Series

Prenatal Yoga With Shiva Rea

Pregnancy is a most important time for a woman to maintain her physical strength and stamina and PRENATAL YOGA is a perfect way to keep in shape. These gentle exercises are clearly detailed by instructor Shiva Rea according to Yoga Journal's Prenatal Yoga guidelines. Maintain the energy and stamina which will be needed in the delivery room along with the concentration that comes with the practice of yoga. Different techniques are applicable to each trimester of pregnancy and this fifty minute video is geared for every level of yoga practitioner.System Requirements:Running Time 60 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HEALTH/FITNESS Rating: NR UPC: 029956088825 Manufacturer No: 120-1269

The best thing about this prenatal yoga program is that there is a model for each trimester. Instructor Shiva Rea demonstrates each of the stretches and exercises for the first trimester, and two pregnant women show modifications for the second and third trimesters (they're even dressed in different colors for easy reference). This removes the self-doubt home-exercisers often have about the safety of certain moves--especially in that cumbersome final stage of pregnancy. Using gentle voice-over instruction, Rea and her assistants take viewers through a half hour of meditational stretches using blocks and chairs for support. She follows that up with 16 minutes of floor work: lunge pose, bridge pose, child's pose, plank pose--all with the necessary adjustments. She winds things up with a four-minute guided relaxation on her back--the traditional position--with the second-trimester woman on her side and the third on her side with one leg up on a chair. By including the different adaptations, Rea has made a program with the flexibility to carry an expectant mom through her entire pregnancy--and beyond, if she wishes. --Kimberly Heinrichs

Power Yoga - Total Body Workout

Power yoga "demands your attention," says instructor Rodney Yee. He leads a challenging, constantly progressing series of poses, one flowing into the next, integrating breath, movement, tension, and relaxation. The poses include Sun Salutation, standing poses, forward bends, back bends, twists, and arm balances. The first poses are fairly easy, and with each repetition of the series, Yee adds on more difficult movements, extending the series without pausing. You're encouraged to do as much of the series that fits your level, up to the entire 65-minute workout if you're an experienced yoga practitioner. Although you can begin at any level, some familiarity with yoga is recommended. The Hawaiian setting is gorgeous and inspiring. This is an excellent yoga workout that you can grow with, adding on more as you get stronger. --Joan Price

A.M. and P.M. Yoga

A.M. Yoga for Beginners
"The morning is a precious time," says the narrator of A.M. Yoga for Beginners. "Just as the sun rises and falls, so do our natural rhythms. The morning is perfect time to open our bodies and center our minds." This 20-minute yoga practice with supple instructor Rodney Yee is the perfect way to start your day by energizing your body and calming your mind. Filmed on the beach at Maui at sunrise, the video starts with a 4-minute Conscious Relaxation focusing on breathing, then glides into a 14-minute series of yoga poses that are simultaneously relaxing and energizing. It ends with a 2-minute seated Guided Meditation to center your body and mind. Yee's instruction is detailed and gentle. The video is beautifully filmed: you watch the waves roll in as Yee demonstrates yoga poses on a sandy beach. The yoga practice awakens and stretches your muscles gently, leaving you balanced and focused. "Yoga is the foundation of my day," says Yee. "A few minutes in the morning will help give meaning to your day." --Joan Price

P.M. Yoga for Beginners
"The evening is the perfect time to calmly transition between being active and being quiet," says Patricia Walden, instructor of P.M. Yoga for Beginners. "One of the greatest gifts yoga has to offer is deep relaxation." This 20-minute program is designed to balance, calm, and revitalize you at the end of the day. It starts with centering poses: gentle stretches bringing awareness and quiet to your senses. Next are standing poses to release tension, increase circulation, expand the lungs, and help you breathe more deeply. Next, forward bends cool the body and bring quiet to the nervous system. The final restorative poses are so relaxing that you may fall asleep. Walden tells you not only how to do the poses, but what you should feel, and how to quiet your body and your mind. Instruction is soothing and explicit. Although this video is aimed at beginners, seldom are modifications given for the less flexible novice, so if any pose causes discomfort or seems impossible, don't push beyond your personal comfort level. The video was filmed on the windswept sands of Death Valley. --Joan Price

Shiva Rea - Flow Yoga for Beginners (Amazon Exclusive)

A superb introduction to one of the most beneficial and rewarding forms of yoga

Flow yoga, also called vinyasa yoga, combines flowing movement with rhythmic breathing for a dynamic mind-body workout. Like a moving meditation, flow yoga unites mind, body, and breath. Your mind clears, your body calms, even as your pulse quickens.

Renowned and innovative flow yoga teacher Shiva Rea leads this introductory practice, filmed amid breathtaking scenery on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. She begins with a seated mediation that teaches you how to link breath with movement. Three more segments introduce her flowing approach to classic poses. Transitions from pose to pose are graceful and easy. You may not have Shiva's flexibility (yet), but you can follow her lead in ways that work for you. Feel yourself becoming stronger and more supple. Sense your new energy and find the fluidity that has always been yours.

Crunch - Super SlimDown: Pilates Yoga Blend

Certified Pilates and fitness instructor Ellen Barrett presents a workout combining yoga moves with Pilates exercises to help tone, strengthen, and burn calories.
Genre: Exercise/Fitness
Rating: NR
Release Date: 7-FEB-2006
Media Type: DVD

So here's a portrait of yoga in the 21st Century: this ancient discipline, created thousands of years ago to enhance the meditative experience (the asanas or poses commonly used in hatha yoga were in fact designed to enable meditators to sit quietly, calmly and comfortably for hours on end), is now "a total body blast," with users urged to "get hard core" and "feel the groove," all so "your torso will look buff." At least that's how Ellen Barrett, the relentlessly sunny instructor featured in Crunch Yoga's Super SlimDown: Pilates Yoga Blend, sees it. But while that approach may sound pretty frightening to traditionalists, this can't in fairness be viewed as a typical yoga video; nor does Barrett, who commingles power yoga moves and what she describes as "core-conditioning power pilates," make any claims that it is. Many of the poses--including Warrior II, extended right angle, cobra, locust, and others--will certainly be familiar to yogis. But instead of holding these poses for several breaths, as is common, Barrett takes a more aerobic approach, "pulsing" in and out of positions as if this were a calisthenics class; while that doesn't do much to promote stretching, it does generate a lot of heat and calorie burning. Same goes for the pilates portions, which involve a lot of leg lifts, abdominal work, and other mat-based exercises. One might wish that the instruction were more detailed when it comes to proper breathing, alignment, and so on; it's also a bit paradoxical that while the "Crunch philosophy" states that their fitness programs are designed for "people from all walks of life regardless of shape, size, or ability," the only folks we see onscreen are uniformly attractive, bare-midriffed young women in amazing shape. But hey, whatever. Call it what you will, this is a fast-moving, reasonably challenging program that will likely find favor with many. --Sam Graham

Qigong Beginning Practice

Our special 2-disk set includes insightful expert instruction in qigong technique PLUS our bonus documentary as seen on public television revealing qigong s origins and scientific evidence of its power to heal relieve and prevent common illnesses. Internationally acclaimed instructors Francesco and Daisy Lee-Garripoli guide qigong technique with clear explanation step-by-step demonstration and a modern viewpoint. Gentle flowing movements in sync with deep breathing rhythms and visualization techniques enhance the flow of qi the energy that fuels the body mind and spirit.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HEALTH/FITNESS Rating: NR UPC: 029956463707 Manufacturer No: 127-9500

Billy Blanks: Ultimate Tae Bo

World renowned fitness expert Billy Blanks has developed a NEW Tae Bo® workout with signature Tae Bo moves for maximum benefits and optimum results. This high-powered, high-energy, exhilarating workout will help you attain a toned and sculpted body, strengthen your core, burn fat and increase your overall fitness level to give you a total body workout. Longtime fans of Tae Bo and newcomers alike will experience a workout unlike any other with Billy providing the inspiration and motivation to work hard. Have fun while you challenge yourself!

ULTIMATE TAE BO is the workout to do when you want a super intense workout. This workout involves non-stop, high-energy moves that will provide an extreme, heart-pumping fitness challenge. Billy keeps your whole body-feet, arms, legs and shoulders-moving every minute. You ll sweat hard and feel energized as you experience the ultimate Tae Bo workout!

:08 Min Core Workouts: Abs, Arms, Thighs, Buns and Stretch

Complete Pregnancy Fitness with Erin O'Brien

Product Description

An efficient, supportive training program for the big day and your new life

Whether you re a regular exerciser who wants to stay fit or newly committed to exercise for your health and your baby s, Hollywood trainer Erin O Brien offers you safe and effective workouts that can take you every step of the way.

This box set includes both of these programs (also sold separately):

PRENATAL FITNESS FIX
While seven months pregnant with her second child, Erin leads you in a 40-minute blend of fat-burning cardio, muscle toning, strength training, and tension-relieving stretches. Also includes a 20-minute partner workout, which Erin demonstrates with her husband, actor James Denton (Desperate Housewives). "This is the one that will make you sweat. It's also amusing and entertaining" Chicago Tribune.

POSTNATAL RESCUE
Ease back into exercise with Erin s 3 invigorating progressions. In just 15 minutes a day, rehabilitate your back, abdominals, buttocks, inner thighs, and hips. With a bonus section of gentle first stretches, Erin guides you from the very beginning of your recovery up to one year postpartum.

Erin O Brien has 10 years of experience as a pre/postnatal exercise specialist working in elite fitness clubs in New York City and Los Angeles. She holds several certifications, including one in pre/postnatal training from the Esquerre Fitness Group.

Consult your doctor before attempting these routines or any other fitness program.

Shiva Rea - Creative Core Abs

It's hard to say how Shiva Rea would react to being called "the Madonna of yoga," a phrase that appears on the cover of Creative Core Abs. But one thing is certain: the popular, California-based yogi's several DVD programs are uniformly first-rate, and this one is no exception. Roughly defined as the area between the upper thighs and lower ribcage, with particular focus on the abdominals and lower back, the core is "more than our physical center," says Rea; it is "our inner fire," the seat of our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual selves (not to mention the center of a great many yoga poses). Mindful that core exercises are for many of us "a duty, not a pleasure," Rea has designed three different programs (ranging from seven to seventeen minutes) that aim to offer a more creative, innovative approach to the work. The "Water Core" segment includes various seated movements, many involving the arms as well; there are also sequences done on the back, somewhat akin to the bridge pose, as well as the "water wheel," which combines lifting the hips while alternately extending the legs. The "Spontaneous Core" section incorporates some of the previous movements with several new ones, while the "Fire Core," the longest of the three, blends very challenging poses such as chaturanga and the forearm plank with familiar standing asanas like the Warrior II. As usual, the musical accompaniment is effective but not intrusive, while the setting (New Mexico's White Sands National Park) and the HD cinematography by Sion Michel (a camera operator for Memoirs of a Geisha) are stunning. None of that may matter much while you're flat on your back, struggling to understand what it means to treat a pose as if you're "skateboarding on the empty bowl of your pelvis," but Creative Core Abs is likely to yield satisfying results for those who stick with it. --Sam Graham

"The Madonna of yoga, exuding creativity and inspiration" —Yogi Times

Good things flow from a strong core: a long lean torso, a healthy back, a positive flow of energy that benefits every aspect of your life. Now, one of the yoga world's top female teachers shows you an enlightened way to a powerful core. Unlike repetitive conventional abs work, Shiva's fluid yoga-based approach awakens your creativity and inner fire, building strength and grace in the same way that surfing, rock climbing, or dancing does—while you're enjoying yourself, not counting the minutes until it's over. The program includes three flowing segments, which can be done all at once or individually.

Filmed at White Sands National Park, the program was directed by James Wvinner and shot in HD by Hollywood's Sion Michel (Memoirs of a Geisha). Beautiful, effective, inspiring. It's an abs workout you'll look forward to doing again and again.