No matter where you are in your yoga practice, the best yoga DVD always will be the one that most closely matches your skill, fitness, and desires. Even if your practice focuses on building your strength and suppleness, neither you nor your favorite video should neglect yoga’s spiritual element. If you have just begun your yoga practice, learn its guiding philosophy as you learn your first poses.

The best yoga DVD for a beginner initiates one into the union yoga seeks to perfect. And the best yoga DVD for a beginner properly cautions one that a lifetime’s disciplined practice leads one ever closer to perfection, but that absolute perfection always will elude one.

The best yoga DVD for beginners starts with clear, simple explanation of yoga’s philosophy. The word “yoga” means “union,” and the poses or “asanas” develop two dimensions of personal union: As you practice, you should feel your body, mind, and spirit harmonizing. Your practice will hopefully make you feel centered and whole. As you move, strengthen, and stretch your body, meditating on the symbolism in each pose’s name, you may feel your psyche and spirit connecting with the ever unfolding spirit of the universe. With more practice you may feel in sync and in harmony with the entire great big universe all around; you may even feel, at least for a moment, how your universe revolves around and is designed to serve fulfillment of your destiny. At the end of your practice, you may feel paradoxically tired and refreshed; Another union.

In fact, those philosophic principles become touchstones for your evaluation of the best yoga DVD for you as a beginner. Of course, you want a good workout. You want to evolve from couch potato to Olympic gymnast in one easy lesson. But if the DVD and the workout fail to communicate yoga’s spirituality, then they have failed.

Of course, because disciplined practice of yoga frequently empowers you to reconcile stark contracts and impossible contradictions, the opposite principle also applies: If your yoga DVD emphasizes spirituality at the expense of your workout, it has failed. The best yoga DVD for a beginner will lead one through progressively more difficult asanas, strengthening and stretching one’s muscles, building one’s cardiovascular capacity even as it gives one control over her breathing; Another union. Source