Geri Yoga DVD > Reviews > Geri Yoga

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Advantages:	Good for health
Disadvantages:	Possibility of injury

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I started practising yoga last January. Geri yoga was the first yoga DVD that I brought, and it offered a good introduction to many of the yoga postures. The introduction is useful to learn the breathing, and principles behind yoga. For the first few weeks (and months) flexibility was a major obstacle. However, if you listen to your body, and only do as much as you can without pushing yourself, then your overall fitness level will improve from yoga. Last year, I was unable to do many of the postures. Through regular practice, I can now achieve all of the poses. After practising yoga about 2 or 3 times a week, I soon began to feel the difference. Never force your body to do anything in yoga, if it hurts then stop. If you don’t listen to your body you will cause yourself serious injuries.

Yoga can be practised everyday. If you do pay attention to what your body tells you, you should not feel strained the next day. If something is uncomfortable, then go into a more conservative position. Often when people feel strained in a posture, they concentrate so hard on their form that they forget to breath. Never sacrifice your breathing for a posture, as Katy Appleton often reminds you. Without breathing you cannot live, and if you don’t live there is no point in doing yoga, so breathe. Also the breath is an important part of yoga, as it energises the body and brings the mind and body into harmony. At the beginning it warns you that if you have any doubts about your health, then consult your GP before you start practising, and Geri yoga was not designed for pregnant women.

Geri yoga is a good introduction to yoga, and a good reference for posture. I recommend this to beginners, but not advanced students. The DVD concentrates on the easier postures of yoga, and also introduces the sun salutation. A big problem with this DVD is that it is rather disjointed. The section “Geri’s postures” is a series of poses one after the other without much connection. It offers a workout, but without flowing from one posture to the next.

Yoga is helpful to develop the body and mind. Geri’s yoga does offer a reasonable challenging workout using core strength, flexibility, and stamina. However, a lot of this comes from the sun salutation. I would recommend this DVD as a reference to learn the postures and perfect them. Katy Appleton is a very good instructor who explains the postures well. The advantage of learning yoga from DVD rather than a book is that Katy demonstrates the posture, and shows where mistakes are often made, and offers easy alternatives to many poses.

I feel that yoga has really helped me as it makes me feel good about myself. I am glad that I brought Geri yoga as a guide to begin with rather than go to a class, because I can practice without feeling silly or uncomfortable.

The last section of Geri yoga is extremely useful. The relaxation can be done after yoga, or whenever you need it. Kate Appleton’s voice soothes you and guides you into a relaxed state. I often use this when I have trouble sleeping, or feel restless and cannot get comfortable. The only problem with it is that straight after the relaxation, the DVD goes into an interview with Geri Halliwell, forcing you to get up and turn the TV off.

I would recommend this to people interested in taking up yoga. Although, you must practice regularly to feel the benefits. If you are looking for a DVD which flows from posture to posture and offers a more vigorous workout, then you would be better to buy Geribody yoga instead. You do not need to have brought the first DVD (Geri yoga) as it makes no presumptions that you know anything about yoga.

Finally a word about the structure of the sections:

1)Introduction to breathing
****
2)Warm up
****
3)Advanced Warm up; (beginners may find difficult)
****
4)Geri’s postures
Dolphin (building towards head stand)
Head stand (requires balance)
Shoulder stand
Plough pose (only for the flexible)
Bridge pose
Wheel (often called crab)
Fish posture
Cobra
Bow
Spinal twist
Crow
Triangle pose
Warrior I
Tree pose
****
Relaxation

I think that the DVD costs around £17 from HMV, or you can get Geribody yoga on DVD for around £18 from MVC