In our hectic routines and stress, yoga and meditation are necessary to improve health and well-being. Incorporating yoga in your daily life brings mental peace, increases awareness, and enlightens your heart. Dr. Nevins says,
Regular yoga practice creates mental clarity, calmness, increases awareness, relieves chronic stress, centers attention, and sharpens concentration.
However, getting a reliable source for guidance on yoga and meditation can be difficult.
If you’ve gone through online sources for yoga or meditation, you must have seen Gaia. Gaia is a popular online source trusted by a lot of people. The media-backed platform is a trustable source for home-yoga classes. The success of this platform can be estimated by the 27% increase in revenues of the company.
You might be thinking if you should subscribe to the service and utilize the online content, you’re at the right place. We will discuss the features, offerings, and working of the platform. After reading this article, you will be able to decide if you should buy a subscription to Gaia.
What Is Gaia?
Gaia is an online platform run by a wellness media company working in the field of wellness for the last few years. The platform became very popular during the pandemic as people stayed at homes and were stressed out due to uncertainty. People were turning more and more to home yoga classes.
The company is based in Boulder, Colorado, and this online platform brings wellness content, conspiracy theories, films, and readable content for the subscribers. The platform has over 8000 videos that make it worth subscribing to.
If we talk about the whereabouts of the platform, it was founded in 1988. The platform has been serving as an international digital video streaming service. In 2015, the platform was digitized and offered a subscription to people.
What Does Gaia Offer?
We have already talked a little about the offerings of Gaia. Let’s look into the details of the products and services offered by the platform. Apparently, it is a media company that excels in the wellness domain. They are on a mission of increasing self-awareness, concentration, and clarity among people.
The video content on the platform is subdivided into four categories. Around 8000 videos cover all four domains, and the domains are as follow:
- Yoga
- Seeking Truth
- Transformation
- Films and Docs
The platform’s services and products can be summarized as an effort of the company to make the reach of conscious media easy for everyone who wants it. The four categories of services focus on seeking the truth of your body, mind, and life, Transformation, Alternative healing, and yoga.
We will talk about how it works, and then we will dive into the overview of the platform from a subscriber perspective.
How Does It Work?
It is a completely digitized platform after 2015, and you can subscribe to the platform for utilizing productive content. You can choose a monthly, annual, or quarterly subscription to the platform and unlock access to yoga classes, documentaries, live-streamed events, series, etc.
If you don’t understand how does it work, you can just compare it with other on-demand video services like Netflix, Hulu, etc. The platform is also accessible through Roku, Chromecast, and other smart TVs.
Overview of Gaia Subscription
Let’s have an overview of Gaia content available when you’ve subscribed to the platform. We will discuss each category available within the platform.
Yoga
Yoga is the most intriguing and enticing part of the subscription as it gives you access to yoga classes, content, live sessions, and a lot more. The company has been advertising the yoga part mostly, so we will also start from here. The Yoga part of Gaia is further sub-categorized in following parts:
- All Yoga practices
- Yoga philosophy
- ‘Living Yoga’ Collection
- ‘Morning Ritual’ Collection
- Meditation
- Fitness and Pilates
The main features of the yoga part are as follow:
- A huge library with a plethora of yoga videos of different styles and length
- You can narrow down your search with various filters available. For instance, if you want to find the exercises of 5 minutes at an advanced level from a specific trainer, the platform lets you do that. You can quickly jump on what you want with this useful feature.
- Videos have sound instructions that let you track your exercises without looking at the screen all the time.
- You won’t feel anything missing when it comes to the type of yoga exercise because the platform has covered almost every area.
Transformation
The next part of the journey in Gaia subscription is transformation. As the company identifies itself as a helper of millions to unlock the mental power and potential, this part is focused on mental and physical agility. The library has been sub-divided into the following categories:
- Spiritual Growth
- Alternative Health
- Personal Development
- Expanded Consciousness
The main features of the Transformation part are as follow:
- Like yoga, the transformation part is not coming slow when the amount of content is concerned. You can find provocative topics and videos on Ayurveda, channeling spirits, and other dimensions of your bodily and mental transformation.
- The best part of the transformation series is the Meditation videos. You can unwind the knots of your mind and explore a new world of clarity and calmness with useful videos.
- You can filter down your searches by many available filters. However, it is better to explore the meditation content without filters at first. Once you’re comfortable, use the quick navigation options.
Seeking Truth
The platform has a plethora of content on different conspiracy theories and other related dimensions. They have broken down this category into the following parts:
- Ancient origins
- Metaphysics
- Original programs
- Secrets and cover-ups
- Paranormal and unexplained things
Most of the content in this niche is focused on different conspiracy theories. The niche can be a delight for all the Dale Gribbles and Battles Wiki out there. If you’re focused on wellness and mental health, this part might not be your piece of cake.
Documents and Films
Finally, the last categories have a lot of scripted and unscripted content in movies, documentaries, series, and indie films. You can find some good documentaries on different topics to spend your time. However, it is not a replacement for Netflix or Amazon Prime –the content is far behind
Gaia Applications
One of the most enticing features of the Gaia is multi-format availability. If you don’t like to visit websites every time, you can benefit from Gaia applications. You can easily access the platform on your smartphone or smart TV. The Gaia applications for different devices cover Apple, Android, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, etc.
If you’re going to subscribe to Gaia, then the platform’s mobile applications are indeed worth downloading. You can stream all the content on your smaller screen without any hassle of typing URL and finding the content.
Who Should Subscribe To Gaia?
We have talked about the main highlights of the platform, and the most productive parts of Gaia are transformation and yoga. If you want to find a reliable source for yoga exercises, mental exercises, meditation, Gaia is for you. However, the conspiracy theories and films are not as competitive as we thought they would be.
Positive Sides
- A stand-alone platform for streaming yoga exercises, meditation sessions, live sessions, and a lot of movies, documentaries, etc.
- The creators have categorized the content into different parts, so the subscribers don’t have to wander around to find the desired content.
- Multi-format support across Android, Apple, Smart TV, Desktop, etc., make it very convenient to use.
- You can get yoga training from the most vetted yogis and meditators.
- There are many subscription plans that you can choose from
Not So Good Features
- The content in all categories is plentiful and great, but the library should be updated with the content of the new yogis and fitness influencers.
- You must pay and subscribe to get access to yoga exercises and meditation. At the same time, you can get a lot better content for free, but it needs time and research.
- The documentaries and film part of the platform is not as fruitful. You can simply go for better options like Netflix, Prime Video, etc.
Final Verdict: Is Gaia Worth It?
If the answer is to give in one sentence, it would be,
Yes! Gaia is a legit platform that is worth a subscription if you’re looking for reliable content on mental and body fitness.
The option is not bad if you don’t mind spending an extra 10$ per month for your mental calmness and overall well-being.
You can surely go with it. However, if you think that you will get a complete package of health and entertainment, you might not be 100% satisfied with that part.