Starting a home yoga practice is rewarding to say the least.
You get flexible, breath better, and have more energy without the hassle of driving to and from the gym.
But buying a yoga DVD can be somewhat of a crap shoot…
And it could cost you just as much as a few months at the yoga studio before you find something you like…
So before you spend your hard earned money on something mediocre, we put together a list of the best yoga DVD’s for beginners, for beginners over 50, for prenatal yoga, for weight loss, and for seniors.
But for those in a rush, our #1 pick overall is yoga burn. It’s affordable, comes with both a physical DVD as well as instant online access, and it moves in stages starting with building your yoga foundation. Get Yoga Burn here.
Best Overall – Yoga Burn DVD & Online Access
Our Rating
When you buy yoga burn, you get immediate online access. At the same time, an actual DVD of the program is also mailed to your house. There aren’t a lot of yoga programs that offer both the online and physical versions. When it comes to learning yoga, what makes yoga burn uniquely effective is that the world renowned teacher takes the time to teach you the three proven phases of yoga: Foundational Flow, Transitional Flow, and Mastery Flow.
By the time you’re finished, you know the poses, you’ve mastered your form, and you’re able to do a routine on your own without even thinking about it.
Best Yoga DVD’s For Beginners
Below we’ve reviewed the top yoga DVD’s for beginners to help you establish your form and improve your flexibility. These are two of the best programs for yoga at home and you can’t go wrong with either one.
Rodney Yee’s Complete Yoga For Beginners
Rodney Yee’s a world renowned yoga instructor with decades of experience in practice.
In his complete yoga DVD for beginners, he walks you through over 80 minutes of yoga beginning with a 20 minute basics practice and moving into yoga for flexibility, energy and finally ending with yoga for relaxation.
Each of the 4 sessions is 20 minutes and includes another digital download for those who need a quick yoga fix on the go.
This is a great way to start your yoga practice if you’re a beginner and with well over 200 positive reviews, it’s hard to go wrong here.
Rodney also includes a section where he shows you how to perform yoga poses correctly and demonstrates the common mistakes to prevent you from getting injured.
Rodney has a soothing voice that gently guides you through each activity so it’s a nice way to start your day on a calm note and get your blood flowing.
Recommended Tools:
Pros
- It’s divided into 4 easy segments that walks you through an entire 80 minute series of poses. You can also opt for one 20 minute segment if you’re pressed for time.
- Teaches you common mistakes that cause injury and walks you through the proper form for beginning yoga poses.
- Rodney has a very calming voice and he’s one of the highest quality instructors.
- At the time of this writing it’s a very affordable beginner yoga DVD.
Cons
- A few people reported feeling like the poses were too difficult.
- Moves quickly through poses leaving only a short time to hold the pose.
Yoga For Beginners Boxed Set
This beginners yoga boxed set includes 3 DVD’s packed with over 40 different yoga routines.
It includes a DVD for “inflexible people”, another for AM/PM yoga, and another specifically for stress relief.
Between the 3 videos and the 40 routines, you’ll have enough yoga instruction to last you for at least a year and possibly forever.
In fact, most people stick with similar routines once they find something they like. So what’s great about this is that you can try all the different flows to find one or two you prefer and then stick with them moving forward.
1. Yoga For Stress Relief DVD:
This DVD is broken down into 4 segments:
- Starting and ending your day
- Neck, shoulder, and back exercises
- Exercises for putting your mind at ease
- Stretching for digestion and calming stomach issues
The stress relief DVD focuses primarily on restorative yoga to help you lengthen your muscles, forge a mind-body connection and rejuvenate your body.
And if you’re worried about time, the sessions on this range from 15-60 minutes so you should be able to do the at least some yoga no matter how busy your day is.
Recommended tools:
2. Yoga For Inflexible People DVD:
This yoga DVD is divided into three sections:
- Just the basics – short routines
- More basic, short routines
- Long routines covering the basics but these sessions go as long as 90 minutes
This is probably the best place to start if you’re a beginner or you’ve been out of practice for a while.
It’s all about establishing the fundamentals of your practice including the proper form for your poses. And if you’re suffering from any kind of pain – back pain especially – this is an essential DVD.
It moves at a slow pace where you’ll hold poses for longer periods giving you the opportunity to settle into the pose and deepen your stretch.
As you may already know, holding your stretch will increase your flexibility faster (or in less sessions I should say).
However, if you’re familiar with yoga or you’ve been practicing recently, you may find this DVD moves a little slower than you’d like.
3. AM/PM Yoga DVD For Beginners:
This yoga DVD is composed of several morning “get up and go” routines that are shorter in length (15 minutes) and several evening routines designed to calm you down and prepare you for restful sleep.
There’s also easy morning routines for the less morning inclined person. These help you gently wake up and calmly move into your day.
The routines vary in length from 15-45 minutes so you can get your morning and night routines in even if you only have a few minutes.
Recommended tools:
Pros
- Comes with 3 DVD’s making it one of the most complete beginner DVD sets
- Highly experienced instructor
- Sessions offered in multiple lengths so you can do yoga even when you’re pressed for time
- Great value for the cost
- Relieves stress while improving flexibility in a big way
Cons
- May be too simplistic if you’ve done yoga before
Best Yoga DVD For Beginners Over 50
While the above yoga DVD’s could work well for beginners over 50, we’ve included our top choice for yogis over 50 below…
Gentle Yoga: 7 Beginning Yoga Practices for Mid-life
Gentle Yoga by Jane Adams contains just over 3 hours of yoga sessions that anyone over the age of 50 can easily perform.
Jane is an experienced yogi in this age range so she designed something that’s both restorative and challenging but not so intense that you’ll feel exhausted after.
- Lying Yoga Practice: Full body yoga performed by lying on your back with lots of breath work incorporated.
- Morning Energy: An uplifting AM session comprised of standing, stretching, twisting, breathing and arm movements.
- Relief From Desk & Computer Work: This session is designed to target the muscles that become tight from hours of sitting at a desk.
- Balance Improvement: Lots of stretches designed to strengthen your feet, ankles, hips and legs. Specifically works to strengthen stabilizer muscles critical for building balance.
- Core Strength & Flexibility: Stretches to strengthen your core and spine with the goal of improving posture.
- Standing Flow & Traditional Yoga: Standing flow yoga to help you develop stability, strength and flexibility.
- Evening Yoga: Inversions and forward bends to help you unwind and de-stress after a long day.
- Bonus: Relaxation / guided meditation to help you further unwind.
Most of her yoga DVD’s are filmed outside in a serene environment with the river and trees in the background.
Jane has a calming voice and incorporates lots of gentle yoga poses which is great if you’ve been inactive or you’re trying yoga for the first time and need something that carefully guides you through a routine.
She currently has over 1,100 reviews on Amazon.com and she’s holding 5 stars which is an impressive accomplishment to say the least.
A few people reported feeling it’s boring but, that’s an extremely small portion of the group so, you win some you lose some right?
Pros
- Holding over 1,100 5 star reviews
- Includes 7 complete yoga sessions
- Ideal choice for anyone over 50 years old
- Jane, the instructor, has been practicing since the 1970’s
Cons
- A few people reported that the yoga DVD is boring
Best Prenatal Yoga DVD
Yoga when pregnant may be one of the best things you can do for both yourself and your baby.
However, you should always check with your doctor before starting a yoga routine and this is especially important when pregnant. But if you’ve been cleared, prenatal yoga is amazing for several reasons:
- Connecting with your breath and relaxing
- Strengthening your pelvic floor
- Improving posture
- Strengthening and reducing swelling in your feet
- Improving hip flexibility
With that in mind, let’s look at the best prenatal yoga DVD’s…
Prenatal Vinyasa Yoga & Short Forms
Your yoga instructor, Jennifer More, is the owner of Dolphin Yoga & Doula Center in San Mateo California. She holds more prenatal certifications than I care to recap in this post so…she’s good.
This DVD is designed for safe use in all three trimesters and puts a high emphasis on form and safety for the pregnant, soon to be mom.
Jennifer has also done a great job varying the length of your yoga sessions from 15 – 75 minutes so you can always do your yoga and vary the length based on how you’re feeling.
Jennifer does push you a bit so this may not be the easiest option if you’re new to yoga or having an exceptionally hard pregnancy.
Vinyasa is a flow style yoga that moves from one position to the next with some speed. However, she’s experienced and she’s a doula so a little pushing (within reason) may be just what the doctor ordered…
Pros
- Varying length sessions including 15,30,45 & 75 minute lengths
- Highly experienced instructor
- Good for a challenging prenatal yoga if you like vinyasa flow
- Includes 5 & 15 minute guided relaxations to help you mentally prepare for labor
- Includes a 10 minute partner training to perform with your significant other
- Bonus labor poses to help you in childbirth
Cons
- Some people feel this is too strenuous to perform during pregnancy
Shiva Rea Prenatal Yoga
This prenatal yoga DVD was made by Gaiam and designed to accommodate you in all three trimesters as well.
It walks you through 6 different poses with modifications to simplify as you move forward in your pregnancy.
The goal of this yoga DVD is to keep things as simple as possible while helping you stay fit and limber as you’re moving through pregnancy and into the actual delivering of your new baby 🙂
The DVD Has:
- Calming meditations to help you achieve deep breathing and relaxation
- Seated, standing, and floor poses to stretch and tone your muscles
- Guided relaxation exercises to help you unwind and destress
The only drawback with this DVD program is that it’s a one hour session…period.
So you’ll need to either do the full hour of yoga or jump to the parts you want. However, the hour of yoga is divided into 15-20 minute sections so it’s manageable if you don’t mind a little fast-forwarding.
As you’ll see in the yoga DVD, it takes place in a studio with other pregnant women who have no trouble performing the poses. This might be reassuring and help guide you as you get to see how they perform each pose.
They do use yoga bolsters and chairs so it’s highly recommended you also get these tools with the DVD (or any prenatal yoga DVD for that matter).
Overall this is a great, very gentle option that can help you if you’re new to yoga and desire a relaxing and simple prenatal routine.
Recommended tools:
- Chair for balancing
- Yoga bolster
Pros
- Do yoga with other pregnant women in the DVD
- Safe for pregnancy
- Easy to follow along with
- Gentle poses that work for every trimester
- Includes calming meditations to reduce stress
Cons
- No menu and its only one disk
Best Yoga DVD For Weight Loss
Weight loss is challenging for most of the United States. Fortunately, there’s yoga DVD’s for weight loss that can help you shed the extra pounds and have some fun while doing it. Let’s check them out…
The Biggest Loser: Weight Loss Yoga DVD
At the top of the list is the world famous Biggest Loser team with a new spin on yoga. Your coach, Bob Harper takes you through a series of stretches and yoga exercises that start slow and build.
He gets you warmed up with the stretches and then moves into the pound shredding exercises.
They may be a little challenging for you at first but don’t beat yourself up about it. Just keep practicing and within a few weeks you’ll have no issues performing everything and more.
Throughout your session Bob gives you form tips and modifications to the poses so you can perform the safely.
However, if you’re completely new to yoga, I would consider purchasing the yoga for beginners boxed set in addition to the weight loss yoga.
The beginners DVD’s will help you nail down your form before moving into the slightly more intense weight loss programs.
As soon as you start this program you’ll have fun though.
The tone is very uplifting and positive which makes you want to keep going and push yourself harder than the day before.
Overall this is a great option and works for individuals of all ages, shapes and sizes.
Pros
- Very uplifting tempo and tone
- Highly trained instructor
- Starts with a dedicated warm up to get your muscles loose
- Challenges you and works very well for weight loss
Cons
- Some people have reported this being hard on the knees after knee replacement surgery
Yoga Boost: Yoga For Weight Loss
Yoga boost is designed to build muscle while losing weight with the added stress relieving benefits of yoga.
Their mantra is that “this is the program for people who don’t do yoga”. So if you can’t touch your toes or you’re generally inflexible then this might be the right yoga DVD for you.
It has 4 workouts as part of the system:
- Yoga Sharpen: A hard hitting morning yoga workout to energize you for the day.
- Yoga Strength: A targeted yoga workout designed to boost your strength while you exercise in the comfort of your own home.
- Yoga Sweat: A fast paced cardio style yoga designed to boost your metabolism and help you shed unwanted pounds.
- Yoga Stretch & De-stress: A more conventional and relaxing style of yoga designed to help you stretch sore muscles and improve your flexibility.
While the cover would have you think this is mostly for men, it’s actually a great program for women.
In fact, many women have reported this being one of their favorite yoga programs so far.
You’ll get clear instructions on how to perform your poses, lots of modifications to help you achieve proper stretch, and if you take it seriously, you’ll shed the unwanted weight in no time.
Recommended tools:
Pros
- Clear explanation of all exercises with modifications
- Works for beginners and intermediate yogis
- Very effective for improving flexibility and weight loss
- Challenges you and makes you sweat
Cons
- One person reported that a yoga block is recommended but was not included
- A few people found this to be harder than they could handle
Best Yoga DVD For Seniors
When you’re entering the senior stage, being active is all the more important for longevity and vitality. But performing classic yoga or gym routines may be doing more harm than good if you’re not ultra conservative.
So if you’re craving exercise you can perform in the comfort of your home, and you’re ready to try yoga, there’s some great options for you.
Let’s take a look…
Yoga For Seniors With Jane Adams
Jane Adams has decades of yoga experience and specializes in yoga for older individuals. In fact, she has one of the highest rated yoga DVD’s from above (for people over 50).
In this edition, Jane pays special emphasis on performing yoga with a chair to add balance and assist in stretching without putting yourself at risk of falling.
She breaks up her second edition DVD into 3 specific yoga levels:
- Level 1: Chair yoga performed with gentle movements that improve strength, motion, joint health and posture.
- Level 2: Some chair work and other standing work while holding a chair. This practice is designed to improve strength, flexibility, balance and improve leg strength/flexibility.
- Level 3: The most advanced and longest session (55 minutes), this level uses the same chair and standing next to a chair work. It’s similar to level 2 but slightly longer with a greater emphasis on balance and strength. It’s broken down into 6 different segments so you don’t have to perform them all at once and you can target the areas you feel like you need the most help with.
Pros
- Lots of emphasis on form and balance
- Helps you connect with your breathing and relax your mind
- Builds strength while preserving your joints
- Improves flexibility
Cons
- A few people have reported their DVD not playing right
Stronger Seniors: Chair Yoga
Designed with the senior who’s just starting in mind. Chair Yoga places importance on becoming active at any level. And the program is designed to help you improve strength, flexibility and function better in your daily life.
As you know, yoga helps you breathe deeper and reduce hypertension. So if you’re having issues with high blood pressure, this might be the perfect yoga DVD for your new practice.
There’s no advanced poses or getting down on the floor required so if you struggle with limited mobility or flexibility this is definitely the better choice.
It currently has over 240 reviews on Amazon.com and holds 4.5 stars with one customer reporting that it’s helped both her and her 82 year old mother.
Pros
- Doesn’t require you to get down on the floor or get into compromising positions
- Holds over 240 positive reviews
- Works for seniors of all ages
- Improves balance, strength and may reduce high blood pressure
Cons
- A few people reported feeling like it was too slow paced
- One person reported their DVD not working
How to Choose The Best Yoga DVD
Your Experience Level: We’ve detailed the best yoga DVD’s for a number of experience levels and age ranges above for a reason: Yoga can be hard and require dedication to master.
You may be tempted to go directly into the most challenging yoga practice. My advice is that you choose the beginner dvd if you’re just starting since form is imperative in yoga.
A beginner DVD will help you establish your baseline and become flexible enough to move into more challenging poses.
Your Goal: Your goal will heavily influence the direction you go with your yoga DVD.
For example, if your goal is to lose weight, then choosing a higher tempo DVD specifically for weight loss is going to be the best option.
If you’re a senior, then a slower paced DVD is going to be the right choice. Regardless of your goal though, if you’re new to yoga, you may want to start with something to help you get the basics down first.
Pace of the Yoga DVD: The pace of your yoga DVD can matter more than you might think. A tempo that’s slow might feel boring to one person and relaxing to another.
And a Vinyasa tempo may be too challenging for the beginner. Consider your goal and that should help you make a decision.
The DVD’s for beginners tend to have a more relaxing pace which is perfect for learning, de-stressing, and improving flexibility. And the weight loss DVD’s will have a faster tempo that’s better for working out.
Length of sessions: If you’re a busy mom or just don’t have a lot of time to spend on yoga, you’ll probably want a DVD with sessions of varying lengths. If that’s the case, opt for one of the multi-DVD packs or one that has multiple sessions on the disk.
Summary
There’s so many yoga DVD’s that it can be daunting when you’re trying to choose one.
Fortunately all of the options on this list are some of the best yoga DVD’s in each category and affordable by most standards.
The important thing to remember is that you don’t have to be great to start so pick one or two and get moving. You’ll save money on expensive yoga studio memberships, won’t have to drive to the gym and you can start doing yoga right away in the comfort of your own home.
What’s your process for practicing yoga at home? Do you have a favorite DVD that I left out?
