Customer Reviews

Yoga Journal's Yoga Practice for Intermediates with Rodney Yee [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm so glad I bought this tape! It's challenging without being impossible. But I should mention that this tape is NOT a sequel to Patricia Walden's Yoga for Beginners; it's definitely way more advanced that that. And you'll be at a disadvantage if you're not very flexible (although I found that by modifying some of the standing poses with blocks the first few times, I could soon do it all). The strength comes to you in time, in my experience.
Rodney Yee is an excellent instructor - soothing, poetic, and relevant. The soundtrack and scenery are also very well done; I especially like the section on the relaxation pose... I sometimes call it to mind at night while I'm trying to fall asleep.
So, if you're looking for a doable challenge and have already had a year or two of relative success practicing yoga, buy this! It's sure to please.

I have been practicing yoga with a variety of different videos for about 2 years and have made some great improvements in my strength and flexibility. With this video I was able to continue my journey further and learn to practice some more advanced poses without needing an instructor. Yee offers safe and easy to understand instructions to more complicated and challenging poses such as handstand and headstand. The beginning sun salutation is an excellent combination I try to do every day. I have enjoyed Yee's videos for myself and as a physical therapist often recommend them to my patients as well. I look forward to any other more advanced titles from Yee in the future.

Wow I had no idea I could do handstands, headstands, and backbends! Rodney gives specific instruction on how to do poses safely and more accurately. He shows how to hold poses longer,giving more detail on alignment and accuracy. This video uses you're already learned flexability and strength to give you more confidence, concentration, and satisfaction from you're yoga workout.Make sure you are ready for this workout both with you're body, mind, and spirit. Be ready to let fear go and recieve the many benefits that this work out provides. Thank you Yoga Journal and Rodney Yee!

I tried this after using Rodney Yee's beginner tapes for 6 months. It's a more challenging workout, and I was thrilled to learn that I could do headstands, elbow stands, etc. The tape is broken down into three sections, so if you're not ready for the upside down stuff, you can skip to the next section. A great addition to your workout library!

I've been practicing yoga for 18 months and was looking to expand my practice of inversions. Since my instructor does not always include them in my weekly studio class, I bought this tape. While I have enjoyed the other Rodney Yee tapes I have (AM/PM for Beginners, Partner Yoga), I have often found that he moves too quickly through the poses with limited instruction, so I was somewhat anxious about buying this tape.

My fears were unfounded - Rodney does a great job of providing very detailed instructions on working into the poses, alignment, etc. The pacing of the tape is great - poses are held long enough to make you really work at them if you know the pose, or to get into them with good alignment if they are new to you.

I am a novice at handstand and forearm stand, and found the instruction very helpful at learning how to get into the pose safely and effectively, while overcoming the disorientation, etc. that comes from beginning to work upside down. I have been practicing shoulderstand for a while, and found the hints about how to deepen the pose to be outstanding. The work in the wheel/inverted bow is also excellent. After a few weeks of using this tape a few times a week, I can get into these poses confidently (although I still can't hold them very long). I'm looking forward to continuing to use the tape to deepen my practice.

All of Yee's videos are very worthwile. Although the packaging seems very mainstream, it is clear that Rodney Yee is a very experienced instructor. He is very bright, calming, and incorporates many aspects of yoga (including meditation and breathing) into the practice. The reviewer who complained of the warning saying that menstrating women shouldn't do inverted poses is uniformed and doesn't understand that Yee was not being sexist. It is meant to keep balance in a woman's body. Women who practice yoga regularily know this. Check out his other videos too! Yogi Hari, Wai Lana, and David Swenson are also very good.

This is a fabulous practicm for true intermediates or advanced students--those who have had enough instruction to have mastered headstands, handstands, and strenous backbends like camel and upward facing bow. Rodney does a good job of helping viewers navigate through these challenging poses. But this is not strictly an instructional tape. If you're not failiar with the basics, you won't find the here. Still, for seasoned practitioners, this is a great practice for those days when you either can't make it to class, or can't get motivated to d.i.y.

Not a bad routine, at all. However, the segment where he instructs handstands & headstands is just awful. AWFUL!

First, who has a solid, bare wall in their house where a full grown human being can freely kick up against it, without any danger of knocking into furniture on the way down (we all wobble when we're learning, don't we)? Or, denting drywall with your heel on the way up, for that matter...

Second, from what I've read in various yoga books since aquiring this tape -- it is not recommended that students learn these poses against a wall! The thinking is, with the wall keeping your balance for you, you're not working all your stabilizing muscles; plus, with the wall essentially holding you up, a beginner is able to stay in these inversions longer than they really should, risking injury. Better to work your way up from the ground at your own pace, heeding the pressure in your neck & shoulders as indications that you need to come down, rest, and then try again -- gradually learning to hold the poses longer.

Experience has shown me this is true. When I first got this tape, I didn't know any better and diligently practiced these inversions w/ Rodney. After weeks of regularly doing the tape, I encountered a website with step-by-step instructions on how to do headstand (and a big warning on the page saying NOT to use a wall for support). I figured with all my experience from the tape, I shouldn't have a problem trying the pose a different way.

Yeah, right. I had none of the balance & coordination needed to do headstand away from the wall. All that work w/ this tape had been for nothing -- except, I guess, I was getting comfortable with being upside down, so that's something, at least. But not enough, for all my effort.

So I abandoned this tape & started working on headstand the way the website (and some yoga books I bought) advised. Within a week, I was able to achieve the pose. So much for Rodney Yee's method.

Otherwise, the tape is a nice workout. More like advanced beginner, I think, than intermediate, but then that's just mincing words, I suppose. If you're comfortable with backbends & shoulderstand, you're probably not gonna learn a lot from this tape. However, you might find this a handy tape to have around if you just want a decent workout that holds poses a little longer than Living Art's beginners stuff and provides some nice inversion work, to boot.

Just please, for your own safety, skip over the handstand/headstand section! Or, at least, research some alternative ways to master these poses and perhaps practice this way when you're ready to wean yourself away from the wall.

Have fun!

I have been practicing Yoga for three years usually taking one class a week and keeping up my practice daily at home with books or videos. Rodney Yee is a great instructor, and this tape has helped me progress especially in inversions. The rating given of 4 instead of 5 stars reflects a bit of disappointment with the sequencing of the segments. I would have preferred if the inversions were presented at the end, because I find it impossible to do inversions in front of the TV. Otherwise, I highly recommend this tape for those with some yoga experience.

I've been doing Yoga for 9 years every day and I have about 100 Yoga programs between VHS/DVD/CD and many are Rodney's.

I've had this Rodney Yee Intermediate Program on VHS for years (I don't have it on DVD) and rarely do it. For some reason I decided to pull it off the shelf this morning and give it a go since it had been so long. I can see after doing it why it's not one I tend to reach for. It's not bad, it's just not one that works well for me, I don't have that great inner Yoga "glow" in terms of how I feel compared to the way I feel from the programs I really love.

This program starts w/ just a short Sun Salute section which I feel could have been a bit longer. Then there is a very good selection of standing/balancing poses.

The next series are inversions, Handstands, and forearm balances which I passed on this morning. While I can barely do those to begin with, I especially don't like the placement in the program of those types of asana and feel they'd be better placed towards the end. It really interrupted the flow and I'd prefer to go straight into the backbends after all the standing poses. Once again, that's just a personal preference.

The backbend section was very good by the way and there are some hip openers as well.

Overall, this program leaves me feeling very "eh" compared to his other programs (particularly his Power Yoga Stamina, and his Flexibility program) which really create an amazing feeling due to the sequencing and flow of those practices. His "Energy" program is another one I like better than this Intermediate program as well.

In spite of my personal reservations about this program, I still gave it 4 stars, because even though it wasn't a great program for me, it is still (aside from the placement of the inversion section) a decent enough program and I don't think a review should just be based on personal preference, but rather on a more objective perspective.

Still, In my opinion, The following programs are all that I feel are better overall than this "Intermediate" Program:

Rodney's Power yoga Programs ("Stamina", "Flexibility" and "Strength")

Baron Baptiste's excellent Power Yoga ("Journey Into Power" levels 1 and 2, "Soul Of Strength", "Power and Precision", "Unlocking Athletic Power", "Core Power", "Hot Yoga, The Initial Challenge", "Hot Yoga" The Next Challenge" are ALL excellent)

Bryan Kest's Power Yoga Programs

Kathy Smith's New Yoga ("Intermediate" as well as her "Advanced" Programs)

Total Yoga "Water", "Original" (Fire is also great also but a bit more advanced)

Shiva Rea "Yoga Shakti"

Janis Safell "Beverly Hills Yoga"

Rainbeau Mars "Pure Power" and "Pure Sweat"