Bryan Kest's Long, Slow & Deep: A Complete 90 Minute Yoga Workout (CD & Booklet) [Spiral-bound]

Bryan Kest (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2003

This highly anticipated live recording of Bryan's Long, Slow & Deep routine will help you move into areas deeply and safely with a combination of deep stretching poses. Only on rare occasions does Bryan teach this routine, but now you can have your very own recording. Balance your usual regimen of vinyasa (flowing) routines with this deep exploration. The live, approximately 90-minute recording was done at his very popular Santa Monica, CA studio, and is in audio CD format, accompanied by a beautiful, 8" x 8" spiral bound instructional booklet. (Like the other titles in the series, the spiral binding makes it easy to keep the book open and follow along.) The audio CDs are segmented into 14 tracks for easy repeating or forwarding. The booklet has photographs of the asanas (positions) which track the recording, along with detailed written instruction for key poses provided by Bryan. A nice treat: Bryan Kest is one of the two models photographed for the asanas.

In addition to being an excellent, complete yoga routine for your library, the CDs are a compact format perfect for travelers.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

This CD booklet Long, Slow & Deep has at the very least a few ostensible objectives. The first is I wanted to give people a deep and potent alternative to the myriad of vinyasa and flowing hatha yoga classes. I wanted people to know that they have a choice. There have been so many days in my life when I just didn’t want to do a salutation or a lunge series or even to be that physically active. Yet, I still had the time and ability to practice as well as the desire for all the pleasing benefits of yoga. I still wanted to maintain my practice. I wanted people to see how utterly potent this kind of practice can be even without focusing on strength, endurance or even acquiring much heat. I also wanted people to experience the benefits of holding poses a little longer, giving these massive areas (hamstrings, groin, hips, shoulders, etc.) more time to release deeper.

This truly is an amazing routine. It’s a paradox. It is by far the most difficult class I teach, yet you don’t really get off your butt the whole class. The challenge here is mostly mental. You are probably going to want to run away from this one, especially in the beginning. Hang in there, be patient and keep breathing, deeply and fluidly. So dim the lights, warm up the room and enjoy (at least how it leaves you feeling).

Aloha, Bryan

About the Author

Bryan Kest has been practicing yoga for more than 24 years, starting in Hawaii with David Williams, the first person to bring Ashtanga yoga to America. He then studied in India with K. Pattabhi Jois, the main proponent of Ashtanga yoga. Bryan has been teaching yoga for 19 years. He founded and teaches at two successful yoga studios, one in Santa Monica and one in Calabasas, CA, and is regularly invited by other yoga studios around the world to hold workshops. Bryan also hosts group yoga retreats in places such as Maui and Peru, has created several videos, audio CDs and booklets, and personally teaches an extensive instructor training program.

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 24 pages
• Publisher: PowerYoga.com (March 2003)
• ISBN-10: 0972247831
• ISBN-13: 978-0972247832
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 7.7 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #937,868 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for beginners, but pretty awesome for experienced yogis, March 4, 2004

By 

Melanie Bernstein "mbernst22" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bryan Kest's Long, Slow & Deep: A Complete 90 Minute Yoga Workout (CD & Booklet) (Spiral-bound)

If you don't have a regular yoga practice you will be overwhelmed by this yoga workout. Bryan has you go through some pretty intense poses and if you have tight hamstrings you're in for a powerful experience! I first tried this CD after a particularly stressful workday, and I emerged feeling relaxed, liked I'd washed the tension away. So I recommend it for someone who's all keyed up and would like to chill out. Sometimes doing the "power" yoga vinyasa style all the time isn't what your body needs. But even though you're not doing a zillion chaturangas, this is a challenging workout all the same. It's challenging for your mind - though it's two hours of intense stretching, the time just zips by as you concentrate on your breath. As a final note, there are some poses he goes through that may not be so helpful for folks with tricky knees, particularly as this is a CD and the booklet pictures aren't very clear. Bryan doesn't cue options here, so if you feel like somethings not for you, don't do it.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent class for holding asanas, July 1, 2005

By 

M. Thompson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bryan Kest's Long, Slow & Deep: A Complete 90 Minute Yoga Workout (CD & Booklet) (Spiral-bound)

This yoga routine is very different from other power yoga routines that Bryan has made. Frankly, it is probably not at all what you would expect if you have done any of his other tapes or CDs; even with the title, Long Slow and Deep, I didn't know exactly what I was getting myself into.

Instead of moving through the poses in a hot, sweating fashion (although it seems like I sweat a little from time to time), you simply hold the poses, most of them for no more than two minutes, and a few for just a few moments. Holding some of these poses is INTENSE, especially for the hips, knees, and hamstrings. Bryan admits that you may want to run away from this routine because it is hard to slow down and spend two hours doing it (it is 2 hours long, not 90 minutes, even though the cover says 90 min).

I must admit, though, that after doing this routine half-heartedly a few times, I was drawn back to it for some reason and I'm very glad I perservered (I've been doing it several months now). The first few times I did this, I could not even sit up straight in some of the poses, nor did I have the patience or mental quietness to hold them. Frankly, I was very frustrated with myself that I couldn't even sit up straight when he was talking about bending forward! It is NOT easy. Now, though, I make time to do this routine once a week and it is so beneficial for relaxing my muscles, getting my mind calm, and being in the present moment. My flexibility has improved SO much. Of all the routines I have (and I have all of Kest's as well as some others), I look forward to Long, Slow, and Deep more than any other one I do. It is SO rewarding to complete and I enjoy the relaxed feeling I have all over when I am done.

Also, one really cool feature of this Kest CD is that he includes an 8 minute rest at the end of it, making it harder to turn your mind to the other things in your life and skip the rest at the end. He also doesn't say anything for about 5 minutes during the rest, which is really nice.

I love this routine, but it is not an active one. It takes a quiet mind and a lot of calmness and patience to get into it. Good luck if you take the challenge, and if you do, give it a few tries before you give up because it is worth the effort.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome yoga practice!, August 31, 2005

By 

cryogini (United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bryan Kest's Long, Slow & Deep: A Complete 90 Minute Yoga Workout (CD & Booklet) (Spiral-bound)

What a nice change from the same old vinyasa flow that's on so many yoga cds and dvds! Even though the poses themselves aren't very difficult, the challenge comes from the holding. He gives you enough time in each pose to really work with the breath, sink into the pose and go deep inside and stay deep for the whole practice. When it was over, I felt totally stretched out and thoroughly cleansed from the inside out. Although I wish he would have kept the words "ass" and "crotch" out of the program, I was so deep into the yoga that it really just washed over me. Other than the coarse language, I like his style because it's different and authentic. I definitely appreciate depth over speed, and that's why I like him. Most power yoga leaves me unsatisfied because we move too fast to get that deep connection, but even in Bryan Kest's power videos, he moves slow enough so you can get the real benefits of yoga. This is definitely one of my favorites.