JillFlorio

A few days ago I got my DVD order for Barbara Benagh: Yoga for Stress Relief.

The DVD shows the same lovely beach in Half Moon Bay as in her Beginners Yoga DVD, but in this one, there is also very soft, gentle guitar in the background. You can barely hear it and it does not drown out the sound of the waves. So that is nicely done.

Barbara also has a rather longish interview where she talks about modern life being overloaded, and how yoga will help slow things down. And about how hard it is to slow down at first. Tell me about it!

The interview on meditation by the Dalai Lama contains great information and HH’s soft, gentle humor. It is hard at times to understand what he is saying and one requires a slight bit of patience to understand some of this section.

This DVD has such a wealth of options in it, and all for helping with mental and physical conditions: headaches, shoulder/neck tension, opening your heart, digestive ailments, lower back pain, hip pain, anxiety, some AM and PM routines, an insomnia set, mood uplift, serenity work…

So far I tried these sections:

Easing Neck Tension, passive variation (20 mins) - Soft Spanish guitar music, everything lying down, mainly body twisting. Very sweet and restful.

Restorative Poses for Relaxation (15 mins) - soft new Agey music, three supportive poses: cobblers, heart opener and legs up the wall. Pretty much the same set as on Barbara’s Yoga for Beginners DVD (the rejuvenate one) but without the centering/breathing part. Also, this one suggests more uses of the blankets and having an eye bag. As I got an eye bag as a gift, I was prepared. But you only really need three blankets/pillows for this section.

Lower Back Tension (35 min): This was the best one yet. With my period cramps it was incredibly soothing to my lower back/stomach area. We used a blanket, strap and eye pillow for this set. A bit more active than the two I tried above, this has locus pose and a great let stretch with the strap.

Hip Pain section(35 min): Essentially the same routine as the Lower Back Tension, but with two changes. One was the reclined half lotus and the other was something where you sit on your knees, then spread the hips wide, and lean your head forward to the floor. These were very nice poses for my menstrual cramping and this session took away the lingering pain I had.

Other than that, the footage is just sliced from the back pain one, with the same modified down dog, locust, hamstring stretch with strap.

We used a strap, and eye bag in this one, but no blanket was needed.

New Agey music, very gentle, as in the back pain one. You can still hear the ocean and even some birds.

Serenity in Stillness (35 min) - lovely section that really opens the sacrum and relaxes the entire body. There was quite a bit of repeats from the back pain and hip pain segments, including the reclining half lotus, but it all came together well. The supported backbend at the end requires a yoga brick. I really enjoyed this pose. New Agey music with a vaguely Hawaiian theme.

So many choices in this great DVD - it will be hard to get to them all! It’s all all presented in a lovely beach setting and accompanied by Barbara’s soothing, healing voice.

Highly recommended for yoga practitioners to use (as needed) for various physical/mental ailments. There are also a few AM/PM type routines in this disc, as a bonus for anyone wishing to add this DVD to their regular yoga rotation.

Yoga for Stress Relief (With The Dalai Lama)

I have been using my Yoga in Bed book here and there, and thought I might try it as a ’session’ today.

THE AM SECTION

The AM routine took about 45 minutes to do, but I would imagine it would be shorter or longer to do the whole thing depending on how long you held each pose, how slowly/quickly you breathe and move through things, etc.

About half of the poses offered in the book used up the entire bed, so my poor dog had to keep moving around. I imagine sharing a bed with a sleeping human would entail only doing some of these poses.

The only props needed are bed pillows, which worked fine. I had to shove all the blankets off the bed to really be able to get good stretches in. Of course, I could have *made* the bed instead, but I felt lazy.

I thought the yoga poses themselves were super relaxing. Almost too relaxing. I was expecting a few of the energizing poses you can actually DO in bed, like the cobras and down dogs, but the poses offered were honestly just prep poses and stretching. I added a of my own few boats, bows and locusts just to keep things interesting. For the AM routine, this could have been a tad more stimulating.

THE PM SECTION

The PM poses were just what I was hoping for - relaxing, a way to ease out the kinks of the day and release the stress. I found doing the entire routine took about 25 minutes. I particularly like the massaging the Mind and Rub the Slate Clean techniques.

There is a Savasana at the end called the Chill Out Meditation. I like this one - this is rather how I end up doing the meditation part (to be loving and gentle with your puppy-like mind). And if this section results in sleep, that is just fine. This IS a sleepytime routine, after all.

The book finishes with some information on yogic sleeping (lucid dreaming, prophetic dreaming). This part is really just a blurb - there is nothing here to instruct the reader on these techniques. It’s more of an “here are some things you might want to look into” bit.

The last few pages of the book describe how to create a sacred sleep space (how to set the mood, how to make good sleep a priority) to help ease you into restful slumber. A few resources for insomnia/sleep disorders are listed.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

Overall I like this book and find it very handy. I like the way the spiral binding folds out flat. I like the thick, smooth pages, and the large, bright, happy pictures.

I also like the soothing text that describes the poses as “sweet” and “delicious,” reminding me just how luxurious yoga is supposed to feel.

I think the AM part is a little underwhelming for experienced beginner yogis and above. I would have liked to see some harder bed poses here. However, absolute yoga novices will not be intimidated to begin yoga right here, with this pleasant little book.

The PM section is appropriate and lovely. I was able to actually do all these poses with DH lying in bed next to me, which was a plus.

I did find that this book was a LIFESAVER for me when I was sick. I recently had a several week illness that really took me out. I was able to use and enjoy this book the entire time to keep up with my yoga practice. There is nothing challenging here and all the poses really are designed to gently stretch and relax the body. I imagine this book would be really very helpful to people on bed rest or with some forms of disability.

Recommended on various levels with the understanding that these are all super easy poses.

Yoga In Bed

This book is really the complete text on how to use yoga for almost any major ailment. The author, MD Dr. McCall (also the medical editor for Yoga Journal), writes from a scientific perspective. He quotes and footnotes his volume extensively, and merges science with ancient wisdom in 568 pages.

The book opens with an overview of what yoga is and is not, discusses briefly the various forms you can follow (ashtanga, iyengar, etc), and moves quickly into the physical and mental ailments yoga has been observed to help.

Yoga models of various body types illustrate the most helpful poses for anxiety, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, IBS, MS, HIV, headaches, stress, depression, menopause, back aches, cancer, insomnia, infertility, high blood pressure, chronic fatigue, carpal tunnel, fibromyalgia, arthritis and asthma.

Contraindications for each condition are provided, along with research notes, holistic approaches to treatment and tons of yoga exercise options (with black and white photos).

Quotes and passages from such well-known yoga instructors as Rodney Yee and Patricia Walden are incorporated into each section as well.

An important chapter in the back cautions practicing yogis to avoid new injuries through incorrect postural alignment and overeager stretching.

I appreciated reading the author’s summary at the end about how our society could benefit from incorporating yoga therapy into mainstream medicine. I agree we should be teaching yoga in schools, to the aged in nursing homes, to the chronically ill, and in community centers everywhere. He suggests doctors and nurses themselves should practice yoga, both to lessen the stress in their professions, and also to be able to see first-hand the health benefits of yoga as both preventative and restorative medicine.

Overall, this isn’t a sit-down-and-read book, although flipping through it is enjoyable. It’s a fantastic reference source to keep in your yoga or medical library. Anyone can benefit from this information - we all get headaches, back aches, stress and anxiety. We all all know people with asthma or incipient heart disease who might be helped by sharing this information.

Highly recommended!

Yoga as Medicine: The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing

I find this dark plum-colored mat attractive, sticky and a stable source for downward dog poses, upward bow variations, shoulder stands and everything else. It’s long enough for me to keep my entire body on the mat when lying down (I’m 5′4). It’s a good, basic product. The mat didn’t even have a strong “new mat” smell when freshly opened, which was a plus.

My husband uses the mat for more conventional workouts - as a base for crunches and push ups. We’ve even used it for tai chi and qi gong.

At a good price point, this product’s usefulness lies in between a light traveling yoga mat and a thick plush one. I found it too big to fold into my suitcase when I took a flight (actually, it could have been squished down to fit, but took up more room than I had to spare). So I do have to travel without a mat when I fly.

On the other hand, the mat is on the thin side when using over a bare, non-carpeted flooring. I have tried some of my friends’ thicker mats, and those are much more comfortable on the heels of the hands in sideways planks and frequent knee-bearing transitions.

In a way, it might be better to have two mats - one light, thin one for traveling, and one thick, plush one for home use. I have actually ordered a second mat for my husband that I plan to use when he is not, doubling up on the mats for extra cushy comfort.

However, if you are limited in space or budget, or otherwise only need one good fitness/yoga mat, this mat is a solid choice.

Recommended.

Valeo Yoga and Pilates Mat (Purple)

This was an interesting DVD. I started doing yoga a few months back but hadn’t experienced Kundalini at all.

Apparently, if this DVD is indicative of typical Kundalini practice, the form is all about breathing fast and repeating small movements for long periods of time.

The workout is physically exhausting, even though there are no actual ‘yoga’-type poses. The routine is, you mostly sit there moving your arms, breathing in and out very fast. Or moving your legs while breathing really fast. Or sitting still and breathing really fast. I was dripping sweat, but barely moving.

The whole routine was rather like tightly controlled aerobics class. With really involved chanting.

There were many meditations interspersed between the moves, which I found different than I was used to - I am used to the savasana being at the end. This is a completely different kind of yoga.

It’s possible that this kind of yoga is extremely satisfying to some people, but I don’t think this is the kind I would do again. At least not at this time - maybe my tastes will move into that direction later in my practice.

I think the chanting parts would be better if the words were left on the screen more than a moment. It was very hard to remember what I was supposed to be saying.

The AM and PM sections were pretty similar in my estimation. I really have no idea what made either one a morning or night-time set. Each part is about a half hour, but one can do the whole disc in 90 minutes (including the intro, breathing instruction, warm-up and meditations).

The menu offers a choice of playing the entire DVD or pieces at a time. There is a brief intro to the various breathing techniques (slow breathing and Breath of Fire) and an short warm-up to the AM or PM parts.

Instructor Ana Brett sits on a small round white rug in a white room. It’s kind of neat that you can’t see the walls - it looks like she is on a magic carpet floating in an ethereal plane. She has her eyes closed during most of the routine and we only hear her voice during the introduction to breathing and during the chanting/singing.

We don’t see the other instructor, Ravi Singh, at all but hear his voice during the routines. His voice is low and soothing. During each set, he talks about how the poses are helping different organs and bodily systems.

Although this style of yoga is not to my preference, I did get a fantastic workout and know my core will be sore tomorrow.

Overall, the DVD is probably not for people seeking a typical yoga experience. It might be very well-done as far as Kundalini goes, but it’s so not what I was expecting during my beginner’s yogic learning curve.

A good, alternative yoga program with lots of chanting for Kundalini yogis or fitness fans open to experimenting.

AM/PM Yoga - w/Ravi Singh & Ana Brett

This is a 51 minute yoga program taking place on a lovely ocean cliff surrounded by colorful flowers.

Elena Browers has a gentle, soothing voice. I appreciate that she reminds us how to hold our gaze, breathe and even “slightly smile” (this becomes a thing - it’s kinda cute). The music is very soft and New Age sounding.

The main menu has two choices - Play and Chapters. The submenu for Chapters has these parts:

Breathing and Warmup
Standing Poses/Sun Salutes
Twists/Hip Openers
Backbends
Forward Bends/Stretch

So one can certainly do the the disc in sections, but it’s plain this is intended as an entire workout.

The postures are straightforward enough, but I admit being surprised the DVD is marketed for beginners. I have a hard time imagining a yoga novice would be able to follow along. One is expected to know what many of the postures are without discussion, and things move strongly and quickly. The only real rests are downward dogs until the backbending section (which finally provides a few crocodiles).

While Elena shows a mastery of graceful pose transitions, the choice of pigeon pose and the forward half split are odd beginner choices. Someone who is not very strong will need to create rests a few times, even though none of the poses are complicated. A strong, more advanced beginner will enjoy this DVD, however. I will add this to my rotation for a good basic yoga conditioning.

Recommended for advanced yoga beginners or possibly strong fitness buffs interesting in seeing what yoga is about.

Element: Yoga for Beginners

This small, goofy-looking hardcover yoga book is actually quite nifty. It takes you across a full workday of ideas to incorporate yoga and peaceful actions to your schedule.

Starting with arising, there are a few pajama asanas. Nothing that absolute yoga novices can’t do - there are some stretches forward in bed, followed by an extremely modified sun salute (no planks, chatarungas or cobras, just lunge, cat/cow and downdog). After recommending breakfast smoothie options, the author has you doing head rolls during the commute.

The “in-office” part is the meat of the book, with useful keyboard finger stretches, proper sitting postures, and a great assortment of easy chair stretches one can do the entire day. I keep this book propped open at my desk to this section to remind me to do the arm pulls, reaching hands and open chest stretches.

More from the office section: there are self-massages, eye strain solutions and headache rubs, and some “closed door” poses like tree pose, rag doll and warrior. Although if you are brave and work in a cubicle or bull pen, you might want to just do these poses where you can be seen and not worry about it.

The lunchtime section recommends a few floor poses, if you can find a place to be alone. The break section discusses brisks walks and suggests subtle stretches you can do in the elevator (one stretch is recommended for crowded elevators and one for when you have it all to yourself), copy room and in any office doorway.

A restorative desk posture and meditation are offered for the end of your workday, followed by simple releases and couch potato postures for once you get back home.

My overall impression is this book has more solid little tricks for real life than I expected from just browsing through it. There are real useful nuggets in there! The line drawings are a little hokey but I can overlook that.

I’d get this book as a neat gift for anyone with a frazzled work life, and I use it myself each day as a reminder to add simple stretches and mindfulness to my most mundane desk activities.

Office Yoga: Simple Stretches for Busy People

I really am enjoying this book and am so glad I bought it. It’s like a yoga textbook! And I love textbooks. I read through it once and am now going through it again, with my highlighter, to mark the things I find helpful and useful at a glance.

It has helpful info on living a yoga lifestyle, some Buddhist basics, useful meditation info, and very important chapters on counterposes and sequencing. Beginners would do well to absorb these areas as they develop their practice.

It’s not the best “pose” book, but I suspect this is really an adjunct to that in any case. Beginners should take classes, find some basic yoga DVDs and look for a good color picture book with pose names and arrows to what your body is doing in a pose. Then one can use this book on the side for the wealth of basics in the background, midground and foreground of yoga.

Yogis who already have a practice and know about the Eight-Limbed Path will not find this book useful in any way. For novices and early beginners, it’s a great place to start!

Yoga for Dummies

Simply Yoga is a great intro book for yoga novices. Large color pics of the instructor concentrate on one pose or stretch on each two page spread. This is very helpful for newbies - you can flip though it to memorize the names of the poses.

So with this book, when a yoga beginner’s DVD says to enter Child’s Pose or Cobra Pose, they can go right to it without having to crane their necks up to the TV - they can just look down at the pose in the book.

The book also points out where one should be breathing in each part of the step. There are two pages of Corpse Pose that offer three different breathing techniques.

Recommended for newbies and early beginners to yoga postures.

Simply Yoga

Yoga Body, Buddha Mind