Product Details

• Actors: Total Yoga
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Gaiam
• VHS Release Date: June 13, 2000
• Run Time: 80 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303296785
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,969 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
While this is certainly an excellent video for those schooled in some of the moves and positions of yoga, it may prove somewhat intimidating to the novice. Tracey Rich and Ganga White demonstrate the poses in this 68-minute hatha workout, Tracey showing the simpler steps and Ganga the more complex. Yet even the simple poses require quite a bit of flexibility. If, however, you are on an intermediate to advanced level, Total Yoga will give you a satisfying stretch, increase your relaxation, improve your circulation and flexibility, and build strength. Not much time is spent on explanation, so the tape will hold your interest on repeat viewings. Breath work is emphasized in the beginning of the tape, which segues nicely into a balanced workout using flow series. A perfect video for continuing your yoga experience once one of the more basic ones (such as Stephanie Foster's Yoga: Beginner's Level or A.M./P.M. Yoga for Beginners) becomes too easy. --Jenny Brown

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great tape for those with some yoga background, January 20, 2000

By	Lynn Adler "Angel Fish" (McCall, ID) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As an dancer- it alarms me that people buy tapes and attempt them on their own-having never had any yoga instruction- proper alignment is difficult to learn via video- no matter how great the instructor- without this knowledge you can really hurt yourself- at any rate- Total Yoga is a welcome change to many of the yoga tapes I have seen as the poses flow into each other- and you are not left bored and awkwardly waiting while what seems to be needless chatting goes on - in a live class these breaks can be fundamental as you learn as your instructor verbally and physically repositions you and your classmates-but I find this does not often translate well into the videos which are geared more for practice and maintenance as opposed to a live class enviornment which should nurture growth- again, the style of this video is grande if you have the basic knowledge to execute the poses without hurting the body- I sometimes like to hold the poses a bit longer- but it is possible to "lag" behind in this video and still stay with the program- I wish that Rich and White would create a more advanced video instruction- but this tape does have a few inserts where White demonstrates alternative advanced poses to Rich's poses-it would be nice if there was more of this so you could "grow" further with the tape- It is hard to know what videos to buy- but really- you can't go wrong with Total Yoga- as a beginner you can grow into it- and as you get more flexibility you will grow with it- it is not a video you will work with a few times and discard-Total Yoga supplies exactly what a yoga video should-

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent instruction, but not advanced..., January 8, 2000

By A Customer

As a yoga teacher I found this tape very complete, with emphasis on breathwork, alignment and postures which worked the entire body and ending with a relaxation. Not too much useless chatter with good examples of modifications for both beginners and more advanced. I love doing my sun salutations with Tracey Rich in the morning, but I wouldn't call this an advanced tape. The holdings are not very long, nor are the postures particulary difficult. I believe any beginner could benefit from this tape and raise their level of proficiency, but advanced students would be bored. Should be part of a serious student's library because of it's completeness and yogic tone, but add some Rodney Yee and Bryan Kest for more stamina work.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the BEST yoga video!, April 19, 2000

By	"christylynn" (USA) - See all my reviews

This is the first yoga video I ever purchased. It is not filmed at sunrise in some tropical locale, but it is my favorite yoga video, bar-none. I have purchased several videos since this one, and invariably I always come back to Total Yoga. So many of the yoga videos I have do not really focus on or teach breathing techniques, which are SO important in yoga. Tracey Rich begins by teaching ujjayi complete (3-part) breathing, which is something that few videos teach. The tape also includes the relaxation pose (corpse pose) at the end, in which Tracey guides you through the feel of the pose. So many other videos leave this pose out completely, or mention the pose in passing at the end. This is unfortunate because this pose is important for balancing the body.

The Total Yoga workout is wonderful, I think. It concentrates on uniting the body and breath -- Tracey is explicit about when to inhale and exhale, and she also reminds you constantly to keep up the ujjayi complete breath. It is a meditative workout without a lot of extraneous chattering. It seems a bit challenging at first (as a beginner), but if you keep trying, you'll get it. If you want a meditative yet challenging yoga video, without a lot of needless fluff, I recommend this one.