Training on the Go: How a Smartwatch Enhances Yoga Practice

Training on the Go:
How a Smartwatch Enhances Yoga Practice

Reading duration: Approximately 8.5 minutes

Published: 15/05/2025

Can a smartwatch become your modern yoga companion?

Yoga is my sanctuary, a place where I return to myself through breath, movement, and quiet presence. But as we all know, life isn’t always still. Between teaching classes, hosting retreats, parenting two boys, traveling, and managing everyday responsibilities, staying grounded and connected to my body can be a challenge.

That’s why I was curious, maybe even a little skeptical, about bringing a smartwatch into the sacred space of my practice. Would it be a distraction? Or could it somehow support the awareness I try to cultivate on the mat?
To my surprise, it quickly became a quiet companion. Not a teacher, not a coach, and definitely not a drill sergeant – but a helpful presence. Like a yoga block or a strap, it simply offers support where I need it most. Whether reminding me to pause and breathe or helping me tune into my heart rate after a flow, it gently invites me back to awareness. And in a world that’s constantly asking us to speed up, that invitation feels… revolutionary.

Ewelina Bankiel

Ewelina is a certified yoga teacher, wellness educator, and retreat host with a deep-rooted passion for guiding individuals toward mindful movement and holistic living. With a yogic soul and a modern mind, she brings a contemporary approach to yoga that honors its ancient roots while embracing the needs of today’s world. She specializes in practices that reduce chronic stress and support the nervous system.

Listening Inward, With a Little Help

Yoga teaches us to listen, especially to the subtler parts of ourselves. The breath, the heartbeat, the quiet shift between effort and ease. These are the rhythms I usually sense intuitively. But with the HUAWEI WATCH 5, I’m able to see them even visually.

I never look at the screen during class. My mat is a space for presence, not performance. But afterward, the data helps me reflect: “How did my body respond? How quickly did I recover? Was the effort aligned with how I felt?” With a gentle touch on the side of the HUAWEI WATCH 5, I activate Health Glance, a tool that gathers various health indicators in about 60 seconds. Without needing to tap through menus or pull out my phone, I can see a quick snapshot of how my body is doing: Heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), blood oxygen, stress levels, and more.

What I find most interesting aren’t the expected confirmations, but the subtle surprises. Some days I feel relaxed, yet the data reveals lingering stress or elevated heart rate. Other times, a strong practice shows a balanced HRV and faster recovery than I anticipated. These moments help me observe my body with more nuance, and over time, adjust how I care for it.

Using the X-Tap after class has become a quiet ritual. Not for control, but for curiosity. A way to learn, to adapt, and to rest a little more wisely.

The HUAWEI WATCH 5 blends seamlessly into my yoga lifestyle—quietly supporting presence, balance, and flow.

Breathe In, Breathe Out – Cultivating Calm with a Tap

Yoga has taught me many ways to regulate stress – but even with years of practice, life still finds its way in. Between back-to-back classes, emails, deadlines, and the daily unpredictability of life, I’ve come to appreciate having little tech on my wrist that reminds me to pause.

The HUAWEI WATCH 5 tracks my stress levels continuously throughout the day.

I can see moments of tension build up, even when I don’t feel it mentally. A quick glance at the graph in the HUAWEI Health App reveals peaks and dips, color-coded for easy awareness. One day, my stress range was between 15–50, with an average of 41, which the app labeled as “within normal.” It’s a gentle check-in, as a way to stay aware.

What I really love is what happens next: the HUAWEI Health App offers tools to help. Right beneath the stress report are breathing exercises and mindfulness sessions. My favorite is the guided breathing tool: a soft visual on the watch face paired with subtle vibrations that guide each inhale and exhale. It’s discreet, calm, and surprisingly effective. I use it in the car during traffic jams, while waiting in lines, or even on slow morning walks in nature. It’s become part of my habit stacking: layering breath awareness into ordinary moments of daily life. With this support on my wrist, I’m reminded that peace isn’t just found in long meditations or perfect yoga classes, it’s available in the quiet in-between, too.

Honoring the Cycle

One of the most powerful ways I support my well-being, on and off the mat, is by listening to my cycle. Our energy naturally shifts throughout the month, and the Women’s Health Management feature in the HUAWEI Health App helps me stay in tune with those rhythms by leaving me reminders based on data I entered. In the app, I get an expanded overview of my cycle.

After menstruation, when my energy starts to rise, I naturally lean into more dynamic flows and strength-building sequences. Around ovulation, I often feel my most powerful and confident, this is when I plan energizing practices, longer walks, or mountain adventures. As I move toward the luteal phase, I begin to slow down with grounding stretches, deep breathing, and restorative poses. During my period, I usually take a gentler approach – or simply rest, knowing that doing less is sometimes the most powerful thing I can do.

Cycle tracking helps me pre-plan my weekly yoga schedule.

So instead of pushing through low-energy days or forcing strong flows when your body craves stillness, I listen, adapt, and thrive. The combination of self-awareness and smart support helps me live in harmony with my body and not against it. And that, to me, is yoga.

Beyond the Mat – Living Well in Motion

Yoga might be my anchor, but wellness for me is a full-spectrum experience. I move, walk, teach, rest, and live with intention and the HUAWEI WATCH 5 has quietly woven itself into all of it.

One of my daily goals is walking at least 12,000 steps. Not for the number itself, but because walking clears my mind and reconnects me with the world around me. Whether I’m strolling through the forest, walking barefoot in the grass, or doing shopping, the HUAWEI WATCH 5 tracks my steps, distance, and heart rate in the background and reminding me how movement can be both joyful and grounding.

I also go on regular outdoor hikes with my sons, and I love that the watch keeps up without needing my phone. It helps track the path, encourages breaks, and make calls if needed. Even if I lose reception, the offline full-colored map function keeps me on the right path. Whilst at home, the reminder to move feature has become a gentle friend during long hours of writing or admin work. A quick vibration on my wrist reminds me it’s time to stretch, take a few breaths, or simply roll out my mat, even if just for five minutes.

And then there’s sleep – the most underestimated form of self-care. With the HUAWEI Health App’s detailed sleep tracking and insights, I’ve started becoming more conscious of my evening habits. Am I scrolling too late? Is my breath shallow before bed? The app helps me see patterns, and those quiet insights have led me to create a few simple, nourishing routines that are already improving my rest.

All these tiny tools don’t feel invasive, they feel like support. Like something quietly cheering me on as I choose to live more mindfully, moment by moment.

Yoga teaches us to listen.
The HUAWEI WATCH 5 just helps amplify the quiet.

Final Reflection – When Tech Supports Stillness

So, how can a smartwatch make your yoga practice more efficient, more connected, more whole?

It starts by deepening awareness. The HUAWEI WATCH 5 doesn't just count steps or track calories—it listens to your body in ways that can support your practice long after you step off the mat. From real-time heart rate and stress monitoring to breath guidance, sleep tracking, and intuitive menstrual tracking, it offers a new kind of presence: one that's grounded in data, yet in service of intuition.

For anyone looking to personalize their yoga journey, here’s how I suggest using HUAWEI WATCH 5:

• After practice, use Health Glance to see how your body responded physically—heart rate, stress, recovery.

• Track your sleep patterns to gain insight into your rest quality, and let it gently motivate you to develop healthier and more consistent sleep habits.

• Check your stress levels often, and use the breathing exercises right away when the numbers rise—it only takes a minute or two, and it really helps.

• Incorporate one short breathing exercise each morning when you wake up, and again at night before falling asleep. It’s one of the simplest, most effective tools for long-term stress support.

• Track your cycle to better align your movement, rest, and self-care with your natural hormonal rhythm.

• Let the data guide you, not control you—use it as a tool to refine how you feel, not override it.

Yoga teaches us to listen. This watch just helps amplify the quiet.

And in a fast-moving world, that kind of support feels not just helpful—it feels sacred.

The author of this article is Ewelina Bankiel. The views expressed are her own.
The information is to be used as general information only, and is not to be taken as advice with respect to any individual situation and cannot be relied upon as such. A healthcare provider should be consulted when attempting to diagnose a condition or when determining the best course of action for any health-related concern.
Users should exercise in a safe and suitable manner which is commensurate to their own exercise capabilities and limits.
The Health Glance, heart rate variability, women’s health management and stress monitoring features are not a medical device, and therefore its monitoring data and results are for reference only and should not be used as a basis for medical diagnosis or treatment.