I am not the worlds most flexible person, and I know this is going to hinder my skating in a few months time, so I have been considering Yoga.

I have been looking at classes in the area, and I can not find any reasonably priced, or at a time which fits in with my skating. Grrr!

Anyway, I have come across on amazon some very reasonably priced Yoga DVDs. Does anyone use these? If so, have you noticed an increase in your flexibility? Would you recommend them, or would I really be better off paying the extra for a class? I have never done Yoga before.

Any insight would be great.

Start with a live instructor. Same goes for any exercise program: Yoga, Pilates, Aerobics, Weights. You need an instructor to look at you and make sure you're doing the exercises properly. This will prevent injuries and help you progress faster. Once you've mastered the basics, the recordings are great for continuing your program.

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I've used Yoga tapes/DVDs for years and I love them. And yes, I believe they have definitely helped my flexibility--and strength, too. My two favorites are Rodney Yee's Power Yoga for Strength and Yoga for Abs. He gives clear directions and demonstrates clearly, plus the workouts are only 20 minutes long, which fits my schedule well. If you're a total beginner and want to ease into Yoga--and don't mind spending 30 minutes on your workout--I highly recommend starting with the "Kripalu Yoga Gentle" DVD.

I personally would start with a live instructor as have done both and there are so many benefits from getting the moves right in a lesson, whereas with a dvd you can't see yourself. DVDs are good, but definitely start with a proper class first to get the hang of the different moves and stretches. You'll love it.

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If you want the best seat in the house, you'll have to move the cat!

Yoga is very easy to do wrong, especially as a beginner. Pay the money and go to the level one classes once a week and you'll see what I'm talking about. Also, ask around, sometimes there are certain instructors that have small group classes in their homes or client's homes that aren't publicised because they want to choose who the let attend.
Lyle (like my cobra pose?)

Very challenging!

I have been doing yoga for some time. I don't have any DVD but only books which I brought from Asia when I came to this country. My suggestion is to learn most basic forms and correct breathing methods from a good instructor and then you can be off to follow DVDs without supervision. The most useful one in my case is the basic but fundamental one in yoga - Sun Salutation. Nothing too fancy. If you can do Sun Salutation for 10 minutes as off-ice warm up, you will feel the difference. It doesn't require too much flexibility, but you will find your core strength and flexibility improved dramatically during the course.

Luna

I'd definitely recommend yoga ... and pilates! Both are excellent.

I'd prefer to do a yoga or pilates class with a teacher. In fact I'd always, personally, do a class with a teacher, I just think that you need the correction to get the most benefit out of the exercises.

It depends where you're based but there are quite a few yoga classes out there now and not all of them are horrendously expensive (though not as cheap as they were before yoga became fashionable!).

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The best whisper is a click

It is always better to get the idea with a live person (IMHO), I do Bikram's Yoga and pilates, I have instructors who are very detail oriented and specific, they are also aware of my skating and work with me to make sure everything gels together.

I did yoga, not bikram's for several years prior to skating and found it to be helpful, I would suggest you do it twice a week if you want to see results during the first year or so, it takes a while, as does everything.

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Who me? Couldn't be....
http://www.youtube.com/bouldersk8r

I would almost never recommend a book or DVD for doing yoga (having practiced for 35 years myself, mostly with a teacher), but there is one book I would recommend:

Yoga for Wimps: Poses for the Flexibly Impaired

Great stuff - and GREAT photographs!

Good luck. Yoga is great!

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Is Portland the only city with it's own ice-dance website? http://www.pdxicedance.net/

There's this one pose in Yoga that's great, the camel or something? I was SO freaked out smuggling an animal across a border last year and I just got out of the car, did that without the kneeling and I just... relaxed suddenly.


The cobra pose is a good one too. I didn't realize that most the stuff my physical therapist had prescribed for my back was actually yoga until I got a book on it.