Yoga Complete for Every Body

There are several workouts for beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels. Within each of these categories, there are further selections for long and short workouts that are either general practices or have specific goals (body areas, aches & pains, etc).

I have not done an advanced workout yet. I was pleased that in an intermediate workout there were 2 poses I have not seen before on a tape or in a class. The poses were clearly explained and it was easy to follow the tape. The instructor, JJ, often shows or tells you about different ways you can modify poses to suit your body's ability (or inability!).

I have a 2 year old. I absolutely love that there are so many workouts to choose from that I can always find one to fit in the free time I have while she naps, or early in the morning, or while she's playing with Dad. No more saying, 'Well, guess I have to do it tomorrow' just becuase I don't have an hour free to complete one of my tapes. Sure, I know, I could just make my own workout up, but it just doesn't happen.

Some reviews complain about the black screen between poses - that it is disruptive and not conducive to flow. I don't have a problem with it. The first time you do a workout you will notice it. The second time through, you begin to see ways to connnect the poses on your own - for example - pose one might end in downward facing dog pose, and pose 2 begins with it - so you just hold it an extra second. In general, holding the end of a pose until the next one begins seems to work OK.

It seems that on the shortest workouts this doesn't always hold true - they don't always flow well. BUT - you have plenty of time to recover and get into position. If flow is what you are after, then you will be disgruntled, but otherwise there isn't a problem.

I suggest watching the brief segment on technique review. She clearly explains the different body parts and alignment cues she mentions. I found it very helpful.

The teacher's style is very relaxed and straightforward. I do not like overly flowery and spiritual delivery - I always feel like that should be up to the student. I found JJ's style to be perfect for me.

In all - this is a great DVD and I recommend it to anyone looking for a good variety of quality workouts. The instruction is clear enough for beginners, the workouts challenging enough for at least intermediate students. I'm not advanced, so I can't speak for them!

You can use this video for short or long programs. It's easy to select a program. Some of them target specific areas of the body (for example neck, arms and abs, spine, feet, hands, legs and hips). There are a lot of different postures covered in the video, some I've never seen anywhere such as hand or eye or feet exercises and, one of my favorites, the seven easy pieces. This DVD has headstands on it which none of my other ones do. There are lots of seated, stretching postures and standing postures. Sun salute, moon salute, and heroes sequence are covered, but only gone through once on each side. You can repeat them if you're quick with the remote, though, and don't mind hearing all of the same instructions over again.

There are a couple of meditation segments that she talks you through. These are kind of nice if you don't mind being talked to during meditation. Also there are special exercise sequences for "that time of the month" which is a pleasant feature.

There aren't many instructions about breathing. If you are a beginner you probably won't miss them. I may get shouted out of the yoga community for seeming to suggest that correct breathing isn't an essential part of yoga; shout away. People will breathe anyway. Anyone familiar with yoga will know how to breathe. So, this video doesn't cover breathing well.

Be warned. Some of the reviewers that have said that you could hurt your back. They are telling the truth, but you can hurt your back from every single yoga video out there if you try to copy the demonstrator. The instructor on this video tells you with her voice how far to go. Maybe she could scream and shout to make it a little clearer, but we do have brains of own . . .

You don't have to watch the disclaimer that shows up after you've selected your workout. Just press the "next" button on your remote. Practice using your remote with this DVD because you will find that you can skip a posture and repeat a posture, but once it has passed to the next one you can't go back to it.

Main weaknesses as far as I'm concerned: relaxation poses at the end are too short and she talks through them. I don't like that, but when she's done there's a music loop that's fairly long (for a loop) you can use to relax in peace a little longer. I wish there was a printed copy of what's in each program because it isn't always easy to remember where some of my favorites are. You'll have the DVD a long time, though, so you will eventually become familiar with the names of your favorite programs.

Although the titles of each routine (i.e., Standing Routine, My Aching Head, etc.) might cause you to skip a routine, IMHO you shouldn't. Every routine has common poses, but each introduces something extra, so if you want a more complete "library" of poses, you should try them all. The most demanding for beginners appears to be the Standing Routine.

The down side(s): First, I agree with the reviewer who commented there's no continuity. The first pose may end seated and the next starts standing or kneeling. This was done so they could piece together routines to cover areas you want to work on (back, posture, etc.), but the result is absolutely no flow. Also, I've noticed she spends more time on one side than the other because she explains it more the first time. Finally, the dvd says there's a QuickReview feature to allow for instant replay, but there's no explanation what that is or how to use it.

Bottom line: despite the minor problem areas, this is an excellent dvd and I highly recommend it.