Educated Crowd: Your Best Yoga Workouts?

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hippahips

Cathlete
This is in connection with Soosan's post about doing yoga with Cathe's workouts. I do a lot of stretching but very little yoga. A lot of the stretches I do are more of the athletic kind. I've actually taken to pushing the previous button on my DVD remote control when doing Cathe's stretches in the intensity series just to do more. I'd like to know what your favorite yoga workouts are and why, to get an idea of what might work well for me. I have a curved spine so a workout that stretches my back would be of great help. Thanks!

Pinky
 
Hi Pinky!

Did you catch the post on that same thread that I wrote to Nancy? She had a similar question and I wrote a (horrendously lengthy) response which included a list of my current favorites and the reasons I like them.

Even though I didn't include the following DVD's on that list, they seem to be well-liked by the yoginis at VF and I plan to buy them when I can:

1) POWER YOGA BY EOIN FINN - Lots of raves about this one, 60 min

2) DAVID SWENSON'S PRIMARY SERIES - Pure Ashtanga, a step up from SHORT FORMS, 90 min

3) BERYL BENDER BIRCH - Same as above Primary Series

HTH!
 
Here are some of my favorites (along with some misc. thoughts):

For stretching without working too hard:
Rodney Yee's Yoga Conditioning for Athletes (Great hip openers and spinal stretches done sitting on a chair, then a short yoga workout w/out the chair, followed by some great seated stretches)

Rodney Yee's Yoga for Energy (Great stretching, no chair, 5 different short workout sections, some move faster than others).

Rodney Yee's Power Yoga for Beginners - Flexibility and Stamina (20 minute intermediate power yoga workouts that move quickly, stretch you out. You'll probably work up a sweat, but they definitely won't wear you out.)

Power Yoga that may wear you out:
Baron Baptiste's Power Yoga Level 2 (Long, 70 minute workout with a lot of lower body work. A lot of balancing and lunge type poses).

Eoinn Finn's Power Yoga (Haven't done this all the way through yet, but it looks great. It keeps moving at a good pace & has beautiful scenery)

David Swenson's Short Forms (Great DVD with a 15, 30, or 45 minute power yoga workout. They are all pretty much the same except that the longer workouts tack on some extra poses. Good pace, beautiful park scenery, and Swenson's voice is relaxing. This follows the usual set of poses, not exactly sure what its called, but its the same series as a lot of other yoga videos.)

Great all around yoga video:
Ali MacGraw's Yoga Mind & Body (Starts with cat back arches and arranges things in a different way. Great desert scenery and great music - if you like Dead Can Dance. This one is different, and it moves at a good pace. You'll probably work up a sweat, but won't kill yourself with this one.)

Laura
 
Bryan Kest vol. 1,2 and 3. His first PY series with the sepia style filming. Nice stuff fixes aches and pains better than NSAIDS.
 
Hi everyone,

Laura: THANK YOU so much for your thorough list. You hit the nail on the head with your suggestions of tapes for stretching without working too hard. I do a lot of strength training and cardio, and would love to incorporate yoga more for stretching and relaxation. THANK YOU everyone for your help!

Pinky:7
 
My favorites are the Flow Series by Tracey Rich and Ganga White. They get right into the practice and they are excellent! There are three levels so they are great for beginner, intermediate, and advanced practitioners. There's also an old tape called Aerobic Yoga and it is fast and tough and I always feel like I have done full body strength training whenever I am brave enough to pop it in my VCR!

http://www.boondocksnet.com/cgi-perl/apfh-item_id-B00005QCY5-search_type-AsinSearch-locale-us.html


Chicks's Rule! http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif Bobbi
 
For power yoga I like some of the one's mentioned above -- my favorite is Baron Baptiste's Live DVD (especially the Unlocking Athletic Power practice ~ 30min). I've just ordered Sonic Yoga DVD which promises to get me into a full split one day. It has gotten favorable reviews from folks who like yoga practice but not the mystical talk that sometimes goes along with it.

For pure stretching/relaxation I haven't found anything to match Candlelight Yoga. I got another one by Sara Ivanhoe last week.. Yoga on the Ball. This was wonderful for opening the hips -- I didn't realize how tight they were until after I finished this one.

Have fun!
 
Bobbi: I was going to get the Flow last summer. (Thank you so much for the link.) But I opted for Yoga Zone's boxed set of 6 DVD's. I can't connect with the instructors as well as I can connect with Cathe, but I appreciate all the information I'm getting from them.

Sharon: Wow! I'm not trying to get into a full split, although I used to do that as a child. I wanted to do martial arts but my mom enrolled me in ballet classes instead. There was already too much punching and kicking in our household, with her three sons. A full split is something I COULD try to work up to AGAIN.:7 I've heard a lot about Candlelight Yoga. Thanks for the suggestion. It's definitely something worth thinking about.

Thank you again, everyone. I'm starting to tack on an extra 10-15 min. of very basic yoga after every workout. One day I'll outgrow the basics and the lists on this thread will come in handy. I appreciate all the feedback.


Pinky
 
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