Transform Yourself W/Jivamukti

I've been practicing yoga for almost 10 yrs and 4 yrs ago I came to NY on a visit. While I was here, I went to the jivamukti center. I felt like I had finally made it home! However, this dvd falls way short of that experience. First, the good...*the practice itself is very good *I love the music(they have a live band playing) *I love the way it was filmed. But thats about it! I cant tell you how many times I looked up to see what pose they were doing, only to see a musician. This dvd is definately for advanced beginners. I think the more advanced yogi/ini's will be disappointed. I do have to add though, that I moved to NY to study yoga and the classes at the Jivamukti center are second to none! This dvd does not capture that magic or feeling. I hate myself for giving this 3 stars but I think you'll be better off with Bryan Kest Power Yoga or Kundalini Yoga w/ Gurmukh.

Professionally recorded, this yoga session is very soothing with emphasis on seamlessly integrating the breath with movement. This is not for novices due to the lack of instruction, but those who know how to do the asanas/poses correctly w/o any direction, and being able to know the poses by their Sanskrit name & not just English is better since the English name is never given.
The music is a live band, and you have the option of voice overs from either David Life who will always tell you when to inhale/exhale, the pose name, and generally is quiet, or Sharon Gannon who tells you always when to inhale/exhale, the pose name, as well as more mind/body awareness, and occasionally the benefits of poses (especially inverted).
The session is made for advanced beginners as the hardest poses are full wheel, and a headstand w/forearms done with David while Sharon stays in a high downward dog. The pace is almost yin yoga, you will be holding the pose for several/many breaths to really feel the stretch and to relax into the pose.
Grounding/chanting - (3 min) standing, just sometimes chanting OM
Sun Salutations - (6 min) mostly mountain, standing back bend, standing fwd bend, downward dog, plank, chaturanga, cobra, and adding lunges
Standing Poses - (13 min) warrior 1, triangle, warrior 2, side angle, pyramid, twisted prayer lunge, seated twist, fwd bend over simple seated cross legged pose, plank, chaturanga, cobra, downward dog. Repeat with the other foot fwd. This requires more lower body strength as you are doing all those poses on the same leg before allowed to switch. Next wide legged seated fwd bend, chaturanga, rest in downward dog.
Balancing - (2 min) Intro about balancing while resting in downward dog, side plank on both sides, chaturanga, rest in cobra
Back Bending - (6 min) locust, bow, bridge, wheel, rest, knees to chest, reclined spinal twist knees to side, downward dog.
Forward Bending - (4 min) intro while in staff/seated legs straight, single straight leg fwd bends both sides, butterfly, star seat (looser butterfly stretch), both straight leg fwd bend.
Inverted Poses - (13 min) shoulder stand straight legs up, plow & knees to floor, fish, child's pose, down dog w/head cradled between forearms in 1/2 headstand then full headstand if ready, child's pose.
Meditation/Savasana - 5 min seated & 5 min reclined

This was a very soothing session with great yogis, the only issue I had was when holding the pose, though I enjoyed the constant inhale/exhale overall, a few more benefits of the pose in between would have been good inbetween, and the counting of the breath (inhale/exhale 1, inhale/exhale 2, inhale/exhale 3 .... inhale/exhale 24...) was very annoying, like a very slow aerobics session.

Bonus:
Bios of both yogis
Over one minute freestyle yoga - demonstration of them doing harder poses
Almost 9 min. facial massage - voiced over by Sharon which includes a couple yoga facial poses, massage of the face/ears, and stimulating acupressure points of the face w/calming music.

Video Clips:
Trailer at: acaciacatalog
Sequence at: youtube under "Jivamukti Yoga Sequence"

I loved this video and consider myself intermediate to advanced. I can do backbends and headstands but really who cares. A great video has great teachers, music that helps you go deeper into your practice (i.e. the tamboura does it for me) and an easy to follow sequence. They both have calm, peaceful voices and offer different insights on their separate audio tracks. Rodney Yee and Erich Schiffmann are great too but it is so nice to mix it up. If you want to feel happy and peaceful this is the perfect yoga DVD.

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