Rating: 
Summary: Excellent for beginners
Review: I wanted a video that would simply show me the basic poses in Yoga and help me get more flexible. This video is excellent! The instructor is very positive and emphasizes that each person varies in their ability to stretch. I have been doing the video for a week and it definately feels like it has given me more flexibility. I do plan on moving to a more "workout" type of Yoga video after about another week of this. But it is exactly what I needed as a beginner. I highly recommend this video.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Video for beginners
Review: After suffering several injuries last year and just finishing up with physical therapy, this video was just what I needed to get back into shape gently. It shows you, step by step, the correct and careful posing of the yoga practice, and it built up my confidence so that I felt comfortable enough to join a yoga class. After all...yoga is a practice! Through this video, along with circuit training at my gym, I am now also doing Pilates for Dummies with great results!
Rating: 
Summary: very basic but useful for beginners
Review: As an intro to yoga this is a useful tape for beginners, which is exactly what it claims to be. After the first time you kind of wish you could put it into fast-speed mode, especially for reasonably fit people. It is not a workout, but it is a nice addition to a good workout as a cooldown (or a warmup), or if you have no energy today and want something real easy. After doing it a few times you get the inclination to just write the titles of the positions down, put on your own music, and do them in your own tempo. However since the tape claims to be a very basic introduction I still give it 4 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Great video to start yoga with!
Review: This was one of the first yoga videos that I bought and I really learned a lot from it. Yes, it is somewhat talky but a beginner really needs to know all the things that Sara Ivanhoe talks about. Proper form and execution of the poses is a crucial part of yoga, in order to get the most benefits from the practice and to prevent unnecessary injuries. Several key poses are shown in this video that can be built upon as your practice increases. They are very nicely described too, so that a beginner can start a yoga practice doing it right. I like that about this video.I have moved on to other, more complex videos now but I still like to come back to this one once in a while just to get back in touch with the basics. It is a good yoga workout and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to get acquainted with yoga or just wanting a gentle yoga routine on hand!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Introduction to Yoga But Too Much Talking
Review: I give this DVD 5 stars for content and 2 stars for format. It's an excellent introduction to anyone who's interested in starting yoga. It's not too intimidating, too mystical, or too contorted. What it is, though, is too talky. Sara Ivanhoe does a fine job of instruction for anyone's first or second time through the workout, but after that, the workout is maddeningly slow for subsequent repetitions because of the extensive description given for each pose. Considering how much usable space is on a DVD, I see no reason why they didn't have one track for the initial instruction and then a second track for the actual workout. Also, as this is a "for Dummies" series, there are lots of the trademark cartoon figures and sound effects, complete with whirling sirens and buzzers. Kinda ruins the inner peace you're trying to achieve with yoga!
I'm hoping they fix these problems and release a new version of this DVD. It would be a hands-down, 5-star yoga if they did.
Rating: 
Summary: Annoying
Review: The instructions are clear and thorough, but of the 55 minutes only about 25-30 seem to be postures. The rest is explanation. That's fine to learn, but becomes annoying when you want to just do the workout. Also, the whole "X for Dummies" motif includes tips, jargon, and other points. The problem is that they pop this stuff up while you are doing the postures and use annoying sounds to get your attention. I could not achieve any serenity or maintain concentration, which is kinda the point of yoga. I used it a couple times and then went to another tape. The book was better.
Rating:
Summary: Great for beginniners...
Review: As a beginning student, I needed something that explained the postures in some detail. Sara's video does a great job of explaining the postures and how to breathe during your workout. I found it much easier to understand than other videos I had tried. I did find that after going through the video a few times, that there was a bit more patter than I needed. I now use the video as a reference. I skip to the beginning of each pose, do the pose for 6 or more breaths and then skip to the next chapter. It works great for me.
Rating:
Summary: Great for beginners-- even burns calories
Review: I had wanted to try Yoga, even tried another tape at one time and just didn't care for it. My hamstrings are really tight, and I've always felt that I just could not do the exercises-- the other tape I did confirmed that opinion because it just jumped into major stretching without much warm up, and did not show any modifications. It also was a little irritatingly "new age"-- and though I know that meditation is a crucial part of Yoga, I was not interested in turning it into a religion-- which the other tape seemed intent on doing. So this tape, with it's no nonsense approach, coaxed me into liking it. Some of the stretching is hard-- I can certainly see why people like Madonna are so buff in the arm muscles-- it takes effort to do the poses for the 6 breaths you have to hold them. The instructor is not too "simperingly" sweet, but clear, precise, and friendly. No annoying giggling, or over coaching like a cheeerleader ("come on, you can do it, you deserve to be fit cause you're a great person" blech) I feel I can continue doing this workout for a while, learn the basics, and maybe move into more complex work, which the later half of the DVD provides. You should have a chair handy when you start, and maybe one of those easy to find yoga mats (I got mine half price at a discount store). Also, maybe a towel, and some sort of band (a belt might work, but they sell special yoga bands too) for one of the poses. Try to clear your head as much as possible-- since you have to breathe through your nose, if you have any allergies (which I do) try to control the stuffiness if you can. (I know that sounds weird, but it will make it more pleasant if you can do the breathing). There is an option on the DVD for instructor cuing only-- so you can play your own music and still get the cues. Finally, for people worried about calorie burning. According to a website that I use to monitor calories burned vs. activities (it's free-- write to me if you want to learn the URL) the 51 minutes of stretching yoga that this DVD/video gives you burns a total of 165 calories. You burn approx. 3 calories per minute. It's not exactly boot camp, and it is not cardio, but combined with a cross-training sort of program, this is a good light calorie burning day stretch. It's important, when you're trying to sculpt those muscles, to stretch them out. This video/DVD will be a crucial step to doing that. This may not be the DVD/video for people who are into the more spiritual aspects of Yoga, but she does address them some, enough for those of us who don't want to go too far into it. But it's a great one for getting started. Good luck!
Rating:
Summary: The ONLY way to start yoga! Easy to learn!
Review: My husband has wanted to start yoga for a long time. We took out videos from the library, got books, even got a set of "yoga cards." The problem with all the videos was that they went way too fast, even if the poses were easy ones, you need some time to figure out where to put what, and get used to it. And watching someone do it is much better than reading about it in a book. I just bought this for my husband for Christmas, and now we're both doing it! It shows you 12 do-able poses, not all easy by any means, but easy enough for beginners to do without collapsing. She goes through them slowly and you really have time to figure out what you're doing. You feel like you could do it again by yourself. I highly recommend this DVD. We're finally into yoga thanks to it!
Rating:
Summary: A Great Intro to Yoga!!
Review: Have you been tempted to join the yoga bandwagon? Have you thought that yoga seemed so relaxing and invigorating, but you just don't have time to join a class? Get This Tape!! You can do it anytime, anywhere. (I personally use it while my daughter is napping. No noisy exersize machines or loud stomping from doing an aerobics tape!)I felt so good after my first attempt at exersize. My back felt stretched, I felt long, lean and relaxed! I definitly would recommend for stress relief. The best part is that its easy, to the point, and you can learn all the basics. If you decide to eventually join a class, you can come prepared with some basic knowledge.
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