Yar, you be here: A.M. and P.M. Yoga for Beginners > Customer Reviews

A.M. and P.M. Yoga for Beginners Customer Reviews (40 - 42 of 80 Reviews)

Rodney has encountered a new fan
The last time I had done yoga was about ten years ago so I decided to pick it back up with Rodney Lee due to a number of recommendations. This DVD contains two excellent yoga practices which are perfect for virtually all levels of yoga practitioners, particularly advanced beginners to intermediates and it was perfect for me. Although both practices are labeled as being 20 minutes long, the actual time varies a bit: AM Yoga has a 4-minute breathing exercise followed by a 12-minute yoga program, and PM Yoga is approximately 24 minutes. Both of these programs are probably doable to those new to yoga, they do assume some prior familiarity with the poses (total yoga newbies will find Yoga Journal's Yoga Practice for Beginners to be an excellent place to start).This disc has beautiful scenery and music which is a plus.

The AM Yoga provides a practice so gentle that I've frequently performed it upon first waking up and while still in my pajamas. He also starts with lying down relaxation, which I think is not necessary in the morning (I catch myself falling back to sleep). The simple breathing exercise helps your mind to focus, and then the basic twists and other poses which follow help your body to awaken. Rodney Yee is an excellent instructor who provides flawless cuing and who has an extremely calm, soothing voice--ideal for anyone who is not a morning person! PM Yoga is a very nice practice for winding down, relaxing, and stretching. It also begins with a short focus on breathing, encouraging you to turn your attention inward "where it's quiet." The practice moves from a seated to a kneeling position and also includes traditional standing poses such as a warrior and lunges. This is a great end-of-day workout or a quick practice to fit in anytime you need to relax. Patricia Walden is also a very good instructor, but her cuing is not quite as accurate as Rodney's.

Overall, I highly recommended this DVD as an essential component of your yoga home practice collection.


Patricia is completely out of touch with beginners
I am a true beginner - I have never done yoga before. I am also quite inflexible. I've been using this DVD for a few weeks now. I quite enjoy the AM yoga, but the PM yoga stinks. Even after a few weeks, with some additional in-the-moment tips and pointers from people more experienced with yoga, I still can barely follow Patricia's routine. She races through each pose, and even her concessions for less flexible people are unattainable for me. Who is she kidding that I can sit on the floor, put my legs out in front of me and put my head on my shins?!?! If I could do that, I wouldn't be watching beginner's yoga. I enjoy the opportunity to try to increase my flexibility - don't get me wrong - and for this reason alone, I keep trying to follow her along. But her other poses - and the transitions between the poses - are just too hard for a true beginner to follow and execute. This session is, in my opinion, really for an intermediate audience. At the end of her routine, I am wound up and stressed because I have been confused and frustrated throughout.

The AM session is much better. The poses are easier and yet accomplish the task of helping me to transition out of sleep and into a productive day. Rodney's instructions are clear, well-paced, and complete (for example, whenever Rodney tells you to inhale, he tells you to exhale a few seconds later. If you try to follow Patricia's breathing instructions, however, you would end up blue and in the hospital).

Considering that the only real value I get out of this DVD is the 20-minute morning session, I cannot rate this DVD higher than 2 stars.

Great AM yoga, but.....
I have been practicing yoga for several years and am probably somewhere between intermediate and advanced in my practice considering where I will probably end my journey. I have a limited amount of time in the morning before going to work, but I wanted to do some yoga before starting the day and find the AM practice to be just the ticket. I tend to wake every day with a bit of stiffness in my lower back (despite my Tempurpedic mattress). Rodney gets me warmed up and physically and spiritually balanced every morning. Without this practice I would probably be experiencing some lower back problems from time to time, as I did before starting AM yoga.

I do find one deficiency with the practice, however. Since this DVD is targeted towards the beginner, I feel that a lot more emphasis should be placed on proper breathing, that being the foundation of any practice. Rodney does mention breathing several times during the practice, but does not give it the importance it should have, IMHO. I get a lot more out of my AM yoga, when I focus on my breath along with the asanas.

I have done the PM practice a few times, like it, but agree with some other reviewers that it is probably more of an advanced beginner practice rather than a real beginner practice, if that makes sense.

I'd give this DVD 4.5 stars if that was possible, and recommend this DVD particularly for those who wake up with lower back stiffness.

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