: Yoga without the spiritualism I am a big fan of yoga. I am looking to start practicing at least 3 times a week. My issue is I do not have time for a trainer as my job is time consuming. I have tried watching videos but I

Video lessons contains poses and and can fast-forward video lessons directly to poses and concentrate on the exercise perfromance.

But note that yoga is a spiritual practice. Probably you don't need yoga, but some fitness program to achieve your goals.

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I can't give you a great answer, but I agree with you that the "other" things can be distracting sometimes. I've looked into this as well and found that if you look for "workout" videos with Yoga in then VS "yoga" videos that have workouts in them, you can find a few that are close.

My best suggestion would be Jillian's Yoga Meltdown. It's cheap, it's filmed in an actual gym, and it's more about fitness than "wholeness" and all that.

Amazon link to Yoga Meltdown

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If a physical exercise program is what you want: what about "Pilates"? (DVD Sample I haven't tried it myself)

Do you also want develop mindfulness but without any far-eastern "religiousness"?

Do you want to get rid even of the "breathing part" of yoga? Then be warned: Breathing also seems to play a large role in Pilates.

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I started with yoga at SATS, one of the local Swedish gym chains. Their approach is focused on the physical part of yoga, they have their own branded style "SATS Yoga". For me, that was a good choice. Just for experimentation, I have tried other, more spiritual forms but it was not for me.

I put my own routine in place based on the SATS yoga and exercises I picked up from YouTube and DVD. One form developed in Sweden that I think has a more independent perspective vis a vis the spiritual (based on a workshop over a couple of evenings a few yeras ago) is Viryayoga.

Regarding books, I can recommend two books:
- Cool Yoga tricks by Austin, Miriam
- Yoga as Medicine by Mccall, Timothy

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I turned up this on a search for "Yoga for Beginners" on YouTube.

It's good instruction for the sequence in "Flow" or "Vinyasa" classes. I'm not a huge fan of the spirituatl aspects (although I really do like pranayama classes), and there's nothing in there that annoyed me.

There are some longer yoga videos on YouTube as well, not sure which of them have a spiritual focus or a physical focus, but the spiritual bent should be evident quite quickly and you can just hit back and try a different one instead. You can run them in a different tab while you're doing other things on the net to vett them for spiritual content, and then select whichever ones you prefer for when you do your workouts.

For books, both Anatomy of Yoga by Leslie Kaminoff and Anatomy of Hatha Yoga by David Coulter, unsurprisingly based on the titles have a primarily physical focus. Kaminoff has a weekly newsletter that you can subscribe to as well.

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Look for the p90x yoga, ok it's a big package with everything (kenpo, abs, weight training) but the yoga dvd is really nice; no spiritualism: only poses (and hard one)

It's a bit pricy but it's a good buy

The other solution would be to look poses on the internet and time yourself for every poses, no need of a dvd.

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First of all yoga is not a physical exercise. What people call Yoga in the west is actually called HathaYoga which deals with the body. HathaYoga involves the whole body system including the breath. If you do it only as a pose, it gives only the benefits what a normal strech will give you. Yoga is powerful and it will do miracles only with that spiritual element(I mean not religious). It can be more dangerous sometimes if you do it unproperly. Yoga is like electricity, it is of great potential,but if you handle it improperly it can cause great damage.

If you really want a great result to your body system, it has to be done in a certain way.There are some good teachers out there who can teach you that.

Still If you want something totally non spiritual, there are some less complex poses which can be done at home..

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Ashtanga yoga and vinyasa flow styles are usually focused more on 'asana' (physical postures). This might be a good place to start: grimmly2007.blogspot.com/
There you can find tons of resources, reviews etc.

On developing a home practice: grimmly2007.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/developing-home-practice-parts-1-26.html
Book and DVD reviews: grimmly2007.blogspot.com/p/zdfbkdngf-wednesday-20-april-2011-still.html
Free practice ebook: grimmly2007.blogspot.com/p/my-complete-vinyasa-yoga-practice-book.html
On strength: grimmly2007.blogspot.com/search/label/Jump%20back%20jump%20through

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I feel exactly like you, I'm most concerned about the physical part of yoga.

I'm not an expert, but I enjoyed the Power Yoga classes from Bryan Kest, especially the 2nd:

An innovative series of lunge moves provides the primary activity in this workout that emphasizes finding your personal edge - the maximal yoga pose that still permits proper yogic breathing. Kest guides you and an in-studio class in a total-body regime that helps maintain flexibility and suppleness while building strength and well-being. Features comprising various poses are described so that you can add elements as you become more adept.

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