I’m reviewing this workout after doing the full workout twice and the short one once.

General workout breakdown: See Beth (toaster)’s review.

Level: I’d recommend this to a regular exerciser with previous yoga experience. This is best suited to someone practicing yoga at the experienced beginner or beginner / intermediate level, i.e. someone who feels comfortable with the usual postures found in sun salutations and ending floor series as well as asanas like shoulderstand and plow. The bonus poses are more int. or even int. / adv. in nature, and some (like headstand) are best learned from live instruction rather than a quick demo on a video.

Class: 1 woman accompanies Erin, who instructs via voiceover. The other woman sometimes shows variations, a few of which are less challenging and a few of which are more challenging. (Erin commits one of my pet peeves about modifiers: she just mentions that her friend is doing modifications without explaining what’s being modified and why.)

Music: instrumental, kind of upbeat. (It’s kind of what you might expect to hear in the elevator at a spa.)

Set: interior space with neutral walls and floors, decorated with a few potted plants, (unlit) candles, tall vases, and pillows in rich fabrics.

Production: clear picture and sound without any crazy camera angles. The voiceover matches up well with the action, and Erin’s voice is clearly heard over the music.

Equipment: yoga sticky mat (or equivalent).

Space Requirements: enough room to do full sun salutation and to lie down with arms and legs extended / do a plow pose.

DVD Notes: The main menu offers these options: Introduction (2 min.), 30 Minutes Yoga Practice, Complete Yoga Practice, Bonus Poses (5 min.; includes crow, headstand, side crow, pigeon, and wheel), and Testimonials (2.5 min.; two of Erin’s students/friends talk about what yoga means to them and why they like Erin as a yoga teacher).
There are no chapters within the practices themselves.

Comments: If you feel like you’re trying too many yoga DVDs with lightning fast pace, this might be a good alternative. The slower pace does not mean everyone will find this particularly gentle and relaxing, however, although more intermediate yogis might find it so. Standing in tree pose for that long can be surprisingly challenging, even for someone like me who has been practicing yoga for a while!

Instructor Comments:
Erin’s instruction is pretty much limited to cuing the poses and maybe including a few form pointers; at times she also includes reminders to be grateful for what you have and little life lessons like how learning to breathe in hard poses helps you not hold your breath in difficult situations. I usually appreciate having insightful form pointers and alignment tips included, especially in videos with long holds, but that sort of thing may overwhelm others or not be what they’re looking for; if you’re in the latter camp, Erin’s your teacher. What I actually missed more in this specific video was clearer cuing for those moments when I couldn’t look at the screen (I found myself looking up at the TV more than I expected with such a straightforward practice) as well as suggestions of variations (Erin talked quite a bit about listening to your body, trying out different variations, yet she didn’t offer much in the way of guidance there). She has a pleasant voice, although she may try a touch too hard to make it even more soothing. (I felt she was a little forced at times in the way she lengthened her words and pauses; I just wanted her to relax and be herself, not try to live up to her ideal of a “yoga teacher voice.”) She comes off as young; on the flip side, she has a youthful optimism about yoga’s accessibility and enthusiasm for spreading her love of yoga. Erin alternates between using Sanskrit and English names for poses; she also includes a sung mantra in Sanskrit during the full practice savasana and a final chanted Om. She does not mirror cue (i.e. she refers to her right and left).

KathAL79