Patricia Walden's Yoga for Relaxation

[warriorprincess]

I have her Yoga for Flexibility Backbends, and all I can say is NOT RELAXING lol! So many Wheels and I find those very taxing. I still do it occasionally because it's so good for strengthening the upper back.

[KarenJo]

Yoga for Beginners 2002, 3 hours run time, with Patricia Walden has the YfF (both parts) as a bonus. These have a round "announcement" on the front label regarding the bonuses.

Not all of the Yoga for Beginners have the two flexibility workouts. The version I have has one full workout in addition to the instructional one, but it's neither of those. It's an OK-looking more advanced practice with Patricia by herself outside, not on the seashore and dressed in blue. No idea if it's on another video.

It does have a blue dot on the front but the dot just touts it as the 'World's Best Selling Yoga Series! Two Million Sold" So one of the reissues has more than one version. Not a problem for me as I was given this by a generous VFer and wanted it for the instructional section. But you could be disappointed if you were hoping to get two programs on one DVD.

There is also a more recent reissue with a completely different cover. Amazon is printing this version as DVD-R to fill orders so there are those versions out there as well as the pressed version. No idea what additional routine(s) this one has, if any since none are mentioned. Some recent reviewers seem to have had problems with it not playing well.

[Eibhinn]

Some copies of Patricia Walden's Yoga for Beginners have Yoga for Flexibility, some do not. I think they all have the short "putting it all together" practice where she does yoga on the grass in a field.

Confusingly enough, Walden also had a practice called Yoga Basics, that was different from Yoga for Beginners. I always avoided it, thinking it was a Gaiam rename/repackage jobby, but I recently picked it up cheaply at a thrift shop to test that theory and was happy to find it's a completely different practice. I've only previewed it so far, but it looks more a bit more relaxing and restorative than Yoga for Beginners, which is mostly standing poses. Yoga Basics spends more time on the floor.

Now, who knows what other names Yoga Basics has been released under....

I really like Patricia Walden and sometimes wish Gaiam had decided to make her their mascot instead of Rodney Yee. I find his stuff a mixed bag - some is really good, and some is terrible. It's also annoying now that his wife has to be on every one of his DVDs. I just tried one last week where they essentially tag-team teach and it was very annoying.

[KarenJo]

Looks like Yoga Basics was renamed Yoga for Beginners II and then rereleased twice with different covers. At least they're consistent enough that we know always to look for rereleases and recompilations. It does sound like a good complement to YfB1.

[bzar]

Originally Posted by KarenJo

Not all of the Yoga for Beginners have the two flexibility workouts.

yes - hence the reason for describing the run time and the "sticker" on the front. before i purchased mine, i read several reviews where people complained about the confusion over the different versions.

Originally Posted by Eibhinn

Confusingly enough, Walden also had a practice called Yoga Basics, that was different from Yoga for Beginners. I always avoided it, thinking it was a Gaiam rename/repackage jobby, but I recently picked it up cheaply at a thrift shop to test that theory and was happy to find it's a completely different practice. I've only previewed it so far, but it looks more a bit more relaxing and restorative than Yoga for Beginners, which is mostly standing poses. Yoga Basics spends more time on the floor.

Now, who knows what other names Yoga Basics has been released under....

I really like Patricia Walden and sometimes wish Gaiam had decided to make her their mascot instead of Rodney Yee. I find his stuff a mixed bag - some is really good, and some is terrible. It's also annoying now that his wife has to be on every one of his DVDs. I just tried one last week where they essentially tag-team teach and it was very annoying.

Yoga Basics - if you can, please write a review in the VF reviews section.

the other unclear workout by Patricia is Yoga for Beginners II. many reviewers claim it was a re-release and different footage than Yoga for Beginners I.

in my search for Yoga for Relaxation, it was very surprising that it had never been released on another DVD. i studied many descriptions of DVDs that featured Patricia. i finally just broke down and got the DVD that has YfR and YfM (with Rodney, which i already own on a DVD that was released on its own).

IKWYM about wifey being on his DVDs. there's a DVD that was released a few years ago, one of several DVDs where Rodney has 5 different segments that are accessed from the main menu. it gives the appearance that he's the sole instructor, but on one of them, she leads.

[Sandrine]

Hmmm...I wonder if the Yoga Basics that Eibhinn mentions above is the same w/o that YJ originally called Gentle Yoga? It came out around the same time as the original Yoga for Beginners--I remember seeing both at a BJ's when I lived in Jersey, probably around 1999? I bought YfB, then went back for GY a few weeks later but it never turned up again.

Eta: maybe not. Just checked reviews and there is a Gentle Yoga for Beginners but it is lead by Suzanne, not Patricia. Now I'm really confused.


Why can't Gaiam just put "previously released as..." on the case? I would feel alot better about their business practices, and want to buy more from them!

[KarenJo]

The Amazon listing I linked to above IDs Yoga fro Beginners II as the same as Yoga Journal's Yoga Basics. Not sure how reliable that is and the reviewers don't really shed much light, other than one from 2003 who does say it formerly had a different name. From looking at on-line offerings, though, Yoga Journal did put out workouts with both titles with the same cover photo.

Jeanine, even more confusing is that the version of TfB without the flexibility workouts also has the blue circle/sticker, it just says something different.

[bzar]

Originally Posted by KarenJo

Jeanine, even more confusing is that the version of TfB without the flexibility workouts also has the blue circle/sticker, it just says something different.

yes. before I bought mine, I looked at photos of the back of the case to verify the run time. also read the description. and UPC. this was on ebay.

I was reticent about buying from amazon because for some reason, they don't like to use UPCs - they use their own ASIN code.