| 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 |
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 Excellent Meditation DVD |
| Review Date: January 26, 2004 |
| Reviewer: CJM, Atlanta, GA |
| 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. |
Relax. Sit Back. Explore Your World
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| Review Date: August 24, 2002 |
| Reviewer: Betti Trapp, |
| I love this tape. Sometimes I have to motivate myself to pop it into the VCR and actually do it, but Alan Fingers calming voice is enough to get me started. He starts with postures that are supposed to align you and get all of your being into focus before you meditate. He introduces some very powerful tools to catch those stray thoughts and turn them into calming ones. He speaks softly, slowly, calmly, as though you had all the time in the world. When at last you do enter the calming phase of the meditation itself (and I was able to do this the very first time), it's so free, so far removed from work and kids and noise and hassle, that you don't want to leave. Alan Finger allows you to explore this realm for awhile, and then come back to yourself. I always feel fabulous afterwards, but i think I need to do it every day, because the fabulous feeling only lasts until the next crisis occurs! Put it this way; It cannot hurt, you can gather some very insightful thoughts into yourself, and if nothing else, you have had 30 minutes of quiet. I usually darken the room, light some incense, and enjoy. |
Introduction to Meditation w/ Alan Finger
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| Review Date: January 29, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Yoga Dad, |
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 |
Great meditation video
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| Review Date: October 22, 2001 |
| Reviewer: Aurora Diaz, Guaynabo, PR United States |
The Yoga Zone videos are the best. I have about 10 yoga videos , and I keep using the Yoga Zone the most.
Alan Finger is an excelent teacher. He guides you in this meditations in a slowly and precise way. I usualy used this tape after my yoga practice. |
An excellent tape for getting started!
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| Review Date: April 13, 2001 |
| Reviewer: E. Jacobson, Los Angeles, CA |
| I just got started with meditation and this tape is excellent. It's more than meditating, it's getting prepared for meditation. It moves at a comfortable rate and easy to understand! |
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