Yoga Journal's Yoga for Beginners with Patricia Walden

This is very helpful because in many of the other videos in the Yoga Journal series, the pace is much faster and you don't have the level of detail in the instruction given in "Yoga for Beginners".

Once you have the basics down its much easier to follow videos such as "Yoga for Strength" and "Yoga Remedies..." which move at a much faster pace and incorporate vinyasa(which is a series of poses in succession). Still, even when you've worked with those tapes for a while, it's nice to be able to go back to the Yoga for beginners tape from time to time for that extra, more detailed and slower instruction.

One more thing that I particularly like is that Patricia Walden does the poses in a "mirror image" to you so you can move directly with her instead of having to "transpose" the poses (asanas) to the opposite side. That eliminates a lot of confusion and makes it easier to relax into the practice instead of trying to reverse everything in your mind.

I have turned many people on to this video tape as a way to get started in Yoga and recommend it highly!


A Solid Beginning   January 6, 2003
25 out of 25 found this review helpful

Patricia Walden's Beginners tape is a great instructional video on Iyengar yoga fundamentals. I took Iyengar Yoga in college as an elective, but I didn't like it and could't wait for the classes to end because they were painfully slow. Cutting yoga classes brought my GPA down, but I just couldn't bear holding the poses for infinity when I had jobs, sleep, exams, books, and lectures waiting for me.

I knew enough from taking ballet and yoga classes recreationlly that I had to do body work outside of the classes to progress especially as I age. I later bought this tape impulsively in a video store when I was a young working professional to keep my body moving and to relieve bodily tension without realizing that it was an Iyengar yoga tape.

Patricia Walden and this tape inspired me to practice yoga. She is very graceful and her instructions encouraging. In the beginning the tape might feel exceptionally slow and unusually long, but Patricia's slow calming voice and the noninvasive background music forced me to slow down and to concentrate on my alignment and poses. The detailed instructions on the poses taught me to become aware of my body and to stretch properly. The slowness that I resented in my younger days has become a teaching tool to develop my bodily awareness. I can't order flexibility on demand. My muscles (and mind) need time and practice to learn to relax.

I was not progressing much in the first few years of doing this tape because I was doing the tape only once or twice per week or when I got motivated. Although I always felt stretched out and refreshed on day 1, I also felt sore and stiff enough the next day that I could not do the same poses with the same flexibility as on day one and would rest my body instead. My practice would then invariably lose momentum and became sporatic. It's difficult to be disciplined, but I suggest that you push through the stiffness gently and discipline yourself to practice yoga DAILY in order to see any noticeable changes in flexibility. This tape teaches the fundamentals of the static poses and therefore does not overwhelm a newcommer so one can really learn the basics. Because this tape helped relieved my physical tension, I gave this Beginners tape as a gift many times to help someone relieve bodily tension or start practicing yoga.

I have since then moved on and now use mostly Patricia Walden's Flexibility tape and other Yoga Journal tapes. I like her instructional tapes for two reasons. First, she speaks only to teach yoga and so I can turn inward to learn about my body and not be distracted and turn outward to focus on the music or an instructor's joke, personality, or ability to motivate. Now when I am doing vinyasa, i.e. moving from one pose to another, or doing other forms of yoga to challenge my body and mind, I can appreciate the fundamentals I learned from holding these static poses in this beginners tape. The basics that I learned from this tape keep me in proper form, help me move from one pose to another more manageably and in a more controlled manner, and I continue to practice awareness in motion. Secondly, her Beginners and Flexibility tapes tend to have longer holding time (but still shorter in duration than those held in my college yoga class) which allows me enough time to practice concentration and to relax deeper into a pose to develop flexibility. My flexibility has improved with a regular practice and perhaps I am ready for a teacher.

At any rate, it's a good idea to have a collection of differnt instructional tapes with different teachers to meet your various bodily and emotional needs, but the Beginners tape (and Patricia Walden's Flexibility tape) covers how to come in and out of poses safely and is great for someone who's new to yoga, wants to relieve bodily and emotional tensions, and to develop grace and flexibility. 75-min tape covers: Simple Sitting pose, Mountain pose, Tiangle pose, Side Stretch pose, Standing Forward Bends, Proud Warrior, Extended Leg Pose, Downward-facing Dog,Staff, Sitting Forward Bend, Cobbler's pose, Supported Shoulderstand, and my favorite: Relaxation pose. Beginners or experienced yoga practitioners can practice these basic poses in the Beginners tape at their desired intensity, but experienced yoga practioner may want to start with her Flexiility tape which has added poses and routines and her unmistakenable trademark - teaching yoga with precision and grace.


Perfect Beginner's Yoga video   September 20, 2000
24 out of 24 found this review helpful

I am 32, just started yoga for the first time about 6 months ago, post-partum. I am not a very flexible person either. But this video was perfect for me. Patricia Walden demonstrates the poses very slowly and carefully (so there's no risk of injury) and each pose is repeated throughout. Now I've been able to tackle some of the other yoga videos, but I always come back to this tape to stay correct with the postures. I feel better every time I do this tape, and it's challenging. I can literally feel my circulation increasing as I do it.