Guest guest Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011  Hi Donna! I thought about you as I was doing the wide legged forward bends (thinking those might be one of the moves that bug you but they feel so good on my hamstrings). I've got soooo many virgin yoga and pilates workouts. I've been avoiding them for a long time and am now trying to get through them. It is good to find things I like but also good to find things I don't. I feel like I'm making an effort at decluttering! :-) Beverly Hills Yoga This is a Janis Saffell video that has been sitting on my shelf for quite a while but I finally decided to do it today. It is about 45 minutes. I didn't have high expectations for something called "Beverly Hills Yoga," the two simply do not go together in my mind, but it was okay and, there was absolutely nothing that screamed or even seemed to whisper "Beverly Hills" so I have no idea why it is named that. I'm still sore from Pyramid Lower Body and the DOMS are just starting to set in from PUB so I was hoping some yoga would stretch me out a bit. It did some so that was good. The flow was good and Janis was pleasant. This was my first experience with her and she was okay, but not great for yoga. There was something about her voice that reminded me of Austin, which isn't necessarily bad but as much as I don't associate Beverly Hills with yoga, even more so I do not associate Austin with yoga (I'm sure she has a yoga video out but I cannot imagine it being even slightly relaxing). Janis was pleasant but something about her set me on a edge a little bit instead of helping me relax into things. Maybe I picked up on "aerobics instructor trying to be a yoga instructor." She wasn't at all obnoxious but just not quite calm enough for me today. She also wasn't chatty at all though and her instructions were mostly really good. There was a lot of instruction in this too so that might be helpful for beginners, but there were some more advanced poses too with modifications shown and discussed (it is just Janis showing all the different varieties of a pose). The music was a little too jazzy (like a light jazz) for me today too, again, it was not at all relaxing, which is one of my expectations for most yoga practices. The setting seemed to be by a pool, I assume in a Beverly Hills hotel but I'm not sure. There was also a LOT of down dog. I don't mind down dog, I just don't need to be in that position as much as you are in this video. The practice starts with some seated breath work, then up to standing mountain and into a sun salutations vinyasa for the first half of the workout. It was repetitive to the point of almost boring but gradually built in slight complexity and requiring more and more strength but not very very difficult. After that there's some balance work that was pretty challenging today (it was not a good balance day). Warrior poses were very tough on my quads and hips today too. It ends with some floor work, nothing memorable about that except that there's no relaxation pose. It just ends rather abruptly, I felt. She doesn't use Sanskirt terms or even introduce poses by name (a title appears on the screen briefly, telling you the English name) and there's no spiritual aspect to this. It didn't feel like a workout and it didn't feel relaxing. In fact, I feel very strange, a little anxious or something and it only started after I finished the workout. My heart rate is not elevated and yet it feels like it is and I'm not liking this so I'm sitting and typing as I "recover." I don't know if that's related to the practice or not but, regardless, I didn't enjoy this enough to keep it so it is now in my trade pile. I have tons more yoga videos to try out and others I already have that I like a lot more so this one is gone. I'm glad I at least tried it finally though, instead of just being slightly repelled by the title and yet wondering what it might be like! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 i am with you, they were okay workouts but nothing overly special. i, however, like her dynamic stretch video. its the only one of two dvds i kept of hers. the other was the quick fix cardio kicks. even her kickbox videos are average compared to what is out there now. KASSIAwife,mother,student,kettlebellehttp://ldysolana.blogspot.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011  That's exactly what I've been doing too and one of the reasons why I'm trying out the ones I don't grab. Your emphasis on yoga lately has gotten me to include at least one yoga practice most weeks too! You are remembering this one correctly. I'll be interested in hearing your impressions if you do it again. Beverly Hills Yoga This is a Janis Saffell video that has been sitting on my shelf for quite a while but I finally decided to do it today. It is about 45 minutes. I didn't have high expectations for something called "Beverly Hills Yoga," the two simply do not go together in my mind, but it was okay and, there was absolutely nothing that screamed or even seemed to whisper "Beverly Hills" so I have no idea why it is named that. I'm still sore from Pyramid Lower Body and the DOMS are just starting to set in from PUB so I was hoping some yoga would stretch me out a bit. It did some so that was good. The flow was good and Janis was pleasant. This was my first experience with her and she was okay, but not great for yoga. There was something about her voice that reminded me of Austin, which isn't necessarily bad but as much as I don't associate Beverly Hills with yoga, even more so I do not associate Austin with yoga (I'm sure she has a yoga video out but I cannot imagine it being even slightly relaxing). Janis was pleasant but something about her set me on a edge a little bit instead of helping me relax into things. Maybe I picked up on "aerobics instructor trying to be a yoga instructor." She wasn't at all obnoxious but just not quite calm enough for me today. She also wasn't chatty at all though and her instructions were mostly really good. There was a lot of instruction in this too so that might be helpful for beginners, but there were some more advanced poses too with modifications shown and discussed (it is just Janis showing all the different varieties of a pose). The music was a little too jazzy (like a light jazz) for me today too, again, it was not at all relaxing, which is one of my expectations for most yoga practices. The setting seemed to be by a pool, I assume in a Beverly Hills hotel but I'm not sure. There was also a LOT of down dog. I don't mind down dog, I just don't need to be in that position as much as you are in this video. The practice starts with some seated breath work, then up to standing mountain and into a sun salutations vinyasa for the first half of the workout. It was repetitive to the point of almost boring but gradually built in slight complexity and requiring more and more strength but not very very difficult. After that there's some balance work that was pretty challenging today (it was not a good balance day). Warrior poses were very tough on my quads and hips today too. It ends with some floor work, nothing memorable about that except that there's no relaxation pose. It just ends rather abruptly, I felt. She doesn't use Sanskirt terms or even introduce poses by name (a title appears on the screen briefly, telling you the English name) and there's no spiritual aspect to this. It didn't feel like a workout and it didn't feel relaxing. In fact, I feel very strange, a little anxious or something and it only started after I finished the workout. My heart rate is not elevated and yet it feels like it is and I'm not liking this so I'm sitting and typing as I "recover." I don't know if that's related to the practice or not but, regardless, I didn't enjoy this enough to keep it so it is now in my trade pile. I have tons more yoga videos to try out and others I already have that I like a lot more so this one is gone. I'm glad I at least tried it finally though, instead of just being slightly repelled by the title and yet wondering what it might be like! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011  That's exactly what I've been doing too and one of the reasons why I'm trying out the ones I don't grab. Your emphasis on yoga lately has gotten me to include at least one yoga practice most weeks too! You are remembering this one correctly. I'll be interested in hearing your impressions if you do it again. Beverly Hills Yoga This is a Janis Saffell video that has been sitting on my shelf for quite a while but I finally decided to do it today. It is about 45 minutes. I didn't have high expectations for something called "Beverly Hills Yoga," the two simply do not go together in my mind, but it was okay and, there was absolutely nothing that screamed or even seemed to whisper "Beverly Hills" so I have no idea why it is named that. I'm still sore from Pyramid Lower Body and the DOMS are just starting to set in from PUB so I was hoping some yoga would stretch me out a bit. It did some so that was good. The flow was good and Janis was pleasant. This was my first experience with her and she was okay, but not great for yoga. There was something about her voice that reminded me of Austin, which isn't necessarily bad but as much as I don't associate Beverly Hills with yoga, even more so I do not associate Austin with yoga (I'm sure she has a yoga video out but I cannot imagine it being even slightly relaxing). Janis was pleasant but something about her set me on a edge a little bit instead of helping me relax into things. Maybe I picked up on "aerobics instructor trying to be a yoga instructor." She wasn't at all obnoxious but just not quite calm enough for me today. She also wasn't chatty at all though and her instructions were mostly really good. There was a lot of instruction in this too so that might be helpful for beginners, but there were some more advanced poses too with modifications shown and discussed (it is just Janis showing all the different varieties of a pose). The music was a little too jazzy (like a light jazz) for me today too, again, it was not at all relaxing, which is one of my expectations for most yoga practices. The setting seemed to be by a pool, I assume in a Beverly Hills hotel but I'm not sure. There was also a LOT of down dog. I don't mind down dog, I just don't need to be in that position as much as you are in this video. The practice starts with some seated breath work, then up to standing mountain and into a sun salutations vinyasa for the first half of the workout. It was repetitive to the point of almost boring but gradually built in slight complexity and requiring more and more strength but not very very difficult. After that there's some balance work that was pretty challenging today (it was not a good balance day). Warrior poses were very tough on my quads and hips today too. It ends with some floor work, nothing memorable about that except that there's no relaxation pose. It just ends rather abruptly, I felt. She doesn't use Sanskirt terms or even introduce poses by name (a title appears on the screen briefly, telling you the English name) and there's no spiritual aspect to this. It didn't feel like a workout and it didn't feel relaxing. In fact, I feel very strange, a little anxious or something and it only started after I finished the workout. My heart rate is not elevated and yet it feels like it is and I'm not liking this so I'm sitting and typing as I "recover." I don't know if that's related to the practice or not but, regardless, I didn't enjoy this enough to keep it so it is now in my trade pile. I have tons more yoga videos to try out and others I already have that I like a lot more so this one is gone. I'm glad I at least tried it finally though, instead of just being slightly repelled by the title and yet wondering what it might be like! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 I haven't tried Tracey yet, I'll have to check her out too. Re: Beverly Hills YogaTo: exercisevideos Date: Thursday, March 31, 2011, 5:43 PM Interesting to hear this, Kassia. I won't go out of my way looking for her stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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