Must-see Yoga Movies and Documentaries

Sometimes when the weather outside is horrible it’s better to stay indoors, curl up under a blanket with some popcorn and watch a good movie. There’s so many to choose from, but sometimes a great documentary is better than an action or sci-fi flick, movies that focus on our passion of yoga are a fantastic way to relax.

What better way to compliment your daily stretching routine than by enjoying some deeply philosophical and beautiful movies that discuss some of life’s deeper meanings that we all ask ourselves. It can be quite tricky to find yoga movies that are worth watching, but we’ve come up with a short list of ones that you must-see.

So, we recommend putting on a pair of comfy yoga pants, stretching out on the sofa and giving these ones a watch.

Enlighten Up

Directed by Kate Churchill, this movie asks the question that we all wonder ourselves, can yoga transform anyone, even the most sceptical and rational?

This is one of the most interesting yoga documentaries as it follows the journey of Nick Rosen, the guinea pig for Kate Churchills movie. Rosen travels the globe studying with some of the worlds most influential yogis like Sharon Gannon one of the founders of Jivamukti and Sri K Pattabhi Jois who founded Ashtanga.

The movie has a lot of unexpected twists for the audience and it takes a pretty deep examination about it what exactly Yoga means to each of us.

Yoga Unveiled

If you’ve ever wondered how Yoga began, then this is one movie for you. It follows the story of Yoga’s passage into the West and how modern global culture adapted it and how the various branches of it came to be. There’s also an intriguing look at some of the early teachers of Yoga and the benefits of practicing it.

We highly recommend checking out this movie if you’re just beginning to get into Yoga as it’s a great way to get brought up to speed on the practice.

Yoga Women

Directed by Kate Clere McIntyre and Saraswati Clere, this is one of our particularly interesting Yoga movies that we recommend checking out.

It contains a lot of intimate interviews with lots of world-renowned teachers like Sharon Gannon, Shiva Rea and Angela Farmer. It goes into great detail on the role women have had on Yoga over the years and how they’ve managed to shape another path to Yoga. The movie also covers a lot about how the practice of Yoga has brought women self-awareness and empowerment since its inception and how it relates to a lot of modern concerns like self-image and family life.

Yoga Is

We recommend picking out some of your best comfy Yoga leggings for this movie because you definitely aren’t going to be moving for a while. This incredibly personal story is a sweet, engrossing and at times incredibly provoking story of how one woman took her struggle with personal loss and after a long journey came home a changed woman.

It follows filmmaker Suzanne Bryant, who after losing her mother to a battle with cancer found her world in complete ruin. To cope with the loss Bryant took a spiritual journey to India, where she spent time studying various practices of Yoga like Ayurveda. She then came back to the West a changed woman.

This is one of the most heartfelt and inspiring Yoga movies we’ve seen and it shines a light on the practice of Yoga and why it’s so important to us in the modern world. If you’re struggling from your own personal loss you should consider this movie, it might help.

Ayurveda: The Art of Being

Directed by Pan Mail, this is one of the more informative Yoga documentaries we’ve seen. It explores the various intricacies of the practice of Ayurveda, which is considered by many to be the sister branch of traditional Yoga and has been practiced in India for years.

The Art of Being takes a look at the science behind the techniques of Ayurveda, how it began hundreds of years ago and the importance of the alignment of the body, mind and spirit. There’s also pretty interesting interviews with practitioners of Ayurveda and the various followers of the tradition.

If you’ve ever wondered about this branch of Yoga and wondered why so many people prefer this over more traditional techniques, then this is the movie for you.

Y Yoga

Last on our list of Yoga documentaries we need to mention Y Yoga. Directed by Albert Klein, this movie follows Klein on a journey of philosophy and deep spiritualism after his own personal life starts to fall apart when he learns a family friend barely escaped the World Trade Centre after it was attacked.

In Y Yoga Klein explores the beauty of Yoga in a heartfelt and sincere manner. He takes a look at how empowering it can be to people in our everyday lives and how it has a power to change us for the better. There’s also some interesting interviews with Western Yogis as well.

It’s a nice well-rounded documentary that is perfect for rainy days and if you want something that will leave you feeling reinvigorated about your love of Yoga.

In Summary

You really can’t go wrong with a good Yoga movie, there’s a lot of them to choose from and they all explore the practice we all enjoy in a fascinating and in-depth manner. Each one has their own take on Yoga and we can guarantee you will learn something new after watching any of the movies we just talked about.

Also, each of these movies are perfect if you’re just getting into Yoga as they’re easy to understand for anyone watching regardless of their experience with it. So, the next time you’re sitting around looking for something to do, why not put away your mat, pull on a pair of comfy and high-quality Yoga pants and learn something this ancient practice.