Customer Reviews

Yoga Journal's Yoga Basics [VHS]

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

 

 

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.

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? :-)

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!

After trying the video for the first time, I would initially have given it two stars. Since then, it has kind of grown on me enough to give it three stars.

I totally agree with the person who complained about the many props in the program. I don't have anything against props, but I feel like it should have mentioned something about them on the box so that people would know ahead of time that you need more than just the video to do the program.

Like someone else said, I too figured out a way to do the video without the props. But still...

I would recommend Karen Voight's "Pure & Simple Stretch" instead of this video. It is basically yoga...but without the new-age sounding phrases that are thrown into the introductory yoga video (e.g. bring your mind into your heart, (whatever that means)).

The one thing that has kind of grown on me about the introductory yoga video is that it is pretty long. Even though I think they go too fast through some moves, the length of the video makes it pretty relaxing if you manage to make it all the way through.

I bought this tape thinking it would be good for all levels of fitness. Wrong! I did this workout at least three or four times and had trouble with it. I have some flexibility and still could not do the asanas. Patricia Walden does not offer any modifications for any of the poses. She thinks that everyone is as flexible as she is. If someone is not careful they could injure themselves trying to follow pretzel woman. I do not recommend this workout for anyone! Not good at all.

I own this on a dvd format rather than vhs. I think that if I owned the vhs I wouldn't like it as much. With the dvd, you can do the poses individually. It is good to teach the basics of the poses, The dvd has two workouts, the introduction and a yoga class. I like the introduction but the class is not real exciting. Good if you want to learn the poses, but I wouldn't make it the only tape you own.

I have this as a dvd, but it's the same as the tape, except with chapters. Anyway -- I got it about 2 years ago before I'd taken any yoga classes and started trying to do it. It starts out using blocks, so I paused and ran and got some boxes which worked. Then you needed to be near a wall, so I paused and moved my stuff next to a wall. Then you needed a bolster, and I turned the damn thing off because it was not relaxing at all. I was just pausing to go get something else every 5 minutes. They really should mention all the items you need to do this thing so you can get them ready before you start! Anyway, I didn't try it again and instead took a few classes at my university. There I learned a lot of these poses are usually done prop-less, but for some reason Patricia doesn't show you anything other than the assisted modifications.