The Power of Hatha Yoga: Beginner Series

Let me preface this review by saying that my yoga background includes exposure to lots of video instruction and over 7 years of practice. I have experienced a wide variety of instructional styles, and am fully aware that the original yoga sutras don't specify much about body dynamics, leave a lot of room for interpretation, and therefore there's not a "correct" way to practice the asanas. However, the cross-pollination of sports medicine, anatomical studies, physical therapy, and the dedicated practice of hundreds of yoga teachers with backgrounds in similar areas has contributed valuable information about body dynamics that reduces the risk of injury to the beginning yogi or yogini as yoga gains popularity in the West.It is from this perspective that I tell you Naader Shagagi does not teach body dynamics "properly" and that if you are new and don't know better, you could hurt yourself following his instruction. A good example of this is in cobra pose; he simply tells you to look up and arch your back. If you watch what he's doing, his upper back is actually curved slightly forward and he's hyperextending his neck and lower back, the places where the back bends most easily. Cobra is suppossed to open the harder-to-bend-back areas of the spine in the upper back, hence a better way to instruct would be to tell the student to reach their sternum forward, not bend their neck back. Another dangerous example is that he's constantly telling the student "lock your knees" in asanas where the knees are supposed to be straight or close to straight. This not only endangers the knees, but it lends a rigidity to the poses that is counter to one aim of yoga to which is to enliven the body. In downward dog, for instance, if you lock your knees, it limits the forward pelvic (dog) tilt, and the pose hits a static limit instead of continuing to be a dynamic stretch. If you allow the knees to remain slightly bent, pull up with the quadriceps, and get your hamstring stretch from the forward pelvic tilt, you preserve the dynamic tensions of the pose without pushing against the limits of your skeletal structure, risking cartilidge damage. These are just a couple of examples, but I could go on. To be fair, some of the differences are probably just stylistically peculiar to Naader's teaching. For instance, in Parsvottanasana (the wide-legged standing forward release over the front leg), he tells you to bring your forehead to your knee instead of aiming the sternum towards the knee. I would have thought this was just plain wrong until he mentioned that this stimulates the thyroid as in shoulderstand. It's just a different stretch, that's all. Still, the crowning gripe about this Naader's instruction is that he takes corpse pose (which for some reason falls in the middle of the session if you play the DVD straight through) as an opportunity to go on at length about his yogic philosophy which keeps the the mind occupied in logical apprehension of what he's saying which rather defeats the purpose of corpse pose, that is, to release thought along with all muscular tension and experience a meditative state. To top it all off, the DVD had some technical problems, and digital "stuttering" (I don't know how else to describe it) in the two DVD players I tried playing it in. I unfortunately also purchased Naader's Ultimate series which I am returning unopened to Amazon.

I am 35 with two small children. With little free time, I don't exercise much. I wanted to try hatha yoga because I was reading a book on women and stress. The author suggested, among other things, to try hatha yoga. I needed to find something to help me relax and to start to exercise again. I have tried to start exercising again before, but I get discouraged that I get out of breath and can't seem to keep up with the models in top shape. Although I am not as limber as Naader Shagagi (I would assume most people are not!), I am able to do the yoga. The program did help me relax and my butt is firming up! I am now getting up in the morning to start my day out with yoga. I don't mind getting up because it is a relaxing way to start out the day compared to other exercise videos were I dreaded working out.I thought the one downside of the video was that he did not tell you what to do if you could not do the pose. For example, there is a triangle pose where you need to bend over and touch the floor. What do you do if you can't reach the floor?I would recommend this product!

I own many yoga dvds and have studied with many different teachers across the country. I am constantly updating my DVD collection so I can continue my yoga practice while travelling. When I bought this DVD, I was looking for a dvd that was closer to the heart of yoga and in turn found my own heart. Master teacher Naader demonstrates each pose without the help of headsets, overlit studios, and barbie doll models behind him. Naader's instructions, encouragements, and wisdom will bring you to the true meaning of yoga.If you are ever in Pasadena/Los Angeles area, do whatever it takes to attend a class with Naader. During the one class I was able to attend, he forever changed my view on the art of asana. He opened my eyes and my heart to the benefits of the mental and spiritual side of yoga asanas. I have purchased this video for all of my friends and can't recommend it enough. The poses are accessible enough for absolute beginners while still feeling good for more advanced students. While the technology on this dvd doesn't have the versitility of some others, what it lacks in glitz, it surpasses with its message and content. While I think that there is nothing better for a beginner than practicing with a teacher in an actual yoga class as an introduction this is an excellent alternative for when you can't make it to class or in between sessions.I am now working with the challenging series as well and feel as excited about that dvd as this one.Namaste.