Product Description

Session 1: Foundation Poses for Strength & Stamina with Natasha Rizopoulos

From the editors of Yoga Journal, Yoga Step-by-Step gives you all the tools you need to build a complete home practice. The session begins with 35 minutes of step-by-step instruction from acclaimed yoga teacher Natasha Rizopoulos. She then leads you through a vigorous 20-minute vinyasa flow sequence that incorporates what you've learned into a workout that builds both strength and stamina. If you are less flexible, modified poses help you build the kind of home practice that's best for you. Practice daily and bring the serenity you experience on the mat into your everyday life.

Features a 35-minute active instructional session, and a 20-minute flowing workout. Poses suitable for beginners and advanced beginners

Exclusively on DVD: Follow along with Natasha or her assistant Jason, who demonstrates modified poses for less flexible people, understand the benefits of each yoga pose with medical commentary by Yoga Journal's medical editor, Timothy McCall, M.D., and learn alignment principles and correct common mistakes with Yoga Chalk Talk™, our exclusive "live drawing board."

Session 1:
Foundation Poses for Strength & Stamina
Learn the standing poses that form the foundation of a complete yoga practice. Get expert instruction on Sun Salutation, a flowing sequence of poses with forward bends and gentle backbends that take you through a full range of motion. And understand how breathwork can help you balance your effort with a calm and quiet mind. First in the Yoga Step-by-Step series, Session 1 is a complete home class that grows with your yoga practice.

Running time: 110 minutes

Other Yoga Step-by-Step titles:
Session 2: Bending & Twisting Poses for Flexibility
Session 3: Balancing Poses for Focus & Energy

If you are new to yoga or are less flexible, this video shows you how to modify some poses using yoga props. To follow along, you'll need two blocks.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #109199 in DVD
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Original language: English

Customer Reviews

Inspired Instruction
Yoga can help you fully relax and prepare for meditation or just feel more relaxed while reading or cooking. Your mind will be cleansed and while the world surges around you in all directions, there will be an inner calm you can carry with you all day.

While this DVD may seem to be for absolute beginners, it seems to be more for students of yoga who want to "begin" their own home practice. Yes, you can follow the instructions if you are an absolute beginner because there are variations if you are just starting yoga. I'd consider myself to be intermediate and the workout on this DVD completely heated my body and was challenging at places.

Natasha Rizopoulos has a beautiful teaching style that allows you to fully experience the body mind connection. She encourages you to experience yoga in order to balance your life. After watching her Yoga demonstration you may start to think of Yoga as an art form and not just an exercise routine. She turns yoga into ballet and her upper body strength is astounding.

This DVD has interesting menu options. There are really two main parts:

A 35 minute Instruction Session - You explore the postures in depth
20 minutes of uninterrupted flowing practice

You can follow the Instruction Menu, Practice Menu, go straight to the Yoga Chalk Talk (a great way to explore the poses) or Medical Commentary. The Practice menu has four sections:

Begin Practice (Different from Begin Instruction)
Follow Jason - This is an excellent option if you want to use props like blocks.
Practice with Medical Commentary - A discussion of the nervous systems of the body and why stress hormones can affect your immune system.
Practice without Music

If you are completely new to Yoga, you might want to start with the "Begin Instruction" for the first few days (so your wrists get used to the poses) and then move on to the Begin Practice or practice along with the Chalk Talk to master the poses.

Natasha Rizopoulos teaches you about ujjayi breathing, then teaches you how to move skillfully into downward-facing dog, cobra, upward-facing dog, simple cross-legged pose, chair pose, plank, warrior I, warrior II and extended (right) angle pose.

This is the first DVD in a series of three high-quality yoga packages. You will need blocks and a mat for the first practice session. The orange mats, rich wood furniture, lamps, sage walls, sun filtering through lavender shades and a beautiful wood floor make this a beautiful and inspiring space in which to develop your own home practice.

I can highly recommend this DVD and the entire Yoga Journal's Yoga Step By Step series to beginners (if they follow the initial modifications) and intermediate students (if they want a flowing practice session to warm and energize their bodies). Advanced students may enjoy this as a refresher course. Even after years of yoga practice, it is exciting to find out there is so much more to learn. This is a must-have series for
anyone who is interested in yoga.

~The Rebecca Review

Too Much Information
Though I did yoga briefly years ago, I've forgotten most of what I learned then from Richard Hittleman. Today, I exercise regularly, but find myself physically inflexible and uncoordinated. I thought yoga would help, and I've been working with DVDs for a while. While I think the instructional material in this DVD is very complete, the routine it teaches is way too hard for me. The flowing workout is hard to keep up with, and some of the combinations are extremely challenging. It's often tough to perform the combinations and watch the screen to see what's next. The pace of the instruction is very brisk. I often find myself rewinding review sections of the presentation. In addition, Natasha Rizopoulos uses the Sanscrit and English names for poses interchangeably, and I have trouble knowing what she's talking about. In general, this video presents more information than a beginner can reasonably absorb quickly, and I don't think it is a good first choice for a beginner.

Great Video!!!!!
I love this video and I love the entire series.. Great instructor,great instruction, it takes the time to teach you each move, what the name means, little tips about the poses and how not to do each pose.. if you have never done yoga this is a great video.