LITTLE ROCK — Title: Beginning Yoga With Chrissy Carter: Everything You Need to Know to Begin Practicing Yoga.
What’s the goal? To increase strength, flexibility and overall fitness through correct form and breathing techniques while practicing basic yoga poses.
Who’s it for? This video is designed for the beginning yoga student or for those coming back to the practice wanting a refresher course on form and breathing.
Format: The disc is divided into three 20-minute segments, which can be practiced individually or as a whole. Together, the three segments provide a complete yoga practice.
The first segment is designed to transition the practitioner from a hectic day to a calmer place.
Breath is introduced as it relates to basic poses.
The second segment introduces sun salutations and other flow sequences to help energize, detoxify and increase flexibility.
The third section moves on to more challenging poses to build strength.
What’s to like? The setting is idyllic. Carter, dressed in deep magenta and gray yoga apparel, is positioned on a lime green yoga mat in front of a cerulean blue swimming pool.
Gardens filled with flowers, palm trees and the ocean create a beautiful, serene backdrop.
The instructions are clear and concise, and attention is given to sequencing the breath with the movements, which is one thing that separates yoga from other forms of exercise. The Sanskrit names are superimposed on the screen, giving the viewer an introduction to the correct names of the poses.
She shares pearls of wisdom and the advantages of specific poses such as navasana or the boat pose, which strengthens abdominals and hip flexors. “Relax your tongue - your tongue can’t help you here,” she states. “Boat pose is challenging but yoga teaches us that we have to believe it’s possible. Have faith and trust the process.”
The video ends with a brief, guided savasana or final relaxation, and the practitioner is reminded, “You are exactly who and where you need to be right now.”
Distractions? The sounds of a waterfall by the swimming pool are heard throughout the practice along with spalike music. This alone would be fine, but in a beginning yoga video it is necessary for the teacher to explain a lot such as the correct placement of your right foot and alignment of your shoulders. It’s all a bit too noisy to be calming.
Necessary gear: It is said that all you need to practice yoga is the earth, but a yoga mat is a nice addition as would be a swimming pool, palm trees, flowers and the ocean.
Yogini’s credentials: According to Gaiam’s website, Chrissy Carter is a senior teacher, teacher trainer, mentor and anatomy teacher at Yoga Works in New York. She has appeared in Yoga Journal, The New York Times and Whole Living magazine. She travels internationally to lead workshops, retreats and continuing education for students and teachers.
Price: $14.98 Catherine Rodgers has practiced yoga more than 30 years; in 1995, she founded Barefoot Studio in Little Rock, now owned by Breezy Osborne-Wingfield.
ActiveStyle, Pages 23 on 01/14/2013