Curse those handsome devils at Gaiam. They make it too easy for a novice in the field of yoga to get off his fat arse and actually do something good for himself for a change. In this release everything you thought you knew about yoga is stripped away, leaving just the bare bones and this works so well for so many reasons.

I’m not one to do this stuff usually, but I had a crack at it (at last) and actually found it quite good - particularly being someone who hasn’t done this before (well, once in college, but I didn’t inhale). Anyway, our host Patricia Walden has obviously been doing yoga since it was invented, because she can move around in unimaginable ways (and into two positions I previously thought anatomically impossible). Her major workout runs for 1:12:21 and will raise a mild sweat in the beginner. The main menu gives us this called Yoga For Beginners Practice, but we also get the ability to jump to a pose with the Beginners Pose Guide which is a chaptered page that basically cuts straight to that part of the workout. Nice one. A single text page called Workout Guidelines is really just another warning to the one that plays before the disc opens and then there’s the Special Features part that I’ll come to in a moment.

Catering to the novice without patronising, Ms Walden starts off slowly with easier movements and slowly works up to some stronger ones. None are too taxing and I thought them just enough to truly warm up. Ms Walden doesn’t hold poses for too long either, which some other instructors on DVD have been prone to do. She delivers the instructions clearly and in a voiceover, rather than speak into one of those wretched headset mics between breaths.

Shot in a very simple indoor set, we aren’t distracted by anything other than that which we are supposed to be looking at, which is the teacher. The nice thing about her is she speaks to us like we’re there, and not just some faceless consumer, so that’s a plus too, in her friendly nature.

Video quality is quite good, with well-lit sets and easily followed images. There isn’t any real grain or low level noise and the colour palette, while reserved, is still well saturated. Flesh looks fine and while there are shadows without detail, they are unimportant to the DVD and therefore meaningless. The picture remains sharp throughout, with some notable desert vistas and forest cutaways during introductions and such that are well delivered and follow Gaiam’s usual DVD standard.

Audio quality is also fine. Delivered in Dolby Digital stereo, it is basically used for music and dialogue and nothing else and to this end it’s fine. Ms Walden’s voiceovers are always clear and easily understood, which is important if we can’t be looking at the screen in a pose or whatever.

There’s a huge swag of extras included here, which isn’t surprising by the usual Gaiam inclusions, but the weight of them is very pleasant. Firstly, there is the bonus workout entitled The Practice: Putting it all Together. This runs for 15:33 and is a workout that joins all the poses into one quick routine for daily use.

An interview with Patricia Walden follows called The Beginner’s Mind and is more like a one person discussion than an interview. She describes her life choices and there is footage of her with actual classes which is good because it shows she’s the same as she is on the DVD workouts. This runs for 9:46.

This next part is a cracker. A bonus program called Yoga For Flexibility that runs for 1:20:02! Talk about amazing value as this is a full workout, including introduction, warm up, Session 1 (backbends) and Session 2 (forward bends). It’s also quite good, though a little stronger for the beginners and will be a good follow up exercise for those who have mastered the first part of the disc.

Lastly, there’s a one page biography on Patricia Walden, which is mildly informative but pretty much filler material. The whole batch of extras here have no doubt accounted for this DVD being dual layered, rather than the single layer we usually get for this sort of thing, and that means excellent value for money wherever you’re from.

All up, this is a great introduction piece to the novice and one that will help improve flexibility and movement with regular use. I feel much better after a week of trying it out (diehard reviewer here) and while I wouldn’t be ready to move on into deeper waters just yet, this disc will prepare anyone to move to the next level. It’s not too strenuous and is actually fun if done with someone else, but it’s not that necessary. Another fabulous Gaiam production that represents one of - if not the - best value discs they’ve brought out to date. Great stuff!