Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I just recently received both the "Journey Into Power" Level 1 and Level 2 DVD's. As expected, I was certainly not dissapointed! I have a lot of Yoga Video's and DVD's (over 80 at this point) so I'm quite familiar with much of what is out there.
Baron's programs in particular have been a very large part of my daily practice. I have "Unlocking Athletic Power", "Core Power", "Soul Of Strength", The Three "Hot Yoga" Tapes, "Power and Precision", "Power Yoga Basics (from "Transform Your Life, Yoga With Baron Baptiste" which was a PBS special) and now these two DVD's.
This particular Level 2 program more or less follows the sequence outlined in his book "Journey Into Power". While he pretty much maintains the order of the series (Integration, Sun Salutes A then B, Warrior series etc.), he does sometimes rearrange the order of some of the poses in some of the series. I'm just mentioning this for folks who may be familiar with his first book and are curious to know how closely he follows the sequence outlined there. This DVD is sequenced perfectly and I'm writing this review a few minutes after doing it and I feel amazing!
Because it's 45 minutes rather than the 90 minutes he recommends in his book he basically does less repetitions of the Sun Salutes, but plenty to warm you up, he leaves out some of the backbending series (but includes Camel, Bridge and Wheel), the Abdominal series just leaves out Abdominal Twists (but trust me it's enough :)), he leaves out the Inversion Series altogether, does one pose of the Hip series (Double pigeon or it's modification. For the Forward bending series he does Seated Leg Extension and Tabletop and in Surrender to Gravity he leaves out Dead Bug Pose but does the Supine Twist and Supta Baddha Konasana (Supine Cobbler).
I've been doing Yoga every day for over 8 years and I found this DVD more than challenging enough. This might be on the "lighter" side for a hard core Ashtangi, or someone used to doing Mark Blanchard's or Bryan Kest's tapes, but I think for most folks who want a challenging but doable program this should be all they'd need.
Personally I like to change my routine from day to day, even if I'm doing Baron's programs I like to alternate between some of his shorter programs with a program like this one. I also highly recommend Rodney Yee's Power Yoga Programs ("Stamina", Flexibility" etc).
I would definitely recommend that a beginner to Power Yoga start with his "Power Yoga Basics", or "Core Power", then move on to "Journey Into Power" level 1 and at that point go on to level 2 or you may be overwhelmed.
Beyond this level you may want to try some of Bryan Kest's original series.
Also, if you want some gentle programs to start with or alternate with I also highly recommend "Yoga Zone's Basics" series which each contain two 20 minutes routines and are very well done.
I hope this helps.
Namaste
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Baron Baptiste - Journey Into Power Level 2
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