Looking for DVD recs

[catsmeow]

Hullo, y'all!

I've enjoyed reading the various DVD reviews - many thanks to everyone who posts those. They're the reason I've got Shiva Rea's Trance Dance on my Christmas list. Now, I'd appreciate suggestions for a good DVD for a beginner.

The only yoga I've had was a year's worth of once-a-week classes of Hatha yoga with a bit of Pilates ab work tossed in. Alas, I had to quit the class back in November due to health reasons. I've gotten things resolved and can start up again, though from the way I could feel stuff pulling inside when I did the Sun Salutation, I think I need to take it more slowly than I had thought.

Before things went to heck in November, I had picked up a DVD called Yoga Conditioning for Women which I had hoped to use to get back into yoga. It's produced by Gaiam with Suzanne Deason as the instructor. I only just got around to opening it this week. I watched parts of it this evening and at first I was distracted by how strongly the instructor resembled the love child of Samantha Carter and Thor. Eventually I started paying attention to what she was doing. The breathing section should be no problem, but the main part is going to be way beyond me. Even after I'd been doing some yoga, I would have had a big problem standing on one leg and waving both arms AND my other leg around without keeling over. And she does a lot of that.

What I'm looking for is a beginning DVD that gives the names of the poses because even though Catherine (the instructor at the vo-tech) was very good about telling us pose names in both the Sanskrit and English, I'm darned if I can remember the names of them. Sure I can follow along what's on screen physically (well, hopefully I can!) but I want to learn about what I'm doing, too.

And recommendations? Anyone? Bueller?

Comments

Ideas for DVDs for beginning

[muck_a_luck]

The first DVD I picked up was Sara Ivanhoe's Basic Yoga Workout for Dummies. She explains how to do twelve basic postures. I like her teaching style, and I like her as a teacher for beginners. I picked this up from my local library, but as you can see, it is not expensive at Amazon.

I'd be worried it might be too basic for you, though, if you have already had some classes.

She has a nice, gentle routine called Candlelight Yoga. It will let you stretch and relax without the exertion of Sun Salutations.

At your level, though, you might consider something like Shiva Rea's Yoga Shakti. The preset routines would obviously be out of reach for you now, but this disc is built around a "Yoga Matrix," and really consists of about 35 segments of 3 to 15 minutes. So you could preview the segments, and build a routine challenging yourself at your own level.

What you probably need to do is build back up to being able to do Sun Salutations. Shiva has a good segment where she shows how to modify the sun salutations with variations for the beginner. Bent knees for Chaturanga, for instance, and Cobra instead of Up Dog. Still a lot of benefit, but letting you build your strength gradually.

Of course for good instruction, zats_clear recommends Yoga Journal's Beginning Yoga Step By Step. It is an excellent introduction to the basic poses, stretched over three discs. Good for all levels, particularly if you are totally disc taught, like me.

Another way to get small, manageable routines is Sara Ivanhoe's 20 Minute Yoga Makeovers. Some of these are very gentle, and they are all short.

So! Some thoughts for the Christmas list! :D

Re: Ideas for DVDs for beginning

[catsmeow]

Oh this is a wonderful list! Thanks for all of the info. Right after I posted it occurred to me that my mom had sent me a birthday card that very day with a check in it. I may just splurge and spend it on yoga DVD's.

Thanks to your links and comments I've got this in my cart at Amazon:

the Candlelight Yoga to ease my way back into movement. (I'm really dismayed by how achey the area up under my right ribs feels today after only doing 2 Sun Salutations last night and two the night before. It's been four months since the surgery, dammit - four months I should be way better than I am.)

The Yoga Journal Beginning Step by Step to make sure I remember how the basic positions go and to gradual increase my skills

Shiva Rea's Yoga Shakti for use as the skill set improves

Shiva REa's Trance Dance for fun and movement since the one bad leg (weak ankle from BAD sprain a few years back and arthritis in the knee) makes it hard to do any aerobic exercise, but by golly and can do that trance dance AND have fun.

Many thanks to you and Zats for pointing out the good stuff!

Re: Ideas for DVDs for beginning

[muck_a_luck]

Kewl! I look forward to hearing all about it after your exciting parcel arrives! :D

[zats_clear]

ha! I think DVD recs are almost exclusively CK but I hope to add to that myself!

Yes, Natasha Rizopoulos's Step by Step Yoga is outstanding. I have been doing yoga since I was 18 - let's just agree that is a long long time ago - and I learned so many things from her that are just not addressed in the average dvd. It is amazing how something so simple as foot placement - line up the front heel with the back arch when in Warrior One - can make such a difference. Holy Cow!

It is available on Netflix - a service well worth the monthly fee even if you are only using it for it's very wide variety of exercise videos. I would highly recommend the first two dvds. The third is quite a bit more advanced, but worth looking at sometime for future aspirations of inversions. It is sold, of course, as a set.

I can gush on and on about Natasha but you can also check her out at yoga journal and her own site online. I'll post an embedded vid of her work in the comm for perusal (apparently, embed in a comment is not an allowable function...or I did not do it right!!!)

[catsmeow]

Thank you for posting the video - I like the atmosphere - the music, the narration, and the movements. I've added Yoga Journal's Beginning Step by Step DVD to my cart at Amazon. I got a birthday check from my mom yesterday and thought I might as well get a variety of the DVD's while I can. :)

[princessofgeeks]

thanks for pointing me here!