Om Yoga: Beginner-Intermediate Class, with Cyndi Lee.

Om Yoga: Beginner-Intermediate Class, with Cyndi Lee Dharma Moon. DVD. 213 mins. $15.99.

Cyndi Lee, who founded the Om Yoga center in Manhattan after years as a choreographer and performer, has created an approach that fuses this millenniums-old practice with a SpongeBob SquarePants' friendliness and humor. Her teaching is clear and conscientious, making it possible for beginning students to experiment with more difficult yoga poses like forearm and shoulder stands. She adds images that are 21st century: To find a lifted feeling in the chest area while standing in mountain pose she says, "Imagine you have chocolate Easter eggs in your armpits--without the tinfoil--and you don't want to melt or drop them!" In watching how Lee instructs the five students who take her class on the DVD, and noticing how she touches them, students doing the session at home can understand how to absorb the asanas. Her sounds of encouragement--"Mmmmm!"--are playful and her demeanor is inviting. The DVD includes an 80-minute class, a shorter 45-minute class, breakdowns of some poses, a tour of Om Yoga center, and testimonials from Om students. See www.omyoga.com.