This video is divided into three sections for Beginners, Intermediates and Advanced practitioners, with each section having 8 workouts varying from 25 minutes to 2 hours, designed to be done first thing in the morning until right before bed. It certainly gets points for variety, especially since the workouts do vary slightly, they are not just cut n' pastes of the same six or eight clusters of asanas.

This is billed as a trademarked "Slow Flow Power Yoga" method. I guess the best way to also describe it is Iyengar-driven power yoga, with very detailed descriptions for the body in a pose, and the use of props. The pace is achingly slow compared to what most Power Yoga enthusiasts are accustomed to; It has the longest, most drawn out Sun Salutation I have ever done, including the longest held Chaturanga (in the Advanced section). For that reason, this is a great practice if you really really want to build physical strength.

The advanced practices make heavy use of a variation on the sun salutation between each pose, but be wary: the pace is so slow, it can feel like all you are doing are molasses-ish sun sals. Also because of the pace there is not a huge variety of poses within each workout (except perhaps the 2 hour one!), BUT throughout the selection of workouts, the variety is great.

This practice has the best preparation and description of Bakasana I have ever experienced, some really marvelous spinal twists in the intermediate sections, and a lot of relaxation poses. In fact, some of the practices start with on the floor relaxation--but I have to say I really can't deal with that much and usually skip them.

One major caveat: Because the planks and other intense weight bearing poses are held for so long, this is not a good workout for someone with injured or troublesome wrists, at least not the advanced practices.

Instructor Comments:
Barbara Benagh has a very clear and calm demeanor and is very consistent in her descriptive language for each pose. The male model for the poses has gorgeous form.

Kim Reist