[.ca] Living Yoga: Abs Yoga for Beginners

From Amazon.com:
Rodney Yee leads Abs Yoga for Beginners from the serene Death Valley. The gentle sands of the desert lend to the calming mood of Yee's supple movements, which are designed to firm and strengthen your abs while providing a soothing respite from your hectic lifestyle. Beginning with 4 minutes of conscious breathing, moving into 13 minutes of abs yoga workout, and ending with 3 minutes of deep relaxation, the tape is an introduction to yoga for those who would like the added benefit of targeting their abdominal regions. The poses are, for the most part, simple to follow, although the beginner may need to ease into some of the positions; lowering straight legs to the ground is challenging, but of course, as in all of Living Arts yoga tapes, you are encouraged to move at your own speed. A blanket to sit on is required. --Jenny Brown

What a joke!:
I agree with the others who gave this video a bad review. It was too short and didn't work the abs. There is also the issue of "back safety". I'll stick to crunches. They're safe and effective. On the positive, the scenery was beautiful.

Great relaxing workout:
This tape is phenomenal. I never thought I could find an ab workout relaxing, but that's exactly what this tape offers. There's a strong focus on breathing and some of the new age things you come to expect with yoga, but it definately provides a great ab workout in a short amount of time. Yee's voice is soothing and he's very discriptive about what he's doing so it's easy to follow along. There are no insane poses that are impossible for beginners. I have problems with my lower back, but I have no difficulties at all doing any of these poses. You have options other than the boring standard crunches and situps and it's wonderfully refreshing. If you're a little more advanced, this may not be the best tape for you, but if you're just starting out or if you're looking for something specifically for your abs to ad to your program, this is great. I found that I can do my more rigorous tapes during the day and do this just before bed. If you're limited on time and would like to do some type of exercise at night, but don't want to get too wound up that you can't sleep, this is a great tape for you. It's short. It does what it promises and it's relaxing.

Great for abs if your BACK is strong:
Definitely great for beginners to yoga! My only caution is that your BACK must definitely be strong in order to comfortably work the abs- in this or any other *abs* workout- so if you are really out of shape, I'd highly recommend spending the time and money on a good back exercise video. Yoga has been one of my greatest teachers. I'm middle aged, fairly flexible, and have been doing other forms of yoga for years, yet I had never focused on my *abs*. Due to medical problems, I had never really worked this mid-section of my body, and they were terribly out of shape. Yet for years, I have done a great deal of yoga to strengthen my back, and I have the flexibility of a MUCH younger person due to yoga. Yoga is never really about spot-training any individual part of the body. It views the body as an integrated whole, movement connected to breath, with an awareness that is often absent in other popular forms of exercise. Moving into the postures -the asanas - brings centering and balance to your movement, serenity and peacefulness to your state of mind. Rodney Yee's *Yoga For Abs* lives up to the best in the Iyengar yoga tradition. He begins this workout with an emphasis upon the breath, connecting the breath to the center of the body, where all the movements in this video originate. There is a quiet, meditative warm-up focused on breathing, which lasts about 4 minutes. Then follows the more intense, yet still quiet, part of the workout, which lasts about 12 minutes. No pumping here! Most of the video is done on the floor, lying down, with many legs lifts and Yee again emphasizing the breath. The most difficult asanas for me are the variations of the *bow pose*, and I must do a modification, as I am not yet strong enough to do these. Your back must be strong to effectively do this part of the workout. The video ends with a cool down and a relaxation, which lasts 3-4 minutes. The entire video is filmed in a beautiful desert, with Yee surrounded by sand dunes and mountain sky, and his voice-over is peaceful and soothing. If you are still young and in relatively good shape, and used to doing heafty cruches for your abs, you will probably be bored with the meditative quality of yoga. Rodney Yee's style is soothing and focused, allowing you to work into the more intense, yet quiet asanas. I've been working with this video, in combination with other yoga videos several times a week for a couple of months now, and I can definitely feel and see a difference. I look forward to exercising with this, and I feel fantastic when I come to the end of this video!

Excellent ab routine:
Excellent workout but too hard for many beginners. When I fist started yoga I found some of the poses too taxing for my back (so I skipped or modified them). Now that I have gotten stronger I really like this workout. It starts easy and gets more difficult. If you do what you can you will make progress and be able to do more. Definitely heed the warnings of other reviewers: if you have lower back problems be very careful and modify some of the poses. If you are a beginner and have not done other ab exercises before you might find this video very challenging. If you have some ab strength already this will take it to the next level.

Excellent Ab Workout!:
This was an excellent start to the day, since it is only twenty minutes, and it is an effective ab workout as well. Me being quite physically fit, still felt that nice burn in the abs. It starts out pretty easily, than gradually increases in hardness. The transitions were so smooth, I could bearly tell when the real workout started. I love how there is a 3 minute relaxation at the end. Rodney Yee is a great instructor, and cued very well. Also the scenery was simply beautiful. I felt so refreshed at the end of the practice. So my last words are GO FOR IT!!...you'll be happy that you did.