Search - YOGA FOR RADIANT HEALTH & WELL BEING on DVD

VHS version was called "Yoga At Home w/Yogi Hari - Beginners

Lena, LMT | Nassau, NY | 08/20/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD looks to be from a VHS several years before his "Samphoorna Hatha Yoga: Level 1" since here he is only a little bald & tiny bit of gray hair where the other he's very bald & much more gray hair.
There is no menu, it starts with old graphic text about being careful. The video shows him on an old wooden dock, but you can only see exotic beautiful plants around him. The video looks like decent home video. The camera does zoom in/out as needed & changes angle. The sound is fine & he does instruction via voice over. The music is always a slow, beautiful flute. The pace of this video overall is verrrry slow & very relaxed like you have all the time in the world. He tells you the English & Sanskrit name of all the poses & how they benefit the body & it's organs except for the sun breathing/salutations.
Breathing/Relax - 8 min - him in corpse pose telling you how to relax & to be aware of your body. There is more basic text once in a while about loose clothing, that this is a beginners tape, & to go for a more instructional if you need more details on the poses, etc. He also chants OM 3x long & relaxed while sitting. He teaches paranayama/breathing is the count of 3 slow.
Sun salutations - 9 min - he does them very fast from the get-go like power yoga pose, slow single breathe for each pose/movement. He's mountain pose backbends are amazing, he goes from mountain, standing fwd bend, lunge, plank, down to knees to upward facing dog, downward facing dog, lunge, standing fwd bend & back to mountain 5x. He gives only breath teaching & pose name, no other details. You rest & feel body as standing & then repeat sun salutations 2x more. Lay down & relax.
Strengthening - 8 min - raise single leg w/o use of arms to stretch fast several times & then hold pose w/ankle rotations/turns, then knee to chest stretches, double leg lifts/lowers, knee to chest stretch, rocking on spine & rest for 2 min.
Inversions - 5 min - shoulder stand sustained w/1 leg lowered to head & plow for 3 min w/few second break in between. Rest for 1 full minute, fish folding for about a min & rest for a minute.
Spinal Stretch - 10 min - sitting fwd bend to both straight legs several times for a second & then sustained for a full minute. Cobra is next for a full minute with a break in between & full 2 min rest. Next is locust 1 leg at a time then both (he can go VERY high) for 2 min, then bow for a min.
Sitting Spinal Twists - 7 min - first sitting kind to the side of your thighs, bend sideways, then basic spinal twists almost all yoga classes do, rest in a deep squat, then crow (very advanced), triangle (his looks like a basic standing side stretch *though his are deep* legs are facing fwd, legs not far apart, but felt good just the same) & standing fwd bend.
Rest/Meditation - 11 min - corpse pose & he tells you to tense & relax body parts & to focus your thoughts.

I found this video relaxing after doing the sun salutations, at first I was bored with the pace. I didn't feel energized or spiritually relaxed other then nicely stretched out that any decent yoga dvd could give. I do like slow pace yoga videos with the right teachers. I was also not happy that he didn't give any teaching of doing the poses better, though happy he does tell you how your body benefits from the poses. He is not woo-woo as some very logical "I only do yoga to burn calories & not get arthritis" would be afraid of. He is to the point in his speaking. I still like his "Sampoorna Hatha Yoga at Home With Yogi Hari: Level 1" more which I wrote a quick review of.
Because of the lack of teaching, I wouldn't really recommend this as a 1st yoga video unless you were very aware of your body & know how far to go & when to back off.
Take off 1-2 stars if you don't like slow pace or minimal instruction.

yogihari com for more information about him & his products"