Shiva Rea: Surf Yoga Soul

Yoga Waves
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...

Just Ok
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...

Gorgeous and creative
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...

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