Yoga Videos

Just like everything else, learning yoga on your own also has its perks and downsides. Obviously, it’s cheaper to buy yoga videos and DVDs instead of paying for yoga classes and spending gas money to get to the studio. Another benefit of DIY-style yoga learning is the convenience of working out at a comfortable environment, AND you can do yoga whenever you choose. However, you also miss out on the guidance of an instructor and personal instruction when you have difficulty doing certain poses.

If you’re decided on learning the practice of yoga, including its philosophies and the different yoga poses, here is a quick guide on the basic categorizations of the types of yoga videos you will find on the market today.

Levels of Difficulty

This is the most common and most popular way that people choose their yoga videos and workout DVDs. Most people who buy yoga videos are beginners who are keen to try yoga but don’t have the time or resources, or don’t want to invest too much because they just want to “give it a try.” Most yoga videos are geared toward this market, and these instructional DVDs typically cover the basic breathing exercises, simple meditation sequences, and basic yoga poses like the Sun Salutations.

Yoga videos for intermediate to advanced users tend to be more specialized, in that some of these types of videos skip through what is considered as the basics and go straight to giving step by step instructions on how to do the more complex yoga exercises.

Style of Practice

With the exception of Hot Yoga, there are yoga videos you will find that can teach you the different styles of yogic practice. If you want to do yoga for weight loss and prefer the more fitness-based and fast-paced styles, you can look for Ashtanga yoga or Power Yoga videos. Instructional yoga videos and DVDs are also available for Hatha yoga, which focuses on teaching effective breathing exercises as well as yoga poses and stretches.

Vinyasa yoga is perhaps one of the easier styles of yogic practice to learn on your own because it has less to do with making sure your body alignment and angles are correct than it is about those periods of transition between poses. With Vinyasa yoga videos, you will learn to synchronize your movements with breath so expect to do and learn a lot of yoga poses. Vinyasa yoga videos may not be the best choice for those who want to do yoga for increased flexibility through stretching exercises because the focus is more on learning fluid transitional movements between poses with every inhale or exhale.

Specific Goals and/or Target Areas

Yoga has evolved into different styles to make this ancient practice easily adaptable to Western and modern day students. While a lot of people get into yoga for mental and spiritual purposes, more are interested in doing yoga for physical fitness or weight loss purposes. This is why nowadays you will see a lot of yoga videos and DVDs that teach poses that focus on working, say, the thighs, hips, and stomach. You can find yoga videos that focus on toning arm and/or leg muscles, increasing flexibility, relieving back pain, stress management, strengthening the joints, etc.

Specific Demographic

The best examples of yoga videos that cater to a specific demographic are those that teach yoga poses and exercises for women who are pregnant or going through menopause. Like yoga DVDs classified by the specific goals, these videos that cater to a specific demographic teach yoga poses that do not necessarily follow a single school or style of yogic practice. Rather, the poses taught are a compilation of yoga exercises that are known to be beneficial to the types of individuals the videos are designed for. For example, prenatal yoga videos will teach poses that open up the hips, strengthen joints, and relieve back pain because these are the common problems that pregnant women encounter.

You might also like...