This is one of the Yoga Zone DVDs made from their TV show. It has two 19-minute practices. The commercial break points are not obvious in these workouts, and the routines flow really well. Both practices are filmed outdoors in Jamaica. Production quality is good.

The first practice is pretty straight-forward stretching poses “to keep you flexible for a lifetime”; poses are held for several breaths and modifications for less flexible people are shown. Jeanne Kerner leads this practice with Douglas as the second exerciser. This practice is a great choice if you want to stretch your lower body without having more strength-oriented poses thrown in. Aside from the focus on using your breathing in each pose, it’s not terribly different in content or feel from a non-yoga stretching tape. Jeanne does a really nice job of explaining the role of breathing in the poses, though, and I think it would be useful for someone new to yoga.

Practice 1 Details:
Chapter 1: Opening – Seated poses including twists, hamstring, side, and inner thigh stretches
Chapter 2: Lengthening – All 4’s back stretches, downward dog, front and side lunges, and a seated forward bend. This practice ends in a seated meditation

The second practice focuses on “using opposition – 2 points moving away from each other – to enhance stretching.” It has more strength-oriented poses than the first practice. Douglas Stewart leads this section with Suzanne as the second exerciser. Douglas gives wonderful explanations of how to feel opposition in poses, and how you should be active in poses that look simple. However, this practice isn’t as stretching oriented as the first one, and its mix of poses makes it hard for me to figure out how to use it. I have used the 2nd practice followed by the 1st one before for a 38-minute stretching routine, and that works pretty nicely, though with some pose repetition.

Practice 2 Details:
Chapter 3: Opposition Principles – Dandasana is the first pose, and Douglas takes time to explain how the feet and tailbone should be moving apart and the sit bones and head should be moving apart. You then do some lying poses that strengthen the stomach, again focusing on the different lines of opposition. Table, a seated side stretch, plank, downdog, and standing forward bend follow.
Chapter 4: Using Principles – Standing poses including warrior 2 and chair (still focusing on the lines of opposition in each pose), then seated inner thigh, side, and hamstring stretches. This practice also ends in a seated meditation.

In general, I think Yoga Zone productions seem more upbeat and less serious than the Living Arts productions. The sets are bright and the instructors speak naturally rather than using a scripted voice-over. The instructors all seem friendly and make yoga seem accessible and pleasant, while still managing to give alignment and breathing pointers. This is a nice DVD for beginners to yoga who want to stretch out; the information on breathing in the first routine and opposition in the second routine is a good introduction to some basic yoga ideas. It’s also a good DVD for more experienced yoga practioners who want a gentle and brief stretching-focused video.

Instructor Comments:
Jeanne Kerner and Douglas Stewart are both friendly and encouraging and give lots of useful form pointers. As in all YZ DVDs, they instruct pretty continuously, so if you just want to listen to music and breathe while you stretch, you’ll need to choose the music-only option from the DVD menu.

KathyW