Jessamyn Stanley, the American founder of wellness app The Underbelly, signed up for her first yoga class begrudgingly. It took a persuasive friend to convince her to attend – and once she did, it wasn’t a comfortable experience.

“I was very aware I was one of the only Black people – and one of the only fat people,” she says. ”I felt so alone and alienated.“

The Underbelly, which Stanley founded years later, gives people a decidedly different entry point.

“The initial spark for The Underbelly was to increase accessibility to radically inclusive yoga spaces,” and she knew an app would be key to helping her achieve that vision.

“I see the app as tool for global accessibility. Even if you regularly attend in-person yoga classes, an online practice allows you to stay consistent when you might not feel like leaving your house.”

From The Underbelly’s restorative Bedtime Yoga to the fully seated Couch Potato Yoga, a common thread in every class is how instructors make people of all body types and backgrounds feel represented.

“Other teachers and I speak specifically to parts of the body that others hide away,” says Stanley. “I talk about what to do with your belly or boobs when you’re moving through postures.”

For Stanley, who had never launched a startup, creating The Underbelly has been an invaluable opportunity to put her own knowledge into practice.

“Creating the app has taught me the importance of slowing down, moving from a firm and steadfast intention and valuing my community above all else,” she say. “I trust them to tell me what they need so The Underbelly can best be of service to them.”

Seasoned Canadian yoga teacher Rebeckah Price saw her reach skyrocket after she started partnering with Nike Training Club, an app that offers all of its classes for free.

“I get a lot of emotional messages from Black women saying, ‘Thank you for allowing me to exist differently than the way the world expects me to,’” says the Global Nike Trainer, who lives with multiple sclerosis (MS). “Joining the app aligned perfectly with my mission of making wellness accessible and inclusive.”

Price became a Global Nike Trainer in 2019, a year before the murder of George Floyd in the US sparked marches across the world. “Wellness itself is a very political space,” she says, “so the act of taking care of oneself or practising self-care is also political.” That’s amplified in her Nike Training Club classes.

“It was important for people to see someone unapologetically holding space and also saying, ‘It’s OK to breathe, it’s OK to move your body,” says Price. “That lands a little bit different when you see a whole bunch of trauma going on around you.”

The inclusiveness shows up in the modifications Price offers – such as bending your knees if your hands can’t touch the mat in a forward fold – but also in the length of each workout, which can be as short as five minutes.

“The power of app-based yoga lies is its ability to meet people exactly where they are, whether a new mother squeezing in practice between family responsibilities, someone managing a chronic illness finding relief through accessible movements or a busy executive decompressing with a quick breathing exercise.“

Price meets people where their bodies are. “People can become defeated because they can't access a pose,” says Price. In classes such as Pigeon Pose Primer, she highlights all the ways to do a movement and reminds students to “meet your body where it’s at.”

Sometimes, our bodies just don’t allow us to reach certain points, but as Price puts it, “the fact that you’re holding there, showing up to do whatever you can with your body, is better than not doing anything at all.”

Looking for other ways to bring yoga into your daily practice? Check out our class picks from these apps and instructors.

Try Peleton’s Aditi Shah if you want to work specific body parts (such as her Focus Flow: Hamstrings) or lean on instructor Chelsea Jackson for flows that fold in various genres – such as Gospel Yoga Flow.

Phyllicia Bonanno’s six-week yoga programme in Sweat is a great place to get started if you’re just beginning your yoga journey.

Apple Fitness+ yoga trainer Jonelle Lewis brings a fun energy to her classes, perfect for music lovers looking for energetic flows with killer soundtracks.

Photo of Jessamyn Stanley credited to Justin Cook.