Practiced this morning along with Kino's Primary DVD. Exhausting as she goes at quite a pace and I was trying to do her high Jump Through throughout. My player clocks it 1 hour 15. If you take out the Intro, credits and chanting she gets through the primary series in about 70 minutes, pretty much the same as Sharath.
Here's her own promo on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciAnDkxaJE4First thing I should say is that it arrived very quickly. I ordered it from her Miami life studio and it must have taken under a week to arrive with me here in the UK.
As you can see from the top screenshot you get the primary sequence and then an extra section on beginner options, see below.
These tend to be variations or easier ways of getting into the asanas. Very welcome to this blog is a section on the Jump Backs and Jump Through where she gives about five variations (She has another DVD of one of her workshops that goes into the Jump back and Through in even more detail).
The main Primary sequence is broken down into scene selections. Where it says Advanced, this refers to a panel that pops up in the main practice with an Advanced variation or transition. EG. in Parasarita Padottanasana D she mentions the option of pressing up into handstand. She says while it's not traditional it can be fun. (YES! Thanks Kino for recognizing that the practice can be fun).
This morning was the third time I've practiced along with her Primary. First time I almost turned it off before the end of Sury B. She seemed to be talking too fast, saying too much, just sounded really busy and distracting. To be fair John Scott also talks pretty fast at times on his DVD, It's seems a bit much at first but fine once you get used to it. Sury B has a lot going on so it's bound to be an issue there.
I have DVDs by John Scott, Doug Swenson, Lino Miele, Sharath and Mark Darby. I can't say one is better than the other because they are all so different. I'm in awe of Lino's but can't imagine practicing along with it. Similarly with John Scotts though I've used his for reference quite a bit. Watching his practice made me fall in love with the Primary sequence again after a brief flirtation with The Rocket (power yoga). Doug Swanson's' is just so relaxed, something about his Texan drawl perhaps, but he is the master of the practice voice over. Mark Darby's DVD is still my top pick for a beginner DVD. Having him doing the basic practice with some advanced transitions thrown in and Nicole Bordeleau alongside him doing the beginner variations seems the best option for a beginner and it's the DVD I learnt with.
Kino's is probably the next best package for the beginner in that it has the separate section with beginner options. However these are not just for the total beginner but for the intermediate student as well. I've been practicing for a year and a half but like many practitioners have difficulty with Supta kurmasana and until recently marishyasana D as well, both are explored in the options.
I've found her comments throughout helpful in getting deeper into an asana. Kino seems to focus a lot on skeletal structure. Focus on the spine here, lifting out of the hips there. She constantly reminds your that your legs are your foundation and pressing down into your foot when you want to come up reminding you that your whole body is involved in an asana.
Pace is a little fast though that suits me. In most of the video's I have there is a full breath count. Kino doesn't count the breaths, reminding us at one point that our breathing cycles are all different, this frees her to comment and encourage you to get deeper into, or open up more in an asana.
Oh and I hope Kino has a sponsorship deal or something with Yogitoes Skidless towels. She practices her primary on a black one and on a green one in her workshop DVD. They look great and don't move or bunch up, testament indeed, I want one!
Will add anything else that comes to mind as I continue to practice along with the DVD over the next couple of weeks. Feel free to ask in the comments box if you want to know something specific about it.
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