Guest guest Posted April 28, 2000 Report Share Posted April 28, 2000 Don't you find the videos are meant to be instructional not just records of a class?<br><br>To have the details explained like in john friends vids or Freeman's is very helpful, watching five A's and B's is just a waste of time, if like you say you like the counting why not get an audio tape which has it on and would be far less distracting than the telly, I mean where is your drishti (gazepoint) going to be?<br><br>As to timings remember it is your breath and your lungs working, you should feel when they are filled and when they are empty, there's no set timing, if you feel you are holding the asanas too briefly add breaths, go to a count of eight or ten. Also what is your awareness of the change of breath from one side of a pose to the other, or say in backbends as opposed to forward bends?<br><br>I only got into videos at a friend's in the States and while they are fun they are no replacement for a class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 30, 2000 Report Share Posted April 30, 2000 How are the Baron Baptiste tapes? Is it ashtanga yoga? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 2, 2000 Report Share Posted May 2, 2000 I agree with your take on the Freeman and Swenson videos.<br><br>IMO, both videos are good -- Swenson's as a guide to follow along with for actual practice (it features a brisker pace), Freeman's as an introduction to astanga vinyasa and as a resource for learning alignment, breathing, bandhas, etc, or for those who favor a slower pace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 17, 2000 Report Share Posted May 17, 2000 My opinion is that the Baron Baptiste tapes are most definitely not ashtanga. I have taken class with him and he teaches an "athletic" kind of "power yoga" combining asanas from Bikram, Ashtanga and Iyengar. There is a lot of strength building and sweat-breaking. However, he leaves out many of the twisting and hip-opening asanas as do other teachers in the west who teach what is also commonly referred to as "Power Yoga." The order of the poses is scrambled and they combine asanas from several of the ashtanga series' (leaving out the hard bits.) Baptiste and his teachers also eliminate finishing poses and have made up a few of their own asanas such as "Upward Flipping Dog."<br><br>Baron's studio walls are covered with large mounted photographs of him posing with professional football players. He also claims to teach Madonna whom I know is actually a dedicated Ashtanga practitioner. Baron claims to be an expert in Ashtanga, Bikram and Iyengar yoga. His classes are generally PACKED.<br><br>After class, I asked Baron if he knew of any Ashtanga Mysore classes or groups in the Boston area. He was a little snippy with me and told me that he wouldn't know. He used to do ashtanga "a long time ago" and there might be some "Ashtanga people" around somewhere.<br><br>The only tapes that are actually ashtanga are those discussed in earlier messages. The Brian Kest tapes are also not ashtanga and leave out the "hard bits". I must say that some of these tapes helped me build strength which later really helped when I learned the primary series. It is really hard and not recommended to learn ashtanga from a tape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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