Suzanne Deason
This tape is a bit unusual in that it is not entirely
a workout tape. Suzanne Deason offers a 15-minute
lesson (read: lecture) in how to use props for yoga,
with overlays of her (and a student) demonstrating
various key points. Then she leads a very brief
routine to allow an opportunity to practice what she's
just shown us.
There are good points and there are bad points here.
Suzanne does give very thorough explanations regarding
use of the brick, for example. But the poses she picks
to demonstrate are very advanced. Even with the brick,
I still could not achieve perfect form. In her
explanation on the strap, she gives a very good
rundown on how it can help with forward bends where
the leg is stretched out on front and you reach toward
the toes. This explanation made a huge difference for
me as I realized I had not been flexing my foot
properly. But she segues from this into a "cobbler's
pose" that involved wrapping the strap around you at
at least three different points and then leaning back.
Number one: why would a beginner bother with such a
convoluted modification? Wouldn't a beginner just use
different poses? And number 2, this tape is meant to
help a beginner modify other living arts tapes.
Putting a brick at the side of your mat is one thing,
but pausing a tape to wrap the strap around you in
such a complicated manner? How many beginners would do
that? As for the mat, pretty much all the "help"
Suzanne gives is the opinion that a mat provides
padding on a hard surface, a barrier against the cold
floor and a non-slip surface. All of which may be true
but is a) likely printed on the wrapper your mat came
in, hence, you already know it or b) obvious to
anybody with a little bit of common sense.
The "workout" is a brief run-through of several
challenging poses, some of which were previously
demonstrated in the talk. It includes downward dog,
triangle pose, warrior pose (the easiest of the
bunch), standing forward bend, seated forward bend and
cobbler pose. The poses clearly demonstrate the use of
the props and since Suzanne actually does it herself,
you won't have to pause the tape as you would for a
normal workout. But I remain confused as to whether
this tape is geared toward newcomers to yoga (who
probably should not be attempting some of these poses
right away) or yoga intermediates ready to move to
harder poses and needing a boost from the props. Maybe
it just seems harder because she's stringing together
a 15-minute series of poses that are all advanced
enough to need modifying in the first place. In a
regular yoga tape, I doubt these particular poses
would be done in sequence like this.
Suzanne is a competent instructor, but very teachery.
At first, she demonstrates the poses herself. But
after a few minutes, she brings out a student of hers
and runs her through a few poses. She carefully points
out all the form mistakes her student makes, then runs
her through it again with the props, pointing out the
difference. Depending on how you read her tone of
voice, this demonstration is either diligently
thorough or condescendingly demeaning. I thought I
would appreciate this tape for its short, props-based
workout, but I was surprised to find I enjoyed the
lesson more. I'll probably keep this tape around for a
reference and go through the lesson again from time to
time. But the odd collection of poses in the workout
doesn't seem like the best way to use this tape.
Joanna C
6/3/01
This is a little tape that Living Arts put out a while back to explain how to use yoga props to enhance your yoga workout. It is pretty cheap to pick up and, if you are not that flexible yet but want to do yoga, this is a really good tape to pick up. It explains really well how to use yoga props like a mat, strap and block to enhance your yoga practice and improve your form.
Now - this might seem like a tape that you would use once and then get rid of because you will have learned it all, but I find I keep it around for the 10 minute, prop-assisted workout at the end of the lesson. This is led by Suzanne Deason and is a really nice little workout to get you used to working with the props and becoming more comfortable at incorporating the props into other yoga workouts.
If you have been wanting to get the benefits of yoga, even if you feel you can't do it yet, this tape will help you learn how to listen to your body and know when to use a prop. I have been doing Yoga for two years and I know that it is because of this video that my yoga practice got better because I now know that I wasn't getting the benefits I could by straining ahead of my abilities.
Instructor comments:
Cori (ziggy2306)
February 25, 2004
