Yoga Shakti

This CD really connects you with your energy and femininity. It is also a work out. I recommend doing it alone, so that you can unleash yourself without feeling self conscious. When I finish this CD, I feel worked out, stretched out and happy. Great music, great color, great fun. It doesn't feel like athletic training, so if your goal is structured, strength training, choose something else (Jillian Michaels or The Workout).

I love this DVD! The feature that lets you create your own routine is outstanding. I can match my yoga workout to the ammount of time I have and the time of day.

I am an intermediate practitioner and this DVD has helped me a lot with improving my poses and at the same time, doing challenging routines when my body is ready.

This workout not only improved my postures, but also taught me how to involve meditation, spirituality and my higher self while practicing yoga, which many workout DVDs and yoga classes dont.

Shiva, unlike many other trainers doesnt only teach you how to carry out the breathing exercises, but she teaches you the proper way of breathing and at the same time working on your spirituality, balance relaxation and important chakras at the same time too. Everyone has a different purpose of meditating and carrying out breathing exercises, she also, gives you the chance to improve your spirituality in your own way, she does that with the exercises as well.

I find most postures very challenging and at the same time, i love doing them.

I hope everyone benefits from this amazing yoga workout, however, beginners should be careful with their choices, also, if some people find her moving at a fast pace at some point, " mainly the dancing warrior ones ", i advice them to watch the workout few times first and then move to doing them, good luck everyone.

You will enjoy more this Dvd if you are a medium or advanced practicioners. Any way I recomend you to mix this practice with a real Instructor that can correct and improve your posture ;)

I'm a recent convert to Shiva Rea, having spent most of my life studying yoga in one form or another, enjoying the works of Eric Schiffman, Bryan Kest and the Kundalini Yoga series by Ravi Singh and Ana Brett...this is a lovely discovery for me. After 10 years of focusing more on Kundalini, I was feeling like my body wanted to move and express itself in some new way, so the Fluid Power DVD really took care of that, as did Shiva's Yoga Trance Dance, both of which I love.

This DVD compilation, filmed in the Maldives and India, is beautifully shot, wonderfully taught and meticulously plotted out so that you can create a seemingly endless array of creative, traditional and/or eclectic classes. This has everything from traditional sun salutations (Surya Namaskar a&b) to the lovely moon salutations (for those not familiar, they're basically sun salutes with a lunge in a mild backbending motion) and Shiva's Dancing Warrior segments (there are 4) which are just slightly different enough to either love them all or find one or two that you do. I think the first Dancing Warrior moves a bit quickly, but it is designed to create heat, to warm the body like Salutations so you can go deeper later on and open more fully...to those who get frustrated by that pacing, the Dancing Warrior sequences that follow (2-4) are a more moderate pace and the Moon Salutes are wonderful; done at a much slower pace, still in a flow, more meditative and relaxing.

There is a blissful segment that is entirely shoulder stand variations, which is absolutely delightful and she offers lots of options for modifying just about every movement/asana throughout the DVD, giving you levels to choose from depending upon your experience and just how you're feeling that day. She reminds you often to honor your body and move at your own pace, looking for your own "intelligent edge" and I like that. It makes me feel inspired to try a little more depth or range than I might usually, but gently and with body wisdom, not ego.

Another lovely feature is the ability to choose music with instruction or music only. As beautiful as the varying musical tracks are, it's rather hypnotic to practice silently. But if you do choose to keep her intructions with the music, her voice is always soothing, never too chatty and she always gives lovely tidbits, such as allowing your head to hang in downward facing dog "like a ripe fruit". ;)

You have the matrix menu option here, and so far I've not repeated the same "class" twice yet. I find this vastly useful, no matter what kind of day I'm having within my practice. I can use the opening meditations with gentle movements only and the supine poses for low energy days or really go to town with the variety of standing pose flow sequences, back bending sequences, etc.

The overall quality of this is amazing; it was obviously put together and created with great care and mindfulness, it shows. It seems best suited to experienced beginners and beyond, and the optional use of a block and a strap could come in handy to access new levels of depth and to progress from one level to the next (though they are not used too often, which I like).

This has rapidly become an important part of my home yoga practice. I do love to work with Fluid Power and Trance Dance, sometimes combining them all into long exploratory classes, but this will be my "go to" DVD for deep and thorough yogic practice for a long time.