Customer Reviews

Yoga Fusion - Power [VHS]

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

 

 

I have many many fitness tapes, and I always come back to this one. I love this tape so much that I had to write just to counteract all the people who only WATCHED the tape without doing it, got hung up on how the instructors looked, or just didn't know how to do the moves. If you are not familiar with yoga or pilates, go for the YF - Beginners Basics tape, this one is probably better for people already familiar with proper form. This tape is the perfect length - 40 minutes - and the pacing is fantastic. You get your heart rate up and your muscles warm and streched in the beginning, flow through increasingly challenging yoga asanas interspersed with tai-chi and dance (feels great), and finish up with powerful pilates moves that never fail to make my abs and butt burn. Then, a fabulous cool down ending with the lovely "goddess pose." If you are looking for a challenging, varied, and balanced workout that will get your heart rate up yet still provide the mind/body/spirit benefits of conscious breathing and movement, this is the tape. I always feel great when I finish, and I have seen exactly the results I was after. I only wish there were more to choose from. I have YF strength and sculpt, and it isn't the fantastic mix this tape is. Its more straight yoga.

I have been practicing Yoga for almost a year now and wanted to try something new so I picked up this video. The teacher does not give good instructions on the poses which is extremely confusing, especially when you can't be looking at the TV. It causes the student to constantly interrupt their practice just to try to figure out what you are supposed to be doing. The instructor also jumped around an awful lot, and the exercises did not flow well together. I would not purchase this video again. Rather, I would highly recommend "Total Yoga" with Tracey Rich as the instructor.

I have been practicing yoga for three years now and wanted to try something for when I can't get to or don't have class. I would not recommend this tape to a beginner or to anyone who is not already in fairly good shape.

I borrowed this tape from my library. I watched it all the way through the first time. I always do this and with yoga tapes as you will be bending and turning and can not always see the instructor, which if they don't give excellent instructions, this instructor does not, it will be disruptive to your workout. I immediately disliked the super fit instructer and students, not a single one looks like an average person, but thought that it looked like a pretty simple and easy workout. Once I actually did the workout I found it to be more difficult because you are always moving, which was good, it is definately a Power Yoga type of workout. But, I did not like how you couldn't always see the person who was suppose to be doing the modification. They often only showed her after they had started the exercise and she didn't always do a modification.
Overall I did enjoy the tape it gave me a very different type of workout then my yoga class (more aerobic), and because I am already practicing yoga and pilates I felt comfortable doing almost all of the moves. But I must state again this is not for beginners in yoga or fitness the moves are to hard with little instruction and few modifications which could cause an experienced person to injure theirselves.

This tape was definitely more effective than I imagined it would be. I perspired (the heater was on, but that wasn't the only reason, I'm sure) and felt challenged but not tortured. The combination of pilates, yoga, dance, etc. really made the workout very fluid and non-work-out like...it went much faster because she moved on to one exercise after another...and I didn't feel any particular move was overdone.

Overall...effective workout. Much better than I had anticipated.

The first part of this video does a good job of blending dance, qi gong, yoga, and traditional strength moves into a 25 min cardio workout. It does help to have some familiarity with yoga, but her instruction is fine and she doesn't move quickly at all. Teigh begins with some dancey, qi-gong like warmups and then moves into sun salutations that work up a sweat, challenging flexibility and strength. I find this part of the workout really enjoyable; it reminds me of 3-Dimensional Toning with no ballet and more yoga. However, the pilates core segment that follows is horrible. She does not give enough instruction or guidance on the proper form, and a beginner attempting to follow her onscreen moves will likely hurt him/herself; also, for some idiotic reason, the one who is supposed to be demonstrating modifications isn't. Why have someone doing modifications for some exercises and not for others?! Fortunately, this lasts for only five minutes. (For someone who isn't familiar with pilates, I highly recommend reading "The Pilates Body" or viewing an instructional pilates tape before attempting to do this portion of the video -- or just fast forward.) She redeems the workout with some punishing hamstring/gluteal work and leg exercises that are almost as difficult; a fine series of stretches follows. I really like this tape, but can't ignore the terrible lack of instruction during the pilates segment.

I do agree with one reviewer that this video does not give enough instruction with the pilates section. The pilates section is (in my humble opinion) high intermediate/advanced. Beginners beware! There's not enough modification presented! The yoga portion was a lot of fun, flowed well, but was not too difficult. I think the entire video flows very well. The best part is that my butt and abs get a great workout. I even feel it the next day. If you're looking to work up a sweat building strenth in the lower body, this is for you!

I have been doing yoga for several years and own approximately 10 videos. This reminds me of a Jane Fonda aerobics video gone modern. For practioners wanting to reap the relaxation/flexibility benefits of Yoga, you will NOT find it here. This video serves as a mild workout, great to energize you for the day. It does not concentrate on breathing. Poses are held for short periods of time and not very advanced. It does offer a "less advanced" option to the poses. I am giving this a three rating because of the ab workout towards the end of the video; which is its only redeeming quality!

I have almost never hated a video on first sight; either I'm getting more selective with age, or this is just really bad. The truth is probably somewhere in between.

First, you should know that I am a sucker for: yoga, pilates, fusion and easy dance and chi kung or tai chi. This tape has a little bit of all of that, so it should have been perfect for me. Instead, I found myself staring at the tv, wondering how this video could have been made in the first place.

The yoga here was decent, but nothing to write home about and nothing you won't find in any of the other newer yoga releases. There isn't that much chi kung here- maybe four moves- and they weren't anything to get excited about, either. What drove me to actively hate this video were the Pilates moves. I am not a stickler for following the classical sequence all the time, although I do see the benefits. What I am becoming increasingly picky about is the number of repetitions, especially when the instructor makes modifications to the form. The Pilates here is so unsafe- particularly The Hundred- that there was no way I would do this video even once or recommend it to anyone under any circumstances. She does not discuss the proper breathing or the fact that you need to pull your lower abdominals in throughout the movements. She also performs too many repetitions of the Single Straight Leg Stretch and the Double Straight Leg Stretch. I honestly feel that the risk to injure one's back with this tape is very high, especially for a beginner.

The music and the set didn't do anything for me either. The music didn't seem to work for the exercises- it was half-mellow, half-expectant- so you were left with the subliminal impression something better was coming. The set, I believe, is the same set used for Denise Austin's Power Yoga Plus. I liked what they did with it better on that video. The color blocks hanging from the ceiling for this video were oddly jarring and only added to my annoyance with the tape.

Finally, the tape promises "a powerful aerobic vinyasa". Again, I just previewed the tape, but this didn't look at all aerobic to me...

Because this incorporated Pilates, which I like, as well as dance movements this workout was fun. It didn't even feel like a work out so much as a stretching routine. I never really understood just how inflexible I was until attempting this workout; I felt so stretched out afterwards, it felt great. I agree however, that I had to look up at the TV alot, which can be stressful on the neck, to understand how to do some of the movements.

I've used this tape (now DVD) for several years in combination with walking/jogging and have experienced satisfying results. Not only am I more limber, but I've developed long and lean muscles. I've taken years of yoga and dance, and feel that this tape is a pretty good combination of strength, stretch and balance. I've even brought it with me on vacation, because I think it's a nice way to start off the day!