Music is an integral part of many wellness classes, and can be especially important to online instruction.

The right playlist adds depth and personality to a yoga video, helping set the tone for the class and creating a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere for the student. But music use can be tricky. Especially if you want it to be fully legal (which, of course, you do!)Playing music during a live or recorded class is considered to be a “performance,” which means if you do it without the proper licenses in place, you can get slapped with hefty fines! It’s easy to think that, as a small studio or single teacher, you might be able to fly under the radar.

Remember buffering? That seemingly endless state of early-Internet limbo that occurred when you tried to load a beefy video or animated graphic? With today’s lightning-fast fiber optic connections, buffering has (thankfully) become a thing of the past. But those same lightning-fast connections have shifted expectations: If your video takes too long to load, viewers lose interest and click away.

Which is why it’s crucial that you learn to optimize your online video files for fast, easy viewing. They need to load quickly, run smoothly, and look fabulous in every frame! Learning to compress your videos the right way will ensure that your content is viewed and enjoyed. And since the Namastream team wants your content to draw as many eager views as possible, we put together this video compression primer to help you puzzle out the basics.

Video gets all the attention. Most teachers who are planning to start teaching online spend a lot of time thinking about the visual aspect. What camera do I need? What will the quality of the video look like for my students? But rarely, unfortunately, do our teachers spend much time on the audio set-up. This is a key mistake.

You most likely have an iPhone (or other smartphone) within arm's reach and you’ve probably even shot some short video clips with it. If you haven’t yet tried to film your yoga practice for a short post on Instagram or YouTube, here are the plusses and minuses of using your iPhone as a video camera.