PRASARA. Instructional Series 'A' Flows

If you've never done Yoga before, this would probably not be the place to start. Sonnon does a very good job breaking down the physical poses and movements and explaining them without a lot of confusing jargon. But this is not basic Yoga by any means. I think a beginner would get frustrated with Sonnon's beautiful but very challenging "flows." They aren't extremes of flexibility or strength by any means, but to do them right, even with detailed instructions, you do have to really go inside yourself and patiently learn how your body works. If you were to start with a program like this, I think the temptation would be very strong to make it a very physical exercise and lose track of the delicate body feedback and breath discipline that is central to the practice. I suspect it would be easy to do a caricature of Prasara yoga that missed the beauty of it.Sonnon builds wonderfully on the basic Yoga concepts to create something new and unique, constantly flowing but continually controlled movement patterns that take your body to its movement limits while letting your mind go into its own free flowing zone. This is one of the most appealing forms of Yoga practice I've come across because it is very adaptable to athletic training, it works well to keep my body feeling supple and strong, and yet it still helps me to focus my mind powerfully once I begin to get the hang of the movements and the transitions. I like this approach a lot better than trying to hold poses for long periods. Sonnon emphasizes making the transitions smooth between asanas, without losing the important elements of each pose and coordination with breathing. This makes Prasara seem to me a lot more palatable and quickly appreciable to people like me who come to Yoga initially from a physical and athletic rather than primarily spiritual direction.The only problem I found with the instructional approach here is that while it breaks down the chains movement by movement very well, it does not offer much in the way of "partial" movements where the movements are difficult. One of the compromises that Sonnon makes by emphasizing the transitions is that of course as a result he de-emphasizes the individual poses, and some of the poses are relatively advanced. For example, there is a movement you sit, grasp a heel from behind you, bring the leg in front of you, and then fold it across you and stand up. He explains the parts, but I found that I had to get very creative to find ways to "train for" each piece of the movement before I could put that one simple movement together. It took a lot of flexibility, strength, balance, and coordination to do the simple movement that Scott demonstrates as a simple chain of movements. I found that I had to take each piece and work on partial versions of it first before trying even the most basic form that he demonstrates. I've noticed that a lot of beginner Yoga materials use all sorts of props and variations of poses to help learn and train for the more advanced ones. Scott leaves that sort of remedial assistance as an exercise for the viewer.That being the only thing I had a problem with, I have to highly recommend this Prasara instructional series for anyone who is either already comfortable with Yoga practice or willing to work diligently at it and perhaps add remedial work from other forms of Yoga. Particularly for those who want a new exercise experience that blends particularly well with athletic and dance training, teaches you confidence in movement, balance, and body control, while keeping you supple, feeling great, and focusing your mind. Yoga is a wonderful discipline for both restorative purposes and developmental purposes, and Prasara is one of the most ingenious and adaptable formats for practicing Yoga available in my opinion. If you get tired of pumping iron and jogging and want something a little more sophisticated to engage your mind and spirit along with your body, this is a great option.

This DVD was released as a follow-up to instructor Scott Sonnon's original Prasara, Flow Without Thought DVD. Because the original DVD offered challenging yoga flows without any instruction, Instructional Series "A" Flows was designed to bridge this gap. Here Sonnon offers 5 different series, which including both traditional yoga postures and flowing transitional movements. He breaks down each series in an approximately 15-minute step-by-step instructional segment, and the DVD also includes brief demonstrations of each flow. The five series are as follows:Flock of Pigeons: hip opening, knee, and ankle workDiving Dolphin: hamstring work plus shoulder/neck openerSpider Monkey: strength work for chest, shoulders, arms, and upper backForest: strength work for legs, glutes, and coreTumbleweed: hip flexor and neck strengthening workThe main problem I have with this DVD is that the instructional portions, while very detailed, are still difficult to follow. All of the flows involve frequent direction changes and take up A LOT of space, so it becomes very confusing to try to mimic Sonnon's instruction (the awkward camera angles don't help). Furthermore, many of the moves themselves are quite challenging and thus only appropriate for someone who is advanced in yoga or extremely athletic. A final note about this DVD is that the production values leave something to be desired: the sound is echo-y, and Sonnon is filmed alone in the corner of a drab, empty studio.Sonnon certain has a beautiful practice and is inspiring to watch, but I view this DVD as being appropriate for only a very small audience.

This is a series of 2-4 min flowing yoga poses with a martial arts grappling style impression. The flow inspires the ability to increase mobility/flexibility, body awareness & fluidity.Demos:The flows are beautiful to watch & show gracefulness & inspire you to want to be able to achieve it as well. Each flow is shot beautifully outdoors w/beautiful Enigma style music & chanting in real time with slow body awareness of Scott Sonnon. There is Forest flow (4 min), Spider monkey, Flock of pigeons, Diving dolphin, Tumbleweed (each are 2 min).Menu & presentation:The menu is very simple with no introduction & contains only the choices of the demos or the instruction of each flow. Each flow is instructed in a bare room showing only a small corner Scott is in with which makes Scott's voice echo to annoying degree, but otherwise clear. There is no music & it feels like you're in a class especially as Scott speaks with detailed body position preciseness with no humor or passion. There is almost no camera angle change & Scott has to keep teaching the same thing over & over shifting his body so you can see it form different angles so you can better see to avoid injury. I wish he was in front of a mirror. Scott does a great job with details, showing the same pose or transition from one pose to another several times with more information about body placement each time.Length of Instructions: Forest - 35 min, Spider monkey & Flock of pigeons - 15 min each, Diving dolphin - 23 min & Tumbleweed - 20 min.Difficulty:I started with the first, Forest & I thought I could do it as I've done beginner & some intermediate yoga on/off for several years. When he taught from going from a half lotus sitting to flow/stand into a tree w/only one foot, I tried, but I could not follow it even with all his detailed instruction & shifting of several angles. I tried slow-mo & also think my limited strength & endurance is an issue even though I have great flexibility. I gave up, looked at Spider monkey, but when he went from full star (advanced slide plank) to downward dog to wheel, I knew I didn't have the upper body strength. Diving dolphin had you do plow while twisting your legs/torso to different sides which I knew I couldn't do with my tight neck. Tumbleweed had him going from bridge to twist into plow & a simple kneeling shoulder stretch into plow, etc. Not to say the flows are all hard poses, there are child's pose, downward dogs, etc. but I am listing some of the more advance transitions that people might not be able to do.My personal opinion:I tried Flock of pigeons since it seemed to have the least demand of upper body strength & I can do a sloppy full pigeon which he does in it. After doing little over 10 min of the Forest pose, I was already a bit bored, intimidated & the constant body swivel changes to see the pose/transition at different angles, while helpful, only would confuse me more. Now I admit I am a slow but thorough learner, though with good passion/energy from the instructor, I can follow simply through intuition. I could not at all here as Scott's delivery was very matter-of-fact, though he does have great knowledge & body awareness.Suggestions:Though Cameron Shayne's Budukon's 3 yoga flowing workouts are also for only advanced practitioners like this workout (I don't have the strength to follow that either), I found that much easier to follow as well as the idea of hitting enter only when you need more detailed instruction. Cameron also seemed more relaxed & passionate about what he teaches. This is great for anyone who does have great strength & endurance & flexibility who wants more body awareness or grappling style body control which is great to have.Videos: youtube com/watch?v=YK6CGtViWg8 & youtube com/watch?v=O7df4mxpqLUNot on this dvd, but a sample of his teaching style: youtube com/watch?v=zB_fxU8UksU