AM/PM Yoga for Beginners [VHS]

First, I’d like to start off by saying that before ordering this tape I have never even attempted to try yoga. I am not the world’s most in-shape person, nor am I the world’s least, so I really wasn’t sure what to expect from this ‘Beginners’ set. I was quite surprised by what I was able to do, and also by what I found challenging.

It is advised that you watch the tapes at least once before attempting the exercises. While watching I thought to myself, “Wow, this has got to be the world’s easiest form of exercise ever invented. I can’t believe the hype over something so obviously simple!” I was not so quick to judge once I popped in PM yoga that evening. Patricia Walden makes the moves look simple and fluid, but they are challenging for the beginner! She starts off with a 4 minute centering series, followed by a 13 minute workout, and finally, a 3 minute guided relaxation. The tape isn’t long, so it’s easy to stay motivated when you get in and feel you may be too tired to do anything productive. The scenery is just beautiful, and the voiceover is clear, comprehensive and provides well-timed cues to the viewer. Simply fantastic before going to bed, you can really feel the stress melt away as you do the poses.

AM yoga is done by Rodney Yee. His workout, in my opinion, is not as challenging as Patricia Walden’s PM yoga program, but it still provides an unexpected challenge to the beginner. Most mornings I am too groggy and irritable to think of anything besides a good cup of tea, but I somehow managed to pop the tape into the VCR. The exercises are gentle yet effective, and although, as mentionned earlier, they may look easy the first time you view the tape, they most certainly provide a great challenge! His tape consists of 4 minutes of conscious breathing, 14 minutes workout and 2 minutes seated guided meditation. By the end of the workout you feel alive and ready to face the day. Granted, it took a few mornings for me to get the hang of doing this workout, but now I actually look forward to it (although this statement may not seem like much to most, to say I am NOT a morning person is a gross understatement. Anything that makes me look forward to the morning is truely a something remarkable!). The scenery is also beautiful and inspiring in the AM series, and the voiceover is equally clear, conscise and well-cued. Also, for those of us who enjoy a beautiful man in very little clothing, Rodney Yee has a remarkable body! Something well worth waking up to!

Over all, this yoga series is something I would likely buy as a gift to just about everyone I know. It’s gentle, effective, and you really see results. As with any exercise, one cannot expect instant results, but as you grow in tune with your body, the subtle effects of this age old exercise become more and more apparent.

I would also like to point out that I first bought these tapes with the idea of training in flexibility. I thought it’d make a great party trick to stick my feet behind my ears, or some such thing. The meditative and spiritual elements are not over emphasized, yet they most certainly are there. I have found I make more progress when my focus is less on the physical elements of yoga, and more on the mental and spiritual.

I must have 10 different Abs tapes, but this one is definitely my favorite. It serves as an excellent counterbalance to the typical crunch-type abs workout, plus has all the added benefits of yoga. The workout part of the tape is a little under 25 minutes, and part of the tape is basically ab-focused meditation (but it’s not flaky for those who are a little intimidated by yoga’s spiritual side). The rest is gentle, yet tough abs work which will be unlike anything you’ve ever done before. The best part is, it works. Your abs will feel terrific and you will feel great because you have completed some pretty challenging poses. For some reason, I don’t know if it’s true, I feel that this tape works out ab muscles that those traditional tapes just don’t get to. Maybe it’s because most of the poses are isometric, but whatever it is, I would recommend this tape to anyone curious about yoga and interested in toning their abs.

I just finished reading “7 Minutes of Magic” by Lee Holden a few days ago and it has prompted me to do a couple of things. That is a mark of a very good book, it prompts you to take action. First, I have tried the routines Holden outlines in this book, and I do agree with another review of this book that it does take longer than 7 minutes to do the routines when you are first learning them. However, that is okay, I am used to spending longer than 7 minutes each morning. I really like the routines, and I feel that by themselves for most people they will be very beneficial.

However, for me, I am incorporating Holden’s flows from this book with the morning exercises I already do that are based on teachings of Dan Millman, Pavel Tsatsouline, and other martial art/qi gong instructors I have had. Holden’s workouts fit very well with the kinds of exercise flows I’ve already been doing. (In fact, some of the same things he teaches have been in my routines) So, for me it has been invigorating to try different routines and to incorporate them into what I’ve been doing. My goal for the morning exercises is to loosen up my joints, warm up my core, especially lower back, and to energize myself for the day ahead. This is just what Holden’s routines do!

Normally my evening or after work routines incorporate aerobic exercise, weight lifting, martial art practice and a variety of other exercises. I will often do a little stretching late in the evening and a breathing or meditation session. I’ve been incorporating Holden’s PM routine into my training and enjoy it as a nice way to calm down late in the evening before retiring for the night. I’ve also looked at Holden’s other products and intend to learn more from him in the future, so yes this is a book I recommend.

The book starts out with a little about Holden’s training. I enjoyed this short chapter. As someone who has also lived in Asia to further my training, I found his story very interesting. I also liked the second chapter on East Meets West: Your Body, Mind and Spirit. It corresponded well with my own philosophies and I liked how Holden put it simply and to the point.

The next part of the book teaches the flows, or exercise series. There are several flows for the morning. Core Flow, Upper Body Flow, Lower Body Flow, Full Body Flow, Energy Flow, Breath Flow, and Mind Flow. Then the PM flows: Spinal Flow, Upper Back and Neck Flow, Lower Back Flow, Downward Flow, Seated Flow, Lying Flow, and the Joy and Gratitude Flow.

I really feel that incorporating these flows, or even modifying them if need be, will help a person have increased health, energy, and fitness. With this comes reduced stress levels and the avoidance of the illnesses that come with increased stress and inactivity of the body.

Part three of the book focuses on Living with More Vitality, and in this part Holden gives some good advice for living a more healthy lifestyle. He discusses exercise, especially walking. He has a short chapter on breathing. Chapter 7 is a short chapter on eating, not what to eat, but how to eat, especially chewing food more and eating less to lose weight and live longer. He also includes a quick chapter on drinking water. He finishes with chapters on meditation and sleep, and then throws in a bonus 7 minute routine for health and vitality.

All of the chapters are short, direct and easy to read. They do not include in depth information on the topics, but give enough to get most people started along a healthy way of living. For some, this book will act as a catalyst to send readers to further study the topics here, through more of Holden’s works or those of others on the same or similar topics.

This is a great start for many people, and following the routines will help anyone improve their health. For me and others, it is a good book of information to further our studies and incorporate new approaches into our own routines. I’m glad I bought this book and look forward to doing these routines and learning more from Holden in the future.

Get this book and DO THE ROUTINES. Your health is worth it!

Reviewed by Alain Burrese, author of Hard-Won Wisdom From the School of Hard Knocks and the dvds: Hapkido Hoshinsul, Streetfighting Essentials, Hapkido Cane, the Lock On Joint Locking Essentials series and articles including a regular column on negotiation for The Montana Lawyer. Alain Also wrote a series of articles called Lessons From The Apprentice.

I am a therapist who just recently attended a 3-day Tai Chi training sponsored by David Carradine, where all of the trainers on this video tape were present. They all turned out to be highly skilled and credentialed martial artists. After giving us awesome demonstrations of martial arts skills, and showing us how various martial arts were related to the moves on this tape, they then methodically taught us the Tai Chi moves shown on this video. The designer of this video, Arnold Tayam (who also appears on the companion video David Carradine’s Chi Kung Beginner’s Workout, which I also recommend), is on the tape. Arnold is a wonderful instructor, has a doctorate in Chi Kung/Tai Chi and teaches medical applications of these arts for a living. He has distilled the essence of Chen style Tai Chi down to an easy-to-learn routine that is expertly taught. During our training weekend, he and the other instructors told many wonderful stories of how these Tai Chi moves shown on the tape have healed and prevented many ailments. David Carradine himself taught us how the peaceful philosophy of Taoism ties in with the movements on this tape. During the tape, Carradine narrates while all the martial artists go through the movements. He not only describes the correct movements but also describes the health benefits of each exercise. The tape has five sections, a warmup, repetitive practice of the moves, a section on stillness and meditation, and then two sections that tie the individual movements into a continuous Tai Chi form, first in slow motion, and then at normal speed. This instructional format makes the moves much easier to learn than other Tai Chi videos I have used. I do a lot of computer work, which tends to accumulate tension in my body, especially upper body and shoulders, and I can verify that the movements in this tape completely relax my body in just a few minutes of practice several times a day. As a therapist, I do training seminars frequently, and I consider the teaching technique on this tape to be excellent. I learned Tai Chi from this video, and after six months of working with it every day, studying in a live training with the actual martial artists on this tape was a thrilling experience. This is not just another “celebrity video”, this is the real McCoy, a video by credentialed professionals with years of experience. This video has my highest endorsement.