Yoga is a well-deserved break from the typical cardio and strength training exercises and an excellent addition to your workout routine. Yoga does a lot of good to your body by strengthening the abs, increasing flexibility, and reducing stress. The best part is that you don’t need any equipment to reap these benefits – well, other than a
good yoga mat.
Are you looking to incorporate yoga into your workout routine? If so, then you have three options: enroll in yoga classes at a center near you, hire a professional yoga trainer, or buy the best yoga videos. Though convenient, the first two options are a bit costly and also may not work for people with busy jobs because of time constraints. Yoga videos are the most viable solutions for most people. They are affordable and perfect for beginner, intermediate, and advanced yogis.
Yoga videos are especially good for beginner yogis. How was your first yoga class, for example? Did you feel embarrassed and confused when everyone else seemed perfect at what they were doing? Most of the time, the yoga instructor will be so busy encouraging participants to monitor their breath and feel specific muscles that he or she will have no time to follow up on what the newbies are doing. Yoga videos will help you learn the basics in the comfort of your home and help you familiarize yourself with some of the poses and terminology before attending your first class. Just make sure you have a good quality
yoga towel and a yoga mat and you will be ready to sweat your way to becoming a pro yogi. You can even save some bucks and buy a
yoga set which provides the most important yoga equipment as a simple package so you can get started with your video in no time.
How do you find the best yoga videos? It is good to note that not all videos are ideal for effective practice. When deciding on a yoga video, make sure it’s one in which the instructions of the teacher are clear and his or her motions are easy to see and follow. The video should be perfect for all levels of practice and feature a student-centered teacher.
Let’s dwell more on what to look out for when shopping for the best yoga video before jumping straight into our picks.
Price
While yoga classes are getting more and more expensive by the day, we now have an affordable alternative to enjoy the benefits of practicing this unique workout. Starting as low as $8 and ranging up to around $15, you can get a good-quality yoga video that suits your level of practice. Be careful not to fall for very cheap yoga videos as they may not have the quality you are looking for.
Features
Good yoga videos should have the following features:
- Easy To Understand - A good yoga video should be easy to follow. It is important that you understand exactly what is happening, how the poses are achieved, how often you should do them, and how long each pose should last.
- Different Levels of Difficulty -Consider yoga videos that have easy modifications in them. Yoga can prove to be pretty difficult, especially for beginners, and these modifications give you the option to try a simpler version of a pose that you cannot yet perform. In short, choose a yoga video that you can grow with.
- Quality of Teaching - A good-quality video is one in which the instructor is student-centered; clearly showing you how to safely practice yoga and helping you improve.
- Qualified Instructor - Make sure the instructor from a video is a professional; they should be qualified and experienced.
Construction and Design
There are a few design features you should check and verify before making a purchase of the best yoga video for you. Remember, you don’t want to waste your money on something you will not like.
A good yoga DVD should have a clear illustration of what it entails. I mean, no one wants to buy a DVD that contains something different from what is indicated on the cover. By reading the description of the video, you should clearly be able to tell whether it fits your goals, skill level, and needs.
One more thing to consider when buying a yoga video is the number of levels it has. One of the greatest features of a good yoga video is the ability to “grow” with the viewer. Preferably, it should contain a beginners’ guide and then proceed to intermediate level, and even possibly to advanced levels.
The best yoga videos should feature well-qualified trainers; they should not only be practicing trainers, but should also have achieved significant success in their yoga instruction. Although relaxing, yoga can push your body to the limit and you need to do this safely to avoid injury. Qualifications can also ensure that you are learning the proper way to practice yoga, not just someone’s interpretation of it after only doing 3 sessions themselves. You can easily find out the qualifications of a particular instructor by checking the back of the DVD.
Performance and Ease of Use
To become an advanced yogi, you need a lot of dedication, practice, and focus. If you are practicing yoga for the first time, you might feel a little intimidated, especially if you have seen photos of yoga experts twisted into those pretzel-like poses. To make matters worse, these poses have names that sound strange to the inexperienced, such as “Flying Crow Pose” or “Downward Facing Dog”. A good teacher can make all this yoga-talk a piece of cake!
While this may sound obvious, some yoga videos only showcase the instructor’s yoga abilities. This does little in helping you develop your own yoga skills. A good yoga video will include thorough illustrations of how to achieve particular poses, demonstrated in a coherent manner.
The teacher should describe exactly which muscles are used to hold a particular pose and how each body part will feel while holding the pose. The best instructors explain how the body should be positioned and offer tips to help you understand whether your alignment is correct or needs some adjustments. You also have the advantage of pressing rewind or pause when you feel like the pose is not really working out, and watch how to do it as many times as you need!
We looked for yoga videos that are proven to motivate both beginner and advanced users. We compared price against the total runtime of each video to see how much training you can get for your money. We chose DVDs as well as streaming series so that anyone could choose a convenient option.
Look for a video or series with a trainer who inspires you – some yoga trainers are more focused on fitness, while others are more focused on the meditation side of yoga. Whatever your yoga goals are, the best yoga video has something that can get you started and keep you on your way.
