Friday Favorites

This week has been all about stress! You would think that after launching beYOU.tv, we would be on easy-streak. That is not the case! Launch was only the beginning, how we move forward from here is critical. We are listening to our community and implementing innovative ideas of our own to make beYOU the best site possible. Stress, is the theme for this week!

Video 1: Meditation for Beginners

If you’ve taken the time to meditate, you are aware of its benefits. If you haven’t, I suggest that you do! For me, the best part of meditation is to simply take a little time to relax and quiet the mind. No cellphones, no emails, no blogs; just relaxation. In the Meditation for Beginners video you will be introduced to meditation and how to practice it.

Video 2: Millennium Stretch - Partnered Relaxation

Millennium Stretch is a great video to help you relax and stretch. Allow your stress to melt away as Scott Cole takes you and a partner through a series of stretches. Stretching is one of the most neglected aspects of working out. Its probably neglected because you aren’t building muscles or burning calories as much compared to other forms of exercise. Stretching has many benefits and it feels good! If you’ve been skipping your stretching routine, grab a friend and get going!

Have a great weekend!

Greg

Our video library and our list of procurers are always growing at beYOU! We actively listen and respond to what you, our community, asks for. This week we have 2 new videos and 1 new producer for you.

New Producer: Holy Yoga

Holy Yoga, the premier style of Christian yoga, was created to introduce physical worship of the Lord through prayer, breath work and movement to all seekers and Believers in Jesus Christ, regardless of denomination. The mission of the ministry is to introduce people to yoga as a form of collective (mind, body and connection to His Holy Spirit) worship. Holy Yoga is dedicated to facilitating an inspiring practice of worship to individuals as well as certifying Holy Yoga
teachers through the school of Holy Yoga to facilitate a Holy Yoga ministry in their individual churches and communities.

For more information, visit Holy Yoga’s producer page.

New Videos: Holy Yoga - Level 1 Gentle and Holy Yoga - Level 2 Flow

Yoga is NOT a religion; it is a practice of mind and body control. When led by scripture, prayer and worship poses; it is a practice that encourages patience and cultivates an understanding of what God can manifest in our physical and emotional bodies. When we can distance ourselves from the daily grind and find peace in worshiping with the entirety of our being, we find ourselves in the flow of His magnificence and in the midst of His grace.

See Related: Yoga Prayer

I’ve always had an immense amount of gratitude for everything in my life. In fact, I keep a gratitude journal (I know, very Oprah of me). I find that whenever I am down, discouraged, angry or sad, the best way to start feeling better is to list off all the things I have to be grateful for. Trust me, there is always something. With all of the crazyness going on the last few weeks, like trying to launch the site, I’ve been expressing a lot of gratitude!

But today, what I am most grateful for, is that we finally launched beYOU.tv Public Beta. We are live and if feels good!

I’m not just grateful that we’re finally live, I’m also grateful for every hellish moment it took to get us here. Seriously!

There were times when we didn’t all agree on how, or if, we should execute certain ideas. I will admit, the majority of the times, I was certain I was right (I can be like that some times.) But as I’ve discovered time and time again, this is usually a clear sign that I am actually wrong, and there is something for me to learn. And that’s just what I did.

Because of that, we have some great new features for you. For example, we are now able to better protect your sensitive financial information, but still make it an easy two- step process to purchase a video.

The instructions, buttons and icons on the site are easy to understand so you aren’t left wondering what to do (Videos instead of "Watch" or Community instead of "Meet").

We broke out some areas like Fitness, Spiritual Growth and Personal Growth. We changed technology options late in the game to get you better pricing (more on that to come still in a few more months).

Thank goodness I’m surrounded by people smarter than I am and that we all look at things from a different point of view.

So, yeah, I’m grateful not just that we launched, but for everything it took to get us here! We hope You are too!

Have a great day. And remember, Be You – Everyday!

Bob

Lately it’s been cool and rainy in NYC. How am I supposed to do my outdoor cardio in this weather? I can’t, so I stayed indoors. This week’s poor weather is also the inspiration for today’s Friday Favorites!

Barry’s Bootcamp - Chest and Abs - Cardio

When the weather is so bad that you can’t leave your flat, or if you are just lazy, the Chest and Abs Cardio video is for you! The cardio workout can be done with little, if any, equipment, which makes it perfect for impromptu or replacement workouts. The running pushups, a movement done with a bench (or couch), and the kickboxing are the best segments in the video. They really get your heartrate up!

Barry’s Bootcamp - Arms and Abs - Treadmill

The day after my at home workout, was nice enough to make the journey to my gym. I find that nothing compares to running outdoors on a nice day, treadmills and videos just don’t cut it. What should you do if it’s not a nice day? The Arms and Abs - Treadmill video is surprisingly great. It’s not a boring 30 minute run on the treadmill. Barry will have you spinning, running backwards, uphills and crossed leg to keep this workout interesting! This is not a boring run on the treadmill!

Enjoy the end of Summer,

Greg

greg(at)doubleonemedia[dot]com

Will this robot help you lose weight?

Tech Digest has a new article about a robot being developed at the MIT Media Lab. These robots, described as a “weight maintenance sociable robot”, are designed to interact with you and help you lose weight.

This video provides more information and gives you a better feel for the robot. I don’t really see the difference between using this robot vs a website. You interact with the robot through a touch screen and it keeps you on track to achieve your goals. This is very similar to what SparkPeople offers. Many sites allow users to keep track of their information and goals; a feature that beYOU will probably support in the future.

I just don’t see how these robots will motivate anyone more than a webpage, except for the fact that you’ll have a robot in your house, which will remind you everyday of your weight loss goals. I could see a practical use if the robot actually worked out with you! Maybe that’s an idea for the future!

Greg

While browsing the web, I stumbled upon an article on Gothamist.com about a new Wi-Fi service in Bryant park (a park in Midtown Manhattan). The writers at Gothamist were looking to see how people were using the free Wi-Fi. Most people were surfing the web and checking their email, but a few were doing something more interesting.

A group of people were practicing yoga with their laptop in the park! This sounded so much like beYOU.tv that I needed to share.

This article just helps to reassure ourselves that there is a demand for our product and that people will actually use it!

Share Your Story!

Please share with us how your use beYOU.tv! Are you perfecting some new dance moves in private? Organizing a class outdoors? Meditating on your commute to work?

I’ve been doing the Best Abs on Earth video after running along the East River on the weekends.

Greg

Hi All,

Yesterday, I attended the New York City Web 2.0 Meeup. I mixed and mingled with the crowd and tried to spread the word about beYOU.tv. Overall, the meetup was a success; a few companies gave presentations about their new products and developments. One in particular caught my eye…

Cafe Mom is a social networking site for mothers. It’s very similar to Facebook/Myspace but much more friendly and clean (no party photos here).

At beYOU.tv we are always trying to spread the word and attract new members. After I attended the meetup, one elusive question seems to be answered or at least partially answered: where, online, is a large community (the sweet spot) that would be interested in beYOU.tv? Cafe Mom could be the answer to this question. In the near future, we will have a beYOU.tv group established on Cafe Mom. Until that time, checkout Cafe Mom and keeping coming back to beYOU.tv; we are almost ready for launch! Begin the countdown…10…9…8….

Greg

Friday Favorites is a new, on-going, blog series. Each Friday, we will update our Friday Favorites with new videos and explain why we are recommending these videos. The goal of Friday Favorites is to highlight our best videos and provide extra information to you. Without further delay, beYOU.tv is proud to bring you Friday Favorites!

Video 1 – Barry’s Bootcamp: Total Body

As the title suggests, Total Body is a great workout for your body, totally! Total Body takes you through many different calisthenic movements, such as pushups, tricep dips and toe taps. The tempo of Total Body is high enough that you get a good cardio workout. It’s basically the go-to, no equipment required, all-in-one fitness video! Anywhere you can find a computer and free-time, visit Total Body on beYOU.tv and work it out! Also, Barry’s Bootcamp is known for its
celebrity clientèle and was mentioned on Entourage. You’ll feel more fabulous after each workout!

Video 2 – Theory of Yin Yoga

In the Theory of Yin Yoga, Paul Grilley explains how our bodies react to and recover from stress. He specifically focuses on the body’s joints. Yin yoga is a form of yoga that deliberately stresses the joints, in an effort to improve them. Yin postures minimize the use of balance and muscle tissues in order to focus on the joints. Yin yoga positions are held for long periods of time because joints can only tolerate a small amount of stress. I like Paul’s analogy in the
video; he compares yin yoga to braces for your teeth. Small amounts of stress, over long periods of time, can produce great results. In order to improve your joints (and teeth) one must apply light pressure for extended periods of time. In the Theory of Yin Yoga, Paul explains why yin yoga is important and how its benefits can affect you. Want to try yin yoga for yourself? Check out these videos…

The Hip Series

The Infant Series

More to come,

Greg

Being You can be so many different things at so many different times. This week being me, meant being stressed! It’s something I’ve worked hard to manage in my life, but there are still times when the stress manages me. This week, particularly, because we have been working to launch the public Beta version of the site. And if you are familiar with Murphy’s Law, you know, anything that can go wrong – will go wrong.

This meant there was some unforeseen work to do with the credit card processing for purchase. This was in addition to all of the other QA (quality assurance) testing going on. Do the fixes work on all browsers? Do all of the links work? Have all the copy changes been made?

We made some last minute pricing chances in order to provide You with an introductory Beta Offer. So now I had to make sure all the references to the old prices were all corrected everywhere. We went through a few rounds of different icon styles. Were all of the old icons replaced with the most recent versions? And was that “stack of bibles” copy removed (we heard you loud and clear on that).

Deploy to staging, test, fix, re-deploy, test, fix, re-deploy. "Is it processing the credit card at the right prices?" And so on and so on.

In the midst of all of that, there were still new videos to discover and producers and instructors to bring to You. I’ve been courting a particular dance teacher now for a little while. To let her know how serious I was, I actually took her Urban Dance Street class last night. Let me just say this, I was not fly, not even for a white guy! Let me also tell you, she is AMAZING. She has choreographed for some of the biggest names in the music business and soon it looks like she will also be teaching you some hot new moves on beYOU.tv. Stay tuned for details

Now even though, I didn’t hit all the moves or “pop” in all the right places (although, I do believe my hip may have popped in the some of the wrong places), I can’t remember when I had more fun trying something new. The most surprising thing was what a stress reliever it was. Seriously. For sixty minutes, I was so focused on where my feet, hips and arms should go next, that I simply couldn’t think about anything else. No icons, copy or credit cards. My stress had melted away, and I felt this sense of excitement that had been missing from my life this week. I felt beyond excited to share with you this incredible instructor and this great dance program. I thought of all of You who would have so much fun with these videos and how they may help make you feel better after a long day or week. After the class I ran to my car to call several friends to tell them how great it was, which made me think, just listing a staff favorite video doesn’t really tell the whole story, it doesn’t’ communicate why we really love it and what to share it with you.

So from now on, we are bringing you Friday Favorites. Every Friday, right here, one of us will share with you one of our favorite videos, why we like it so much and what it has done for us; something new we discovered about ourselves in the process or how did it simply made our day better.

So check back later today for the very first Friday Favorite.

Besides, sharing seems to make stress fade away.

Have a great weekend. And remember, Be You – Everyday!

Bob

So we are one step closer to launching our public beta. And in the process, we got another earful from our test users this week, which I couldn’t be happier about. Not because the feedback was all favorable, but because it wasn’t. I love to know what we are doing right, but mostly, what we are getting wrong. It’s the only way to make the service better.

So what did we decide to do about it? Well, for starters, there is new introductory pricing. Just $14.95 for a Monthly Pass and Downloads as low as $4.95 for a video.

Some other things include new icons, more Frequently Ask Questions (that we can now honestly say have been frequently asked) and some new headlines and labels that make the site clearer and easier to use.

Every few weeks, some more new features will be added as well (did I mention there are only six of us building this all right now?)

We also received some great ideas for other types of videos and some instructors you would like to see on the site. So, I am now out to find instructional dance video, more healthy eating and nutrition content and yoga instructors like Ana Forrest.

But wait, there’s more. Get ready for Friday Favorites! Every Friday, one of us will select our favorite video of the week. We’ll do quick write up of it for you right here so you can check it our for yourself.
So keep the ideas coming. I love hearing from You! And I’ll keep making sure you have plenty of ways for you to be You!

In the meantime, check out some of our current instructors like Scott Cole. You can catch Scott LIVE at the Cape Cod AAAI-ISMA Convention August 10-12th (609-397-2139), or at the famed Canyon Ranch Resort Lenox MA August 14th-16th. See his complete schedule here.

Or, be a part of ABC’s filming of Scott’s renowned Disco Dojo class at The Spectrum Club Manhattan Beach, CA, Sunday August 19th 10-11am.

I’ll be there too, so be sure to say hi!

Have a great weekend. And remember, Be You, Everyday!

Bob