Looking for Yoga DVDs for a beginner

.

I thought that I'd never be able to do any Yoga moves until I bought a Wii Fit Plus. Honestly, the yoga on that game is so much easier than any DVD I've tried that I haven't used anything else for Yoga since. Of course not everyone has a Wii but if you do, definitely look into Wii Fit as an alternative to DVD's.

I began yoga with a DVD called "Yoga for Inflexible People." It has a lot of elements that will annoy you - for example, the routines are presented one pose at a time, each in their own file on the DVD, not as a continuous "class" like you would get on TV.
On the plus side, it goes very slowly and has a ton of variety on it for working different parts of the body. The beginner level routines are really "beginner." You'll want to watch them one time before going through them, but you shouldn't have any trouble after that.

Then, I moved up to Lilias - I forget the name of the DVD set I used. She is also very gentle.

I love love love DDP Yoga. It will start you off at a beginner level and take you all the way up to an advance level. It is a hybrid of yoga so it is less boring to me. I LOVE IT!

I like the Rodney Yee videos...his form is good, he uses standard yoga names (some don't which I find annoying)...and I like his calm relaxed personality and the way he describes things...also, if you have netflix, they have a lot of workout stuff and it's a good way to preview something before you decide to actualy invest in owning it...

Louise Solomon's Yoga & Pilates: Total Body Toner (2004)

I got this DVD out of the 2 for 10.00 bin at Wal-Mart about 6 years ago. It helped me lose 60 pounds at that time. And now that I am ready to lose the weight that I gained back, it is helping again.

There are 4 work-outs, all only about 20 - 25 min each. I did the lower body work-out for a while and then switched to the total body toner. After the total body toner work-out there is about a 5 min meditation. I love the way that I feel body and soul when I am done.

I highly recommend it, as it is an absolutely doable work-out, and I could really notice the changes in my flexibility after doing it consistently for a while. I also feel like I get a work-out when I do it as I can feel my heart-rate increase and I am sweating when I am done.

I hope this helps, and is the feed-back you were looking for.

Well, Rodney Yee does some that are pretty beginner orientated. I suggest going over to the gaiam website and checking customer comments under the DVDs to find something that suits. Everyone comments stuff like "I like this DVD but it's a bit too beginner for me" or maybe the other way round. Don't get his more intermediate DVDs though, 'cause they'll chew you up as a beginner. His tips about how to breath and what specific muscles should be doing in the poses is great stuff and even a more intermediate practitioner can learn something from him. You'll have to put up with him doing it on a cliff in Hawaii or on a block of wood in the desert though..... that may be a bit too hippy for some people.

I know everyone hates Tony Horton, but his Fountain of Youth Yoga is a pretty bright and breezy 40 odd minutes and not too taxing.

Yee dvds are probably best for a beginner, check out Gaiam's comment section....

See it is possible to answer without being a douche!

Gaiam yoga for weight loss is great (don't mind the title). It features 4 different levels of the same poses so you can do whatever ones you are able. When I started I could only do the easiest pose for all, now I do level 4 for all but one of the poses.

I like the yoga sessions on My Fitness Coach for use with a wii. As basic as you want them to be :-)

The P90x program has a yoga workout in it, I found it challenging and somewhat relevant now that I've started attending actual yoga classes. Maybe you can borrow this disc from someone who has it?

Several years ago I bought one called Yoga Conditioning for Weight Loss from Gaiam on VHS. I really liked it. It was challenging, but not TOO challenging for me to keep up with. I actually bought it later on DVD because I liked it so much.

I absolutely HATE the P90X yoga. It's something like 90 minutes long and Tony has you "vinyasa-ing" between everything so much that I want to reach through the television and choke him if he says "vinyasa" one more time. :grumble: I actually like the 10 Minute Trainer Yoga workout, but it's obviously not long enough to use as a "full" workout.

I've done quite a few of Jillian Michaels' DVDs and I like Yoga Meltdown, but it's not really traditional yoga. You do hold some poses, but it's mostly movement within the poses so that you're burning more calories. I enjoy some of the yoga on the Wii Fit as someone else mentioned as well.

I remember I thought Rainbeau Mars was pretty good, not too gym-style-yoga and not all about breathing and meditation. But I'm not watching/practicing with yoga DVDs frequently.

Oh, but when I did, I really liked David Swenson's videos. Not sure now if they are good for a beginner, as the guy himself is very advanced, but I strongly remember that he was doing a great job in explaining and making things simple for beginners and keeping the focus in the right place and not bothered if the body isn't able to fully comply yet. Something along these lines ))

Do you need the Wii fit board for yoga?