While it is common to feel somewhat awkward and maybe even a little embarrassed when starting anything new, yoga’s focus is primarily inward.

The instructor will encourage participants to focus on various parts of their body while feeling specific muscles stretching and following their own breath.

This leaves no time to check out the newbies in the back of the class.

Even with this knowledge, walking into Yoga class when you have never done it before can leave you feeling anxious and self-conscious.

An easy way to overcome this is to learn the basics in the privacy of your own home by watching some of the best Yoga instructors on DVD. This way you can become familiar with the terminology and poses before going to your first class.

Best Yoga DVD’s For Beginners

Yoga Stretch for Beginners and Beyond	Gaiam Yoga Beginner's DVD Kit	Rodney Yee's Yoga for Beginners
2 Complete 30-Minute Practices	9 practices on three DVDs	Two full-length yoga workouts
Complete AM energizing Flow workout to prepare you for the day. PM Relaxing Flow workout to get you ready for sleeping.	Includes a 40-page printed yoga guide, eight pose cards. 30-day FREE subscription to My Yoga Online.	On-screen pose training for perfect form. Secrets to overcoming the most common yoga mistakes.
Yoga master: Jessica Smith	Yoga masters: Patricia Walden & Rod Stryker	Yoga masters: Rodney Yee & Colleen Saidman

Quick Answer: The 5 Best Rated Yoga DVDs For 2024

1. Yoga Stretch for Beginners and Beyond
2. Rodney Yee’s Yoga for Beginners
3. Gaiam Yoga Beginner’s DVD Kit
4. Flow Yoga: Elements of Yoga: Air & Water with Tara Lee
5. Yoga For Beginners with Barbara Benagh

Our reviews of the top rated the Yoga DVDs along with our buyers guide will help you choose the right DVD for you.

Beginner Yoga DVD Reviews

#1 Yoga Stretch for Beginners and Beyond Review

This DVD features two complete, yoga-inspired workouts by Jessica Smith that will gently strengthen and tone your body. Wake up your body with an invigorating practice session designed to boost energy, improve focus, and lift your spirits any time during the day.

End your hectic and stressful day with a relaxing session to quiet the mind and rejuvenate your muscles. This restorative practice is calming and soothing to encourage restful sleep.

The routines are set to relaxing, classical music or calypso-style guitar. The gentle cueing uses all non-sanskrit terms, making it easy to understand and follow.

The moves are carefully explained with postural alignment and transition tips included. The workouts are filmed poolside in sunny Florida. The gently swaying trees add to the calm feeling you will get from this workout.

#2 Rodney Yee’s Yoga for Beginners Review

This DVD contains two full-length yoga workouts plus 40 minutes of pose instruction by master yogis, Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman.

The two full-length, beginner-level workouts are designed to strengthen the core in order to improve balance, strengthen and tone the muscles, and increase flexibility, while increasing your comfort and familiarity with the yoga poses.

One workout is designed to be a morning routine, which awakens and energizes your mind and body for the day ahead.

The evening routine restores your body, relaxes your muscles, and prepares your mind for a good night’s sleep. The step-by-step instructions focus on proper form and alignment techniques.

The instructors provide detailed tips to help you avoid the most common mistakes with the poses. Modifications are provided for those not quite ready for the full poses, and transitions are thoroughly explained.

A nice feature of this DVD is the ability to choose your preferred audio selection: music and pose-only narration, or full instruction including gentle encouragement, motivation, and positive mindset.

This DVD is modestly priced and is an excellent start for the yoga novice.

#3 Gaiam Yoga Beginner’s DVD Kit Review

The Gaiam Yoga Beginner’s DVD kit contains three DVDs including nine full-length, beginner workouts by master yogis, Suzanne Deason, Rod Stryker, Patricia Walden, and Rodney Yee. The yoga routines include detailed instructions and are accompanied by gentle, relaxing music.

The setting is in front of calming and gorgeous scenery to help you envision that you are in a tranquil place. This comprehensive beginner yoga DVD kit gives you the option to choose which instructor you like best and will provide you with a strong foundation of yoga poses.

This kit contains a 40-page guide to 15 basic yoga poses for beginners. The guide includes a brief history of the practice of yoga along with step-by-step instructions for the poses, transition moves, and modifications for safety.

The all-inclusive kit includes eight cards describing in detail the essential poses you will need to strengthen your core and a trial subscription to online yoga classes.

This beginners Yoga DVD will assist you in getting a solid foundation to start the discipline of yoga.

#4 Flow Yoga: Elements of Yoga: Air & Water with Tara Lee

This is Tara Lee’s second award winning Yoga DVD. This is not a complete beginner DVD like the others I have reviewed but it is easy enough for a complete beginner to do however.  The DVD is almost 2 hours in total length and consists of 3 separate sections:

Section one is mostly focused on the upper body with flowing poses then ends with some core workouts.

Section two is more difficult and focuses on your core with a lot of planks and a variety of core specific poses. Section three is again a core workout with many poses that work on your flexibility.

PLUS a bonus section that have the following routines:

Video: Tara showing you a short section of the DVD

You don’t have to do them in particular order, you can just pick and choose what section you want to do, if you don’t have time to do them all.

Tara’s goal in the program is to “open” up your chest with the series of fluid poses with a beautiful backdrop against the water in a park in Surrey England.

This is one my favorite Yoga DVD’s in my collection, I always feel very relaxed after completing it. The pace is slow enough to give you time to practice proper form.

Her British accent is calming and easy to listen to while being encouraging at the same time. You will definitely enjoy doing Yoga with Tara.

#5 Yoga For Beginners

This beginners Yoga DVD by Yoga master and instructor Barbara Benagh is a 4 hour DVD that features a WIDE variety of Yoga routines of different lengths.

There are 8 main sections that range from a short 10 minutes to routines that last a full hour for when you have more time.

Each section has a different focus that work on flexibility, strength and general improvement of your health and reducing stress. The scenery alone will help with stress reduction, its filmed in beautiful Half Moon Bay, Antigua.

There are plenty of beginner routines that will keep you interested so you don’t get bored but when you want something a little more difficult, there are more challenging routines for you as well.

Barbara explains the poses well and gives you plenty of time to do them so you can practice your form. If you suffer from neck, back or hip pains, Barbara has routines that emphasize flexibility to reduce joint pain.

Yoga has been proven to be at least as effective as pain medication with many other positive benefits

Barbara has been teaching Yoga for over 30 years so she has really learned how to teach Yoga effectively. She still teaches classes in Boston but now travels extensively teaching other teachers Yoga instruction.

If you come to like her routines as much as I do, you may want to take a look at her other Yoga DVD’s that each focus on a different area of Yoga.

At the end of the DVD is an inspirational interview with Barbara talking about her passion for Yoga and how she came to teach it.

How to Choose an Awesome Yoga DVD to Start Practicing Yoga

Yoga has been on the trendy workout circuit for years. It is an excellent way to get stronger while increasing flexibility. Yoga has restorative and relaxing benefits for both your mind and body.

While some do utilize the discipline to meditate and have personal spiritual connections, others simply enjoy the multifaceted workout. It has become a fitness program that is used across cultures, genders, and age groups.

By becoming aware of your body and concentrating on developing flexibility and isolating muscle groups, yoga has many healing properties, as well as preventative properties.

Many people do not understand how a couple of stretches can improve their fitness. Do not let the “low-impact” nature fool you.

If you have never taken a yoga class before, you might feel a bit intimidated, particularly if you’ve seen any photos of yoga masters twisted into pretzel-like poses.

To further complicate matters, the poses have names that might sound strange to the un-initiated, such as “Downward Facing Dog”, “Happy Baby Pose”, or “Flying Crow Pose”.

When you can match the basic poses with their names, it will be easier to focus on the actual workout. With some “at home” practice, following your breath and turning your thoughts inward, can become second nature.

The best thing about starting your yoga journey in your living room is having the opportunity to become familiar with the poses and practice moving smoothly from one position to another.

You’ll be only challenging yourself to improve with no concern about being judged by others who are more experienced and advanced. A good beginner DVD will include thorough explanations on how to achieve the pose in a systematic manner.

The instructor should describe how each part of your body will feel in the pose, which muscles you are using to hold the pose, and which muscles will be stretched as you deepen the pose. The best teachers explain how your body should be aligned and give tips to help you know if your position is correct or if it should be adjusted.

Basic yoga equipment for your home practice is a yoga mat and bolster. You will need a mat designed specifically for yoga. It will provide cushioning and a sticky surface that enables you to maintain poses without your feet sliding out from under you.

You will also need a yoga strap or a towel, which helps with the stretches when you’re not yet flexible enough to touch your toes. A yoga block is also recommended to assist beginners with poses.

When you are in a yoga class, particularly if that class is large, you may be distracted by those around you. You might even have difficulty seeing the teacher. This could further derail your progress and you may become discouraged.

You will not have this issue at home – it will just be you and your chosen instructor. You also have the added advantage of pressing “pause” or “rewind”, when a pose is not quite working out.

How We Researched

To come up with the top yoga DVDs for beginners, we researched a variety of sources for reviews such as Best Buy, Walmart, Target and Sears along with our own personal experience.

The authors consulted sources such as online magazines for research and reviews unbiased information.

By using Fakespot.com we tried to eliminate fake reviews and use only genuine ones.

With so many options available, the authors narrowed down the selections by using products they felt were the best value for the money.

The staff authors have a wide and varied background as fitness trainers, yoga instructors and runners. The authors have decades of experience and are eager to share their knowledge with readers.

In order to narrow down the options, we used personal experiences plus recommendations from other trainers and instructors.

Sources

I hope this guide was helpful for finding a good Yoga DVD to fit your routine. If you want to comment or recommend a DVD I didn’t include, please use my contact form to get in touch.

Have fun and enjoy your workout!