Thanks Kae, Sarah, and Eliana.

And yes i and looking at yoga more for flexibility than a calorie burning workout

I think I will always love Walk Away The Pounds for calorie burning.. though I have 30 Day Shred and a few other "harder" videos and someday when I'm closer to being fit and I'm not afraid of them maybe one of those will become my fav.

Thanks everyone for your help. I'm going to try the one on the netflix watch it now tomarrow and see how it goes

Hi,

You may like this dvd:

http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Just-Size.../dp/B0006TPDXO

Also, the book "Yoga Tricks" shows different modifications.

As far as downward dog, if you have trouble putting all your weight onto your hands, you can put them on yoga blocks instead, or even start out by putting them on the seat of a chair.

Sherry

ETA.. added it to my netflix Thanks

Great idea!!! I never would have thought of that... a chair (or the coffee table) works for me (and fits my budget..lol). I will look at that video. Thanks

I am 260+ and I have been doing yoga. I first tried it a year ago and HATED IT, BUT the instructor was focused on "cardio" or something like that. I just went the other day and it was great. Downward dog was challenging and I didn't last long. But I just go back to my knees and then get back up. My wrist really hurt but then I moved them under my body more and it was more supportive of my weight.

I also can't do the sideways pose but the great things there is usally modified poses. You can totally do it, I hear the more you stick with it the easier it gets. I personally LOVE LOVE LOVE pilates. Its usually more matt focused and lots of stretching, in tune with your breathing/body. I feel its more gental on the body. I"m off to yoga tomorrow! I hope you can give it a shot!

GOOD LUCK!

"What do you do when you come to poses you can't do?"

Yo-GA, yo-GA, yo-GA!

Yoga will do amazing things to your mind, body and spirit. I've done yoga when I was fat, when I was skinny---when I was everything in between!

So, roll out the ol' yoga mat!

And the very first yoga teacher I had gave me the best yog's take on what happens when you come to poses you can't do.

You practice what he called "forgiving limbs."

So...let's say you're supposed to inhale, raised your arms over your head and exhale as you fold your hands to hold opposite elbows and bend over to touch your forehead to your knees (a forward fold)

If you can't do this (and I still can't) stretch quite that far, you might want to "forgive" your legs by bending your knees slightly so that the fold still feels forward and a bit of a challenge, and will bring your forehead in the vicinity of your knees.

And as you breathe in and out (with your head in the vicinity of your knees!) you can deepen the stretch maybe a little, but (most important!) "breathe" forgiveness into your legs because gosh, they carry you everywhere and do everything possible to make your journey through life a good 'un and just because they can't bend quite that far doesn't make your legs two awful failures stuck onto your hips.

It just makes them forgiven!

"Oh, I hate the dog pose!! (Downward dog) It's supposed to be a neutral position, but I found it to be the most difficult move of the session!"


Oh, the pose I can't, can't, can't do is a simple tailor's pose...sit on floor cross-legged with straight back and inhale, exhale, etc.

My knees are like NOWHERE NEAR the floor, Yikes! but I forgive 'em...

I beg to differ with the person who said that yoga isn't enough exercise to get you strong or change your body. My body is getting quite strong and flexible and toned through regular yoga.

If you can, find a studio to supplement your home practice. Stay away from "hot, power yoga" often isn't good for a beginner (and it's not the only kind of yoga that is good exercise.)

Talk to the teacher beforehand to see if they are familiar with modifying poses for people with more fat on them. I often have to move some of my flesh out of the way during twists. A good teacher can modify for lots of different bodies - last night in class we had one woman with a fused spine, and the teacher had a broken toe, so there was lots of modifying going on.

Thanks for all the input ladies. I have some videos on my netflix to check out. A class/gym membership is completely out of the question for me, our budget won't allow it, nor do we even have a gym in the town that I live near..lol. But videos and hubby's help with things are always doable for me.. so we'll see where it goes

...and my first yoga class was an adult education class through my city's parks and recreation department.

It was forty dollars for eight classes---five bucks per one-hour class!

YOU are totally worth five bucks an hour. And if you need an excuse note for you family, I will be happy to write one....

I'm a stay at home/homeschooling mom of 4 kids, my hubby makes just under $15 an hour.. so yes I may be worth $5 an hour (or much more actually ), I simply don't have that kind of money to spend. I also have 4 children to care for.. I can't just let them sit in the car or stay at home while I'm off doing my thing. (Hubby pulls lots of odd evening jobs after his 7-3 job to make ends meet.)

Also, we simply don't have things like that around here. Now if I drive to a somewhat nearby town there is a gym.. but I don't have $60 a month to join it plus the money for classes (they are seperate there) and daycare while I'm there.

Loooooooooove yoga! I have the new video with Jillian - she totally rocks! There are poses I still have trouble with but I just keep trying eventually I will get there. Tree pose used to be tough but now I just do it lol It is great for strength - depending on the video/instructor you can lose weight and you definitely tone with it!

I'm 260 and I do yoga regularly. I started about 10 years ago when I hurt my back badly. The doctor told me to either get in the pool or start doing yoga. I prefer going to a class, and even though I've been doing it for years, I still go to beginner's classes. I don't do headstands or any of that. There are some poses where my body gets in the way - I can't do child's pose, for example, because my belly gets in the way. But I just find a way that it works for me. Be CAREFUL of the kind of yoga class you go to - many of them are the super hot classes (Bikyram) or the Madonna super stand on one arm classes. I like Kripalu yoga, which tends to be more gentle. Don't be afraid - I'm always the frigging fattest one there but I love the way I feel afterward, very noodlely.

I did yoga at my heaviest (and, of course, at my lightest!)

I've been in classes were we would come to a pose that I just couldn't do and I would just go back into child pose. That one is a nice and gentle stretch.

I must admit when I was at my heaviest I felt like there was a huge pillow in the way of my doing child pose (it was my stomach!)

Yoga has been helpful for me for stretching, relaxing and esp. breathing deeply. I have always been a shallow breather and it can be wonderful.

So, yuppies do yoga, hippies do yoga, fat chix do yoga!

Thanks Becky, Moxie and Koo

I can't wait for the videos to get here from netflix, should get some on Monday to try before I buy something. I want something that is a good fit for me