Title: Elements of Yoga: Fire Dynamic With Tara Lee
What’s the goal? It is to create a strong core and build heat in the body by practicing a dynamic flow, which helps detoxify the mind, body and spirit.
The practice is designed to strengthen the abdominal and lower back muscles, creating better posture.
Format: This is an intermediate yoga video offering 95 minutes of practice.
There are three 20-minute sequences that may be done individually or together for a full hour practice. There also are 35 minutes of bonus segments: a 10-minute balancing series, a 10-minute core workout, a 10-minute breathing exercise and a five-minute final relaxation.
What’s to like? There are plenty of beginning yoga videos on the market but few for the established practitioner. Lee’s practice is calm, confident and beautiful.
The first 20-minute sequence begins with kapalabhati pranayama, a breathing exercise also known as “shining skull,” and attention is given to the “banhas”or interior body locks. The practice is challenging and allows enough time in each pose to feel the work.
Rather than building heat by doing several sun salutations, the warm-up continues with navasana or the boat pose. It is practiced for several minutes using numerous variations and long holds, which quickly bring heat to the body. Forearm plank is held for its heat-producing qualities, and Lee says, “Imagine letting go of the past and making room for new energy and relationships.”
The second segment introduces the more typical sun salutations with added poses such as side plank, pigeon with variations, three point-dog and several twists. This sequence, in addition to the first, ends with standing rather than a final relaxation.
The third sequence picks up the pace and moves smoothly from Warrior I to Warrior III, half-moon balance, Warrior II, triangle and down dog. Twisting poses, my personal favorites, are added, including revolved half-moon and revolved triangle.
Floor poses are next with wide-legged forward bend, crow and back-bending poses such as bridge, camel, bow and full-wheel. Lee says, “If we have deficient fire we may have low energy, weak will and poor digestion.”
Shoulder stand, plow, fish pose and a shavasana or final relaxation end the segment. Combined, the one-hour practice is complete.
All of the bonus features are worthwhile. I particularly liked the five-minute guided final relaxation and the option to choose music with instruction or music only for the entire practice. The 10-minute “Air and Water - Breathing” section invites the practitioner to “inhale golden light and positive thinking and exhale, releasing negativity and unwanted emotions.”
Distractions? The video was filmed in the English countryside at night with four large fire pits surrounding the yoga platform. Fire and smoke fill the air and at times seemed to surround Lee’s face. I could almost smell the smoke.
Necessary gear: A yoga mat, a quiet place and 10 to 95 minutes of uninterrupted time.
Yogini’s credentials: According to her website, taraleeyoga.com, she has been practicing yoga for 17 years and teaching for 11 years. She is a registered senior teacher with the Yoga Alliance in the United Kingdom.
Price: $14.99
Rating: five lotus flowers Five lotus flowers is Catherine Rodgers’ highest rating for DVDs. She has practiced yoga more than 30 years; in 1995, she founded Barefoot Studio in Little Rock, now owned by Breezy Osborne.
ActiveStyle, Pages 23 on 06/17/2013