Total Yoga [VHS]

Keep going back to it
I've had it for years & keep returning to it. Good instruction, not too hard (intro/interm level) & after 30 minutes I can stop it & feel peaceful & stretched for my day.

I finally found it!
I've been doing yoga for about 11 years, and this was one of my first tapes. It was challenging at the time, but even when I was doing yoga every day for months, I still found it very rewarding and never boring. This tape and I have been through a lot. I've bought perhaps a half-dozen other yoga videos and never even watched them more than a couple times, always preferring this one. In high school, I let someone borrow it and never saw it again. Luckily, though, I had dubbed an audio recording of it, and could then practice anywhere I could bring a portable stereo. And I did. Through college, and several subsequent moves, I always practiced with that old ratty tape. After being pregnant with my first child, I was ecstatic to find it again, and begin practicing again, but it was too old and crumpled to be used anymore. Unfortunately, it had been ages since I'd seen the original VHS tape, and couldn't remember what it was called or even the names of the people involved. But here it is, after just a short search. (I would have bought another copy years ago if I'd known it was going to be that easy!) It must be a pretty popular item to be so easy to find with a generic 'yoga' search on Yahoo. It's absolutely worth every penny, I wish I had it right now.

Good workout / no breaks!
I've tried so many exercise tapes, including yoga tapes, over the years and this is actually one of the better, less-obnoxious ones. It's a fairly tough workout but is very well-explained throughout, has no goofy music, narration or ugly sets getting in the way. The biggest problem with this - and it was a big one for me - is that the tape goes logically from a less to more strenuous workout but, at 70 minutes total, there is no clear way to break the workout up. Other tapes will maybe put 3 20-minute workouts on one, so that you can do one, two or all three workouts and customize it for yourself. Not the case with this one, and that's a pain. What it means is, if you don't have over an hour to workout, you will have to just stop the tape, interrupting any sort of flow and progression. Frustrating!

good exercise, not for finding centeredness
I have done yoga sporadically over the past few years and found this video slightly jarring. I think it would be perfect for a person who likes arobics or who is adverse to anything "new age-y." The narrator has a very slight Texas accent and moves from position to position in a very matter-of-fact way. I prefer the more mindful approach in Rodney Yee's videos. As an alternative, I would highly recommend Ali McGraw's video which I think is appropriate for a beginner (although some poses will always be challenging), provides good guidance, it is "modern" and very mindful.

VHS worn out completely, had to replace my VCR from overuse!
I had no yoga experience when I picked up this video. I loved it, and within two months was in better shape than I have ever been. I am rarely inspired to exercise, and hardly keen to do a 60 minute routine. However, I loved this so much that I went out and bought some new DVDs of other instructors to vary the pace a bit. I thought, "I'll try that Rodney Yee guy, maybe that other girl that my sister likes." Everything else I have purchased sits on the shelves. I think she's charming, physically inspiring without being disgustingly thin or over the top, and soothing. I love the pace of this video, and have had to re-purchase it (I wore it out!!) and move into her Total Yoga series in order to vary the routines a bit. I cannot recommend this video or instructor strongly enough, although beginners will benefit both from patience and outside instruction.