Beginning Yoga

I recently purchased this DVD at a used book sale. Although I am not a beginner--I have been practicing yoga since 2001 and have been a yoga teacher for the past 3 years--I was familiar with instructor Chrissy Carter through her blog. I thought I might be able to learn some things from this video that would be beneficial for my teaching.

This DVD offers three separate practices. The Main Menu appears as follows:

PLAY ALL

Introduction

Connect

Energize

Strengthen

Audio Options

The audio options offer full instruction or poses only. For each of the three practices, Carter is outdoors in a pretty poolside setting. She starts each practice with a very brief live introduction, but then the sequence itself is taught via voiceover. Each routine has a stopping point about two minutes early, giving the view an opportunity to end their practice by skipping final relaxation (shavasana), something I did not like at all. I also did not like that the rests were very brief (about 2 min). I have provided more details on each practice below along with time information. (Although the practices are supposed to be about 20 minutes, they are all several minutes long--this is a pet peeve of mine!)

CONNECT (23:51 min)

This practice starts on the back, breathing into the ribs and then drawing alternate knees in. Next is cat/cow, flowing into downward dog. Some stronger moves follow, including a knee hover, downward dog/plank, bent knee chaturanga, and cobra. Standing postures include overhead reach, chair, overhead reach with knee up, tree pose, and warrior 2. Returning to lying on the back, the practice concludes with reclined pigeon (ankle-to-knee or Figure 4), double leg twist, seated pose, and short relaxation (after the pause).

ENERGIZE (21:52 min)

This routine begins standing with mountain, overhead reach, and lunge. Additional standing poses include side angle, triangle, and wide-legged forward bend, and then there is a transition through low lunge, child's pose, cobra, and locust. After an odd transition to upward-facing dog, poses continue on the floor with bridge, bound angle, staff pose, seated forward bend, and easy seat with forward bend. There is a short relaxation at the end (after the pause).

STRENGTHEN (23:52 min)

This last practice opens in a seated position and moves into a tilted lateral stretch and then table with some arm/shoulder work. Next is downward dog to two sun salutations, with the option of adding upward-facing dog. Continued standing work includes eagle arms with fierce pose and interlaced arms overhead. The routine moves back down to the floor with table balance and several flows from boat pose to bound angle. From a lying position, the postures are bridge pose and eagle legs twists, and then it's back to seated to finish with seated wide angle, bound angle forward bend. As with the other two practices, there is an optional short relaxation at the end (after the pause).

What I liked best about these practices was Carter's use of analogy/imagery. She has very colorful ways of describing the poses, helping to make them more accessible. That being said, this is NOT a DVD I would recommend to those with no prior yoga experience. Although Carter does provide detailed instruction, she is still flowing at a pretty good tempo, not one that would allow those new to yoga to pause, become familiar with the pose, and create a mind-body connection. More experienced beginner might click with these routines a little better, at least based on difficulty level. However, I was not a fan of Carter's sequencing or overall style (e.g., emphasizing having to keep the body "perfectly" in certain positions), and so in the end, I would not recommend this DVD.