Product Details

• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Gaiam
• VHS Release Date: August 29, 2000
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004XOX0
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #380,183 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Yikes! Slow down!, January 29, 2001

By 

Neera "designer & animal lover" (Renton, WA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Yoga Journal's Yoga Basics [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I've done some light reading on yoga and decided it was for me. Since I'm a college student, I can't afford classes. I figured that the Yoga Journal's introduction was the next best thing since the magazine provides such thorough information. Sure, it's thorough, but its pace is way too fast.

The tape is set up like a routine. Patricia Walden demonstrates the poses with light music in the background and a voice-over of instructions. She tells you everything you could possibly need to know. The problem? You'd better have a remote control in hand. To cram everything she wants to tell you into a 70 minute tape, Walden rushes through the poses. She demonstrates them well, but you can't get into the position before she's coming out of it. I can't catch what she is trying to say unless I get out of the position to pause the tape.

The biggest problem I had with the video is the lack of safety. This comes from Walden forgetting to mention what part of your body should be feeling the stretches. I felt that I might have been doing the pose wrong and never could have known it.

The tape covers some beginning "warm-up" stetches in a kneeling and seated position, then moves to standing poses such as the Mountain Pose, and then a relaxation pose. She loves her props, but I've found you don't always need them. A rolled up towel works well for a bolster, I didn't see a need for the belt, and the blocks can be replaced with books or other moveable hard objects. The only thing you'll need is a good sturdy surface, preferably a hard floor with a yoga mat. My first run through without one left me with one splitting headache!

One plus: the relaxation poses at the end are welcomed after poses and getting up and down to pause the tape.

If I had to do it over again, I'd get a full-out practice, not an intro. Learning the poses is nearly impossible at this pace.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent as an Introduction, but Not a Great Routine, February 7, 2002

By 

C. Sullivan (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yoga Journal's Yoga Basics [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Excuse me, did I read correctly? Did the other reviewer say this tape moves too FAST??

How could that be? It's 70+ MINUTES LONG! And Patricia Walden only covers the basics, really, and she does what I feel is a very good, thorough job. You don't move quickly from one pose to the next. Not at all. You start with the total "beginner" modification, and then she gently leads you to a deeper pose, or a counter pose -- but either way, she's BUILDING on the poses she presents in a clear, logical way. She doesn't have you doing a forward fold, say, and then suddenly on your back for a shoulder stand. It's easy to follow along, just relax and listen to her excellent instructions.

The only warning I'd like to give here is that this tape is more like the video form of a yoga manual. It's not what I would consider a routine that one would do every day. It just doesn't flow all that well, which makes sense, cause there's a lot of instruction that you don't really need once you understand the poses. So I'd say this would be an excellent tape to INTRODUCE you to yoga, but once you've gotten yourself familiar w/ the breathing, the poses, the "lingo," if you will, then you'll probably want to graduate to a yoga tape that'll put it all together into a seamless workout you can do every day.

May I suggest Ali MacGraw's Yoga Mind & Body, or one of Kathy Smith's excellent tapes? I started with Ali MacGraw's tape and still go back to it every now and then --it's a wonderful tape--but I think if I were to do it again, I'd have purchased this yoga tape, as well, and THIS would've been my introduction to yoga. I probably would've done it two or three times, and then go on to Ali MacGraw, but with a MUCH better understanding.

Perhaps, then, rather than invest money in a tape you might not use all that much, "Yoga Practice Instruction" would be something you'd rent from a library, or borrow from a friend. Hey, wanna check out my copy? :-)

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars too many props, February 22, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Yoga Journal's Yoga Basics [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I love the stretch you get with the bolster at the end but there is so much playing around with props I ended up getting nervous instead of calmed. She's good, and really explains, but sometimes is too detailed without really explaining - does that make sense? Well, what exactly does energise the arches of your feet mean? Can someone enlighten me?

You really need props. From reading a review here, I thought ok phone directories, belt and so on. No way, you need blocks, and piles of video boxes or directories are just not going to cut it!

My honest opinion - and I have loads of video tapes, and bought this to refine a bit - maybe a little late - I'm happier with my Kathy Smith New Yoga Basics as a refresher/refiner course!