Customer Reviews

The Power of Hatha Yoga: Challenging Series

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Naader Shagagi is an inspirational teacher, and his sequence of poses will leave you feeling energized, strengthened, and uplifted. After having practiced yoga for 16 years and tried many classes and DVDs, I found Naader's sequence to be the most complete I had ever encountered. I can't recommend this DVD highly enough. When you come to the end of the practice and lie in relaxation pose, you will have worked every muscle and opened up the body in profound and satisfying ways. What sets Naader's DVD apart from most others is his ability to convey both the deep physical aspects of yoga and the powerful spiritual dimension of a sincere practice. So many instructional tapes and DVDs overlook or ignore the spiritual side of yoga. With Naader's DVD you will get to experience the fullness of yoga. His wisdom and spirituality will improve the quality of your practice and your life.

Let me preface this review by saying that my yoga background includes exposure to lots of video instruction and over 7 years of practice. I have experienced a wide variety of instructional styles, and am fully aware that the original yoga sutras don't specify much about body dynamics, leave a lot of room for interpretation, and therefore there's not a "correct" way to practice the asanas. However, the cross-pollination of sports medicine, anatomical studies, physical therapy, and the dedicated practice of hundreds of yoga teachers with backgrounds in similar areas has contributed valuable information about body dynamics that reduces the risk of injury to the beginning yogi or yogini as yoga gains popularity in the West.

It is from this perspective that I tell you Naader Shagagi does not teach body dynamics "properly" and that if you are new and don't know better, you could hurt yourself following his instruction. A good example of this is in cobra pose; he simply tells you to look up and arch your back. If you watch what he's doing, his upper back is actually curved slightly forward and he's hyperextending his neck and lower back, the places where the back bends most easily. Cobra is suppossed to open the harder-to-bend-back areas of the spine in the upper back, hence a better way to instruct would be to tell the student to reach their sternum forward, not bend their neck back. Another dangerous example is that he's constantly telling the student "lock your knees" in asanas where the knees are supposed to be straight or close to straight. This not only endangers the knees, but it lends a rigidity to the poses that is counter to one aim of yoga to which is to enliven the body. In downward dog, for instance, if you lock your knees, it limits the forward pelvic (dog) tilt, and the pose hits a static limit instead of continuing to be a dynamic stretch. If you allow the knees to remain slightly bent, pull up with the quadriceps, and get your hamstring stretch from the forward pelvic tilt, you preserve the dynamic tensions of the pose without pushing against the limits of your skeletal structure, risking cartilidge damage. These are just a couple of examples, but I could go on. To be fair, some of the differences are probably just stylistically peculiar to Naader's teaching. For instance, in Parsvottanasana (the wide-legged standing forward release over the front leg), he tells you to bring your forehead to your knee instead of aiming the sternum towards the knee. I would have thought this was just plain wrong until he mentioned that this stimulates the thyroid as in shoulderstand. It's just a different stretch, that's all. Still, the crowning gripe about this Naader's instruction is that he takes corpse pose (which for some reason falls in the middle of the session if you play the DVD straight through) as an opportunity to go on at length about his yogic philosophy which keeps the the mind occupied in logical apprehension of what he's saying which rather defeats the purpose of corpse pose, that is, to release thought along with all muscular tension and experience a meditative state. To top it all off, the DVD had some technical problems, and digital "stuttering" (I don't know how else to describe it) in the two DVD players I tried playing it in. I unfortunately also purchased Naader's Ultimate series which I am returning unopened to Amazon.

I had lost my routine and relationship to yoga for a few years. Thanks to my good friend Lisa's gift of The Power of Hatha Yoga-Beginner Series my enthusiasm and desire has been renewed. Naader Shagagai unites many important aspects of yoga;easy to follow visuals of the postures with attention to the small details,consistent reminders of the importance of breath,subtle positive and non dimentional spirtual reinforcements.
In a nut shell, he has helped to repair a mind body link and open a path toward body and spirit. I am always left at the end of the DVD , happy and nurished. Imaginge what a class in person could do?

This is a great video that comes almost directly from the classes at YKS. I studied there for quite some time and found that my practice was maintained, even deepened, by the videos in my absence from the actual studio. I found the video instruction to be both helpful and unobtrusive. I thought Naader's approach to the poses to be smooth and natural. If you need assitance beyond the verbal aid, you need only glance at the image on your TV and you'll be able to find your pose immediately. I really liked that about the video. I also liked the flow.

Some yoga tapes are very stiff and expect you to hold the pose THEY are doing on the screen. However Naader talks his way into each pose and offers the student a number of different options for each pose--just like he does in the classroom. Also, there weren't excessive musical interludes, noise or visual distractions, which makes for a very nice experience.

I personally would recommend this tape to anyone that really wants to practice yoga seriously-- beginner or otherwise. It's a great supplement (say if you are out of town or can't make it to regularly scheduled classes) or as a stand-alone class (if you want to only practice in the privacy of your home).

It is a bit chalenging for people that are not so flexible due to all kinds of physical problems but I enjoyed it and Iwish it will be in a slower pace to be able to follow more accurately.

This is the best advanced Hatha Yoga tape that I have experienced. I have been taking Hatha Yoga classes off and on for over 8 years and I was looking for an in-home program. If you want true Hatha Yoga instruction this is the video for you. I say "true" because today's/Western yoga just gets you through the postures. Hatha Yoga is not just moving through different postures, one is supposed to hold the pose and meditate in each posture for several seconds and eventually minutes. Hatha Yoga is the practice of bringing together the body, mind and spirit through breathing, the postures and meditation and this video is the next best thing to a Hatha Yoga class.

If you want a real Eastern Hatha Yoga experience in the comfort of your home get this video.

Naader understands Yoga so completely. His devotion and love for the practice shines through every move he makes. He is the real deal, and the routines he carefully but naturally explains make it easy to follow and leave you feeling incredible.
I recommend this to everyone, and if you are ever in Pasadena, CA, You should absolutely stop into his studio, Yoga Kingdom Sanctuary. He is unlike any other yoga teacher I've ever experienced- He's the best!

This was described as "Challenging." What I found were very basic poses and not challenging at all. He goes through a limited 5 min warm up of basically putting your fingers underneath your chin and lifting and lowering your arms under your chin. Then, it goes to some basic warrior poses, 1 downward dog, 1 warrior pose w/a twist, 1 balancing pose, and in the middle of it there is a corpse pose. To me, this was a let down - just as my muscles are getting warmed up he wants to wind down. At the end, there are some basic camel, rabbit, and twist poses before a corpse pose.

Additionally, he does not provide much instruction on the poses he is doing. Where your knee should and should not be, etc. So, for beginners - this is a definite no. I would recommend taking a class in person before buying any video.

I would recommend this DVD for people who want a very basic class without being challenged and do not want a work out. I've watched it 3 times now and I have added my own vinyasa when he does the corpse pose in the middle of the class.

I will likely go back to the studio I attend and see if one of my instructors has a DVD.

I don't like this DVD because it did not flow together. It was broken up into sections and there was no continuous movement like other yoga workouts. I didn't feel too much of a workout because all of the positions were not held very long, and it was frustrating when I started to get into the yoga workout they would flash up another title to signify moving into a new section of positions and he would be in a completely different position than the one before. So I always had to break my concentration to make sure I could follow him and quickly move to get into the position he was in. I didn't like the commentary either. I thought it was incredibly lame and I almost couldn't concentrate. While I think the positions in here are great ideas and helpful in making my own workout, I won't be using this dvd as my workout. I wouldn't buy this dvd because I just don't think it was put together very well and it's not put together in a "60 minute yoga workout" kinda way. After doing it I thought it was more to help people make their own workouts. Don't buy it..I spent too much money on it and probably won't use it again. I bought a book that would help me out much more in making my own yoga workout than the dvd.

This DVD is the best and very practical. Every pose compliments the next pose , therefore your inner journey feels smooth and challenging at the same time. If one follows the breath ; one finds the whole body and mind and heart filled with life itself! Naader Shagagi is AWESOME!