Product Details

• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Gaiam, Inc.
• VHS Release Date: June 13, 2000
• Run Time: 75 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301475917
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #149,945 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Yoga Journal's excellent series of videos offers a thorough beginner's guide to yoga stretching and breathing practices. Patricia Walden's soothing voice and gentle approach to teaching eases the viewer through several stretching techniques, never rushing and often repeating exercises "so that the body can learn." Walden's slow approach is also "permission giving"; she talks the beginner through each stretch, suggesting ways to breathe and enhance even the most seemingly static pose, yet never pushing the viewer beyond his or her comfort level. Who would have thought the classic standing mountain pose could wear a person out? The tape is a good hour long, and may leave the viewer feeling refreshed and more aware of his or her body. One can't help but be a little inspired by Walden's fantastic, and realistic, body. She is easy on the eyes, yet not intimidatingly so. The production value on this video is excellent and consistent; the music is pleasant, even, and subtle. The exercises synthesize into one hour-long routine ending with a relaxation pose, so breaking it down into shorter segments is not as easy as with other Yoga Journal tapes. All in all an excellent and accessible beginner's guide to yoga. --Gilia Angell

Product Description

ASIN: 6301475917 Binding: VHS

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction for beginners, January 31, 2000

By 

Mary N. Cordero (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yoga Journal's Yoga for Beginners with Patricia Walden [VHS] (VHS Tape)

It's been 16 years since I took a yoga class in college, and this tape (and the accompanying booklet) was a great re-introduction to 17 or so of the core yoga poses. I really like how Patricia takes the time to explain how to properly come into and out of a pose, as well as proper alignment. I also appreciate the use of props, not being as limber as I once was. These props can be easily improvised from things around the house, and allow you to receive the benefits of the poses without straining. As I've progressed in my practice, I've moved on to other, faster-moving videos like Yoga for Energy with Rodney Yee (which I was not able to keep up with at first, not being sure about proper alignment and position), but I still come back to this video (and the accompanying booklet) for review. As I've advanced a little now, I find myself holding some of the poses longer as she goes through the explanations. Eventually, I will completely move beyond this level, but I sure am glad that this video helped ease me back into yoga. I highly recommend it for beginners.

66 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is Iyengar yoga; important focus on good alignment, August 3, 1999

By 

An Islander - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yoga Journal's Yoga for Beginners with Patricia Walden [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The Yoga Journal series of tapes are in the style of Iyengaryoga, which uses props such as blocks, straps, folded blankets,furniture, etc., as an aid in performing the postures. (I personally find such props distracting, and I prefer to just go as far in each pose as I can without bothering with them, but I still like philosophy of this style.) Iyengar stresses precision of alignment, and here I think this tape excels, making it a very good beginner's tape as well as a reference. I agree with the other reviewers who find it slow and lacking in production values - there is no waterfall or other natural wonder in the background, as in the Living Yoga series, nor is there a classroom full of attractive bodies like you find in the Bryan Kest tapes. It is more like good medicine, not necessarily tasty, but definitely good for you. Once you get familiar with it, you will find yourself using your remote to get down to work, as there is an awful lot of filler - first ads for other tapes, then titles stating all the cautions, then an odd little video of Patricia flowing through some poses in a flowing costume, then the practice; oh, but first she gabs at you for awhile about all the benefits of yoga... I just leave it cued to where the standing poses begin, do them, finish the tape or not depending on time, and have a productive session. There is a guided relaxation in the end which is good, if you don't crack up at Patricia earnestly asking you to feel you eyeballs shrinking. The time spent on getting Mountain pose exactly right at the beginning of the session is a good reminder, but you wouldn't want to do it every day. There are a number of different styles of the yoga of physique, i.e. Hatha Yoga (and then there are many other branches of yoga, pertaining to all aspects of life). Those looking for the sweat-inducing, so-called Power Yoga will not find it here, as that is the Ashtanga form, where poses flow more quickly and without pauses. But I feel that all yoga practioners would do well to try this tape and the others in the series for their focus on alignment. Proper alignment is important to avoid strain and injury and to reap the full benefit of the poses, which after all are ancient and work on many subtle levels beyond being the latest workout craze. They are meant to effect internal organs, glands, as well as subtle energy centers. You don't want to be crunching down and collapsing in places where you need to be lifted and open, and this is easy to forget. So practice with Patricia and build a good foundation for your future as a yogini.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Solid Beginning, January 6, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Yoga Journal's Yoga for Beginners with Patricia Walden [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Patricia Walden's Beginners tape is a great instructional video on Iyengar yoga fundamentals. I took Iyengar Yoga in college as an elective, but I didn't like it and could't wait for the classes to end because they were painfully slow. Cutting yoga classes brought my GPA down, but I just couldn't bear holding the poses for infinity when I had jobs, sleep, exams, books, and lectures waiting for me.

I knew enough from taking ballet and yoga classes recreationlly that I had to do body work outside of the classes to progress especially as I age. I later bought this tape impulsively in a video store when I was a young working professional to keep my body moving and to relieve bodily tension without realizing that it was an Iyengar yoga tape.

Patricia Walden and this tape inspired me to practice yoga. She is very graceful and her instructions encouraging. In the beginning the tape might feel exceptionally slow and unusually long, but Patricia's slow calming voice and the noninvasive background music forced me to slow down and to concentrate on my alignment and poses. The detailed instructions on the poses taught me to become aware of my body and to stretch properly. The slowness that I resented in my younger days has become a teaching tool to develop my bodily awareness. I can't order flexibility on demand. My muscles (and mind) need time and practice to learn to relax.

I was not progressing much in the first few years of doing this tape because I was doing the tape only once or twice per week or when I got motivated. Although I always felt stretched out and refreshed on day 1, I also felt sore and stiff enough the next day that I could not do the same poses with the same flexibility as on day one and would rest my body instead. My practice would then invariably lose momentum and became sporatic. It's difficult to be disciplined, but I suggest that you push through the stiffness gently and discipline yourself to practice yoga DAILY in order to see any noticeable changes in flexibility. This tape teaches the fundamentals of the static poses and therefore does not overwhelm a newcommer so one can really learn the basics. Because this tape helped relieved my physical tension, I gave this Beginners tape as a gift many times to help someone relieve bodily tension or start practicing yoga.

I have since then moved on and now use mostly Patricia Walden's Flexibility tape and other Yoga Journal tapes. I like her instructional tapes for two reasons. First, she speaks only to teach yoga and so I can turn inward to learn about my body and not be distracted and turn outward to focus on the music or an instructor's joke, personality, or ability to motivate. Now when I am doing vinyasa, i.e. moving from one pose to another, or doing other forms of yoga to challenge my body and mind, I can appreciate the fundamentals I learned from holding these static poses in this beginners tape. The basics that I learned from this tape keep me in proper form, help me move from one pose to another more manageably and in a more controlled manner, and I continue to practice awareness in motion. Secondly, her Beginners and Flexibility tapes tend to have longer holding time (but still shorter in duration than those held in my college yoga class) which allows me enough time to practice concentration and to relax deeper into a pose to develop flexibility. My flexibility has improved with a regular practice and perhaps I am ready for a teacher.

At any rate, it's a good idea to have a collection of differnt instructional tapes with different teachers to meet your various bodily and emotional needs, but the Beginners tape (and Patricia Walden's Flexibility tape) covers how to come in and out of poses safely and is great for someone who's new to yoga, wants to relieve bodily and emotional tensions, and to develop grace and flexibility. 75-min tape covers: Simple Sitting pose, Mountain pose, Tiangle pose, Side Stretch pose, Standing Forward Bends, Proud Warrior, Extended Leg Pose, Downward-facing Dog,Staff, Sitting Forward Bend, Cobbler's pose, Supported Shoulderstand, and my favorite: Relaxation pose. Beginners or experienced yoga practitioners can practice these basic poses in the Beginners tape at their desired intensity, but experienced yoga practioner may want to start with her Flexiility tape which has added poses and routines and her unmistakenable trademark - teaching yoga with precision and grace.