This is a great workout that really stresses the basic prinicples of pilates and is the easiest of the body bar pilates workouts. I've been doing it for months and can tell the difference when I skip a few weeks and then know I need to go back to it. The purpose of the body bar is primarily to help with alignment. It does help. A lighter body bar is probably best. A modifier uses a short body bar and for some moves I use half of mine (it separates in the middle). My fingers get numb holding the bar up sometimes, so I just rest my arms and put them back a minute or two later. In the beginning I had no idea of my postural alignment, slowly I am gaining awareness. Clare's cueing is right on. The workout does seem long and the last standing part is easy enough to skip (although I tend to include it and the review of principles as well). It's a great place to start and offers plenty of room to grow. Happily Body Bar has said that they're looking into converting this to DVD so with any luck I can continue to do for a long time.

buffmama