Yoga Journal's Yoga for Relaxation and Meditation

Yoga Journal's Yoga for Relaxation and Meditation

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DVD Reviews of Yoga Journal's Yoga for Relaxation and Meditation

DVD Review: Content: A , Production: D
Summary: 4 Stars

The content of both programs is quite solid, as can be seen in other reviews here for the VHS versions of the individual "Strength" and "Energy" components. While I love the convenience of having this as a DVD that I can play anywhere on a laptop computer, someone needs to clue in the folks at Living Arts/Gaiam about how to produce DVDs and take advantage of the DVD format. My gripes:

(1) Lack of logical chapter selections
Two examples: (a) The "Yoga for Energy" component is comprised of five separate segments, each shot against a different natural backdrop. Rodney himself is shown on elsewhere on this disc saying that practitioners may wish to choose a particular vinyasa, or pose sequence, to correspond to a time of day or a specific need (focus, calming, etc.). Are the vinyasas encoded as separate chapters that a user can jump to? Nope. Same problem with the separate vinyasas in "Yoga for Strength". (b) There is no option to chapter-forward directly to first exercise portion of the "Strength" program. While I (thoroughly!) enjoy watching Rodney's "pose ballet" at the beginning of the program, it's really inconvenient and silly to have to fast-forward past it every time I'm actually ready to start doing yoga myself -- after all, this is not VHS.

(2) Tape-to-digital transfer
If a producer is going to go the the trouble of creating a DVD, then they ought to go back to the original hi-resolution, broadcast-quality source material. While fast-forwarding through this DVD (see above), I'm repeatedly seeing interlacing lines. What this tells me is that the DVD is essentially a next-generation copy of the VHS tape, rather than a new, "remastered" production.

Rodney Yee is a really outstanding instructor, and doing good yoga is hard work. I only wish the production values on this DVD reflected the thought, care, and expertise that went into the high-quality content. Let's hope for better on upcoming Rodney Yee DVDs.