Yoga For Dummies

Sara Ivanhoe
Year Released: 2001

Categories: Yoga



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(this review refers to the DVD version of the workout)

I am an advanced exerciser but a newbie to yoga, and I think this video is great for beginners because of its thorough and detailed form pointers. The DVD contains two workouts -- a 45? minute beginner workout containing the 12 poses that Sara calls "the Daily Dozen," and a 30-minute intermediate workout that is a series of Sun Salutes. In the beginner's workout, Sara slowly teaches (and shows modifications) for each pose. I agree with other VFers who think that there should have been a version of this workout with less instruction because I think the actual workout itself is probably only 20 minutes. Plus, once you understand the poses, you want to get to the workout, and not hear all that detailed instruction again. The intermediate workout is much better because Sara doesn't stop, explain the pose, show the modification, etc. Instead, she quickly teaches one pose at a time and then TIFTT. Some people may not like this, but I found that I was starting to memorize the Sun Salute by repeating it this way. The workout ends with child's pose, and some seated stretches. I was surprised to find myself sore after the intermediate workout.

I did not find the pop-ups and their silly sound effects distracting or annoying -- just silly. Also, I found it strange that she did not use the "real" names for the some of the poses -- she called "corpse" pose "final relaxation pose." Wonder why?

Instructor Comments:
Sara is very friendly and encouraging.

Elaine P.

07/17/2002

My purpose for buying the video is that I'm trying to incorporate some yoga/stretch into my weekly routine. (I swim and its suppose to be helpful for swimmers according to TI). I have a couple of other tapes but I realized that I was not learning all the poses. My desire was to know all of them so I could move easily from tape to tape and understand the correct form.

This video goes through each of 12 poses slowly, giving you form tips along the way. I found the instruction on breathe, and how to use it to extend and lengthen the pose/stretch to be very helpful.

This will be a tape that I can see myself using several times to make sure I learn the poses correctly and then only intermitently thereafter to correct my form or as a less strenuous workout. As a regular tape it does not meet my goal of a more strenuous and toning yoga session.

Great beginner tape.

Instructor Comments:
I'm new to the yoga scene so this was my first experience with Sarah Ivanhoe. I found her to be pleasant (not overly saccharine) and easy to follow.

Kerri Brown

05/08/2002

Sarah Ivanhoe provides excellent instruction in this 45 minute tape. As an experienced intermediate yoga practitioner, I don't think this tape is too easy...it's just too *slow*. There's about 30 minutes worth of actual yoga in there with an extra 15 minutes of explanations added in--very good for a yoga newbie, but frustrating for someone who already has the poses down. And the icons and tidbits zipping in and out was really distracting, *especially* during the balancing poses when you're supposed to be trying to focus! I wish they would have put all of that stuff in a segment at the beginning or end of the tape and kept it separate from the workout.

While I would recommend this to someone with zero yoga experience, I prefer Crunch Joy of Yoga (also with Sarah Ivanhoe) for myself.

Renee Drellishak

01/07/2001