Although Living Arts has various tapes labelled "for Beginners," none of them should be your starting point if you've never done yoga before. Each beginners tape requires some pre-existing familiarity with the basic yoga poses; in fact, there is a recommendation at the start of each "for Beginners" tape that beginners should learn the basic poses through the "Yoga Practice for Beginners" tape prior to moving on to other tapes in the series.

That being said, this workout certainly can be performed by those who are new to yoga. I have been doing yoga for almost two years now, but I still consider myself a beginner given that I have limited flexibility. This tape provides a strong workout for the upper body that is challenging but doable. On my first few attempts, I was unable to lift into the backbends done at the end of the routine; although I thought I would never be able to do them, with practice, I cound, and now I can hold them for even longer. Otherwise, I was able to do all of the poses my very first time through the video. I turn to this tape when I want a challenging workout for my upper body but don't want to do traditional strength moves.

Most of the tapes in the "for Beginners" series are labelled as being 20 minutes long; I've found that that can vary a bit, and this tape in fact is approximately 26 minutes long. This workout would be a great choice for either a yoga beginner looking to go to the next level or someone more experienced with yoga who is looking for a short, intense practice. Highly recommended!

Instructor Comments:
Rodney Yee is one of my favorite yoga instructors. He is extremely calm and soothing; he explains the moves well while only occasionally becoming a bit new age-y and hard to follow.

Beth C (aka toaster)