New/Upcoming Release Yoga Journal - Advance Your Practice & Complete Home Practice

[yoni]

I wrote reviews on Amazon , I bet they're not reviews they hoped for.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R3QH4BH...cm_cr_rdp_perm
http://www.amazon.com/review/R3A1E8U...cm_cr_rdp_perm

[laurajhawk]

Thanks Yoni! I marked both of your reviews as "helpful". It was particularly useful that you listed the poses covered on the Advance Your Practice DVD - that helped me decide not to order the DVD.

[sophie kat]

Thanks for your reviews Yoni! They were very helpful. I'm you were disappointed, but I appreciate you sharing your experience.

[KathAL79]

Yoni, I'm sorry that you were so disappointed that these only had recycled content. I seem to recall reading another thread where someone was very excited to get a new DVD, only to find out it was just a collection of the videos the instructor had posted online. I hope this isn't a trend.
I do want to thank you for sharing this info. Money is tight for me right now, so this sort of info saved me money as well as grief.

[laurajhawk]

These two DVDs (Advance Your Practice and Complete Home Practice) are on sale now for $5 and $10 respectively. I was reading up on them thinking about buying them. The fact is I never use the practices on the web site, so having them on DVD might be helpful... Still thinking.

http://store.yogajournal.com/p/Yoga-...Set/25068.html
https://store.yogajournal.com/p/Home...DVD/25086.html

[Eibhinn]

I have both of these, and wish I'd bought them at those prices instead, since they haven't got much use. I plan to get rid of Advance Your Practice, but am keeping Complete Home Practice around, at least for awhile longer (still undecided on that one).

The practices for Complete Home Practice are from the column in the magazine with sequences for home practice, while Advance Your Practice is from the "Master Class" column that focuses on preparation and instruction for a particular advanced pose. As a result, I found that the Complete Home Practice content was more well-rounded as yoga practices versus workshop-like content. This is particularly the case because I recall most/all of the Advance Your practice sequences advised you to do a warm-up on your own prior to practicing, while only one in the Complete Home Practice collection does.

Calling the collection "complete" is pretty laughable, really, since it really does seem like a random mish-mash of very different practices (for example 2 of the 8 focus on twists). Like Yoni, I was annoyed to find out this was repackaged online content after ordering, and moreso when I went to try practices and they told me to do Sun Salutations on my own before starting. Because of that I never really gave either much of a chance. I recently revisited them when sorting through my trade pile and warmed up to Complete Home Practice much more now that I know what to expect (especially since I like having short practices I can fit in easily, and these are well-designed by very reputable teachers --- they aren't short because they rush through the poses unnecessarily on the video).

One thing that helped was I wrote out notes about the content, so I knew what is on each disc (there is no indication anywhere on the discs or case), how long the practices are (ditto) and what props they require. Here are my notes:

Disc 1

Summer Days by Kathryn Budig* (16.5 minutes)
A reasonably advanced vinyasa program, seems like a general practice, but it's apparently for summer for some reason (?). Ends in reclined bound angle pose. No props.

Comfort and Joy by Cora Wen* (23 minutes)
A mix of relaxation and restorative poses requiring a bolster.

Hip Enough? by Stephanie Snyder* (20.5 minutes)
Hip opening, obviously, and somewhat unique as far as video programs go. Not beginner, but not advanced. Requires two blankets.

Happy Days by Lilias Folan (12 minutes)
A somewhat weird, but nice practice. Nearly all standing. Requires a blanket and block.


Disc 2

Twist to Fly by Simon Park (24 minutes)
Tells you to warm up with sun salutations on your own, focuses on twists and builds up to an arm balance. Requires a block and an extra folded up mat.

Heart Wide Open by Amy Ippoliti (18 minutes)
An Anusara practice building up to wild thing. Fairly approachable. No props.

Vishnu's Repose by Elisa Browning Miller (17.5 minutes)
An Iyengar practice working up to Vishnu's Pose. Looks quite doable. Requires two blankets, a block, and a strap.

Healthy Twist by Peter Sterios (15 minutes)
A practice designed to aid digestion. Haven't tried it yet, but it looks really good. Requires a block.

*(Note that while each sequence and pose instruction was designed/written by individual instructors, and generally reflects their style - like Anusara-style language from the Anusara instructor - the voiceover is all by a yoga teacher/yoga journal model named Chrisandra Fox. She has a nice, clear voice, and does fine, but you will be disappointed if you want to hear Simon Park's voice on his practice etc.)

Hope that helps you (and others) decide on this one. I can't be much help with the advance your Practice since I never cared enough for that one to do much more than throw it on the trade pile.

TLDR summary - Complete Home Practice is probably worth ten dollars if you like short, interesting yoga practices and have some props around. I wouldn't bother with Advance Your Practice since it's workshop-style content (versus something to be used again and again) that is all available for free online.

[laurajhawk]

Thank you Eibhinn! I did buy these, and will print out your notes to keep with the DVD.