BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Yoga Element Yoga for Beginners DVD

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.

That's an awesome review Jill and I'm sure the beginners out there will really thank you for the warnings!!

What a great review Jill. I find that many yoga dvds labeled beginning to be too challenging, especially for more mature adults or those who are not in top physical shape. I think advanced yoga teachers may have forgotten what it was like to be a beginner!