Yoga has announced the availability of free, one-hour yoga classes in high-definition video over the Internet (iHD) via Instant Media's (I'M) free software. I'M's patent-pending caching technology enables the highest quality, full-screen viewing experience on the market today, making the breathtaking setting of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in which Yoga Today is filmed, all the more inspiring to Yoga novices and experts alike. In each episode of Yoga Today, world-class instructors Adi Amar, Neesha Zollinger and Sarah Kline will take viewers through sessions that focus on strength building, flexibility and stamina, as well as meditation-in-motion. Yoga Today will deliver new shows seven days a week, 365 days per year, keeping workouts fresh and energizing. This new, free, yoga-on-demand format provides excellent training for everyone from students to stay-at-home parents to traveling business executives.
According to a study commissioned by Yoga Journal, 16.5 million Americans stay fit through yoga -- up 43 percent from 2002. With yoga courses averaging $15/session and yoga DVDs averaging $15 each*, Americans can save hundreds -- if not thousands -- of dollars by accessing the courses from Yoga Today. Yoga Today's free content will be supported by four 30-second ads at the beginning of each episode.
"Yoga Today's mission is to bring free yoga to the world," said Kim Whitman, President and Executive Producer of Yoga Today. "It is really yoga for everyone, anywhere they are, providing the perfect balance of hands-on instruction with fresh, new courses in an inspiring setting directly to consumers via their laptops, PCs or televisions. Yoga-on-the-go is a convenience we are offering people with busy schedules, and with the I'M delivery platform, we're able to make on-demand fitness available to our customers."
Each Yoga Today episode will feature an expert instructor and two students. The students will have different skill levels and instructors will interact with them to improve their poses. This down-to-earth approach to yoga training makes the class more authentic and accessible to viewers, allowing them to improve their practice from the comfort of their own homes, hotel rooms or anywhere they see fit. Courses will be filmed outdoors in spectacular Teton settings or, when weather does not permit, indoors in a state-of-the-art yoga studio.
In addition to its availability through I'M, Yoga Today's content will be downloadable for Mac users in QuickTime format in a video archive on the company's Web site:
http://www.yogatoday.com. Yoga Today also plans to offer individuals or groups the chance to practice yoga live, with its instructors on retreats in rejuvenating destination locations.
How To Access Yoga Today on Internet TV
Viewing Yoga Today on Internet TV is easy. Consumers can download the I'M player for free at
http://www.im.com. Once the player is installed, consumers can browse an integrated directory of channels, including videocasts and audiocasts, and subscribe for free to Yoga Today. Viewers can perform work on their PC while shows download in the background, or leave their systems on through the night and wake up to a fresh class every morning. New shows appear automatically, and are ready to watch instantly. Instant Media also provides an automated disk management capability system to ensure that your allocated cache for Yoga Today remains updated with the latest shows. All shows are archived in a lower resolution QuickTime format that can be easily downloaded by PC and Mac users alike.