Power Yoga – Flexibility

I love this DVD! Rodney Yee DVD’s from Gaiam have become some of my favorite practices. You really need to know a bit about yoga (like the warrior series) before you do this practice. There are no detailed instructions, so I think it would be disappointing for a beginner.

I loved the flow of this practice. Yes, the sun salutations are a bit fast, but is okay since this warms you up for the floor stretches to follow. He holds you in downward facing dog to rest, but I think the pace is perfect to warm you up quickly. It is a short workout of only 30 min., but perfect for those days when I don’t have a lot of time. You will definitely get the flexibility on the floor postures after the warm up.

I use Rodney’s “Power Yoga Total Body” which I love too, but it is 1 hour. This practice is very similar, but 1/2 the time. You really can’t go wrong on this one for on Amazon.

It is beautifully filmed in Joshua Tree which brings back memories for me of rock climbing in the 70′s…

Please see my other review on Amazon of yoga and meditation dvds.

This is not a bad yoga workout. The main reason I’m giving it two stars is for deceptive marketing.

When you start this DVD, you will notice the titles include the words “for beginners”. In the accompanying interview with Rodney Yee, he talks about this being a starter workout, for the beginner. Yet nothing on Amazon or on the outside packaging of the DVD mentions that it is for beginners.

This is very basic power yoga, with sun salutations broken down into smaller and modified bits, and a few basic modified yoga poses. I would not even call it power yoga, as there is no way anyone who has any yoga experience will even break a sweat with this one.

There are two 20 minute routines on this DVD. I bought this to have a nice short routine for days when I don’t have time for a full class, or even for 30-45 minutes of home practice. However, I don’t find it useful for this purpose. David Swenson’s “Short Forms” DVD is much better, and offers shorter routines of actual ashtanga yoga poses, in a more logical sequence.

This book is an excellent guide to astanga yoga. For beginers, or experienced practicioners.

If you’re looking for an exercise routine, you can’t do better than this.

Astanga yoga builds strength, flexiblity, stamina, discipline and mental quiet. It won’t change your life overnight. But bit by bit as you start to feel healthier, and better about your body, the way you perceive the world changes as well. But everything comes very slowly, as it should.

I think a book accompanied with this might make it much better. He does not fully explain what he is doing. I guess he expects you to watch and mimic his motions. But one can mimic and get the motions wrong because they do not understand the concepts. Along with his short explanations he does give, they are very quick and not in depth. Good thing for DVD you can pause, rewind at a much better rate than VHS. If you decide to buy this, make sure to keep it basic for the beginning: maybe have another person nearby. I almost knocked myself out trying to do those breathing exercises. Not because they are bad, but because it does put some pressure on your body and lungs that are not normal to the average person that has not done these things before.