Total Yoga

Ganga White, Tracey Rich
Year Released: 2000

Categories: Yoga


This was the first time I have actually completed this workout, even though I've had the blasted tape for years. I never made it past the first section, in which Tracey is doing a sun salutation series (D, I believe) in which she inserts a back roll and stands up from it. I cannot do that move to save my life and always before got too frustrated to try. Especially since the section seems endless. It always frustrated me to read other reviews on this tape, as it seemed like people thought it was relatively easy, and here I couldn't get through the first 10 minutes (discounting the breathe section at the very beginning). And I can make it through tapes that are much harder overall, such as Kest 1, though I'm sure I look like a fool doing so.

But, in honor of Virgin tape day, I just scrambled back to my feet in some highly uncoordinated fashion, and continued on. I liked the rest of the tape much better, and may just start the workout after the initial series in the future, to convince myself to use it more. There are some moves that don't show up so often, such as plough, lotus and pidgeon, all of which I love. I've always found it odd that most yoga tapes don't do lotus pose, since it used to be the first thing I would think of when I thought of yoga (could stem from sitting around in this position through most of childhood, courtesy of a kid's yoga book my older sister bought me).

Downsides to the tape:
* After most Living Arts tapes, and Yoga Mind and Body, the set is dull, dull, dull. Just a plain room with Tracey and a yoga mat. And occasionally Ganga showing a modified pose. But a very minor issue, since I am usually not looking at the screen anyway during a yoga tape (floor, ceiling, or back wall, yes. tv, no). The tape quality is good, which is much more important, imo.
* That horrid rolling like a ball salutation sequence. It is the bane of my yoga existence.

Things I liked:
* LONG tape
* different poses than you see all the time
* I like Tracey, and find her very relaxing. I almost fell asleep during relaxation pose and had to remind myself to get up and go to bed. She sort of sounded like Nancy Tucker from the Firm to me.
* They show pose variations.

Overall, I'm very glad I finally struggled past that first section, and will definitely start using this tape more, especially on days when I want a longer yoga session.

Karen N

01/02/2001