This yoga tutorial slowly and methodically teaches 12 yoga poses. It provides an excellent workout for someone new to yoga poses and terminology, for anyone who prefers a relaxed pace, for someone who needs extra time to set up for each exercise, and for those who want thorough instruction and supportive guidance every time they workout. Sara takes about 2 minutes to teach each pose in great detail, telling you exactly how to move and when to breathe. You practice one rep slowly with her, then you perform the pose for 6 breaths. For some poses this means holding the pose, unmoving, for all 6 breaths; for others it means repeating the pose 6 times, once for each breath. Sara talks you through the first two breaths, stays silent for the next three and talks again during the last breath. As she shares form pointers and tips, the Dummies icons frequently flash across the screen. She often shows or mentions modifications for certain poses and uses a chair for one pose and a strap for another.

After spending 2 minutes discussing and practicing yoga breathing and how to sit cross-legged, you get on your hands and knees to warm up the torso and spine with the Cat pose. Five standing poses are next: Mountain pose, Standing Forward Bend, Lunge (Warrior), Tree pose, and Standing Side Stretch. Next you place your hands on the ground for Downward Dog, then lie face down for the Cobra, and press up and backwards to sit on your heels for Child's pose. After sitting tall for Seated Spinal Twist and Seated forward Bend, the final four minutes are spent lying face up in the Relaxation pose.

Once you've learned these poses, you'll be ready and eager to graduate to a smoother, continuous workout....without all the instruction. Don't get me wrong, the instruction here is terrific, but because of the format, it takes 48 minutes to do about 20 minutes of yoga. This video would have been more versatile if it had been edited into two workouts. You'd then have two options: learning or brushing up on correct technique by practicing each pose once with Sara for 28 minutes, or practicing a continuous, flowing series of 12 poses for a more dynamic workout.

The DVD version has an excellent half-hour bonus workout. Sara teaches the Sun Salutation, piece by piece. You learn a pose, practice it 3 times, learn a new pose and TIFT (take it from the top) until you've put all the pieces of the Sun Salutation together.

If you're the type who fast-forwards through the cooldown stretches after your workout, Charlene will offer compelling information in this 52-minute video that should persuade you to change that bad habit. Charlene teaches developmental stretches, meaning you'll hold each stretch much longer than typically done at the end of a video workout, in order to develop increased flexibility. Most stretches are held for about a minute. During that time Charlene shares excellent, useful information about stretching. The function of each muscle is explained and demonstrated. Anatomical drawings show what each muscle looks like and where it's located. Flexibility tests for certain muscle groups are shown. You get an anatomy lesson during your total body stretch -- talk about time-efficient!

There's no on-screen warm-up -- the video opens as Charlene and her pals are just finishing their workout and she emphasizes the importance of being well warmed up before stretching. The first 27 minutes are devoted to stretching the legs, with the most time (7 minutes) devoted to the notoriously tight hamstrings. Five minutes are spent on the spine, 14 minutes on the upper body, 4 minutes on the calves. Muscles that are rarely stretched in other videos get full attention here -- wrists and forearms, soleus, and neck. Sometimes two or three different stretches are done for the same muscle. Optional positions are shown for certain stretches -- to offer more or less intensity depending on your flexibility. A few PNF stretches are included too -- here you tighten a muscle and hold for a few seconds, then release and immediately stretch.

Whatever your flexibility level, this video offers thorough instruction for stretching in a friendly, down-to-earth style. Working out with Charlene is like spending time with an old friend, she's optimistic, encouraging and looking out for your best interest. If you're not in the mood for her chatting and instructions, turn down the sound and put on your own music -- the stretches are easy enough to follow without the sound. It's quite easy to break this video into small bits and spread it out over a few workouts if 52 minutes of stretching is too much for you.

One warning: Homestretch was filmed in 1988, so some of the workout outfits are a bit dated. But hey, don't we all have some old pictures that show us wearing some pretty crazy clothes? Clothing styles change -- but stretching remains the same. You'll find this workout at Charlene's website.

Like its counterpart Lower Body Yoga for Beginners, this workout is misnamed. It is not for beginners! Also, the copy for the cover must have been written before the final edit of the video because the workout is 26 minutes long (not 20), and the outline of the workout is not what you'll find inside. As is the case with most Living Arts videos, Rodney demonstrates each pose perfectly -- his strength and flexibility are awesome. However, he's alone on screen, so easier modification of the poses are not readily available. Rodney cues the moves with voice-overs which lead you carefully through every pose and breath, and offer many pointers. The Maui scenery is luscious and the music quite relaxing.

The workout starts easy enough, with Rodney Yee using a folded blanket for the first 4 minutes of poses intended to gently stretch the upper body. Once he sets the blanket aside though, he starts a series of poses which require excellent balance and extreme spinal flexibility. You hold some poses for 30 to 60 seconds; at other times you move through 4 or 5 poses in 30 seconds. Because the workout focuses on strengthening the upper back and expanding the chest, many variations of back extensions are performed: upward dog, bow pose, camel pose, and full back bends. These twenty-one backward bending poses can be very stressful for the spine of the average person who is more used to (and comfortable with) bending forward rather than backward. This is not a workout for "all ages and levels of fitness" as the cover implies. Yoga experience and spinal flexibility is needed to get the full benefit from this workout.