Shiva Rea Surf Yoga Soul Review

Awhile back, I mentioned I planned to review a video that helped unwind my concrete sides.  And I just never got around to it.  I have so many half-started posts!  So I’m going to focus on one thing at a time.

First, as I mentioned before, Turbo Jam is an awesome workout.  I def. felt it in my sides/ obliques the next day.  As an aside, I love Turbo Jam SO MUCH that I am going to fly my cookies to Miami, Florida from New Hampshire to take an instructor training course with Ms. Chalene Johnson herself.  I am SO STOKED.  Why on earth this cubicle-dwelling little lawyer is leaving the comfort of her freezing office to go do this is beyond me, I guess I just… have to.

Moving on.

So the antidote to my sore sides was Shiva Rea’s Surf Yoga Soul video (as you prolly guessed from my blog title?)  I instantly ordered it when I heard the title because I like yoga (I don’t love it, but I like it) and my dream one day is to learn to surf.  And not get eaten by a shark.  This video was really incredible.  Yoga videos are generally not my favorite thing to do.  I’ve done a bunch by Patrica Whatsername (too lazy to google, but everyone know who I’m talking about) and the dude with the ponytail.  Shiva’s are totally different.

First, her body is truly inspirational.  She’s in great shape and is so strong and flexible.  Also, her series are very unique and creative.  She lets you use your own movement on quite a few of the sequences.  I never felt bored by her routine.

Another cool thing, and one that is becoming more common, is that the DVD is split into several segments so you can do them all at once or a few at a time depending on your body (and time) dictates.  This is great for yogini’s with short attention spans like me, but I honestly couldn’t think of a single sequence I’d want to take out of the practice.  They were all so beneficial and I felt fantastic after each one.

Here are the elements of the practice:

1. Wave Meditation – This has the creative arm movement and you can practice “popping up” on your surf board.  I felt like a cool surfer chick.

2. Mandala Namaskar – This is more lower-body work, with warriors, squats (I’ve never done squats like these) and the up/down dogs.

3. Agni Namaskar – These are 9 rounds of pushups with some other poses.  I’ve done these push-ups with Shiva on her “Creative Core” DVD (another good one, but not as good as “Surf Yoga Soul.”  I admit that in the last 4 or 5 sets of push-ups, I did plank work.

4. Breath Wave – Yogic breathing to build up the lungs (always my least fav. part of yoga because I have piddly little lungs thanks to marinating in second-hand smoke for half my life).  This wasn’t bad, actually.

5. Balance Flow – This was my absolute favorite part of the DVD, and the most challenging.  I can’t name all of the twisty, bendy, hold-y poses, but it definitely wrings your muscles out of any tension.

6. Flexibility Flow- This really is what got a lot of the soreness out of my body.  It opens up the shoulders and a lot of the joints that you carry stress in without realizing it.  This was another one of the best parts of the DVD.

7. Shavasana – Ahhhh, after all that work, Shavasana felt great.

I ran 6 miles today, the farthest I’ve ever run, in training for my 10k in October.  I just finished week 1 of the FIRST program and it is ramping up very quickly.  Today we had a church luncheon and met some friends just to hang out after… I haven’t really eaten very balanced meals today.  1/2 an Ezekiel muffin here, carrot cake there, some veggies and guac and TJ’s soy and flax seed chips (awesome, btw, remind me of Dorritos)… Some more cake… then some more…

Luckily, Husband’s little brother came and took the rest of my carrot cake away.  He is accommodating in eating my baked goods and is blessed with the metabolism typical of your average, active, 20-something year old boy.  I don’t know what I’ll do when he goes back to college.  Ship him my half-eaten baked goods?

Paz,

E.