DVD Review: Shiva Rea: Surf Yoga Soul: Shiva Rea, James Wvinner: Movies & TV
Product Description
The ultimate flow yoga practice
After teaching yoga to surfers for over a decade, world-renowned yoga master Shiva Rea merges the two cultures in this first ever program to bring wave motion onto the mat. It’s a liberating approach to yoga that everybody can benefit from and enjoy.
Like surfing, vinyasa yoga is dynamic and creative. Shiva’s unique flow yoga style builds body strength through rhythmic, circular, energetic movement. It’s a challenging practice for anyone who wants to strengthen the entire body, increase energy and balance, and gain flexibility.
Pick and choose from seven segments focusing on strength, core balance, flexibility, and relaxation. The matrix format allows you to fully customize your workout every time you do it. Experience the flow of the ocean and of life in this inspiring, incredibly innovative practice.
FEATURES INCLUDE audio options (music and instruction or music only) and more.
Yoga Waves,
By Yoni
(Israel) -
Finally the long awaited Surf Yoga Soul arrived today (thanks to totalfitnessdvds com). I previewed all of it right away and did 6 out of the 7 segments afterwards. It has a short introduction where you can see Shiva in her surfer girl mode on a surf board and on the back of a convertible explaining the DVD , it was cool.
This DVD has fun yoga practices definitely with surfers in mind (there’s an obvious focus on upper body and core strengh since it’s important for surfing) though anyone can do it. And finally , it has a matrix like Shiva’s first DVD’s so you can customize your own practice. There is some new and excellent music except one song I recognized from Fluid Power which is also great and has a beautiful setting - on Polihale Beach ,Kauai. The production quality is great as with all of Shiva’s DVD’s.
For playing the segments you can only go to the Matrix and choose whichever segment you want in any order and press “ride the wave” (play).
here’s some explanation on the segments :
1. Wave Meditation (9 min.) - Shiva introduces this moving meditation that consists of “surf yoga pop ups” which you can see on youtube and have movements from the kalari martial art that Shiva is studying. It ends with some short free form movements. It was a lot of fun and features 3 other people including the surfer Alex Smith and Micheline Berry who has some nice yoga DVD’s of her own.
2. Mandala Namaskar (12 Min.) - Similar to the M. Namaskar 2 on Fluid Power yet with some different poses including warrior 2 variations , bow pose instead of upward dog and yogic squats.
3. Agni Namaskar (17 min.) - yes , it’s the same namaskar from the previous upper body DVD but a bit shorter and modified (there’s less standing postures and backbends) although you still do 108 pushups in 9 rounds! I was a bit disappointed to see this as I expected to see some more new stuff from Shiva yet it is still all new footage and with great new music.
4. Breath Wave - 5 minutes of pranayama focusing on ujjayi and 3 part breath to expand lung capacity.
5. Balance Flow (20 min.) - the most advanced and my favorite segment. It starts with balancing on one foot and your other leg moves back and forth bent ending in warrior 3 with clasped hands behind. The segment ends similarly with warrior 3 with bent leg with one arm grabbing it (like dancer’s pose). In the middle you get a challenging flow of crow pose , hip opening lunge with pushups , single leg crow , side plank and twisted chair to twisted crow. Finally a Shiva DVD with arm balances! I haven’t seen them since Yoga Shakti.
6. Flexibility Flow (11 min.)- a nice segment that starts with shoulder stretches similar to the ones on Yoga Shakti. It moves to plank , forearm plank , bow , pigeon , janu sirsasana with a twist and seated forward bend. the background music on this is a “regular song” with a guitar , it was quite nice.
7. Shavasana (2 min.) - very short.
There are 2 bonus segments from her beginner’s DVD and from the Jivamukti Yoga DVD.
I really enjoyed it though I really hope that Shiva will come up with more “traditional” vinyasa yoga practices similar to Yoga Shakti. All in all this is a great addition to your yoga library whether you’re a surfer or not.
Gorgeous and creative,
By yoginisara (Alaska, United States) -
Shiva Rea has a flair for visually stunning DVDs with wonderful soundtracks, and this is probably the best one yet. I’ve used this many times in the past few weeks, and here’s a brief impression of each section.
1. Wave meditation: This is an active warmup section where you’re “popping up” from plank into a warrior variation, like you’re surfing. It’s a little free-form, and is probably my least favorite.
2. Mandala (circular) namaskar: Like much of her newer sun salutation variations, she teaches you a new sequence and then you do it many times — in this case, you’re flowing between reverse warrior and side angle pose, but extending the lower arm past the navel so you’re using core strength. Between sides are yogic squat variations and dhanurasana (bow).
3. Agni (fire) namaskar: three sun salutations where you perform up to 12 pushups each time you come to plank, for a total of up to 108 pushups. Very challenging, and contains great shoulder and chest stretches between the cycles (anahata asana/fallen leaf and high lunge with chest opening). I’m a teacher who has been practicing this style of yoga for 12 years, but I was extremely sore from this segment the first time I used it.
4. Breath Wave: A five-minute meditation and visualization practice.
5. Balance Flow: My favorite. A little slower and more focused, and contains new variations on warrior 3, natarajasana (dancer), some active lunging hip openers, chair, side plank, and three variations of crow pose. (regular, side, and one-legged)
6. Flexibility Flow: Begins with seated shoulder stretches and leads into megaplank on the forearms, dhanurasana (bow), pigeon, janu sirsasana, and a twist that is a preparation for ardha matsyendrasana 3.
7. Shavasana: Only 2 minutes, but fades out and goes back to a silent menu so you can stay as long as you like.
PROS:
1. There are some “traditional” yoga sequences here, meaning not all of it is extremely flowy like most of her newer DVDs. The arm balances return in the balance section (yay!), in stages.
2. The sequences are fun and creative, and the loose surfing connection makes for interesting visualizations. The agni namaskar with 108 pushups is very challenging — I love it. Some may not.
CONS:
**Note that the cons are minor but are things that will make this DVD unappealing to some.
1. The matrix has returned allowing you to select your segments, but there aren’t very many here to pick from. There are about 75 minutes total, so you do have more options for a complete practice than with her recent 35-minute DVDs.
2. This isn’t a good choice for beginners, nor for those who aren’t looking for a flowing or physically intense practice. Experienced level 1 students could work with this as long as they are injury-free and willing to modify a lot.
Overall this is a fantastic release from Shiva Rea and a must for those who love her work or regularly practice vinyasa yoga. If you’re new to her yoga DVDs, though, Yoga Shakti is still the place to begin. If she hadn’t released Yoga Shakti, this one would be an easy 5 stars just for the production and creativity.
Just Ok,
By YogaGirl (san francisco, ca United States) -
Three stars. OMG! Yes I know that the scenery is wonderful. Who can resist beaches. Yes, the production quality is perfect. And yes I know that this dvd was made with love. Aren’t they all? But I wish I had followed my instincts and not bought this one, but I did because it’s Shiva Rea and I’m a fan. Having said that if you have all of her other dvds or just her upper and lower body dvds, then you don’t need this one as there is nothing really new here.
What I love most about her dvds is her creativity and I was hoping for some of that here. Frankly I was bored. Ok I sweated, a lot, especially doing 108 push-ups, but I did not enjoy it much, at all.
Maybe my expectations are too high. I was looking at a clip of tripsichore yoga and thought , now that’s creative, and I know Shiva Rea is capable of this and making it accessible to all levels. As such, this dvd is more of same for her. If you had to pick just one Shiva Rea dvd to start with, buy Yoga Shakti. Alright, one more, Fluid vinayasa flow for those of you who are like me and prefer the merge of yoga and dance.
I’m not saying that this is a bad dvd, just not as creative as I know Shiva can be.
Just my opinion folks. Don’t leave nasty comments :0)
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Most of the poses and sequences are a build up from the first DVD and are definitely more challenging with variations in flow and length of poses. The practice is set against a nice warm backdrop and is visually more appealing than DVD 1. The only drawback is that the 5 sequences are at least an hour long each (1 hr min and 1.5 hr max) so if you are short on time you will have to manually choose from the 12 mini-workouts, which would have made it easier to customize had it come with a matrix menu. Other than that this one rocks !!
(TX) - 