Caveat emptor- not an authentic yogi
I've studied yoga for almost 10 years (all aspects) and I won't insult those real yogis and yoginis by calling Kest a yogi. But if you like your yoga instructors using gutter language, yelling it at you to instruct you through your practice like it's football practice in a most annoying voice, then Bryan Kest is your man! If you think his regaling of his in-studio audience with how he wants yoga to make him high, how "he wants to be stoned all day", is exactly how a yoga practice should be, then buy this CD.
But if you are like a lot of people who use yoga as a method for recovery from substance abuse, or a method of drug-free stress management, or think teachers should treat students respectfully, or (heaven forbid) believe that a yoga instructor shouldn't be so obnoxious that all you can focus on is him, rather than yourself- breathing, posture, etc., then skip this CD. Kest does not bring anything worthwhile to the practice of yoga and if he were a true yogi, he would know exactly how and why he is exactly the kind of yoga practitioner that the authentic yogis and yoginis of the East warn Western practitioners about- the false practitioner (and there are unfortunately a lot of them, think:fly-by-night-yogis who got a certificate from a yoga-instructor-mill). There is a whole way of life, called the 8-limbs of Yoga some of which were espoused by Gandhi himself (ahimsa), which Bryan Kest clearly has no idea about because he does not observe them in his yoga instruction. I know of one yoga-instructor-mill which shall remain nameless,(and I am not claiming Kest comes from there) that wouldn't know a Yoga Limb if it bit them.
Personally, I wasn't able to make it through the first 7 minutes of the first routine because of Kest's offensive demeanor. I threw the booklet and CD away shortly afterwards. I know a fake when I hear one. I know that there are far more respectful, talented and readily available "at-home yogis" products enough not to waste my hard-earned money on what Bryan Kest is peddling. Most likely the only reason he's even got a product on the market is because of his "connection" with Lisa Bonet-Kravitz-Lilakoi-Moon (or whatever she's calling herself these days).
Good workout, maybe too difficult for beginners.
Great exercises for a bad back. I started doing yoga with Bryan Kest with his original 3-part Power Yoga series, then I took great classes in the NYC area, and now I moved to the Philly suburbs. This CD is the best class I've taken since moving. It's great if you already have a background in yoga, not for beginners, but I love it.
Awesome
There are 2 CDs in the package, and I've done just the first CD which encompasses a little over 1 hour. It's quintessential Bryan. The poses are quite similar to those found in Intensive Body Sculpting, like the pretty challenging "half-moon pose" (which I haven't yet managed to perfect, but I'm working on it) but you also get a lot of boat poses for your core/abs (boat pose is when sitting, you raise your legs up straight until you form a "V" shape and you hold your legs for about five breaths, with your arms parallel to the ground) and a bunch of spinal stretches.
Overall, I thought the CD was good. It's part strengthening/part stretching, and complements Bryan's other practices. I don't know if there are other yogis who do poses like Bryan does his. I've tried Shiva Rea's Yoga Shakti (which I didn't like) and some Baron Baptiste (which I didn't think was as challenging as Bryan Kest). So it's safe to say I'm a Bryan-Kestophile. His stuff really gets me going.
Very strongly recommended.
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