Shiva Rea - Yoga Shakti

Buy This Item Shiva Rea - Yoga Shakti by Gemini Sun Records  Available from Amazon  $20.99  on 11-14-2008     Comprehensive but user-friendly, reasonably challenging but accessible to a variety of levels, <I>Yoga Shakti</I> is inarguably one of the best yoga products on the market--no small achievement when one considers just how many of them there are. Instructor-creator Shiva Rea, a California-based yogi of considerable international renown, specializes in <I>vinyasa</I> yoga (a <I>vinyasa</I> is essentially a series of flowing, connected poses, incorporating breath and movement and cultivating heat, strength, flexibility, and balance). Four complete practices are presented, ranging in length from 42 to 85 minutes and including Basic Flow (for beginners), two more vigorous Solar Flow sequences, and a Lunar Flow sequence falling somewhere in the middle in terms of degree of difficulty; familiar poses like sun salutations, forward bends, lunges, twists, and inversions are featured, although Rea adds many of her own touches (such as the four "dancing warrior" sections, sun salutation variations designed for intermediate users and focusing on hips, backbends, and so on), and there are also sections devoted to <I>pranayama</I> (breathing exercises) and meditation. It's all good, but the principal innovation of <I>Yoga Shakti</I> is the "yoga matrix," which allows users to customize and program their own workouts, drawing on portions of any or all of the four sequences to create series of various lengths and levels of intricacy (some guidelines are suggested for the less experienced) and thus keep their practices fresh and evolving. One can also do the various workouts with or without the instruction audio track on (the Indian-New Age-flavored music is quite good, and usually unobtrusive), and there's even an entire second disc, containing interviews, additional instruction, travel footage (filming took place primarily in India and the Maldive Islands), and more. All in all, <I>Yoga Shakti</I> is most impressive. <I>--Sam Graham</I> Reader Reviews Likes: New routines. Beautiful scenery It doesn't get boring. Dislikes: A break in between each chapter so it's similar to resting every 5 minutes. I prefer continuous instruction. Difficult to follow. The matrix is very confusing. Overall, it's good for diversifying your yoga collection. I already own Rodney Yee, Bryan Kest and Alli McGraw. I would not rec' this dvd for your first yoga dvd.

Shiva Rea - Yoga Shakti Available from Amazon Price: $20.99 Updated on 11-14-2008.

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