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sun_salutationI checked out Hemalaya Behl: Yoga for Urban Living from the library last weekend.
This disc offers three routines: Morning Quickie (zats_clear snickers "She said quickie!"), Evening Bath, and Daily Connection (zats_clear snickers more "Nooner!" *CK rolls eyes*). In addition she has instruction on pranayama and the poses, areas of the disc I have not explored.
The Morning Quickie is a nice guided pranayama and set of sun salutations. Nothing I couldn't do on my own, but I like having an external guide because of my tendency not to hold postures very long when I'm practicing on my own. This is a 30 minute segment, about half of which is pranayama and final relaxation, so it really *is* a quickie, if you are looking for a morning workout, but it is invigorating, and I did break a sweat. A nice, well, quickie yoga routine to have around.
I have not had a chance to do The Evening Bath (just watched about half of it on my little kitchen tv while eating dinner). It appears to be guided pranayama again, followed by a series of supine positions, with an emphasis on twisting. This one is 25 minutes long, and does indeed look to be what is advertised, a relaxing way to prepare to go to sleep. It also looks like a nice spine reliever, if you've been sitting for a long time.
This morning I tried The Daily Connection.
I found this to be a very soothing, relaxing, and stretchy workout. My ujjayi was deep and relaxed throughout and it was easy to be aware of that and enjoy it. I don't know if this is something about my personal growth in yoga – maybe I have broken through some barrier on this level over the summer? – but right now, I'm crediting the routines as the difference makers – Trance Dance, and now this one.
I should say that I didn't even break a sweat on this routine. Maybe a slight flush. :) That's it. There were no sun salutations, and there was a point that my hamstrings were a little annoyed at the lack of warm up before the deeper stretches, but nothing too bad. Not one appearance of Chair! But there was a nice selection of standing and balancing postures, as well as a good whole body workout. Arms, hips, backbends, forward bending, and *a lot* of twisting, supine postures and inversions. I guess everything you want from an hour of yoga! It went by very quickly and at the end I felt relaxed, refreshed, and calm.
Things I liked. Ms. Behl has a calm teaching style and a soothing instructional tone that I really liked. Also, she is more… real?... than some of the instructors. Ms. Rea and Mr. Yee are flawless. They always get it right, every time. They never wobble. They are pictures of perfection. Ms. Behl is, I'm sure, their equal in skill level, but when she's holding Tree, you can see that her body is "adjusting fluidly," ie she's not solid as a statue. There's give in her folded knee and her base leg. She wiggles just a little. It's reassuring. In Pidgin, she adjusted her extended leg, consciously rolling it, adjusting her weight on her hips while in the posture. There was something very humanizing about that.
Things I disliked. While it went by very fast, at the end I had a little bit of, huh, what did I *do* in the last hour? That may be a bias of my doing more vigorous routines. Being that calm (and dry) at the end was just a little unsettling.
And argh. The music. So annoying. Except somehow it was soothing, too. I'm sure it must have contributed to my calm, meditative state. Or maybe my calm meditative state let it be soothing?
I would not recommend this as a disc for a total beginner on the basis of the routines themselves. Her guidance in the postures is shorthand - enough if you already know basically what you are doing, probably not enough if you haven't done much yoga yet. Obviously, I have cannot yet review her instructional section, so there may be a lot there for the beginner, but if you are very new to yoga, definitely go there *first,* then come back to the workouts.
I have put this disc on my wishlist for Christmas. This would definitely not be an everyday selection for me, but I *would* like to be able to have it at my command for any time I want to relax and stretch, rather than try to boost my heart rate.
This disc offers three routines: Morning Quickie (
zats_clear snickers "She said quickie!"), Evening Bath, and Daily Connection (zats_clear snickers more "Nooner!" *CK rolls eyes*). In addition she has instruction on pranayama and the poses, areas of the disc I have not explored.The Morning Quickie is a nice guided pranayama and set of sun salutations. Nothing I couldn't do on my own, but I like having an external guide because of my tendency not to hold postures very long when I'm practicing on my own. This is a 30 minute segment, about half of which is pranayama and final relaxation, so it really *is* a quickie, if you are looking for a morning workout, but it is invigorating, and I did break a sweat. A nice, well, quickie yoga routine to have around.
I have not had a chance to do The Evening Bath (just watched about half of it on my little kitchen tv while eating dinner). It appears to be guided pranayama again, followed by a series of supine positions, with an emphasis on twisting. This one is 25 minutes long, and does indeed look to be what is advertised, a relaxing way to prepare to go to sleep. It also looks like a nice spine reliever, if you've been sitting for a long time.
This morning I tried The Daily Connection.
I found this to be a very soothing, relaxing, and stretchy workout. My ujjayi was deep and relaxed throughout and it was easy to be aware of that and enjoy it. I don't know if this is something about my personal growth in yoga – maybe I have broken through some barrier on this level over the summer? – but right now, I'm crediting the routines as the difference makers – Trance Dance, and now this one.
I should say that I didn't even break a sweat on this routine. Maybe a slight flush. :) That's it. There were no sun salutations, and there was a point that my hamstrings were a little annoyed at the lack of warm up before the deeper stretches, but nothing too bad. Not one appearance of Chair! But there was a nice selection of standing and balancing postures, as well as a good whole body workout. Arms, hips, backbends, forward bending, and *a lot* of twisting, supine postures and inversions. I guess everything you want from an hour of yoga! It went by very quickly and at the end I felt relaxed, refreshed, and calm.
Things I liked. Ms. Behl has a calm teaching style and a soothing instructional tone that I really liked. Also, she is more… real?... than some of the instructors. Ms. Rea and Mr. Yee are flawless. They always get it right, every time. They never wobble. They are pictures of perfection. Ms. Behl is, I'm sure, their equal in skill level, but when she's holding Tree, you can see that her body is "adjusting fluidly," ie she's not solid as a statue. There's give in her folded knee and her base leg. She wiggles just a little. It's reassuring. In Pidgin, she adjusted her extended leg, consciously rolling it, adjusting her weight on her hips while in the posture. There was something very humanizing about that.
Things I disliked. While it went by very fast, at the end I had a little bit of, huh, what did I *do* in the last hour? That may be a bias of my doing more vigorous routines. Being that calm (and dry) at the end was just a little unsettling.
And argh. The music. So annoying. Except somehow it was soothing, too. I'm sure it must have contributed to my calm, meditative state. Or maybe my calm meditative state let it be soothing?
I would not recommend this as a disc for a total beginner on the basis of the routines themselves. Her guidance in the postures is shorthand - enough if you already know basically what you are doing, probably not enough if you haven't done much yoga yet. Obviously, I have cannot yet review her instructional section, so there may be a lot there for the beginner, but if you are very new to yoga, definitely go there *first,* then come back to the workouts.
I have put this disc on my wishlist for Christmas. This would definitely not be an everyday selection for me, but I *would* like to be able to have it at my command for any time I want to relax and stretch, rather than try to boost my heart rate.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-21 02:34 pm (UTC)I can understand what you mean about the instructor being more accessible with her slight wobbles and readjustments than some of yoga's superstars.
Just curious, given my last post, what kind of breathing did she do that took up that much of the workout?