Mark Blanchard''s Progressive Power Yoga: Prenatal Pregnancy Routines

It is perhaps telling that the opening of this recording alternates shots of Blanchard doing extremely challenging yoga sutras with shots of his 3rd trimester wife doing slightly less fabulous poses - What a healthy ego this guy seems to have! Blanchard''s program is a 60 minute, challenging power yoga sequence only barely modified for pegnancy . In one rich moment, while he has the three women in flying pose, Blanchard cavalierly says something to the effect of "if you fall down, that''s OK, your kid''s going to take lots of falls in life." Could this be accurate (I don''t think so)? Basically, this is a power yoga work-out with only the barest of sensitivity to the limitations of pregnancy. Blanchard asks his 3 students to go from plank to low plank to upward dog and then back to downward dog with a push-up, a move which even his extremely fit and experienced wife seems not quite able to do. She can do the push-ups, it''s the upward dog that seems impossible (and which felt slightly dangerous to try). His coaching, which mostly involves his saying "nice!" and somewhat patronizingly calling the women "sweetie" or "honey" is minimal. A perfectly fine power yoga work out, but I''d say only for the very experienced and body-aware among us who will have to do their own modifications -and this from a reviewer who has practiced pretty intense power yoga two three times a week for 6 years.

I first did this DVD early in my pregnancy, when I was still doing my "regular" practice, and found it ok. It is not a very well organized or flowing workout and the instructor is not clear at all in directing the practice. I think it''s great that he has a true beginner in the video, but he could have gone over the routine with her at least once before filming. The poor girl was relegated to a rear position (behind a bush!) for the workout and clearly didn''t know what was going on.

It wasn''t my favorite DVD, so I haven''t done it in a while. I am now 30 weeks along, and just tried it again today. Wow. This felt nearly perilous at times. I have been religiously using Jennifer Wolfe''s DVD''s, with Rainbeau Mars'' ZenMama thrown in for variety, and the Crunch Yoga Mama when I don''t feel like going all-out. When I feel really lazy, or just want a relaxing stretch I do Prenatal Yoga, a Complete Home Practice. I now have learned the poses and modifications for pregnancy of which I was completely ignorant when I first did Mark Blanchard''s practice. He doesn''t even bother with cat/cow, squats, or (I suppose, understandably, since he''s a man) kegels. He asks his students to perform poses that everything I''ve read have advised specifically to avoid. He is insensitive to the fact that many of his students, including 2 on the DVD, are operating with a basketball belly. He has you do a series of stretches lying flat on your back, which, at least for me, was very uncomfortable/near painful for the lower back. The whole time I was doing this practice today, I was thinking I''d throw it in free with some maternity clothes I plan to sell on Ebay.

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I am 8.5 months pregnant and have been practicing yoga for ten years. Throughout my pregnancy I have taken prenatal yoga classes and tried different videos. Annoying character aside, I was shocked by Mark Blanchford''s lack of empathy or understanding of pregnancy. It was so bad, it was almost like a bad joke that kept getting worse! The new student was totally left on her own. There was no instruction for how to properly breathe into poses or hold them, or how they might aid in alleviating some of discomfort of pregnancy or aid in delivery of the baby. Most appalling moment when he started leading the students into headstands. I would strongly discourage pregnant women from using this video.

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My wife, who is in her 2nd trimester, picked this up recently. She has been doing yoga since her twenties, and is very experienced, but wanted instruction specifically for pregnancy. She didn''t find it here.

As the other reviewer noted, this workout is borderline appropriate for people in their 2nd or 3rd trimester. It is certainly not for beginners. My wife recommends that only advance practitioners use this video, not only because instruction/guidance is poor but also because the sequences are quite challenging. She noted there is no background music to help with creating a flow to the instruction, and that the individuals in the video are all over the place in terms of correctness of form and pacing. She also noted that the instructor is not a very skilled teacher and she was annoyed, as another reviewer noted, with his habitual use of "sweetie" and "honey."

Don''t waste your time on this there has to be better videos out there.

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I got this DVD for my wife when she was pregnant and faithfully did the exercises with her every time...this DVD is quite a workout even if you''re not pregnant!

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