I was a yoga newbie when I bought this DVD set so I watched Earth once before doing it and it didn't look too complicated or difficult. However I stumbled through my first attempt at it, frustrated that I kept having to look up to check the TV, and I wanted to linger more on the poses so I could learn how to do them correctly. No fault of the DVD though, just my lack of yoga experience. So I went off and bought AM/PM Yoga for Beginners (by Barbara Benagh) which I found perfect for learning basic yoga poses thoroughly. The pace was slower and Barbara's instruction detailed and reassuring. I did segments from Barbara's DVD every day for a couple of weeks, learning the basics, then went back to Earth and felt much more confident and able to move through all the poses without having to check the screen every few seconds.
After a couple of weeks of Earth I was hooked and loving it. The production quality of these DVD's is excellent with different camera angles used for poses. The class is instructed by a calm clear female voice-over who I assume to be Tracey Rich (but I guess it could be someone else!) who is on screen with her husband, the very flexible Ganga White. They move through the poses side by side in graceful unison. Sometimes one will do the more advanced version of a pose while the other does the beginner or intermediate one, very handy.
I did Earth four or five times a week for a month then moved onto Water. Each DVD program is approx 50 minutes long but the pace gets a bit faster in each one, incorporating more poses into the timeframe. I believe the order of difficulty from easiest to most advanced is:
Earth (green) - great for beginners and days you're feeling a bit low on energy. This DVD is the reason I rarely feel I can't do yoga no matter how I poorly I might feel. I might have struggled with it to begin with but now it's a joy to perform (and much of it with my eyes closed in a blissful meditative state)
Water (blue) - a great all rounder
Original (purple) - lots of poses not in the above two and a bit more challenging than Water
Fire (red) - almost like one long 50 minute sun salutation with most poses gracefully linked. Haven't tried it yet but it looks the most rigorous and challenging.
I've been doing Earth, Water and Original for about five months now, doing 4 or 5 sessions each week. I'm saving Fire and think I'll probably feel ready for that in a few months. Can't wait!
Well priced, great DVDs, fantastic instructors. Well worth 5 stars.