strength, enhance your flexibility, perk up your posture, calm you down, and lead to better cardiovascular fitness in the long run.

Practicing yoga at home through Glo is a viable option for those who want to save money, practice on their own time, and take advantage of an extensive collection of videos taught by different teachers in various yoga styles.

A subscription lets you learn from thousands of videos on the site, and each class is filmed to make you feel like a participant.

If you want to improve your flexibility and re-center your mind, there are few substitutes for attending real in-studio yoga classes. But if you’re looking for a more flexible option, Glo is definitely an option worth considering.