Strike APP Pose

By Catlin Dorset / Photo by Rob Hammer

Looking to hone your “downward-facing dog” and other yoga moves? Now available (virtually) via iPhone and iPad, Amy Caldwell may be able to help.

A musculoskeletal recreation of Caldwell’s body is the focal point of an app called iYoga, which topped Apple’s Health and Wellness paid-app chart in January.

“I think part of what makes this app special is that you can see exactly how to get in and out of the poses,” says Caldwell, who founded downtown’s Yoga One studio and has twice appeared on the cover of Yoga Journal.

In making the app, Caldwell spent three days performing nearly 200 yoga poses in a motion-capture suit covered with electrodes. technicians at San Diego’s Pendulum Studios filmed the action in 360-degrees.

Pendulum teamed up with Scotland-based tech company 3D4Medical to complete the program, which helps iPhone and iPad users emulate yoga poses by following Caldwell’s animated avatar as it changes color to show which muscles should be feeling the burn.

Caldwell says the app is ideal not only for anyone interested in learning the specifics of yoga posing, but also for teachers and physical therapists wanting to create programs for their clients to follow at home between studio and office sessions.

The app starts at $2.99 for iPhone users, $4.99 for iPad.