Gentle Yoga: 7 Practices for Your Day

This DVD was on my Wish List for a long time, as it got such great reviews from VFers as well as on Amazon. I'm a yoga teacher, and I like to have routines of various lengths for my home practice. Also, I prefer slower, more gentle yoga, especially because I teach mainly beginners. I saw that my library system had this DVD, so I was glad for the opportunity to test it out before buying.

As the subtitle suggests, this DVD has seven different yoga routines. All feature instructor Jane Adams teaching alone via voiceover in various outdoor settings. The routines require a yoga mat, and some require additional props, including a blanket, strap, and chair. Adams begins the DVD with a short "Introduction and Guidelines" section in which she offers tips for practice. The rest of the Menu Main appears as follows:

->Lying Full Body Practice - 14 Minutes

->Morning Energy Practice - 18 Minutes

->Desk and Computer Work Relief - 19 Minutes

->Improving Balance - 22 Minutes***

->Standing Poses, Flow and Traditional - 22 Minutes***

->Core Strength and Flexibility - 34 Minutes***

->Evening Relaxing Practice - 29 Minutes

->Relaxation - 8 Minutes

*Credits

***Adams terms these "stronger" practices in her introduction.

I have provided an overview of each practice segment below.

LYING FULL BODY PRACTICE

This entire routine is performed lying on the back, so it is fairly accessible, although there is some core work that offers a bit of a challenge. The moves include alternate knee ins, windshield wipers, arm/shoulder stretches, single leg lowers, flowing twist, side leg lifts, pelvic tilts, knee hovers, flowing bridge, open v-legs flow, reclining leg stretch, reclined bound angle, and a brief rest to finish.

MORNING ENERGY PRACTICE

This section does not use any props, and it is done entirely standing. Adams starts standing for a breath focus. She moves into a standing twist, alternating heel raises, chair flow, backstroke arms, hip circles, and heel lifts. Adams continues with standing cat/cow, upward salute/rag doll, flowing goddess squat, lateral stretch, leg lifts front/back and side-to-side, and concludes with rag doll with intention setting.

DESK AND COMPUTER WORK RELIEF

Being someone who commutes a total of 90 minutes/day and who has a mostly seated job, I had high hopes for this practice. Adams starts seated with a jaw and temple massage followed by shoulder rolls. Coming to standing, she performs circle breaths, goal post arms, standing side bend, and finger/wrist stretches. Adams returns to seated for a for a twist, Figure 4 forward bend (aka head-to-knee pose), backbend, and wide-legged seated forward bend. She then stands again for a heel to glutes stretch, warrior 1 variation, downward dog with hands on a chair, and half standing forward bend with hands on the chair. She concludes seated. This was a nice practice, but it didn't have as much neck/shoulder release as I would like--personally, that is my main area that gets tight from too much sitting.

IMPROVING BALANCE

This section uses an optional chair, although Adams does not use the chair for the majority of the routine. She starts in mountain pose, shifting forward/back. She shifts the feet side to side, forward/back, and lifts one foot for ankle circles. This is followed by slow balance (high-knee) walks. Next, balance one leg front/side/back, then flow; remain in one leg balance for internal/external rotation, and then a standing twist on the toes. Adams staggers her feet for rocking and twisting. She uses a chair for one leg hip circles, knee opens, and both tree and dancer's poses. Removing the chair, Adams concludes with eagle pose, modified warrior 3, and "pretending to put on socks." Although this practice was pretty basic, I did like it, as it had a lot of variety and it gave me ideas to incorporate into my yoga teaching.

STANDING POSES, FLOW AND TRADITIONAL

This routine also uses a chair. Adams opens with mountain, upward salute, a chair sequence, goddess pose with flow, and chair/twist/forward bend sequence. Adams uses the chair for two sequences: 1) forward bend, warrior 1 variation, downward dog, plank, and 2) forward bend, pyramid, downward dog, plank. Without the chair, Adams performs warrior 2, triangle, and wide-legged forward bend to finish.

CORE STRENGTH AND FLEXIBILITY

Adams uses a blanket in this segment. She starts on all-fours for cat/cow with variations, then continues seated for staff pose with twist, heart opener, boat, cobbler's pose, and seated wide-legged pose with a "stir" movement. Coming to prone (lying face-down), Adams performs low cobra, locust, child's pose, high cobra, forearm plank, and crocodile pose. A lunge series follows, including low lunge with twist, lizard pose, and downward dog, finishing with resting in child's pose. Coming to tall knees, Adams does a half-camel with a twist. Adams concludes this practice lying on her back for bridge with one-leg variations, leg lowers, reclined bound angle with a pelvic tilt, pelvic massage, and a brief relaxation. This was both the longest and probably the most challenging routine.

EVENING RELAXING PRACTICE

This last routine uses a chair, a strap, and a blanket. Adams begins using the chair for a downward dog variation, wide-legged forward bend, and one-legged forward bend (foot on chair). Seated on the chair, she performs a twist, shoulder rolls, cat pose, eagle arms, a neck stretch series, and wide-legged seated forward bend. She then comes to seated on the mat for head-to-knee pose, wide-legged seated forward bend, and cobbler's pose with forward bend. She finishes the practice lying, using a strap for a hamstring stretch and then continuing with reclined Figure 4 stretch, a one-leg twist, wind relieving pose, and a very brief relaxation (Adams states "say as long as you like").

RELAXATION

For this separately chaptered relaxation, Adams offers a blanket under the knees as an option. She cues through about the first half of the practice and then allows silence (with music) for the second half.

Overall, these practices were generally well done and include mirrored cueing by Adams. The routines would be fairly accessible to most, although I would not recommend the DVD for brand-new beginners. One of the main reasons for this is that she suggests NO modifications, even for more challenging moves such as eagle arms. In the end, trying this DVD made me decide NOT to buy it. The practices were nice enough, but not at all new or different from what I already own or even what is available for free online.