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FYI... Most of these are from an online group of
people who use and review fitness videos. www.videofitness.com
They do not know me and have never taken a class
from me, so you can count on them being objective and honest.
8/10/2007
I did the 60-minute Whiskeytown Lake practice last night. This one had more
strength poses than the 30 minute one, but again went at a slower pace than the
average power yoga practice. It began with a
meditation, and in a sense combined serenity and strength.
The lake setting was beautiful, though I would have wished
for tighter shots on Nancy. The technical aspects, picture, sound, were fine
with me. Some unusual elements, moving from child pose to cobra several times.
Several times she offered a third side, asking you to repeat the side which
needed the most work.
Again Nancy's voice was good, and she cued well, but without
chat.
A nice practice.
Susan G.
8/10/2007 Yuba River DVD review!
My DVD came last night and I did it this
morning! Here are my initial notes (also posted on the Kundalini check-in, no
this is not kundalini yoga
 ). For
those who read my check-in, here I've added a paragraph at the beginning
because I forgot some things.
This is Nancy's intermediate practice and it definitely lives
up to that billing: She encourages you to modify and suggests the use of
props, but rarely describes modifications and shows no props: she assumes you
know how to modify the classic poses for your own body. She uses English and
Sanskrit more or less interchangeably, so if you don't know some of the more
common Sanskrit names for poses, like malasana and uttanasana, you may get
briefly lost. That said, there are only a couple of poses (described below)
that may be beyond the level of most advanced beginners, and those would be
easy to modify or skip.
Yuba River is a sweet, relaxing, no-dread-factor practice.
It's not restorative; it calls for some strength and has a couple of tough
poses; but the pace is mellow and Nancy keeps reminding you that nothing is
supposed to hurt. Her calmness and the slow pace make it relaxing for me.
The sequence is 60 minutes of pretty normal hatha
yoga, and I think someone's broken it down on
the GD, so I won't try to recall all the poses. Nancy says the "pinnacle pose"
of the DVD is the balancing squat that appears
on the DVD cover, and it is definitely
challenging: you do a half-lotus forward bend, then squat and raise your hands
into anjali mudra (namaste). The other pose that was hard (OK, that I couldn't
do) was the headstand: it's a tripod headstand entered from prasarita
padottanasana; I didn't really have room to do that entry near the wall, but I
don't think I could've done it anyway. I ended up pausing the
DVD and doing regular sirsasana I against the
wall. This worked fine for me.
Nancy had some other good variations on classic poses, and
simple suggestions that gave me some new insights. One was just talking us
into warrior 3 by coming forward with hands on hips and reaching one arm
forward, then the other. I have always tried to reach with both arms at once,
and my balance was better doing it this way. The other one that comes to mind
was having us move our feet a little closer and do prasarita padottanasana
where we *can't* reach the floor -- just keep trying, if you can reach then
move your feet closer together -- that was an excellent stretch!
Nancy doesn't chatter a lot. The few things she said about
her philosophy were basic ("it shouldn't hurt") and right on. Mostly she just
cued the poses.
The cuing was very good. There were a few places, mostly in
the opening stretches, where I needed to look at the screen; this was never
awkward, as I was seated facing the TV for the opening stretches.
The camera work was competent and the sound was good. There's
no music, just the rushing of the river. The river seems like it would be loud
but I was always able to hear the voice clearly above the river, without
having the sound up high at all. The sound level was completely consistent
through the whole program, which is important to me.
The setting is BEAUTIFUL. The river makes a bend and Nancy is
on a beach on the inside of the "knee"; there's a cliff or rock wall on the
"outside", so we are looking at Nancy, then a few feet back from her is the
water -- so clear you can see the pebbles on the bottom -- then behind the
wide expanse of the "pool" at the riverbend is the cliff; it is at least as
pretty as the standard yoga-video Hawaiian beaches. In one long shot you can
see that there's a railway trestle or highway bridge over the river not far
away, but mostly the only manmade things in the frame are Nancy's mat and
unitard.
This is definitely a keeper. I won't do it every week, since
I mostly do power and kundalini, but I think this is my second-favorite mellow
practice, after Altar of the Heart.
I wanted to get back to you with my impressions on the DVDs after I had done
both practices. I really like them. It fits what I look for in a yoga DVD
very well. I like the flow of the practice - the way you put the poses
together - and the amount of time spent in each pose.
I think it's a great idea to allow people to fast-forward through the opening
credits and you talking about the DVD. It's wonderful to see the first couple
of times, but when you do a DVD over & over, it can get to be too repetitive.
There are so many DVDs out there that don't allow you to fast-forward through
their advertisements for other products they offer and the introductory
parts. I also like that the DVDs are chaptered, so it's easy to find a
certain pose if you want to work on just that, or to shorten a longer practice
if you don't have time.
The only complaint I really have about the Zuma Beach DVD is the sound of the
surf and the people. At first, I found it distracting. But once I got into
the practice more, I didn't notice it as much. If there were an option to
mute some of that, it would be nice. I think the waves were just so loud that
day, because normally a softer sound of the surf would be nice. The
Whiskeytown Lake DVD was fine in that regard. I loved the scenery. I really
appreciated you stopping to do some wrist circles on that one also, and the
extra-long savasana at the end. That pose is usually rushed too much on DVDs,
and just when I'm feeling really relaxed it's time to get out of it. Yours
was perfect.
The only other suggestion I would make is to perhaps use the English names of
poses along with the 'official' names at least once or twice for each pose
during the practice. This may be something not a lot of people would need,
but I'm still learning the names of the poses, and it really helps me to hear
it in the English version, especially when I'm trying not to look at the TV.
I really enjoyed these DVDs and will be doing them often. I love having a
shorter (1/2 hour) practice as well as the longer one. Your teaching style is
easy to understand and very calming, allowing me to focus on the poses. I
will be anxiously awaiting any new offerings from you!
8/9/2007 Nancy
I did your # 3 video and am here with the promised feedback.
Background on me: I'd be in the experienced beginner category. I've done my
yoga mainly from DVD's.
I liked your voice and your manner--pleasant and on topic. I
could play the video again and again. I liked the fact there were strength
and stretching poses and it was slower paced. I liked the different degrees
of difficulty in the side plank. I liked that some of the poses were
different. The practice had a nice flow to it. To me an ideal video has
things I can do and things that challenge me.
I could mainly follow without looking at the screen, but had
to some. I would appreciate English names as well as the Sanskrit.
Sometimes
you were facing the camera and sometimes not. When you were facing the
camera you didn't mirror cue, which was confusing.
I liked the tighter camera shots and wanted the camera to be
tighter through most of the practice, with maybe some wider shots and the
beginning and end to show where you are. I found the long shots somewhat
distracting and more difficult to see what you were doing.
I did the video late at night and went right to sleep after.
I think it helped my sinuses.
I haven't done the instructional part yet.
I enjoyed the practice and would do it again. I'll purchase
your videos that aren't advanced (though there are enthusiastic fans out
there for the more advanced ones.)
I assume you see you're getting "momentum" at Videofitness.
Thanks and all the best to you.
Susan G.
8/9/2007
I did the #3, the Zuma Beach practice. Nancy has a nice presence and voice,
pleasant, not quirky. The practice seemed to flow nicely.
It seemed to me a slower-paced practice with some strength poses like front and
side planks, but also with some stretches and twists. I liked the fact the
strength poses were slower. Some of the poses were different, like a bent-legged
down dog.
The production isn't slick. I would have preferred the camera
shots to be tighter on the instructor.
I did the video late at night and went right to sleep after.
I think it helped my sinuses.
I haven't done the instructional part yet.
I'll keep it and return to it.
Susan
8/2/2007
Hi Nancy-
I just rec'd them yesterday. I found out about them on Videofitness.com which
is a website i frequent.
I did the Yuba River one this morning and loved it. I'm not really used to
Hatha (slower type practices), as I tend to usually do Vinyasa flow type
practices, but these couldn't have come at a better time, as I'm nursing a
stress fracture in my foot right now and have to be careful with sun
salutations, etc.
I chose the Yuba river one this morning as my first practice because I saw the
picture of shoulder stand and I'm absolutely in love with plough and shoulder
stand right now. I've been trying to spend a few minutes every day in shoulder
stand every day.
Anyway, back to the DVDS.......what I love the most about them is the scenery.
I love the locations and I really look forward to more done by lakes, rivers
etc.
I'll be sure to give more of my opinions after I do the rest of them.
thanks,
L. C.
You have created an
absolutely beautiful yoga DVD. It is instructional and informative and easy
to follow. It was easy to see your form in each pose when I had a need to
look. Your voice was clear and easy to understand. Your love and respect for
your practice comes through as well. Its the very best I've seen.
I have purchased
many yoga videos and have returned or thrown out every one of them due to the
very real possibility of being injured if I follow along. You are the first
video I have seen that is concerned with proper alignment, taking great care
to move from one pose to the next and reminding us to listen to our own body.
Your DVD is truly a
work art and I look forward to sharing it with others. Way to go Nancy! I
can't wait to see what you do next.
Namaste,
Rhonda Reiser
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