Yoga for Beginners Deluxe Set: 8 Yoga Video Routines for Beginners. Includes Gentle Yoga Workouts to Increase Strength & Flexibility

Until this video, my first and only experience with yoga had been the P90X yoga workout. Talk about jumping into the deep end! After leaving that series on the shelf for over a year, I decided to start over and approach yoga the right way by beginning with the basics. This video is PERFECT. As other reviewers have described, there are short targeted segments (10-30 min) in which one can learn and practice various poses, including correct positions, postures, alignment, breathing, etc., and longer workout segments (30+ min) that combine the basics and kick it up a notch. The instructor, Barbara Benagh, has a calm, relaxed voice and provides instruction that is easy to follow. She also provides various ways to do each pose depending on one's level of flexibility. After three weeks of practicing the targeted segments three or four times per week, I already feel improvement in my flexibility and strength, which demonstrates that even beginners can experience the benefits of yoga -- one does not have to be advanced to notice a positive difference. I am excited to progress through the DVD and move on to the "next level"!

Whether you're preparing for a class or learning yoga on your own, a DVD really helps to ground you in the basics. I found Yoga for Beginners a great, relaxing way to get a handle on core positions. You start out by watching the basic area. This area has short segments that help you understand the starting moves. The aim here is to watch each short segment - and practice the moves - until they start to make sense to you. They have 10 minute backbends, 20 minute standing poses, 20 minute strength / balance, 20 minute sun salutations, 30 minute seated hip openers. You'll find some of these might be challenging for your current strength and bend ability - but this is actually great! It means you have something to look forward to as you improve and grow. If everything was super easy at the beginning, the DVD wouldn't be much help! So you practice these moves for a while, figuring out which you can do and which you need to work on. Then you go on to the actual full workout sessions. There is 70 minute basics, 40 minute energizing, 70 minute strength, 30 minute rejuvinate, and 55 minute quieting. Each segment has its own focus, so you can easily pick and choose which one you're going to work on. You might find some easy and relaxing. Others might be a bit challenging at the beginning. So for example the quieting session was really relaxing, lovely, stretchy. On the other hand, the strength session involves some moves that I had to just watch. My arm strength wasn't up there yet. However, I could do much of it and it definitely was building up strength - and I look forward to when I can do it all start to finish. The background is simply gorgeous, with the gentle ocean, the sands and the blue skies. It really helps me to feel peaceful and relaxed. The woman's voice is peaceful, calm, and provides a lot of great pointers for adjusting poses based on your current skill level. Highly recommended for beginners - and the DVD will "grow with you" to allow you to keep enjoying it even as you improve.

Perfect for an under achieving yoga practitioner. I love yoga in theory, but am not consistent in practicing. At my advanced age muscles are tight and my once fit body is getting stiff. My doctor suggested I get a yoga DVD and do something at home. This one is perfect. I do the relaxation piece to ease my back and practice relating breaths and voila it works. The other sections are challenging but doable. The instructor is engaging and easy to follow. Have a mat, some pillows, and/or blankets available for support when needed. In fact watch a section thru before doing it and there will be no surprises. I am very happy with this.

I decided to buy a yoga DVD after taking a yoga class and becoming distressed at how weak and stiff I was. I bought this DVD because of the many positive reviews. The DVD is good for absolute beginners. It's challenging, but not discouragingly so. You can do it even if you're not strong and not flexible. I like the fact that there are different sequences, one as short as 10 minutes, so that I can mix it up a little and don't get really bored. Also, I can squeeze a sequence in even if I have very little time. I especially like the backbends one. Barbara's voice is calming and her directions are very good. Sometimes it seems like she's there in the room, since her comments always seem to be on target. She's not there to dazzle you with her agility or to shame you into injuring yourself, but to teach you how to do the poses properly. She gives adequate time to transition from pose to pose. She gives alternatives for those who are more and less capable. So far, I have only done one sequence in the Extended Routines section of the DVD. I don't recall which one, but I admit I was a little disappointed; it was longer, but not harder than the ones in the Getting Started section. However, some of the other ones may be much harder. I don't think this will be the only DVD I ever use, but most likely, no DVD could play that role. If I lived near Barbara, I would not hesitate to study with her. Since that's not possible and since I do get bored (I've been using the DVD every morning for weeks now), I will probably soon purchase something that has even more targeted sequences (for arms, glutes, abs, or even another strength one that's just different). However, I think it's excellent for encouraging someone who may be apprehensive and/or at a very beginning stage while still teaching "real" yoga.

With most workout videos, I watch them all beforehand so I get a feel for the workouts themselves. I absolutely hated every DVD in the set except one. I know some other reviewers have mentioned that most of these DVD are structured weird. They're all filmed in small segments, then each segment is combined to create different workouts. You can literally hear the DVD player skipping around to find the different segments, which creates an odd workout flow. I prefer one long Yoga flow segment, and 90 percent of the DVDs did not meet that criteria. I also found most of the workouts to be boring, even for a "little above a beginner' like myself. The one DVD I absolutely adore is titled "Yoga for Strength and Flexibility" with Monica Gonzalo. I'll leave the review for that DVD below, its the only reason I’m leaving a three star review and not a one star. Yoga for Strength and Flexibility with Monica Gonzalo review only: I had been doing a form of Gentle Yoga Flow for a little over a year, but felt like I wasn't getting enough out of it. I also knew I couldn't jump to advanced yoga, so I was looking for something in-between. This DVD was the perfect fit. I know some reviewers have complained about Monica Gonzalo’s voice or about her instructions, but I find both to be perfectly clear. The workout is definitely not for a beginner. This is a yoga flow video, meaning each pose flows perfectly into the next and you have to hold the poses for a longer period of time, (some previous knowledge of yoga poses is also helpful). There are several workouts targeting different regions of the body, and each can have a warmup and a cooldown added via the menu. The flows are not short. If you add the warmup and cooldown segments, they can run over an hour. I personally like longer yoga workouts, but that is entirely a personal preference (you have been warned). I also was so overjoyed to find this shot outdoors in the beautiful glacier national park. So many yoga video are shot by a pool, or by the ocean, it just gets old real fast. While working out to this video you will see trees and mountains and beautiful skies. I honestly love the DVD, I even bought a spare to have on-hand. I’ve now been doing this yoga for 50 days and feel great. FYI this DVD is sold separately from the box set.

I am starting to practice yoga as a 40something. I took a summer yoga class in college and tried to follow a dvd for beginners a few years ago to get back into it, but that only had one long routine on it and I found it difficult to fit it into my busy schedule. The Barbara Benagh DVD has annoying loud music on the "menu" page, but since I fast forward to that and then click on the routine I want it is not an issue (I noticed some people complaining about the music and was concerned it would be an issue on the routines, but it is not). I find her example and description of how to move through the poses easy to follow, including instructions for what to do when you are less flexible (something I sadly need!). So far I have done all the Getting Started routines at least once; the longer routines I am not quite ready to do. The getting started routines are mostly about 20 minutes, one is 10 minutes, and some are 30. This is a good length for someone coming to yoga and needing to build flexibility and strength, plus, it fits into my crazy schedule well. The first two routines are a series of poses edited together with a pan to the ocean in between, but the bulk of the Getting Started section has videos that were shot and edited together to move from one pose to the other with guidance. It might seem fast at first, but just persist and you will get quicker and smoother at following from pose to pose. This is a good beginner's DVD set.

I rented this DVD from my library about a week ago. I'd always wanted to try yoga and although I'm in pretty good shape, I'm not that flexible so yoga intimidated me. Within 2 days of working with the DVD I knew that I had to buy my own copy off of Amazon! (BTW I just paid for regular shipping, but the DVD arrived in a day and a half. Nice!) I loved the sheer variety of routines on this DVD. They are split up into two levels, "as you get started" and "as you progress". Only a week into it, I'm still finding the "as you get started" routines very challenging but not impossible. I think that there's enough on this DVD to keep me interested and learning new things for at least a year or two! If you're like me and you've never tried yoga, let me tell you that during the excercise you will work hard (like any good excercise) but after completing one of Barbara Benagh's yoga routines I find that my breathing is deep and slow, and feel like I've just had a full-body massage (QUITE unlike any excercise I've ever done!!!) Her instructions are so clear that it's easy to follow along. She's challenging but very encouraging, making sure that you don't feel bad if you can't get into a particular pose, and offering you other easier options if you need them. She somehow offers lots of information while using very few words, this helps to keep her instrucions understandable to the novice. I also want to add that I wanted to learn yoga without all of the "emptying your mind" new-agey type of stuff, and this DVD definately lets me accomplish that. I believe in freedom of religion and I don't look down on yogis who practice the way that they wish, and likewise as a Christian I felt that my beliefs were respected in this DVD. I just want to excercise, not change religions, and Yoga for Beginners allows me to do that.

Having never had a Yoga class in my life and having never seen, much less bought a Yoga tape or DVD in my life I began my search. Yogo was recommended to my by my physicians and physical therapists some time ago and after much putting it off, decided to do something about it. One of the DVDs recommend to me was the one being reviewed here. You can imagine my surprise and absolute confusion when I read the many reviews here. Some said it was not for the beginner, others said it was for the beginner. Some said it was too fast, others too slow. Some said the instructions were great while other said they were horrid...and on and on and on and on. It was like three or four different programs were being discussed. Well I read the review here by Beth Cholette. This reviewer has never led me astray before so I figured that I would go ahead and give it a shot based on her extremely detailed review and description of the product. Reading her words made the DVD sound precisely what I was looking for. It was. Thank you Beth! I am an older male with hip, back and neck problems which have not responded to injections, physical therapy or medications. This is horrid as I had reached a point where the pain and stiffness was interfering with my life. I lead a rather active life for my age and I am not inclined to change my living habits all that much as I pretty well enjoy my life the way it is...or was, in this case. I have been working with this program for four weeks now and I can already tell a difference in my movements and the pain is becoming less and less as each day goes by. I found this type to be absolutely perfect for my needs. I found the instructions to be extremely specific and had no problems following them. Now after almost seven decades there is no way in the world I could perform all of the positions described in this DVD right from the start. To be honest, I would have hurt myself had I tried. The instructor on the DVD though have plenty of methods to adjust each and ever move to your specific requirements. All it required on the users part was a bit of common sense. I found the pace to be perfect for my needs. Now this is not a work-out program. It is a set of precise positions at first; focusing of breathing of course, and then presents workouts ranging from 10 to 50 minutes. I found I could sort of pick and choose what appealed to me on a daily basis. I liked the fact that Barbara Benagh was not yakking constantly while she was herself performing each stance...her voice was in the background. If you are considering purchasing this tape I strongly suggest you read Beth Cholette's review. She has told us what is on the DVD so much better than I would ever be able to do. I have found that each of her statements and observations to be completely spot on. Will this be the last Yoga DVD I purchase? Goodness no! I have already bought another. I have found that I actually like this stuff! Don Blankenship The Ozarks