Om Yoga and Meditation Workshop

This product is very cool and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking to incorporate meditation into their yoga practice. It DVD is divided into 4 sections - each with a 15 minute meditation lesson and a 15 minute complete yoga practice. The final section also contains a guided meditation by David, which is a neat way to tie everything together you learn in the earlier sections. There is also a music CD in the box for your own personalized practice. Both David and Cyndi are amazing, warm teachers who make yoga and meditation approachable and fun. Another great product from OM!

Not crazy about this I've been doing yoga a long time. Always ready to try things. But this one just didn't work for me

I love this yoga dvd HOWEVER when I ordered it, it came with 2 cds and no dvd.

There is way too much talking and detailed explanations. If you're looking for a quick yoga exercise, this DVD is not for you.

Not what I hoped.

I was interested in this set for a couple of reasons. First, it includes a CD of yoga music. I'm a yoga instructor, and I'm always looking for new music to play in my classes. Second, although I've practiced yoga for over 15 years, I've struggled to adopt a regular meditation practice, and so I had hoped that the the practices on the included DVD would be helpful with this. This "workshop" includes the music CD, the DVD with the meditation and yoga practices, and a detailed information booklet, all in eco-friendly cardboard packaging (I liked this!).I'll start with the CD, which is my favorite part of this set. It offers a mix of vocal and instrumental tunes. Prior to acquiring this set, I could not find a list of the tracks anywhere, so I'll put them here as the appear in the included booklet.1. "Memories of Summer as a Child" - David Nichtern (9:10)2. "Wondrous Skies" - Emilia Sosa (4:33)3. "Phoenix Rising" - David Nichtern (8:26)4. "Tuesday" - tj Rehmi (4:19)5. "Blues for Baba" - Krishna Das (9:10)6. "The Sunrise" - tj Rehmi (6:11)7. "Mesa Mocha Grande" - David Nichtern (6:49)8. "Don't Run Away" - Sultan Khan/Rare Elements (5:22)9. "Cassiopia" - Michael Hewett/Ally (4:17)10. "Breeze of Delight" - Steve Gorn/Jamie Lawrence (6:40)I was significantly less enamoured with the DVD. First, I do not feel that it is described accurately, either in the product description or on the product case. The case states that there are 4 yoga and 5 meditation sessions. It is true that there are 4 short yoga segments, but there are actually only 2 meditation sessions--the other three segments are meditation "talks" (see below for more details). Furthermore, the product case states that the yoga sequences are appropriate for beginners/intermediates, but I would absolutely NOT recommend the yoga practices on this DVD for beginners!Below are the sequences as described on the DVD Main Menu. Following this, I will provide more descriptive information.1. Making Friends with Yourself--Meditation Instruction--Yoga Sequence2. Dynamic Equilibrium--Meditation Talk--Yoga Sequence3. Obstacles as Path--Meditation Talk--Yoga Sequence4. Opening Your Heart--Section A: Meditation Talk--Section B: Guided Meditation--Yoga SequenceMAKING FRIENDS WITH YOURSELF starts with a 12:54 introduction to meditation lead by David Nichtern, who leads all of the meditation segments. Nichtern is in front of a small class of students who are sometimes seen by the viewer. The video quality is poor--as if someone sent up a home camera in the back of the room--and the some is sometimes out-of-sync as well. He talks about the basic shamatha meditation from Tibetan Buddhism, which he translates as "calm abiding." The last few minutes of this intro are a brief practice. All of the yoga sequences are led by instructor Cyndi Lee, who cues via voiceover with two students present. The first routine is 14:17 minutes and starts with a seated vinyasa (cat-cow, twist, lateral stretch) that moves fairly quickly. Lee then goes through two rounds of sun salutations, chair pose, a reclined twist, plow, shoulderstand, and an extremely brief relaxation pose.DYNAMIC EQUILIBRIUM is supposed to be focused on finding balance. Nichtern's lecture here is short (6:37). He talks about how are expectations are "traps," and he describes use of a "touch and go" technique. For the yoga practice (14:01), Lee starts with a balanced breathing exercise. Rocking on the spine, she comes into boat pose, table, and a simple twist. From downward facing dog, she moves through crescent lunge, warrior 1, warrior 2, and half moon. She finishes with the balance poses tree and eagle, and again offers a very brief relaxation.OBSTACLES AS PATH again features a meditation talk by Nichtern (10:45). He maintains that while practice is actually simple, meditation can require bravery and courage to stay with it. For the yoga practice (14:04), Lee states that the focus will be on standing hip openers. She starts seated in hero's pose but quickly comes to standing for warrior 1, warrior 2, side angle, triangle, and lizard lunge. Returning to the floor, she performs a seated side saddle twist, wide angle lateral stretch with twist, forward bend, and brief relaxation.OPENING YOUR HEART is the final segment, and it includes both meditation instruction and practice. Nichtern starts (10:52) by talking about the idea of moving from practicing for oneself to practicing for others by direction one's thoughts in meditation. He introduces maitri practice, which is another name for metta or lovingkindness meditation. Nichtern describes the four slogans of goodwill used as part of this practice as well as how to send the loving thoughts towards a benefactor, self, and a neutral person. A 10:14 minute practice of this technique then follows. Lee begins the 14:23-minute yoga session lying over a blanket roll. She then moves into down dog and a lunge series, including lunge with a lateral side stretch. Next, she comes seated for a full cow-face pose (no modifications show). This is followed by half-wheel (aka bridge pose) and then two repetitions of full wheel pose. Lee concludes with supported shoulderstand using a block (aka L-pose).I was disappointed to find that I did not like the instruction of either Nichtern OR Lee. Nichtern comes across as VERY dry, not really connecting with the audience at all. Although I actually LOVE lovingkindness meditation (please read Sharon Salzberg's wonderful book  Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness  for more on this), I did not enjoy this sequence from Nichtern AT ALL. As noted above, I definitely did not find Lee's practices appropriate for beginners, as she includes poses that are intermediate and above, offers no modifications, and moves extremely quickly. Even though I have many years of yoga experience and teach as well, these factors made Lee's routines much less enjoyable for me, also.In the end, I am glad to have this set for the music, but I am guessing that most people will not want to purchase it for that reason alone. I certainly can't recommend it for the meditation and yoga segments.

I bought this DVD with the intention of trying something a little differentthan the yoga classes offered at my local gym. Being intermediate, at best,at yoga and a true beginner at meditating, I found the workshop to be agreat place for me to start out. I thought that I would never be one tomeditate (as many others may feel), because my mind races with a millionthoughts at once- how can I possibly clear my mind in this day in age?Well, with the aid of this DVD, I learned that meditation is something I cando- in fact; it¹s the perfect cure if I¹m stressed.I like that the yoga and meditation sections, although separate, work withone another under the same principle of each chapter. Although it is notexplicitly stated, the principles of meditation explained in the beginningof the chapter are used later on to center one¹s self mentally in the yogasection. Breathing is stressed throughout both the yoga and meditationsections in order to keep the body and mind centered with one another.Ordinarily I lack proper breathing techniques when practicing yoga, but byusing the meditation exercises from the chapter, I found that my yogadefinitely improved and the fluid-like movements that Cyndi executed seemedto become a lot smoother for me.This DVD is less of a how-to set of instructions for meditation and yoga,and more of a guided journey that expands beyond the length of the teaching.David even says in the very first chapter that the DVD is meant to bewatched as a guide through the principles of yoga and meditation and can bereferred back to in order to gain more perspective or as the framework ofyour own experience. I watched the DVD through twice before I attemptedmeditating on my own. Eventually as I got the hang of it, I only used it asa reference point for when I got stuck.All-in-all, I loved the DVD. It's definately worth checking out.

I have purchased several yoga DVDs in the past, but always found myself bored after only a few viewings. This yoga routine is much different than the others in that it consistently engages you in your movement and thoughts at an effective pace. The meditation segments are great on those days that I need to relax but am feeling a little too lazy to go through the whole yoga routine. David Nichtern is great at explaining the history of each exercise and puts in simple words the difficult concepts that are usually associated with deep meditation. Aside from these positives, the music CD that comes inside the DVD is nice to have around, even in the car, to take a mental break whenever it's convenient. It helps me to remember the methods David teaches in his segment and get right back into the swing of things. I'm very pleased with my purchase and feel this is one of the best meditation/yoga combination DVDs ive seen.

yoga section was good. meditation was average.

I do yoga all the time and bought this disc because of meditation portion. Yoga poses are shown and asked to do so fast, feels like you are late for train/plane. Exercises are great, just you have to put that disc on slow motion....then its good disc

I like this meditation yoga because it is easy to follow along to, clear explanations in a very soothing voice, beautiful relaxing bonus music DVD which you can listen to anytime. Also customer service at Amazon was excellent.