Shiva Rea: Daily Energy - Vinyasa Flow Yoga (DVD)

'Daily Energy' is a fantastic 'work-out' video and one that will really help with those New Year's resolutions - to get fitter and to feel better.

Superbly organised, with a simple intuitive menu that offers great flexibility or simple choices to get you started,  its clearly been designed with busy people in mind, meaning that  you can benefit from doing as little as 20 minute sessions at a time.



It offers seven twenty minute sessions (actually slightly over) which for the really devoted, represents a week's worth of yoga classes.  By selecting the Yoga Matrix option (see below), you can click on as many of the options as you wish and in any order you choose. The DVD player somehow remembers the choices and plays them back in the desired sequence. Not only clever stuff - but really useful too meaning you can vary the routines significantly, keeping them fresh and interesting and giving the DVD a longer than average shelf-life.


You can even select a shorter sequence for meditation or core moves or forward bends just to give yourself a quick lift when time is short.


The delivery is soothing yet assertive and Rea uses some strong visual imagery to help get you to concentrate which worked well for me (as long as you don't giggle at new age stuff).



Production values are high, with a nicely lit studio environment with at three cameras picking up the action. At least one of the cameras is on a gib, giving a flowing movement to some of the shots as the camera zooms in and lifts up at the same time. Very nice.


A really nice feature, which again will help ensure its longevity, is the option to play back with music only once you are familiar with the instructional detail.


The seven 'chapters' bring much variation to the routines ranging from the simple (in 'Earth') to the far more complex and advanced (like Heart-Air). In truth, the DVD is probably not aimed at novices, but rather the growing fan base for Rea's materials and approach. I certainly found some of it beyond challenging and downright impossible, though I had fun trying! It may be worth keeping the remote to hand ready to pause to give you the time you might require to get into some of the positions and postures. For example, in Heart-Air, starts off simply enough with a few 'cat' poses but soon has you attempting postures and stretches that no novice will get first time.


It's clear that Rea is a real expert and she makes the impossible seem simple though as something of a novice, or at least a lapsed practitioner, the speed with she moves from one posture to the next was often difficult to keep up with. Not only that but there's also that sinking feeling that my versions of the postures probably had a very tenuous relation to hers.


There is also a lot of Sanskrit used which can get confusing for a novice, and there is no doubt that this DVD is aimed squarely at those who have already been through some of the more basic DVD's.
Having said that, it's a nicely put together package that I will certainly try hard to master. What a positive start to the new year!