Product Details

• Actors: Rodney Yee, Patricia Walden
• Directors: Steve Adams
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Gaiam
• DVD Release Date: August 20, 2002
• Run Time: 75 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (236 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00007JME6
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,761 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #1 in	Movies & TV > Exercise & Fitness > By Instructor > Patricia Walden
  #3 in	Movies & TV > Exercise & Fitness > By Instructor > Rodney Yee
  #21 in	Movies & TV > Exercise & Fitness > Yoga

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A.M. Yoga for Beginners
"The morning is a precious time," says the narrator of A.M. Yoga for Beginners. "Just as the sun rises and falls, so do our natural rhythms. The morning is perfect time to open our bodies and center our minds." This 20-minute yoga practice with supple instructor Rodney Yee is the perfect way to start your day by energizing your body and calming your mind. Filmed on the beach at Maui at sunrise, the video starts with a 4-minute Conscious Relaxation focusing on breathing, then glides into a 14-minute series of yoga poses that are simultaneously relaxing and energizing. It ends with a 2-minute seated Guided Meditation to center your body and mind. Yee's instruction is detailed and gentle. The video is beautifully filmed: you watch the waves roll in as Yee demonstrates yoga poses on a sandy beach. The yoga practice awakens and stretches your muscles gently, leaving you balanced and focused. "Yoga is the foundation of my day," says Yee. "A few minutes in the morning will help give meaning to your day." --Joan Price

P.M. Yoga for Beginners
"The evening is the perfect time to calmly transition between being active and being quiet," says Patricia Walden, instructor of P.M. Yoga for Beginners. "One of the greatest gifts yoga has to offer is deep relaxation." This 20-minute program is designed to balance, calm, and revitalize you at the end of the day. It starts with centering poses: gentle stretches bringing awareness and quiet to your senses. Next are standing poses to release tension, increase circulation, expand the lungs, and help you breathe more deeply. Next, forward bends cool the body and bring quiet to the nervous system. The final restorative poses are so relaxing that you may fall asleep. Walden tells you not only how to do the poses, but what you should feel, and how to quiet your body and your mind. Instruction is soothing and explicit. Although this video is aimed at beginners, seldom are modifications given for the less flexible novice, so if any pose causes discomfort or seems impossible, don't push beyond your personal comfort level. The video was filmed on the windswept sands of Death Valley. --Joan Price

Product Description

Includes two yoga programs, bonus How to Use Props-Active Yoga Instructional/Mini-workout and in-depth interviews with Rodney Yee and Patricia Walden.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

672 of 686 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent DVD!, February 26, 2004

By	Todd W. G. Johnson (Kansas City, MO United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I purchased this DVD shortly after beginning a regular Yoga class, so that I would be able to practice at home in my spare time. At first, I found this DVD to be a little too easy, in contrast with the class, but over time have grown to love it. I usually skip the relaxation part (at the beginning) and go right into the A.M. Yoga with Rodney Yee. Not only is the music soothing to the ear, but Rodney's voice is very calming and his nearly-naked body is in perfect shape. The A.M. portion features several stretches that really "wake up" the body and prepare it for the day ahead. His focus on the lower body (especially the part where he uses the strap) really works wonders. The P.M. section, with Patricia Walden is a little more difficult, but just as effective.
The beauty of this DVD is, that the workouts are short, and therefore much easier to fit in to a busy schedule than some of the other 70 minute Yoga DVDs out there. If you have never done Yoga before, I believe that this would be the perfect place to start. Warning: It can be addictive. I now almost suffer from withdrawl if I go too long without doing some kind of Yoga on a regular basis.
This DVD is considered a beginner's workout, which means the poses are not too complicated and are held for very short periods of time. Once you have mastered a DVD like this, try Rodney Yee's intermediate DVDs. Then you will explore much more difficult poses, held for longer periods of time, which can be very challenging. With both intermediate & beginner's Yoga, it is very rewarding to find that poses that seem initially impossible become easy with continued practice (and patience).
I have since purchased several other Yoga DVDs and Videos, and must admit that the A.M. Yoga workout is still the one I do the most. If your life is full of stress, pop in A.M. and P.M. Yoga for Beginners and melt the tension away. Namaste.

387 of 394 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars not too demanding, but effective, March 13, 2004

By A Customer

I've got about half a dozen yoga DVDs and I find that this is the one I use the most often because it is not physically demanding, but is really effective.

The Rodney Yee program (AM) is shorter and focuses mainly on stretching out the back; I find it really helps when I've got any kind of lower back problem or just at stretching me out and getting me ready for the day.

The Patricia Walden program (PM) is slightly longer and focuses more on standing poses; it also has a very good deep relaxation at the end.

The only disadvantage to these Gaim DVDs is that they are programmed so that you have to play a longish commercial for all of their other products (what exacly is "organic clothing" anyway?) before you can start your workout. If you use the DVD regularly, the commercial gets really annoying after you've seen it about 20 times.

But all in all, this is a very useful DVD. It's accessible for beginners but also useful for people who've been doing yoga for a while but are looking for a short, focused, effective workout.

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two excellent practices for virtually all levels of yogis, September 14, 2004

By	Beth Cholette "doctor_beth" (Upstate NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (VINE VOICE)

This DVD contains two excellent yoga practices which are perfect for virtually all levels of yoga practitioners, particularly advanced beginners to intermediates. Although both practices are labelled as being 20 minutes long, the actual time varies a bit: AM Yoga has a 4-minute breathing exercise followed by a 12-minute yoga program, and PM Yoga is approximately 24 minutes. Although both of these programs are probably doable to those new to yoga, they do assume some prior familiarity with the poses (total yoga newbies will find Yoga Journal's Yoga Practice for Beginners to be an excellent place to start). I have been practicing yoga for several years and am now at an intermediate level, but I continue to use both of these practices on a regular basis.

AM Yoga provides a practice so gentle that I've frequently performed it upon first waking up and while still in my pajamas. The simple breathing exercise helps your mind to focus, and then the basic twists and other poses which follow help your body to awaken. The practice is led by Rodney Yee, an excellent instructor who provides flawless cuing and who has an extremely calm, soothing voice--ideal for anyone who is not a morning person! PM Yoga is a very nice practice for winding down, relaxing, and stretching. It also begins with a short focus on breathing, encouraging you to turn your attention inward "where it's quiet." The practice moves from a seated to a kneeling position and also includes traditional standing poses such as a warrior and lunges. This is a great end-of-day workout or a quick practice to fit in anytime you need to relax. Patricia Walden is also a very good instructor, but her cuing is not quite as accurate as Rodney's.

Overall, I highly recommended this DVD as an essential component of your yoga home practice collection.