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Element: Yoga for Stress Relief & Flexibility DVD Review
Posted on Dec 6th 2010 12:00PM by Kristen Seymour
I tend to be a total holiday cliche. I overindulge and I get stressed out. This year, in an attempt to avoid gaining any weight, I've amped up my exercise routine, and while that's helping in the calorie burning department, I'm left with sore (really sore) muscles and, well, I'm still fighting off holiday stress.
Element: Yoga for Stress Relief & Flexibility appeared to be just the ticket. It offers two programs -- Stress Relief utilizes long holds and forward bends, along with a focus on breath to calm you. Flexibility features simple flowing vinyasas to promote movement and -- you guessed it -- agility. The DVD cover also claims that this sequence helps to alleviate pain, which appealed to me in a big way.
Both sequences are led by Ashley Turner, who has been teaching yoga for 10 years and holds a Masters in Counseling Psychology. It all sounds great, but would these yoga workouts be as effective as advertised?
Level of Difficulty
Intermediate
Next-Day Soreness
Moderate (though that could have something to do with other workouts)
Who's It For?
Those who want a solid mind-body yoga workout.
Likes
Turner is very likeable -- she's talented without being intimidating, and the voiceover format means that her instruction is never hampered by her position, which is something I find can be a real issue with yoga. Most importantly, though, I really liked the workouts. They were quite challenging -- I had to take a break once or twice during each segment -- but for the most part, they were all totally doable. And, Turner does an excellent job explaining what each asana should be doing, and I firmly believe that understanding what your exercise is doing for you makes it far more effective.
Additionally, this offers a solid mix of physical and emotional benefit. I felt calm as I could be at the end!
Dislikes
I can't say that I experienced much in the way of pain relief after the Flexibility segment, but it was still a great yoga workout and I'm willing to give it another try. Other than that, the only thing that caught me off-guard was a couple of "Om" chants. That's really not a dislike, it was just a little unexpected.
Bottom Line
I loved this DVD and will definitely do it again. The total DVD is 73 minutes, but each workout is only about half an hour long, so it's easy to work one in first thing in the morning or after a tough workout.
More Workout DVD Reviews:
Dance With Julianne
Core Fusion Yoga: Energy Flow
Jillian Michaels: Shred-It With Weights
Element: Yoga for Stress Relief & Flexibility appeared to be just the ticket. It offers two programs -- Stress Relief utilizes long holds and forward bends, along with a focus on breath to calm you. Flexibility features simple flowing vinyasas to promote movement and -- you guessed it -- agility. The DVD cover also claims that this sequence helps to alleviate pain, which appealed to me in a big way.
Both sequences are led by Ashley Turner, who has been teaching yoga for 10 years and holds a Masters in Counseling Psychology. It all sounds great, but would these yoga workouts be as effective as advertised?
Level of Difficulty
Intermediate
Next-Day Soreness
Moderate (though that could have something to do with other workouts)
Who's It For?
Those who want a solid mind-body yoga workout.
Likes
Turner is very likeable -- she's talented without being intimidating, and the voiceover format means that her instruction is never hampered by her position, which is something I find can be a real issue with yoga. Most importantly, though, I really liked the workouts. They were quite challenging -- I had to take a break once or twice during each segment -- but for the most part, they were all totally doable. And, Turner does an excellent job explaining what each asana should be doing, and I firmly believe that understanding what your exercise is doing for you makes it far more effective.
Additionally, this offers a solid mix of physical and emotional benefit. I felt calm as I could be at the end!
Dislikes
I can't say that I experienced much in the way of pain relief after the Flexibility segment, but it was still a great yoga workout and I'm willing to give it another try. Other than that, the only thing that caught me off-guard was a couple of "Om" chants. That's really not a dislike, it was just a little unexpected.
Bottom Line
I loved this DVD and will definitely do it again. The total DVD is 73 minutes, but each workout is only about half an hour long, so it's easy to work one in first thing in the morning or after a tough workout.
More Workout DVD Reviews:
Dance With Julianne
Core Fusion Yoga: Energy Flow
Jillian Michaels: Shred-It With Weights
