Guest Author - Lisa Shea

I am all for handheld apps that help people become more healthy and get active. However, pret-a-yoga seems to be in need of some assistance in that area.

The application lets you have a narrated or auto-running yoga sequence with human being photos of each step in a yoga sequence. I appreciate the real human images, and that you can see them from the front or the side. However, they run FAR too quickly for useful purposes.

The vocals tell you what to do and the image shows you what to do - but with each BING! you are racing to get into the next position. The only other alternative is to switch manually, which means every time you change positions you are reaching over to your iPod or iTouch to try to get it to move on to the next position. I realize it might be a tough balance to reach, but really, if you are going from standing to a stretched out position it shouldn't be only zero point three seconds before the system goes BONG! You are now in the new position!

You can do one, three or five repetitions of the sequence, and your transition cue can be low, high, vibrate or none. There really should be more to this application. I enjoy yoga greatly, and enjoy the idea of a guided yoga, but this turns it into a stressful race trying to get your hands and feet into the right spot before the next DONG! sounds and you are trying to catch up with what they want.

They have options for wallpaper of spring, summer and "none" which are just tan, blue, and nothing. Those aren't wonderful options.

If you get a simple voice recorder and any recording device you can record your OWN voice going at your own pace with the voice prompts for any yoga routine you wish. I definitely recommend doing that. If there is going to be a helpful yoga prompt system, they should go very slowly. It is always better to wait in a position for a while and get comfortable in it vs racing and perhaps hurting yourself. Any yoga system that speeds you through the steps is missing the point of what yoga is about.

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