Sun Salutation

( My journey toward meditation practice )

Anyway, all that said, I picked up Rodney Yee - Meditation & Yoga (Yoga For Meditation) (it seems to have two alternate titles) at the library this weekend.

It is divided into an introduction and five segments and runs around an hour in length. The first segment is Mountain, a very gentle hatha sequence that seems designed to get the kinks out and open your whole body up for ease of breathing.

Mountain is followed by Garden, a chair yoga sequence for opening the hips. I have never done any chair yoga, assuming it was to assist those not flexible or strong enough yet for a "real" asana practice. Live and learn! I was impressed by how using the chair as a prop allowed range of motion that really leveraged hip-opening.

Tree invites you to go to a wall with your yoga block and develop the traditional seated postures used for meditation. Mr. Yee explores Baddha Konasana, Virasana, Siddhasana, and Half and Full Lotus.

Wind is a reclined meditation to help bring focus to the breath.

Sky is a seated meditation, combining the posture guidance and breathing of the earlier sequences with a guided meditation.

The asanas of Mountain are appropriate for all levels of practitioners, though if you are not familiar with yoga you might want to plan to get some familiarity with these few postures so that you can integrate them into the achievement of a calm openness, rather than just be focused on how the postures are done. For a person who knows the asanas already, as usual Mr. Yee is very good at helping you to find the subtle adjustments that will better align your postures and help you to find balance.

The seated postures in Tree, however, are surprisingly challenging. Mr. Yee instructs each posture with a block first, then without. Also, I didn't have a convenient wall. Possibly this would have been easier if I had done as instructed. Mr. Yee again brings his ability to suggest adjustments that bring lightness and fluidity to the spine.

While Wind is not billed as the "meditation" segment, this is a great warm-up for the final meditation finale in Sky. Again, attention to the fluidity of the spine and the ease of the breath, and an added attentiveness to breathing. This is relaxing and establishes the beginning of the attentiveness of meditation.

By the time I got to Sky, I was feeling relaxed and open, ready to expand my mind though the feeling of the minor adjustments of my posture and the flow of my breath. For the first time, I felt during a seated meditation the same loss of boundary that I occasionally feel during my moving meditations.

For me, this DVD was an excellent aid to getting more deeply into a seated meditation. I don't know if it was the careful preparation prior to the beginning of the meditation, or if it was the guided nature of it, but I definitely recommend this DVD to anyone who is experimenting with meditation practice, like me.

Sadie Nardini: Core Strength Vinyasa Yoga Power Hour: Whole Body + Abs


I am loving this DVD, but it is not for the faint of heart. This is conditioning in the form of yoga, and because of that it is intensely strenuous, and for many people, this might be an unpleasant experience.

However, if you are an intermediate or advanced beginner, and are interested in moving your flexibility, strength and balance to a new level, this DVD will definitely assist you in the development of your practice, and there is a lot to like about this, too.

( Read more... )

So? Is this a DVD for you? I would say, hold off on this until you no longer dread Extended Side Angle or Navasana. You will spend a lot of time hanging out in lunges held for long periods, which can be uncomfortable for the front leg, and "Navasana Pulses" or even more fun, "Goddess Navasana Pulses" certainly build "the fire in the belly," but they might just seem excruciating if you go into them unsuspecting. You should also be ready to do 30-40 minutes of strenuous vinyasa flow.

If that sounds up your alley, you will definitely get huge benefits from this DVD. My seated forward bends, not a particularly important part of this DVD, have never been deeper. The hip flexibility this routine develops is really remarkable. Also, since you spend so much time in the Warrior Seal, this routine does an exceptional amount of shoulder opening, as well. I can feel the impact in Wheel. And of course, the core strength you build is good for every component of your practice. For me, this has become one of my favorite DVDs.

Namaste.

P.S.: Don't forget, that Sadie Nardini has a YouTube channel that is just loaded with material. This DVD combines elements that are probably all there into a one-hour practice that it is easy to play on your TV. If you can easily practice from your computer, then by all means, you should investigate the possibilities there.

Rodney Yee: Power Yoga Total Body Workout

I can't believe that I have never actually reviewed this DVD.

This DVD is, in my opinion, a perfectly composed yoga experience. It doesn't have everything. Prominently lacking – inversions, arm balances, and Sanskrit names. There is also a complete lack of yoga spiritual references. This is all about the asanas. But if you are looking for a good, vigorous workout, a wide range of postures, and excellent instruction, including good breath cues, this is a great DVD.

Mr. Yee opens with a nice pranayama that develops into simple alternating lunges. After the first Downward Dog, he eases you into basic sun salutations, which get faster as he ads standing postures between the transitional vinyasas. The major standing postures are all there, with an emphasis on Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II): Powerful Pose (Utkatasana), Triangle (Utthita Trikonasana), Extended Side Angle (Utthita Parsvakonasana), Warrior I (Virabhadrasana I), Warrior III (Virabhadrasana III), and Half Moon (Ardha Chandrasana). Although Mr. Yee moves quickly through the transitional vinyasas (great for getting the heart-rate up!), he gives you time in the standing postures to really settle in and experience the pose and gives good advice on how to adjust all the parts of your body – the position of the ribcage and pelvis, attentiveness to the position of the shoulders and the relaxation of the face – so that you can develop the posture and deepen it. There are some quicker combinations of standing postures prior to the balance poses, too, that allow you to transition between the postures and feel their relationships to one another. A really well-developed, challenging sequence.

Just when you think you can't take any more and are going to have to quit halfway through, Mr. Yee backs it off, for Wide Angle Forward Bend (Prasarita Padottanasana), and Pyramid (Parsvottanasana).

He then starts a slow build toward Wheel, progressing from Warrior I, Deep Lunge (Anjaneyasana), Sphinx, Cobra (Bhujangasana), Upward Dog (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana), Bow (Dhanurasana), and Camel (Ustrasana), with a nice shoulder opener in while seated in Hero's Pose (Virasana), which works to prepare and limber up the knees. Finally, three nice, long, well-instructed iterations of Wheel (Urdhva Dhanurasana).

THEN, just when you think you are about to die AGAIN and have to quit, ah, supine postures that let you relax and restore. Reclinging Big Toe Pose (Supta Padangusthasana) releases the hamstrings, and a hanging version of it releases the lower back. For hip opening, he uses Reclining Pidgeon (Supta Kapotasana) (small icon here at the bottom of the page).

But Mr. Yee is not done with you yet! Now for the rocking! First, he has you rock on your back with your legs tucked and crossed, gradually rocking all the way up to seated and back towards Plow (Halasana). After you do that for a while, he switches you to rocking with your legs extended, from Seated Forward Bend (Paschimottanasana) allllll the way back to Plow, the forward again. Fun, envigorating and stretchy!

Then, the seated postures. This segment transitions between Cobbler's Pose (Baddha Konasana), Staff Pose (Dandasana), and Wide Angle Seated Forward Bend (Upavistha Konasana), with Head-to-Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana) and Boat (Navasana) added to the flow. He also includes a seated twist in Half Lotus, and a deep forward bend in Half Lotus.

Mr. Yee guides you through Savasana with practical advice to assist you in finding and relaxing tension in your bdoy, and concludes with a final, brief seated meditation.

In all, this DVD would be an excellent addition to any home practice. Although some of the balance postures and backbends are challenging, I believe even a beginner can tackle most of these postures. There is an element of endurance and stamina needed to make it though, but there is a nice, balancing component of relaxation and restorative postures as a reward. Expect to sweat and work hard, but you can do it!

Namaste.

You know, I really hate when they need to put "weight loss" into the title.

I picked Yoga Complete For Weight Loss up at the library based on the enthusiastic reviews on Amazon by Iyengar practitioners who were so extremely excited to have a DVD of their own!

This is a massive DVD. I haven't counted, but it claims to have "over 20" pre-set practices. They vary in length and are arranged as Beginning, Intermediate and Challenging.

Coming to this from a vinyasa flow practice, what stood out for me was the care and instruction dedicated to each posture. Postures are held for longer and the yogini puts much more thought and care into every aspect of the posture.

This morning, I did the "Greet the Day" practice. It begins with a lengthy study of Surya Namaskar A, with the addition of Utkatasana (Chair).

The second sequence is a simple, but killer abs strengthener based on Supta Padangusthasana (Reclining Big Toe Pose). The legs are lifted and lowered, hinging at the hips, pausing for isometric holds at 30 and 60 degrees. This is a tough segment for the low back, though I was fascinated at how she used the arms stretching overhead and away along the floor as a counterbalance, generating the abdominal support to the weight of the legs. Still, I would definitely suggest taking this section with care.

The third section was a supine twist. I can never find the names of these twists. Anyway. Laying on the back, legs are extended upwards to 90 degrees again, and then mindfully lowered to each side in turn while keeping the back as flat as possible.

The final section was a long, careful Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend). Very nice, very relaxing.

Finishes with a carefully inwardly-directed Savasana.

Coming from a vinyasa flow practice, the second thing I noted was how few postures were practiced in 45 minutes, though I think this was in part due to my choice of a practice that focused so much on Suyra Namaskar A. There was a lot of repetition of Upward Dog, Downward Dog and Uttanasana and Mountain Pose.

The pace here is slow, deliberate and soothing, and the instruction and concentration is intense. On the one hand, I hardly broke a sweat, though the long holds on Upward Dog and the leg lifts definitely got my heart rate up. On the other hand, I finished feeling relaxed, refreshed, and lengthened - you know the feeling I mean. Taller.

I think I will try External Strength, Inner Balance (60 minutes) next, to see if I can get similar benefits, but maybe a few more postures and a little more sweat. This would not be my choice for a daily practice, but I think this DVD will go on my list for a regular reminder to slow down and pay attention to the details.

Shiva Rea: Fluid Power

I've been putting off my review because I have not fully explored all the disc has to offer, but I love it so much, I'm ready to talk about what I have been working on.

This is a DVD about circular movement and movement through water. The current moves under you, the movement flows over you, you plunge into water and rise out of it. Like Yoga Trance Dance, this video was filmed at White Sands National Park and is stunningly beautiful. It includes six pre-set practices, as well as a matrix to design your own practice. You will be happy to know that this matrix is much more user friendly than the one on Shakti, with better navigation between boxes on the table.

Shiva is in her best creative form. My favorite segment on this is the Mandala Namaskar, which you can see beautifully demonstrated here and which you can see demonstrated with instruction here. I love the flow of this sun salutation, and the grace and rhythm with which it moves in all directions.

When you are really ready to sweat, you can do the two Dancing Warrior 1008 sequences – one is preparatory and one is the sun salutation in full flow. Combined, they are a 25 minute yoga session all in themselves. This sequence moves from Downward Dog to Vasisthasana, shifting to a Vasisthasana variation on the other side, then to Side Chaturanga and back to Downward Dog. In the transitional vinyasa she throws in fluid Cobra, Salambhasana and Dhanurasana. By the end your arms will be shaking and the sweat will be dripping off you! Ah. The best kind of yoga! You can see just a snippet of this sun salutation here at minute 1:53-2:30. Regarding "Side Chaturanga" (which the inimitable zats_clear says looks like she's fallen and can't get up), sadly, the clip doesn't show the whole vinyasa, so you can't see that part. If you go to minute 2:50 you can see the way the legs are in the posture, though you have to imagine her up on her arms as in Plank, then going down in to Chaturanga, with her legs in those positions. With my current upper body strength, I can't even pretend that I can do it as Chaturanga, and I stay in Plank, thank you very much. :D

The Fluid Backbend segment, while not as perfect as Heart-Air on Daily Energy, is still an excellent heart opening sequence. Shiva builds to Camatkarasana in a circular sequence transitioning to Urdhva Dhanurasana that you'll think, no way! But then your yoga brain will say, hmmm. I could do that. I have not pulled it off yet… :D

I found the circular nature of the Supine Poses sequence to be difficult to follow. Definitely plan to watch this one before you do it, or you will get stuck and have to stop and watch anyway.

There are a couple of nice meditation sessions included, and as usual, Shiva does a great job with movement meditation, as well. The Spiral Meditation in particular is one that we should all have in our repertoire of movement. She moves your whole body in circular motions, starting with the wrists, then the shoulders, moving through the chest and hips to the knees and legs. At the end, your body feels ready for anything, loose and open.

I love the pre-set sequence Hip Opening. It does exactly what it sets out to do, and when you get to the seated forward bends at the end, you will be amazed at how deeply you can enter the postures. The Backbend Flow is long and challenging. The Creative Flow is meditative and soothing.

I really love this DVD, but be aware that if you are just starting or at a lower level of fitness (as I am these days, actually) this will be tough work. This past week, after a long layoff from yoga, the thought going through my head by the third round of Mandala Namaskar was "relentless." Plan to work. A beginner might get discouraged. Plan to stop at two rounds instead of three, or to use modified poses.

However, for the beginner, one great component of this DVD is Shiva's guided preparatory segments. There is one called Foundation Vinyasa, and one for Dancing Warrior 1008. The Foundation Vinyasa in particular is a careful review of all the various components of the vinyasa – how to draw your knee toward your navel; the four directions of lunge; the legs, hips and shoulders in downward dog; movement into and out of Plank, Chaturanga, and Vasisthasana. She breaks it down to every action very carefully. It's a great review for every practitioner and excellent for a beginner. Dancing Warrior 1008 Prep focuses on the arm balance components and is also great for a beginner.

This disc is a great addition to a home practice and I highly recommend it.

I have recently been on a kick of "fusion" type DVDs, so I thought I'd review a few as a theme.

First, the most "yoga" of the three.

Jillian Michaels – Yoga Meltdown. Includes two thirty-minute routines.

I bought it several weeks ago at Costco, all you Costco shoppers, for about $8.00.

After thinking about this, I would call this a "fusion," because Ms. Michael's approach to yoga has a very strong emphasis on using it as strength training by way of body weight resistance. And she adds cardio. A word of warning to the beginner, yoga postures are used as the tool for body weight resistance, but the postures *are not* taught. I cannot emphasize that enough. If you are newer to yoga, you will want to use an instructional video first, or at the very least watch this video on fast forward, pausing to see how the postures are executed before trying to actually do the workout

( Workout content first, DVD review after )

Tribal Fusion – Yoga Isolations & Drills: A Practice Companion with Rachel Brice

I've had this disc for a while and thought I should come back to it and do a review. It's been ages since I've done any bellydance stuff, and I am really a complete novice.

The disc has 15, 30, and 45-minute sessions. This morning I did the 45 minute set.

Letting an Amazon reviewer do some of the grunt-work for me, here's an index:

The 15 minute practice includes:
- Half Sun Salutes
- Locust Pose
- Hip Locks on the Up
- Hipwork on the down
- Chest Lifts
- Undulations up to down (Body Roll)
- Cat and Cow poses

The 30 minute practice does a full sun salute with lunges and adds to the 15 minutes practice the following moves:
- Chest drops
- Undulations down to up (Reverse Body Roll)
- Pelvic locks front
- Interior hip circles
- Spread leg forward fold

The 45 minute practice includes everything above, except the hipwork on the down (I'm not sure, but this may be an error on the DVD, because the practice really clocks in at about 40 minutes). Added for this practice is:
- Double Chest locks
- Rib Cage Figure Eight
- 5 minutes of Corpse pose (with floaty clouds on the screen, and a doumbek drumming at about heart-beat speed)

The yoga on this disc is basic, but it is interesting to see what Ms. Brice chose as good yoga preparation for the belly dance drills.

As the disc name states, the meat of this disc is drills. Ms. Brice instructs some basic moves and drills you through them, first slowly and carefully, then double time, then at full speed, smoothing out the individual movements to make the full-body and hip/waist undulations of belly dancing.

The instruction is very good. When I went upstairs and checked myself out in the full-length mirror I was managing passable versions of everything taught on the disc. However, Ms. Brice is not a chatty teacher. She tells you how to do it one way, and she illustrates it beautifully with her own movements, but if her one explanation isn't enough for you, then that's the only chance you get, making this video more for the advanced beginner or intermediate student than the true beginner.

My other observation is that Ms. Brice, not chatty, is also not smile-y or bouncy. Her face is supremely calm, even serious. In some ways, this suits the idea that you should be calm, with a relaxed face and a focused mind during yoga. But you also get the impression that this is Serious Business. For some people that is probably a huge positive. For others, it might be off-putting.

This is not a great yoga video, but it is a way to have some yoga with your dancing. I think this is probably a very good video for someone getting started with dancing or wanting some guidance to make their dancing more precise.

As an aside, this video has a Gothic performance piece that is just *amazing.* Probably no one older than 14 really has the knees for it, but hey! I can dream!

Namaste.

This is a great video if you just can't decide whether to do yoga or abs today.

It is only available on VHS, but if you check out Amazon, you can usually find it for $.69 plus shipping. I actually got my copy for $.01 plus $2.50 shipping. Also, don't forget to check your local library.

It is important to remember that this is not strictly a yoga video. The warmup section at the beginning has a strong dance flavor and also incorporates elements of qi gong.

After about five minutes of warmup, Ms. McDonough moves to her standing postures sequence. I really like this set. Back when I first started doing this video, as a yoga beginner, it was a real challenge. Today, returning to the video after a long hiatus, I found that as an advanced beginner, it was a lovely way to stretch, sweat a little, and enjoy my morning yoga practice.

Ms. McDonough then moves to a pilates set for abs. It has been a while since I did any specific abs toning – these days all I do is yoga for my workout – and I could tell I will be feeling this tomorrow. It was about a ten minute set. I don't know any pilates terms, and she did not name the moves. Reviewing a list from a web search, it looks like we did rollups, leg circles, side kicks, and a few other moves, including a challenging side lift thing, omg.

She moves back into yoga again via a modified Bridge, done on one leg, with the other leg lifted. This may also be a variation on pilates pelvic curls. This leads into a backbend sequence based on Bridge, Cat and Caws, Locust, and Bow. It's a nice, not too difficult backbend set, especially nice for anyone who wants to get in some decent backbending, but who might not be comfortable yet with Wheel and Camel.

She closes with a really nice supine sequence, though I go back and forth between being amused and annoyed by the use of the term "Goddess Pose" for Reclined Cobbler.

I am glad I have rediscovered this video, and I definitely recommend it. However, it does have a few drawbacks.

First, Ms. McDonough's teaching style sometimes reveals her difficulty holding back her inner aerobics instructor. Second, the women demonstrating with her appear to me to be dancers, and their extreme flexibility is remarkable, even in the world of yoga videos. And I find the smirking blond woman v. annoying. *is petty*

Most importantly, Ms. McDonough gives very little specific instruction on how to do the yoga portions. You should go into this video with a good foundation in the postures, so when she says to do Triangle pose, you can just do it, without a lot of explanation from the instructor.

This is a video I enjoy. If you can find it for sixty-nine cents plus shipping, I highly recommend you add it to your home practice library, if only because you'll never have to decide between abs and yoga again!