Advanced 60-minute Challenge
"Total Yoga: The Flow Series: Fire" lives up to its name. During this practice your entire body heats up as you are constantly moving from a standing position to positions flat on the floor. It begins simply enough with breathing exercises and mountain pose. Then the workout takes off with a flowing series of postures.

During the sun salutations and throughout most of the workout you will be moving through a series of poses with the basis in Plank, Up Dog and Downward Facing Dog. This forms a basis upon which to build with a number of familiar exercises. You may recognize Chair, Standing Arch, Triangle, Hero/Warrior, Half Moon (incredible balance challenge), Full Bridge and Headstand.

By this point laying flat on the floor was starting to sound like a good idea. I opened the door to let in a cool breeze so I could continue the practice.

The next section is easier in some ways and much more difficult in other ways. While the postures are done at a slower pace you need an almost freakish flexibility to fully enjoy some of the seated poses and twists. Seated Boat was easy enough and Camel is a challenge. The back bends can be modified for intermediate students and the chest opening stretches feel wonderful if you have been sitting at a desk for extended periods of time.

Plough and Fish follow and then you get to relax in a final relaxation pose. There are even more challenging postures shown by Ganga White that will take me years to achieve. He puts his leg up behind his back with his foot behind his neck. Both Tracey and Ganga show incredible flexibility from a lifetime of dedicated practice. They are truly inspirational.

I would only recommend this workout to advanced practitioners because it is highly challenging and requires more than a basic knowledge of yoga. By the time you try this workout you may need a few years of yoga experience and a lot of patience, not to mention incredible arm strength and endurance. This workout will take you from stress to a state of total relaxation.

~The Rebecca Review

Great for Serious Mid to Advanced- Level Practitioners
Yikers! This tape is scarey good. Be prepared to work for an hour and a half solid. Very balanced. Good emphasis on breathwork. I'm only giving it four stars because I like pretty cinematography and music, and this tape has neither. But you will feel like a million bucks when you finish--partly because you'll be so proud of yourself for making it to the end.

Flow Yoga From A Hatha Perspective - Fiery and Fun!
I really like this tape. For yogis familiar with Ashtanga or "power" yoga this tape will seem familiar yet different, and that makes for a great yoga experience. To begin with, the intro includes a slightly different form of sun salutation that makes a nice change. In addition, by interspersing sun salutations between the standing postures, you are able to maintain a great sense of heat and looseness which helped me feel these poses. The floor series is also done slightly differently from most power yoga. If you like powerful flow yoga, you definitely want to try this "flavor" to cleanse your palate!

Fire, Sweat, and more Sweat!!!...Outstanding!!!...
This tape is really really tough! Maybe not as hard as Mark Blanchard's, but really tough nevertheless:)

I would say the closest tapes I could compare it to would be Baron Baptiste's Hot Yoga #2 (which is much harder than #3, no comparison in fact) and the Tone or Sweat tapes from Bryan Kest).

This tape is very well rounded in terms of the variety of poses, has vinyasa throughout, and will challenge most mortals. I'm sure there are some hard core "Ashtangi's" that would barely break a sweat, but I did say most "mortals" which would certainly include me:)(and I've been practicing daily for almost 5 years).

I would definitely recommend that someone be familiar with the "Water" tape from the series or the original "Total Yoga" tape before even thinking about this one!

Of course, the Kest "Energize" or Baptiste "Hot Yoga" #1 would be good places to start (not for a beginner, but to someone new to more of a flow style of yoga (ashtanga or power based). Another really wonderful set that has just been released is Rainbeau Mars "Sacred Yoga" four tape set. The 3rd and 4th tapes in the series "Pure Power" and "Pure Sweat" are also tapes that can help you build the strength and stamina (as well as add variety) to help prepare you for "Fire".

If you are looking for something that will push you to the max (yet moves at a pace that is still sane), and something that is just perfectly presented in every respect then you will love this tape. It is VERY thorough and you will certainly move through every cell of your body by the time you finish this and most likely need to wash you sticky mat from the sweat.

I would recommend going and buying the full 3-tape "Flow Series" so that you can have other practices for days that you might not be feeling strong enough for this one. I can't imagine doing this more than 3 times a week because it's so intense. Still, if you are like me (and need to practice every day in order to function) then the other tapes are great to do in between.

Other tapes I would recommend for those "In between days" would be Rod Stryker's "Yoga for Longevity", "Yoga With Ateeka", "Kripalu Gentle", and of "Yoga Zone's" tapes from their 5-tape "Basics" set, Rodney Yee's "Energy" tape (or his AM/PM set with Patricia Walden if you want something MUCH more gentle to sort of stretch you out without doing too much).

But, the first tape "Earth" from the Total Yoga "Flow Series" set is really just perfect for this also as it is considerably more gentle than the other tapes.

Getting back to "Fire",..... This is an incredible tape that I would highly recommend if you are looking for a challenging and thorough practice!

Oh yeah, and as always the tape begins with Ujayi breathing and end with a very long relaxation segment (and you will need it, every last second of it:) )

Namaste.

Excellent video for those who know what they're doing
This tape is about the same intensity as a beginner or intermediate Ashtanga yoga class. You build your heat through lots of vinyasas (oh, do those chaturangas burn the next day!), but the standing and seated asanas are accessible to those who have been practicing for a while. Do the breathing correctly, and this is a vigorous workout.

A word of warning: if you've never been to a yoga class before, you might want to wait on this tape. Some of the finer subtleties about foot position are not mentioned in most of the asanas. Well, God is in the details of a yoga practice, and you could do more harm than good if you don't know what you're doing. At the very least, watch this tape one time through before you do it so you have an idea of where each body part should go.

But if you're proficient at yoga, this is a nice alternative to a class!