Yin Yoga: The Foundations of a Quiet Practice

A few days ago, I decided to start a 40 day yoga discipline of an hour a day. Days 1-5 I was using, let's say, more vigorous forms of yoga; by the morning of day 5 my body was whingeing so I selected my own more gentle postures rather than doing a class or DVD. By then it was apparent to me that if I was ever going to complete the 40 days, I needed a slower calmer form of yoga to counterbalance what I had been doing so far.At first I baulked at the idea of spending nearly thirty pounds on a yoga DVD but reading the reviews and watching the clips on youtube convinced me to buy it. I can honestly say this is excellent value for money and one of the best yoga DVDs I have. Some of the things I like about it:- the instructor, Paul Grilley, is clearly very passionate about yoga and has a calm and unassuming energy about him. He reminds you to just do what you can do and listen to your own body's wisdom- Yin yoga is slow and you hold the poses for a long time. This is not for everyone, it is simply a different kind of practice. When you are in a posture you can take the opportunity to use it as a mediation - observing your thoughts and letting them pass through. It is interesting what goes through your head when you are in the same position for four minutes. I also made a point of looking for areas of tension in my body and allowing them to relax which sometimes I do not remember to do with other faster forms of yoga. In this way, it becomes not just body movement but a spiritual practice for your whole being.- the poses are doable and there are sufficient variations for the less flexible. I am as stiff as a board but I can still do the postures or some variation thereof. There are variations of the postures for all levels from the most flexible to those like me.- it is great value for money; there is a lot of content. The first disc contains a lecture by Paul G on the Theory of Yin Yoga which is nearly 2 hours long but by no means boring. I learned a lot by listening to it. The second disc contains 3 hour-long sequences of Yin yoga plus customisable yan yoga sequences and bonus yin practices. In total over 6 hours of practice material on disc 2.I recommend this DVD very highly. If you are not sure if it is for you, take a look at the clips on youtube and the websites yinyoga.com and paulgrilley.com.

Until about 8 weeks ago, I had never heard of yin yoga. I stumbled across it at my local Bhuddist centre, while looking for some different, more gentle yoga types. After one class I was hooked. Unfortunately the local Bhuddist centre only has the class during work hours on weekdays - meaning I'm unlikely to get to the class again. So, I bought this DVD instead and have done one of the yin yoga series every week now.Yin yoga is a completely different form of yoga and is the opposite of the more common forms of yoga known as yang yoga (i.e. hatha etc). In yin yoga you are strengthening and stretching your connective tissue. You hold the poses for about 5 minutes each - which can be a challenge in itself - and is the time that it takes to stretch the connective tissues. To stretch the connective tissue you have to relax your muscles in the poses. And as you hold the poses for a long time, you also end up in a meditative state, which is also great to help de-stress.This DVD has 2 options for each yin yoga series - either with Paul talking you through every pose. Which is good so that you know what you are doing. But boy does he talk. He does not leave 1 second unfilled. Luckily, there is another option on the DVD, where you can choose to not hear the explanations and just hear the audible cue to change positions - much better - and it lets me get into a nice relaxed, meditative state. Just watch out, as on one of the series (the hip opener, I think), you don't get the cue to come out of the pose - you just get the cue to change poses after everyone else has had a chance to have a relax - this means that you end up stretching one side for longer than the other side.I've been doing yoga for over 10 years, but I think that this DVD should be fine for the novice yogi. Just be warned that as you hold the poses for a long time, it can be challenging and a bit painful - but in a good way. I am fairly flexible, but I find the hip opening series a challenge as the poses can hurt after a while. I also find the penultimate backbend in both the spine and the hip series a challenge. To do the back bend safely - especially if you are not very flexible in your back or are a novice, then I recommend that you buy a yoga bolster and lie on it while doing the pose - I do, if my back/knees need help on the day.

Would recommend watching it through a couple of times first. Interesting to see the different physicalities, between the models, reenforcing the individuality of yoga practice.

Mr Grilley knows his stuff and is very easy to follow in his delivery. Recommended.

Excellent DVD. There is much content on here. I am lucky enough to have brought this 2nd hand at a fraction of the cost and the DVD is in perfect condition. The first DVD is a lecture by Paul explaining the concepts of Yin Yoga. The second DVD has 3 hours of Yin Yoga instruction by Paul and 3 beautiful flows which you can play on a loop. Very impressed with all the content. I am a yoga instructor myself and find all yoga disciplines interesting.

I'm a big fan of Paul Grilley and this DVD is up there with his other stuff i.e. it's fantastic.Paul's a great teacher and brings science and common sense to his explanation of the theory and practice of Yin Yoga, and why we, as westerners living chair bound working lives, need to practice it. The lecture on the first DVD is very enlightening and worth the time to sit and watch. The practices demonstrated on the second DVD are excellent, and whilst the four models he uses to demonstrate are clearly extremely experienced and competent practitioners (seriously bendy!!), you are never pushed into trying to do things that are beyond your experience (and physiology) won't allow. In fact he is at pains to point out that we're all built differently and have different limitations, even between the two halves of our bodies.In short, a well designed and executed programme delivered by an expert in his field. I would also highly recommend his DVD on anatomy and yoga.

only had 1 disk on arrival - had to return