Yoga Works - Gentle Class 1

This is an odd little DVD that I got in a trade. The instructor is Maura Moynihan, and there is trademarked name on the DVD, "Yoga Wings." The only thing I could find on Yoga Wings was that it was a registered business in Florida several years back; it seems to be defunct. I could not find the DVD itself listed anywhere online.

The Main Menu of the DVD lists options for Play with Dialog and Play with No Dialog. Choosing either of these calls up a submenu with the following: Introduction - Begin Class - Sun Salutation - Three Part Breath. The intro is simply a short series of slides offering tips about practicing yoga. For the remaining sequences, Maura is featured practicing alone in an outdoor patio setting. She teaches via voiceover, and at a few points, she shows modifications with a chair; she also uses a strap at one point. My complete breakdown is below.

BEGIN CLASS (28m)

Maura starts the class seated. She begins with a breath exercise, inhale 6-hold 3-exhale 6-hold 3. She does not provide detailed instruction or warnings about breath retention here. She then moves into three-part breath (which oddly is not instructed until the end of the video). She then moves through a series of neck stretches. Stretching her legs out in front of her for staff pose, Maura performs a full forward bend, rock the baby, and gentle fish poses. She moves into butterfly or cobbler's pose, moving the knees up and down and then coming into a butterfly forward bend. Maura finishes the seated work in a wide-legged position, including forward bend and half wide-legged seated forward bend with twist.

The next sequence is performed on the back. Maura brings the knee in and proceeds to a reclined leg stretch series with a strap. She then throws in a bit of abs work with double leg lowers. Maura stretches the lower body with reclined Figure 4 and "crooked branch" (cross legs) twist. Table position (all 4s) is next, as Maura moves through cat/dog (aka cat/cow) and table balance. From cat pose, she comes forward into cobra and then bow pose. Maura finishes on the floor with downward facing dog. She repeats the pose, this time showing a modification with a chair.

Proceeding to standing, Maura performs eagle arms and half forward fold. Additional standing postures include triangle, wide legged forward fold, and warrior 2. She concludes the standing series with tree pose (again, she repeats by showing a modification with a chair), chair pose, and then squat to the floor. Returning to the floor, Maura finishes with bridge pose, reclined cobbler's pose, and a very short (<1m) final relaxation; she concludes seated.

SUN SALUTATION (2.5m)

In this short series, Maura moves through a slow sun salutation. She does one round on each side only.

THREE PART BREATH (1.5m)

Maura provides a brief demonstration of this style of breathing; she does not offer detailed instruction. She notes that this breath will draw "eight times more oxygen" into the body, which I am not sure is correct. She also states that breathing into the lungs is "incorrect."

As you might be able to tell, this DVD is sequenced rather strangely; it definitely felt like it should go in reverse order! The sequence of poses also felt off. For example, Maura does a full seated forward bend very early in the practice; as a yoga teacher, I've been taught that it is absolute NOT appropriate to include forward bends early on. The final issue I had with this practice is that although it is fairly accessible, there is a lack of information and instruction that would be appropriate for more beginning yogis.

As an experienced yogi and teacher, I found this practice to be gentle, and I felt that I could appropriately modify if needed. I will keep it for now, as it is a bit different from the other yoga DVDs in my collection.