Element: Power Yoga (DVD Review)

21 Dec, 2010 By: Angelique Flores

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Prebook 1/5/11; Street 2/1/11
Anchor Bay
Fitness
$14.98 DVD
Not rated.

Celebrity trainer Ashley Turner leads an intense power yoga workout solo that should increase strength and flexibility.

The Vinyasa-style workout starts with a warm up and moves into standing poses. Then it goes into a core workout, more poses and ends with a relaxation.

The program is filmed outside on a beautiful grassy bluff that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. That combined with Turner’s calm voice leading the instruction helps bring a soothing element to balance out the challenging intensity of the poses.

Turner takes practitioners step by step through each pose, which is key when you need to be upside down or facing away from the TV screen. She also says the name of each pose in both Sanskrit and English, in case it’s easier to remember “chair pose” or “cobra pose” rather than “balasana” or “bhujangasana.”

Turner offers a few modifications, which for a beginner like me is not only helpful but also necessary. However, it would be more helpful to see another person doing the entire pose in the modified position. (There are no others besides Turner doing the workout.)

For someone who prefers longer workouts, such as myself, this 60-minute program is great. Those who want to be able to break up the workout into shorter segments won’t be able to do that here.

This DVD is probably better suited for those who have done some yoga before, which is great when there’s so many fitness DVDs geared for beginners. However, if you’re patient, the modifications should be helpful enough for the newbies.
 

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