The DVD Diet

By Nicole Beland

Three at-home yoga workouts that can get you lean in your living room.

For those times when you’re too busy to make it to class, bring class to you. There are lots of yoga instruction sessions available on DVD, but which ones you end up loving will be highly subjective. One teacher’s voice will seem irritatingly high, another will spout way too much woo-woo stuff about cosmic energy. Your best option is to rent before buying (Netflix has a decent selection). That said, here are three that offer great workouts from inspiring gurus.

Yoga Shakti with Shiva Rea (soundstrue.com, $24). Shiva Rea manages to be spiritual without seeming sappy. This relaxing series—set on a serene beach--includes 30 sequences of poses that add up to more than 3 satisfying hours. You can do preset workouts or mix and match sequences to create a unique practice. There’s also the option of turning off the instruction and just following along to the wacked-out music. Disc 2 contains eye-opening footage of stick-fighting yogis clad only in loincloths.

The Sedona Experience (progressivepoweryoga.com, $90). Mark Blanchard is an all-American tough-but-sweet guy who loves to deliver workouts that tax your every muscle. Professional male athletes have been known to retreat to Child pose in his classes. But each pose is only as hard as you want it to be, and on every DVD in this five-disc collection (one workout of varying intensity per disc) is a beginner who demonstrates the most basic version of every pose. The set is filmed in Sedona, Arizona,  with nothing but the blissful sound of wind and birds in the background.

Budokon Weight Loss System (budokon.com, $25). Cameron Shayne is part Mr. Miyagi, part Hollywood bad boy. A black belt in martial arts and a yoga instructor (he’s also worked as Sean Penn’s bodyguard), he decided to combine the two to create Budokon. The result is a super-fun workout that provides stretching and balancing exercises with fierce punching and kicking. The set includes three versions of the same class (the shortest moves quickest and has the least instruction) as well as some bland nutrition advice and so-so motivational audio programs. But the workout is worth the price.  


Tell us about your favorite yoga DVDs. Write to us at editors@iyogalife.com

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