Yoga Cd's

[Charlene]

I am thinking about investing in more yoga cd's, but before I do I want to find out what everybody thinks of what is already available. I know I am going to get Tragically Hips by Eoin Finn (because I am huge Eoin Finn fan ). I've read the individual threads but I'd like to get all the opinions in one place for comparison's sake

Which would you recommend adding to a collection?
What do you think of the ones you've used, whether the sound was clear (I think muffled voice overs would bother me), whether you would recommend them, what the flaws were... everything!

Charlene

[Sophie]

Revive this thread after Christmas, I'll have more to say since I know Heart of Yoga (Shiva Rea) is waiting to be unwrapped.

Shiva Rea Sanctuary: two BIG thumbs up. I love this one with no reservation - beautiful voice, unobtrusive background music, nice cueing, great versatility.

Bryan Kest Power Yoga: one thumb up. Good, tough practice, but LONG, and Bryan is in yelling (worse, whooping)mode in this one. However, if you need your butt kicked, it's worth getting. It's a good practice for standing poses, some nice detours, but hard to break up and make into a shorter practice.

Baron Baptiste, Putting Postures to your Prayers (or WTTE): one thumb up for the practice, one down for the verbage. I have a very high woo-woo tolerance, but Baron just gets plain silly ("I'm going to throw the whole yogic kitchen sink at you"). I haven't done this one all the way through so I shouldn't even comment yet, but I can at least say you can break it up for a shorter practice (I just did the salutations, lunge sequence, and forward bends/closing) a little while ago, and versatility goes a long way for me. I like his selections of poses, and his cueing is pretty good when he's not putting you in metaphor hell.

I used to have the Jivamukti audio tape but lent it to a friend and never got it back, but I found it boring and David Life's voice was strange and droning. Nevertheless I wish I still had it so I could evaluate it again.

[Renee D]

I'm too brain dead and carpal tunnelled to retype all my thoughts, but I've cut and pasted and added the appropriate links. Beyond that, you're on your own.

Baron's Putting Postures to Your Prayers. It appears that I am in the minority, because I actually liked it and didn't find his talking to be too much (but that could have just been by comparison with Bryan's audio. )

Shiva Rea Yoga Trance Dance . It didn't do much for me either yogically or trancely, BUT, I got really inspired and came up with several new dance combinations for troupe! I'm offering the workout disc and booklet up for trade, but I'm keeping the second disc with just the music. (Love the version of Mahadeva on there!)

Bryan's Power Yoga Audio CD . Well, y'all know how that went. http://205.214.68.83/vbulletin/showt...dio#post121417 Good
workout, though.

My thoughts on Eoin's Audio Yoga Quickie http://205.214.68.83/vbulletin/show...&threadid=18832

Also, I have the Intermediate Jivamukti CD (the one with Sharon, not David) but I haven't done it yet. I popped it in the other day and got scared off by the fact that a) it started with chanting; and b) it's all one long track, so I couldn't just hit a button and skip past the chanting to the practice. I'm hoping to work up the nerve to try it again soon.

[SharonNYC]

My favorites:

Shiva Rea Yoga Sanctuary and Yoga Chants (not the same as Trance Dance which has a little of that interpretive dance thing -- I'm keeping that one for the music disc too). Both Sanctuary and Chants have 2 discs with a more active practice on one and a quieter one on the other. The music is great and I like her instruction very much. And the tracks work really well for customizing your routine.

Lauren Peterson's Yogi's Companion . Again, good music and very clear instruction.

Both instructors have quiet, soothing voices.

I have received Bryan Kest's Spinal Strengthening through a trade (muchas gracias Renee!) but haven't given it a try yet. If I get a chance to listen to it today I'll post back.

[Lisa TV]

Originally posted by Renee D
Baron's Putting Postures to Your Prayers. It appears that I am in the minority, because I actually liked it and didn't find his talking to be too much (but that could have just been by comparison with Bryan's audio. )

I like that one too, I just don't use it often because it's so long. If I've got 90 mins for yoga, I'm more apt to grab the primary series video instead. My favorite Baronism from that audio workout "...let down your emotional hair". My anusara classes were/are pretty high on the woo woo factor so he mostly just entertains me with his verbiage. I do the occasional eye roll but for the most part, that stuff just doesn't bug me. There is a line for me though, and John Friend crosses it in his video.


Lisa

[cyl]

I like Shiva Rea's Yoga Sanctuary a lot--it's really easy to do a track or two for a short session. I have been on the fence about Yoga Chant for the longest time, though. Is there a lot of chanting? I'm not sure what I should "do" with chanting. I have the feeling that Yoga Chant is less for yoga "dabblers" like me and more for serious/advanced yoginis.

Anyway, here are two sites with track listings and/or sound clips from Yoga Chant:

http://www.spiritvoyage.com/shopping/detail.cfm?PC=1080

http://www.blueskiesunlimited.com/HTMLfiles/music3.html

Christina

[Sophie]

Christina, I can't answer your question, just wanted to thank you for those two sites...I'm still browsing and listening to the clips. Darn it! More music I need !

[Loretta S.]

Originally posted by cyl
Is there a lot of chanting? I'm not sure what I should "do" with chanting.

I don't have very many yoga CDs but re: chanting, I've got to say that I don't feel that comfortable chanting at home. I've been to a couple of chanting classes that were fun, and I chant om in yoga class, but it just doesn't feel right to me at home. I sometimes chant om when I'm alone in the car and feeling road ragey. It helps, it really does. The only videos/cds I have heard with chanting on them are the Kundalini with Strength & Grace CD, which I rented from netflix. It was way over the top for me. There's also some chanting on the Anusara 101 CD I have. When he's chanting. I just listen. For me it's like anything. I take what I want and leave the rest on the plate.

[SharonNYC]

Originally posted by cyl
I like Shiva Rea's Yoga Sanctuary a lot--it's really easy to do a track or two for a short session. I have been on the fence about Yoga Chant for the longest time, though. Is there a lot of chanting? I'm not sure what I should "do" with chanting. I have the feeling that Yoga Chant is less for yoga "dabblers" like me and more for serious/advanced yoginis.

Anyway, here are two sites with track listings and/or sound clips from Yoga Chant:

http://www.spiritvoyage.com/shopping/detail.cfm?PC=1080

http://www.blueskiesunlimited.com/HTMLfiles/music3.html

Christina

Okay, so I haven't done the first disc because of a shoulder injury, but the chants are in the soundtrack and I like them very much in that form. It's not a chant-along at all. So maybe you'd like it alot. I think I may eventually (even) prefer it to YS.

If the invocation thing bothers you it's easy enough to just cut to the next track.

[Danielle*]

I have quite a few yoga cds. I really enjoy using cds since when I do yoga videos or dvds I rarely look at the screen, just listen. These are what I have and my thoughts on them:

OM Yoga Basic - 2 cds one with instructions, one just music for your own practice. The instructor is Cyndi Lee. It's a 70 min. practice - a seated warm-up, sun salutations, standing poses, seated poses, back bends (locust, bow, half wheel), finishing poses (plow, shoulderstand, fish), and final relaxation. I like the music, I really like Cyndi Lee and her instruction, I don't use it that often though because of the length. It does have tracks though, so you could make it a shorter practice.

Ana Forrest Strength & Spirit Yoga - cd with poster, about 1 hour long practice. The cd has 4 main tracks: warm-up, awakening the core, core conditioning, and cool down. There are no sun salutations. She has some interesting variations to traditional poses. The abs section is challenging. She also includes 2 of my favorites: dolphin and pigeon poses. One thing I like about this cd is that Ana has you think of an area that you want to focus on during the practice for instance an injury and reminds you during the practice to breathe into it, etc.

David Life Jivamukti Basic Yoga Class - cd with booklet, about 1 hour long. The practice is all one track, the music is nice, the instructions are very specific for alignment. David is interesting. I can only do this one once in awhile as all of his "Don't judge a book by it's cover" and other similar comments start to bother me. The practice has sun salutations, standing poses, seated poses, back bends (locust, bow), shoulderstand, plow. The final relaxation is very short, but I think they expect you to use their relaxation cd for a longer relaxation.

Sharon Gannon Jivamukti Guided Relaxation/Meditation Instruction - I've only used the Guided Relaxation part. It's 30 min. and excellent, I almost always fall asleep when I use it. Sharon's voice took me a little getting used to the way she says "just relax", but I like it.

Shiva Rea Yoga Trance Dance - 2 cds, one with instruction and one music only. I really like it, the yoga is short and gentle, the music is great, and the dance is fun especially if you have some room to move.

Shiva Rea Yoga Sanctuary - 2 cds with poster. This one is my favorite of all my yoga cds. The tracks make it very easy to customize your workout. The music is great. Shiva's cueing is also very easy to follow.

Richard Freeman Yoga Breathing - 2 guided cds on pranayama. I haven't listened to this, but I've been reading a few books lately on pranayama so hopefully will get to this soon.

Danielle