Yoga Dvds

I personally enjoy Rodney Yee's videos. He has several different levels (beginner, intermediate, etc.), so you can select the video that's right for you.

Here's a link to his site - http://www.yeeyoga.com/

A nice, quick little gem I found is called 10 Minute Solution Yoga. It sounds cheesy, but her choices of asanas are rather nice! The DVD lets you string together the 10 minute sessions in any order you like, so you can repeat her fast series a few times followed by her great cooldown stretch. It has a session for abs, too.

Yoga Zone and Rodney Yee are also great, imho.

I do Iyengar and have DVDs for those, but it's slow, slow yoga. Folks usually don't do that for weight loss. If you want to do backbends or big flexibility moves that's better done through the slow types like Iyengar, I think.

jillian michaels has 2 different yoga dvds out

I love Rodney Yee. His voice is so calming.

I absolutely love & recommend Louise Solomon's Yogalates dvds! 2 half hour workouts meant to do separate or together. great for beginners!

I'm interested in trying yoga, not just for flexibility and strength, but for balance. Is there a particular type of yoga which helps with this?

I second Bryan Kest. I also love the Namaste.tv yoga series. Short, 22 mins sequences, easy to fit into my day, great music and photography, and a quiet voice.

Do you just do yoga to exercise? Can you actually lose weight just doing yoga or do I need to incorporate harder intense workouts too?

Most types of yoga are not big calorie burners. The way I think yoga helps with weight loss is....it makes you more body conscious, more aware....it also helps you relax (and sleep better) ....the whole stress & cortisol thing.

As far as replacing all exercise with yoga ..........yoga can provide some strength training (in the form of body weight exercises). The more advanced the practioner ...the more advanced stength will be. Because I am in no way advanced, I use weights for strength training and yoga for flexibility and balance only.

Also, most yoga does not have enough in the way of being a cardio workout, so my cardio workout is separate too. The type of yoga that comes the closest is called power yoga (very flowing moves) ....I am not advanced enough to ever keep my heart rate elevated enough.

I believe yoga has had a lot to do with my 30lb weight loss. I do a lot of walking, too, but eventually I worked up to some power yoga and (if sweat is an indicator) I am pretty sure it burns plenty of calories. Level of intensity is the difference. I love it, and can't say enough about how much it's done for my overall health and well being.

Here are some of my faves:

for some great free ones: http://www.doyogawithme.com/yoga_classes

a good one for beginners (and very much like the Intro class I took at a yoga sudio) Is YogaWorks Beginners AM/PM

and they have a WAY more intense "bodyslim" one: http://www.collagevideo.com/workout-video/yogaworks-body-slim-5777

I also really enjoy: http://www.collagevideo.com/workout-video/sara-ivanhoes-yoga-on-the-edge-5626

Namaste!