Tara Stiles: Yoga Anywhere

The New York Sessions

Editor’s note: Tara Stiles is one of elephant’s, say, top 20 favorite teachers. She‘s among the best of a younger generation, though we’re not sure who all she’s studied with. She‘s a former (perhaps current as well) model, teaches Dr. Deepak Chopra, blogs on Huffington Post, is huuuge on youtube, and has been a friend to elephant for several years. We offer sincere congrats to her on her first DVD release, and hope for many more. While I haven’t practiced with this DVD yet, I do understand based on the few reviews I’ve read that it’s a bit tough for beginners. That said…

I’m personally proud to give my copy of Tara Stiles’ Yoga Anywhere a spot among elephant journal’s favorite yoga DVDs. ~ ed.

Click to buy.

Review via Pam Uhlenkamp.

This is a dvd to watch, not so much to do.

The first item on the menu “yoga in an hour” is the instructional part. Tara has gorgeous form and is extremely flexible, more so than 90% of the general population. Often the poses would be hard for most to do. She offers some idea of alternatives in poses, but doesn’t emphasize them. I noticed a hard move that was not explained, and if I would’ve done my shoulder would be toast (!).

It was sometimes difficult to follow along because her voice is soft, and there weren’t too many cues to make sure I was doing it right. The sequence reminded me of my Corepower Level 2 class. Overall, the poses were medium to hard, and I would hesitate to recommend this to a beginner.

There are five other selections such as “Yoga in the Park”, “Yoga on the Rocks,” etc. These are composed of Tara doing different flow series in various amazing settings accompanied by techno music, without any verbal instruction. The scenery is beautiful, the photography is beautiful, the yogini is beautiful (wearing very short shorts—now I understand what my mother was trying to tell me in high school). I enjoyed the candid nature of doing yoga on the sidewalk and in the middle of Central Park. The bystanders stare once in awhile, which made it all slightly humorous. I guess you have to be pretty daring to practice in the middle of a busy city…but I prefer the comfort of my own living room.

I’m sure I’d get some good ideas from “the New York Sessions,” but when I buy videos I’m looking for lots of instruction, not just visual stimulation.

Via youtube, a recent Tara Stiles video to give you a taste: