Yoga Zone - Meditation: Two Complete Sessions (Beginners)

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Starring: Alan Finger
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Type: DVD
Studio: KOCH VISION
Release Date: 2002-09-24
Yoga may build strength and tone muscles, but there's much more to this ancient art than just a trendy way to get fit. In this two-session tape, Alan Finger introduces some of the techniques yogis have used for centuries to quiet the mind and experience extended states of peace. He begins each session with what he calls "premeditative" asanas, physical poses like Dandasana or the potted-palm series that prepare the body for the intensive stillness of meditation. In the first session, he then concentrates on breathing techniques, including alternate nostril breathing and the Kriya breath, as well as the use of a mantra to calm your mind if it's feeling restless. In the second session, he has students visualize geometric shapes representing the body's chakras, or energy centers. Both sessions strike a pleasant balance between guided instruction and quiet sitting, and together they provide the basic tools a beginning student needs to establish his or her own meditation practice. Best of all, Yoga Zone: Meditation urges students to take the tranquility, wisdom, and creativity accessed during meditation and put these qualities to work in their everyday lives. --Mary Park

Better than Expected!
When I first put this DVD on, I was a little bit of a snob. I thought it was going to be silly, but it ended up being the best meditation DVD that I own! The quality wasn't as great as my other DVD's, but I loved the meditations. This instructor explains everything you're doing very well and his assistant shows the postures clearly.

I still haven't brought myself to watch the whole thing.....
When I bought this DVD I was under the understanding that it was for beginners, and I found that to start you have this model like lady who can fold her body in all kind of shapes and forms, who seemed so advanced that I just shut the whole thing off and I still have not finished to watch the whole video. If you are looking for something to help you start practicing YOGA this is not for beginners at all!

Introduction to Meditation w/ Alan Finger
In spite of the fact that I've been doing Yoga every day for the past 9 years, I still have a hard time sitting still(when it comes to monkey mind I'm "King Kong" :)). Yoga as a moving meditation seems more suited to my nature.

That being said, I do want to get better at seated meditation and this program is an excellent way to begin. It's long enough to let you taste the practice without being so long that it's overwhelming.

As always, Alan Finger does a masterful job of leading you through the practice. The first segment starts seated with some preliminary breath instruction. Then you move on to gentle Yoga stretches to prepare you for the longer seated meditation to follow. There are some Cat-Extended Seal stretches, Potted Palm series (seated forward bends and twists) and then a one leg forward bend, but rather than bending over the straight leg as you typically would in Janu-Sirsasana you bend more over the bent leg. This enhances the release in the hips.

After the more active segment you are led through alternate nostril breathing which is supposed to balance your brain. That is followed by some Kriya breathing in which you visualize the energy moving from the bottom of the spine (while firming the perenium/mula bandha) and follow the energy upward on the in-breath imagining the sound "Hum", then following the energy down the spine on the out breath w/ the inner sound of "Sah".

He also gives a mantra, "Mang" (pronounced "Mahng"), which you can use silently to help you have a point of focus along with the instruction to place a bit of saliva on your third eye center to help you create a focus on that area.

The second meditation is a chakra practice which starts with some gentle stretches to prepare you for sitting. Then Alan Finger guides you through the chakras from bottom to top using different images (which are related to specific colors) to focus on as you bring your attention to those areas.

I can see that this is a practice that I will need to implement into my life frequently in order to learn to quite my mind as well as my body. I always enjoy Alan Finger as a teacher because he really emanates sincerity without ever being preachy or self righteous. He also has a joyous quality that comes across in every program of his that I have and I have quite a few at this point.

If you want to learn more about Alan Finger (and other Western Yoga teachers) check out the excellent book "Yogi Bare" by Philip Self which contains interviews with many of the most notable Yoga teachers in the West (such as: Baron Baptiste, Rod Stryker (a student of Mani and Alan Finger), Bryan Kest, Donna Farhi, Gabriel Halpern, Richard Freeman, Lillias Folan, Rama Birch, Rodney Yee, Vyass Houston (Sanskrit Scholar), Patricia Walden, and many others)


Namaste

Excellent Meditation DVD
I have been practicing yoga for the last several months on a daily basis. Yoga Zone's DVDs are absolutely fantastic! This DVD is consistent with the quality that I have come to expect from Yoga Zone. Each session consists of 15-20 minutes of yoga exercises followed by a 15-minute meditation. FYI, this is not a How-to-Meditate DVD. It is simply a very well produced meditation DVD that one can use daily. This DVD also has 6 Chapter stops which allows a great deal of flexibility. For example, if you would like to begin the meditation without the yoga exercises you may do so. The two meditations on this DVD are considerably different:

The content of each meditation is as follows:

First Meditation
*Alternate nostril breathing
*Breath-work involving movement from the root chakra to third eye through the use of a
mantra
*3rd eye balancing

The Second Meditation
Chakra Balancing

Both meditations are highly effective. I recommend this DVD to anyone looking for a way to meld his or her yogic practice with meditation.

Not Your Best Choice
I recently purchased this dvd along with a meditation dvd from Gaiam with Maritza as the instructor. This video is very inferior to the Gaiam offering. The format of this is kind of odd. The narrator appears on the dvd along with a beauty who does all the posing (but has nothing to say, apparently). The narrator moves her through a series of yoga stretches and eventually into some seated meditation. Although there are two segments, the content is pretty much the same from one to the other. Just do this, and then do this. But there is very little content devoted to explaining the meditation that is supposed to be happening. Both segments are shot indoors; the dvd menu is pretty much "start" and that's it. I watched it twice before deciding to put it back in the box and use the Maritza dvd.