Kathy Smith New Yoga

I have to say, for someone who has never done yoga before, I love it! I find it quite challenging, but every time I do this workout, I am able to stretch a bit further, or hold the pose a bit longer. I know that in time, I will have even more success. And if you are a beginner, so will you, just keep at it!

Kathy is an amazing fitness instructor, if not the best. I highly recommend this yoga work out, as well as her other videos. I haven't done one yet that I wasn't pleased with.

I have about 70 yoga videos these days and have been practicing Yoga on a daily basis for about 7 years. I also have the good fortune to study with a wonderful and gifted teacher so I have quite a bit of experience with Yoga and Yoga Video/DVD programs.

While I was probably the most skeptical person in the world about "fitness queen" Kathy Smith doing yoga and thought it was probably a "Get on the Yoga Bandwagon" phase for her, I have to admit that I think this and her other Yoga videos are very well done.

First I think it's important to clarify something, Rod Stryker is the one who put together this and her other programs and Rod is as knowledgable and reputable a Yoga teacher out there. Kathy has also been doing Yoga for over 20 years and is extremely adept at demonstrating the poses, plus she's a very experienced teacher who is very easy to understand.

I also like the fact that this video isn't rushed (it's about 55 minutes long) and so you aren't rushing through the postures, something that you don't always find. Many videos that are shorter are fine (such as the Yoga Zone shorter routines) but I find I have to actually do about 15 minutes of warm ups before doing them, with this video you don't need to do that.

Regarding some complaints that it's repetitive, I would highly disagree. Of course you are going to do many repititions of Sun Salutations, but that is the most sound way of warming up your body. So while you may do lots of "repetitions", it's not "repetitive" because of a lack of creativity or for the sake of filling up time . This repetitions heat the body and prepare you to safely do the poses that are held for longer periods of time.

In fact, I like to start the Sun Salutes with modifications and gradually work up to the more "full expression" of the various postures with each repetition of the sequence. This way of working really keeps things especially interesting and makes you really internalize your practice (since you need to really feel what your body is ready for during each repetition).

I also like that this program uses "Lunge Salutes" which are excellent hip openers and leg strengthers as well. What's also nice is that these are different Sun Salutes from Kathy's advanced program which use the Sun Salutes A and B. This makes for nice variety if you have the whole set of tapes/DVD's and allows you to work your body differently.

The poses are shown with modifications so you can adapt your practice to your ability and or energy level.

I would highly recommend this program (or the whole set) to those folks who want a well rounded and easy to follow yoga practice.

Also, while I am very much into the spiritual aspects of Yoga, I understand that many folks are not. These programs definitely focus on the physical aspects of the practice so those who only want that aspect of Yoga will be pleased. Those who want to go into the more internal aspects can do so on their own if they like.

Of course there are many wonderful Yoga programs for sale and depending on your personal preferences you may like some more than others, but as someone who has a large collection of programs I think this and Kathy's other Yoga programs are as good as any out there and believe me I was VERY skeptical.

In fact I highly recommend this and her other Yoga programs.

Another outstanding intermediate Yoga program is Sherri Baptise Freeman's "Baptiste Power Of Yoga" (available on amazon). This is one of the best Yoga programs available by one of the best teachers around!

Namaste