Total Body Conditioning - Yoga

I have over 40 yoga tapes that I choose from as I practice Yoga on a daily basis (along with weekly classes with a wonderful teacher)and among those many tapes I really enjoy Yoga Zone's videos. They are generally really well done in every respect and very user friendly.

In fact the actual routines and instructors on this tape are really great (in spite of the mistakes that slightly mar this tape)which is why I gave it the three stars that I did.

However, there are two big mistakes that are inexcusable.

On the first 20 minute segment, there is a series of poses with triangle, warrior etc which ends with a prayer twist pose to the left side. Then they do the same sequence with the right leg, but then all of a sudden just as they are about to go into prayer twist on the other side there is an obvious edit where suddenly the other leg is forward again and they twist AGAIN to the left(if you watch this carefully it's amazing that they thought no one would notice this, it's almost comical) So you don't get any twist the right. This is a major mess up in any sort of routine where you want symmetry (which is in every yoga routine, or every physical fitness type routine where balance is a given).

Of course once you are aware of the mistake they made you can just compensate for this and do the second twist on the correct side so it's not a "fatal" flaw, and I'll still work with the tape.

On the second 20 minute segment there is a lunge left out when a sequence of poses is repeated from one side to the other, once again you can compensate for this by rewinding the tape and doing the sequence to the opposite side but it is unbelievably careless on the part of both the instructors and the producers.

When one is paying for a product like this these sort of things are just unacceptable and it's hard to imagine that anyone involved in the making of this tape could have missed these mistakes.

The biggest shame is that they are both really great routines.

Fortunately I bought this tape in the box of 5 tapes (Yoga Zone Basics) so I got a very good deal per tape, plus the other tapes are flawless as far as I can tell. Still, this tape is available as a single unit and shouldn't be full price when it's presentation is half baked.

You might want to check out a new 4 tape series by Rainbeau Mars called "Sacred Yoga" which is a vinyasa flow style that ranges from beginners to more advanced. This has been a really great find and I highly recommend them.

Namaste.

The first program consists of basic stretches and twists with a few standing poses thrown in. The second program consists of entirely floor poses with no standing poses. The second workout is a bit more challenging, as a few of the poses--table, plank, downward dog--are held for an extended period.

I am an intermediate yoga practitioner, and I found these workouts to be a bit too easy. However, these gentle yoga programs would be very appropriate for the purpose of relaxing and stretching, especially in the morning or before bed. The ease of the workouts would make this tape good for beginners, but because the poses aren't thoroughly explained, beginners should first become familiar with the basic yoga poses via a workout with a greater teaching focus.