After a look ahead at the beginning of the Krishna class, I must say that playing with the options looks a lot easier than what's in store, lesson-wise ... there are rough times in my future.
But it's not the time to dwell on muscle aches yet to come. From the main menu of Let's Yoga, a number of options are available. So far, we've focused on the Master's Lesson and the settings, but you can also access a guide that recaps some of the basics of yoga. We're headed into the other main option, however: Yoga Course.From here, you can make Let's Yoga your own. Select between the following options:
- Short Set (several five minute exercises)
- Random Yoga (you set the time limit and difficulty, and Let's Yoga generates a workout)
- Chair Yoga (yoga you can do in a chair or at your desk)
- Pose List (really, it's a pose list)
- My Yoga (the best option of all!)
The Pose List is just that -- a menu leading to each of the (unlocked) poses in the title, with the 360° rotatable view and tips on performing each movement, as well as a short clip walking through the movements. However, there's also a button labeled "make it easy." When pressed, it yields tips for "cheating," or easing into a pose. Might be useful once the Master's Lesson gets difficult!
Chair Yoga looks interesting, and very easy to explore with the DS, since it can be left open on a nearby desk while you work in a chair. The included pose list is short, but looks like enough to keep you going during a busy day when you just really need a break to stretch and wake yourself up:- Chair Stretching pose
- Chair Forward Bend
- Chair Twisting pose
- Chair Full Boat pose
- Chair Half Lotus pose
- Chair Eye Relief pose
The DS has a lot more to offer besides just traditional games, and we love to test the efficacy of training titles! Keep up with our yogathon as it happens, or for more features like this, check out our week with My French Coach.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-08-2008 @ 1:01PM
Abby said...
I'm a DS fanatic AND about to receive my Yoga Alliance 200 hour yoga teaching certificate, and I have to say, I'm really impressed by this title! At least your coverage of it and the screen shots- I haven't found a copy yet. It seems like a fairly well-rounded program, much better than I've seen in most of the beginner DVDs out there. I love that they teach you several breathing techniques and that, as you say, the workouts aren't too easy. You're not going to get a whole lot out of a workout that is too easy and doesn't focus on the breath, so this is great.
My one concern is that all of them seem really short. I'm used to 60-90 minute sequences, I would like to see this title at least have half hour classes. Does it go much longer than the 12 minute ones? Even so, 12 minutes can be a great introduction.
ALSO- extremely well-played with the Dalsim graphic.
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5-08-2008 @ 2:06PM
Alisha Karabinus said...
Haha, Eric is responsible for the awesomeness of that graphic!
As for the length of the workouts -- the later Master's Lessons go much longer. I did not encounter a time limit on the DIY set, but there were a LOT of open slots into which you could put movements, so I'd guess that probably maxes out at around an hour. I guess an hour because the Random Yoga generator can go up to an hour.
It's funny that you mention the beginner DVDs -- I have one and am planning to do a comparison after I work a little further into this one, so we'll see how that goes!
I hope you find a copy -- I'd love to hear what a yoga teacher thinks of it.
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5-09-2008 @ 9:21AM
Abby said...
I'll be picking it up later today, I think, so I'll have more to say on it later.
I am NOT officially a teacher, yet, not for another day and a half or so! Which is to say that I've done a ton of yoga and know a lot about it but only have the experience of teaching a few classes under my belt. I'm sure an experienced teacher would have much more insightful things to say.
After I commented here I checked out the comments on another post and one person said something about safety, which is a totally valid point. You haven't mentioned how much they tell you about the poses, especially about alignment. If you're going to use Let's Yoga for an hour every day for a long time, that is an issue, as improper alignment can mess things up for a long time. I'm assuming that isn't the case, and that the game is really only meant to give you a taste and pique your interest, which is great and fine for me. Hands-on adjustments aren't always necessary for safety, but cleverly teaching good alignment is, as people new to yoga are usually pretty unaware of where their body is in space.
I noticed that some things in the screenshot- the full yogic breath, for example- are traditionally supposed to be taught only by someone very experienced for safety reasons. So I was a bit suprised to see that there. I will have more to say about that kind of stuff after I play around with my copy! How long does this yogathon last?
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