Yoga Journal's Yoga for Beginners

Genre : DVD ( DVD )
Release : 2002/05/28
Price : $10.49

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Includes the full 1-hr. Yoga Journal s Yoga for Beginners program an exclusive in-depth interview with Patricia a foldout pose guide and a bonus Flexibility Workout. With Patricia Walden. Beginner level.System Requirements:Running Time 100 minutes. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HEALTH/FITNESS UPC: 029956907201 Manufacturer No: 120-1263

I really like this dvd. I love how you can skip to each of the individual poses for detailed instruction. Patricia Walden does a great job of explaining everything in detail, and I find her soothing voice ideal for keeping me centered and focused (the most challenging part of yoga for me).

I've taken beginner yoga classes in the past, but I just became a full-time student again and don't have the time or money to attend classes right now. So I tried some videos. Some of these were really disappointing, but I think this is one of the best.

Some reviews have complained that the video is too slow. I think this is good at first because you need to learn proper form and awareness of your body to really get the benefits of yoga. After you get some practice though, it can seem pretty slow. But you can easily just fast forward with your remote. As for me, I just hold the poses longer for a deeper stretch. There's also a workout in the special features that goes through all the poses in a fluid succession, without all the extra instruction.

I began Yoga for Beginners in March 2009. As a then 51-year-old not very flexible woman, this DVD is still a favorite that I use many times weekly. It does move slowly, and as a real "type A" person, I had to be willing to just slow down. Also, Patricia Walden, the instructor, is much more flexible than I will ever be, so I recommend that the beginner do all poses just "half-way" to begin with. Don't try to do every pose 100%. Do a little at a time. Now, one year later, I've gradually become much more flexible, and I feel soooo good. I feel at least 10 years younger! My back is much less achey, my neck and shoulders stronger and happier. My previously awful slumpy posture is so much better. My Mom has stopped nagging me to stand up straight! I highly recommend this DVD to yoga beginners.

Too few yoga DVDs teach beginners how NOT to overexert themselves with too many poses, too shallow breathing, and too little body awareness. A true beginner, especially a person who has not yet otherwise been exposed to yoga and is just trying a home video "to see," really needs instruction that will emphasize body awareness to protect his or her still-stiff, untoned body from injury. Which is where Walden's DVD becomes extremely useful.

Even though Patricia Walden does take the full pose in the basic poses offered in this DVD, her instructions teach the physical experience of yoga specifically for beginners. She does not assume that her viewers will be able to move from one pose to another with the kind of awareness and synchronized breathing that is really required for the flow sequences or vinyasas that are so popular today. Instead, she teaches viewers how to be aware of their internal and external physical state and how to challenge it constructively using breathing techniques and the poses themselves. Her instruction is deliberate and slow, so that the viewer will learn the key elements of alignment and awareness while moving into each pose offered. These elements are the backbone of any yoga practice and the best way to prevent against injury precisely because one learns to sense just how deeply to take a particular pose.

And beginners will find this DVD physically challenging, provided that they do the poses with their full attention and practice regularly rather than once in a while.

If you're in good physical shape, are FLEXIBLE (i.e., can touch your forehead to your knees while keeping your back straight), and hoping to have a good, hard workout with some great home video, then you're bound to be disappointed by this DVD - it just wasn't made with you in mind. If you're looking to learn the basic poses, how body awareness feels inside-out, and basic breathing techniques, consider this DVD a MUST. If you're out of shape and want to get back into yoga and/or strengthen your joints with instruction, then I wholeheartedly recommend this DVD as a way back to the basics.

I own the Crunch Fat Burning Yoga DVD and thought I'd try a new DVD since I wanted to switch things up a bit. I bought this DVD and it was horrible. The background is a horrible blue and it was as if the DVD was created on a low budget back in the early 90s. Do not waste your money on this. There are other DVDs that give you a great Yoga workout without the low-budget, ugly blue background.

I gave this review 3 stars because this DVD has a major positive and a major negative. First, the positive: The teacher, her delivery, and her technique are really, really good - easy to follow and well explained. The negative is that the DVD contains upfront advertising that you must watch (I can't even fast forward through it) every time you want to follow the DVD. It irritates me so much that I mostly use the pamphlet that accompanied the DVD.