Which is the best yoga DVD for beginners?
Check out these amazing options..you’ll love them!
Getting started on your first yoga pose or even considering yoga as your choice of exercise can be daunting.
Yoga has a certain outlook that is a bit stereotypical. With its zen oriented ideologies you might not even consider it as a workout option.
Well let’s hope I can change your mind…
Hi there! My name is Abby and when I was starting out with my yoga experience I was mostly looking for a way to ease my guilt.
That probably sounds like the beginning of a murder confession, but I promise you i haven’t broken any laws.
My guilt was based on the weight I’d put on after having my second kid.
I’d like to tell you that I noticed the baby fat wasn’t going away and rushed to diet, but that would be a lie.
I actually sought comfort in food, it became a crutch.
In no time I’d gained another 100 pounds, had no husband and couldn’t do everyday chore without feeling exhausted every five minutes.
So to ease the guilt of potentially ruining my marriage (at the time I was still blaming myself for being fat) I chose yoga as my workout plan.
I wasn’t willing to do “actual exercise” or diet, so I chose something that looked easy to do.
Not the best reasons, I know, but I really wasn’t invested (until I was).
I bought a whole load of DVDs, a mat and cleared a spot in my living room for a session.
I thought I was prepared for everything, except the whooping yoga gave me.
What is yoga?
Yoga is basically a system of stretching and positional exercise derived from a Hindu meditation practice.
You can use is as a purely physical activity or can add the breathing exercises to incorporate it with mediation.
Its main goal is to promote good health, fitness and a peace of mind. Both your emotional and physical well-being are an intricate part of yoga.
After I did the first session with a DVD (I only lasted twenty minutes) I was so beat I just wanted to crawl into bed and never come back.
But the next day, as sour as I was (and trust me I was), I felt a good amount of accomplishment.
So that feeling of kept me going back for more and maybe I didn’t want to admit I’d been bested by something that looked “so easy”.
Some DVDs were better and easier to work with than others, so I made a list of what I found really worked.
So let’s look at some of the best yoga workout DVDs for beginners.
Top 5 Yoga DVDs For Beginners
#1 Yoga Burn
One of the reasons I picked Yoga Burn as the best of the five is because its pro women. Its content is great too, but the fact that it’s packaged to benefit women is a big plus.
Yoga Burn is a three phased approach to natural healthy weight loss.
It addresses the needs and challenges every woman faces when it comes to losing weight, shaping their body and feeling confident.
Phase one is packaged to ease your beginner muscles into yoga. Its created to give you a solid yoga foundation in four weeks while ensuring you have fun.
My baby was just six months when I tried Yoga Burn.
I used their specialized bonus videos for pregnant women to work out when I had him strapped to my front.
It gave me the chance to do my yoga and rock him to sleep while his extra weight added some spice to my workout.
Its instructors give clear and precise instructions that enable you to follow the posses without too much difficulty.
You will learn to execute proper forms, which will make your muscles ready to shift into more challenging posses.
Each video is 45 minutes long and are laid out to keep your body and mind guessing to avoid hitting a plateau.
In turn your body is forced to change and adapt into a shapely feminine body.
Yoga Burn is definitely one of the best yoga DVDs available.
#2 Shapeshifter Yoga
Shapeshifter Yoga is all about doing the right yoga moves to target specific areas of your body.
Its focused on sculpting your muscles and helping you burn more fat. You can tell that a lot of scientific research has gone into the instructors poses.
They guide you through each pose while explaining how that particular exercise is helping your physique.
If you’re looking to tone your butt, arms and thighs then Shapeshfter will work great for you.
The instructor helps you focus on your workout while giving you the right cues for breathing.
It adds breathing exercises so seamlessly you don’t feel awkward while doing it. It even comes with a bonus guide to help you cope with stress when you can’t do yoga.
At each step you’re made aware of just how different the pose makes you feel compared to before.
When I was following the instructor I felt more aware of my body and appreciated the work I was doing.
By the end of it I felt happier with how I looked making this my second favorite DVD.
It comes in both videos and written material to give you time to look through the poses before you start the video.
Everything is explained with safe precautions given as some caution needs to be taken when doing yoga.
The videos run multiple guided posses one after the other for more than an hour.
With the guidance of the instructor you can pick the parts that work for you and do them or follow up the whole program.
#3 Chalene Johnson’s PiYo
Chalene Johnson’s PiYo is a combination of pilates and yoga that bring the best from both worlds.
The muscle sculpting and core firming benefits of pilates complimented with the strength and flexibility of yoga.
PiYo focuses on giving you a true fat burning, low impact workout that leaves your body looking well defined.
PiYo isn’t like ordinary pilates and yoga classes that hold long intense poses at slow intervals.
It speeds everything up by introducing you to dynamic flowing sequence that can bur serious calories.
Chalene is amazing and guides you through the workout with a genuine cheerfulness.
It gives a lot of thought to those new to the program by giving modifications to suit you.
It comes in a package with 10 workouts in three DVDs, a quick start guide with a bonus workout calendar and tape measure.
What I liked about this workout was the different tempos they used with its short lengths in time that kept things active and fun.
The workout ranges from 25-40 minutes with the majority coming in at 30 minutes.
It’s a 60 day program with workouts scheduled 6 days a week noted on the calendar. It guarantees to leave your body looking long, lean and sculpt.
#4 Yoga For Beginners
Its eight routines are made to help you build strength, increase flexibility and improve your vitality.
It’s a perfect way to introduce you to yoga and explore everything that it can offer.
Its tailored workouts are filmed at a beautiful tranquil beach that helps you relax as you workout.
The instructor Yoga master Barbara Benagh guides you through a range of routines varying in time that will keep you interested and active.
She gives you the poses while guiding you on how to get them. The routines as much as they are for beginners, vary un difficulty and its up to you to progress to other levels.
Of the eight routines each section focuses on a different aspect of yoga workout from stress release to building strength.
My favorite part in this DVD is Barbaras way of explaining and giving enough time for me to get into a pose position.
Even the relaxation pose is well timed giving you the needed time to collect yourself before the next pose.
Most DVDs usually go through the moves without really considering you might be mimicking them and need time to adjust.
The workout ranges from10 minutes to 60 minutes sessions. It comes with a bonus of the an instructors motivational interview to keep you motivated.
#5 Jillian Michael’s Yoga Meltdown
Jillian an award winning yoga instructor pulls off standard yoga posses with an interesting twist.
This workout is specifically aimed at weight loss and muscle toning. Its most popular attribute is its interval training.
Your heart rate will go up and down throughout the workout making your body burn calories at a faster rate.
It includes a lot of repetition movements that boosts your body’s fat burning abilities without putting a strain on your joints.
The instructor guides you through the workout with clarity and a firmness that will keep you alert and ready to work.
Its difficulty level makes you feel like you’re being challenged without them being impossible to do.
Yoga Meltdown includes two complete 30 minute workouts that include a warm up and a cool down.
It comes in two levels with the first focusing on quick flowing yoga sequence too burn mega calories.
I mostly liked the way Jillian teaches the moves with the firmness of a boot camp coach and the knowledge of a yoga master.
So..Why do Yoga Anyway?
Well you know my reasons for joining the yoga craze, only a couple of weeks in, my thoughts changed.
Yoga became a way of relieving stresses of the day while still shedding the extra weight.
Some of the biggest gains of yoga include;
- Increase of flexibility and balance
- Decrease cholesterol levels
- Provides relief from everyday stresses
- Enables you to accept yourself and body
- Gets rid of extra weight and tones muscles
- Makes you feel great
I can’t emphasize enough on how beneficial yoga is to both mind and body.