Shiva Rea - Daily Energy [DVD]

I really love Shiva's new DVD and I already tried all of it a few times(except earth which was too basic for me). These are wonderful 20 minute (actually 21-23 min.) complete practices on their own but also work great combined with each other or with other DVDs. There is a matrix and pre set practices. Here is a description of the practices:
Earth - the most basic practice. It's like a combination of foundation vinyasa from Shiva Rea - Fluid Power [DVD] and some of her dancing warrior variations from Yoga Shakti [DVD] [2004] [NTSC] .
Heart-Air - my favorite and the most unique practice in this dvd in my opinion. This backbending sequence starts slowly with cat pose and variations and continues to a wonderful flow of poses like several quad stretches in different positions such as kneeling bow , lunge position and in standing half split position. There's also dolphin and dancer's bridge and a single legged bow to a stretch I still haven't seen before - you move on your side to a kind of side one leggeg bow , it's not as hard as it sounds. Then its full bow , bridge and wheel and then one legged wheel that I actually managed to do thanks to Shiva's backbend preperations. In the end she does a lying twist with a straight leg as a counter pose.
Chakra Namaskar - a vinyasa combining the elements of earth, water , fire and heart-air with a series of poses such as cat , lunge with a twist , warrior 1 to 3, three variations of side plank and more.
Fire-Water - a great combination vinyasa of standing poses such as yogic squat, bound triangle , reverse warrior , half moon with quad stretch , lunges , arm balances such as bhujapidasana and vishma something (I don't remember the name) and backbends such as cobra and bow. It really reminded me of the standing pose flows from Yoga Shakti but still different and unique.
Fire - another variation to the agni namaskar, it's very similar to the one from the upper body DVD but with less emphasis on pushups (although you do quite a few but not 108) and more emphasis on poses such as revolved lunge and chair , half splits, cobra and bow variations . it ends with camel, crow and side crow which were nice for a change. it has a nice music with a slow reggae beat and I really enjoyed it , it's my favorite variation of this namaskar.
Water - a fluid circular vinyasa similar to her Jala and Mandala namaskar , it was very mellow and nice.
Shanti - a great relaxing practice focusing on slow stretches. It starts with lunges with side bends and half splits and continues to pigeon with a nice variation of moving with your hands to each side and then a long hold of pigeon. One legged head to knee forward bend , cow and a seated twist . she also repeats lying on your stomach and twisting to the side twice during the practice.
The bonus segments are also nice additions that make this DVD almost perfect: Solar meditation - a moving meditation with arm movements , yogic squat , wide angle forward bend and a twisting kriya similar to the one from Shiva Rea - Radiant Heart Yoga [DVD] it's a great little warm up.
Lunar Meditation - a seated meditation. Core - very similar to the one from Shiva Rea - Creative Core/Upper Body [DVD] and even with the same music but with some different fun variations. Forward Bends - always great to add for every practice although each of the longer practices already has counter poses in the end, you can see the clip. There's also an almost 5 minute shavasana with great relaxing music. This time the DVD was shot in an inside studio set and although I always prefer outdoor sets the set is very nice looking and relaxing. The music is excellent! and mostly new. I would say most of the practices are suitable for beginners with some experience except fire, fire water and heart air which are slightly more advanced. I highly recommend it.

I really like this DVD. I have built up a small collection of yoga DVDs but this has to be one of my favourites. For a start it is the only one that really makes me sweat: sometimes, coming from a martial arts background I still need that. The sweating refers to the "fire" workout that lasts for about 30 minutes or so. The beauty of the DVD is the Matrix set up that allows you to mix and match, i.e. combining a challenging (sweaty)workout with more relaxing movements. You can programme yourself a "class" from 5-10 mins to 1-2 hours and then have the satisfaction of seeing it through from warm up to shavasana chill out. I intend to purchase some more of her DVDs soon and really enjoy both her mastery and exposition of classical yoga postures as well as her graceful invitation to dance through the movements. This prevents rigidity and encourages creativity and greater body awareness. Shiva Rea may well help you to personalise your yoga practice.

I've had this DVD for about 1 month and I love it. I was looking for a DVD which has routines no longer than 30 minutes so I can actually motivate myself to do them.

I had never tried Vinyasa yoga (flow yoga) before as I enjoy holding yoga poses for sometime to get a good stretch and for my practise to remain meditative. However I was pleasantly surprised as the flowing sequences of postures did allow me to relax into them. What I didn't realise what how demanding the workout would be. After the Earth practise, which is the easiest one, I found myself working up quite a sweat! I felt that my entire body had had a great workout and stretch and that my mind was relaxed and calm. All this in just 20 minutes!

Shiva Rea's voice is soothing and relaxing as she guides you through the poses. She only gives the most basic instructions on how to do the poses - she does not go into any great detail so I wouldn't recommend this DVD for a complete beginner or for someone who wants to be guided through poses in detail. However if you're familiar with yoga poses or confident with your body then this DVD is fantastic.

This DVD has several routines which are 20 minutes long. Each one is tailored for a different purpose - eg. to ground (Earth), to relax (Lunar), to invigorate (Fire), etc.

Using the Matrix function, you can "pick and mix" the routines. So if you want you can play 2 routines back-to-back to get a 40 minute practice.

There are also a few 5 minute segments that you can add in before, after or inbetween routines:
A meditation (choose from Solar/uplifting or Lunar/relaxing Meditations), 5 minutes of core (abdominal) exercises, a forward bends segment, or allow Shiva Rea to guide you through a final relaxation (Savasana).

If, like me, you find beginners DVDs a bit too easy with routines that go on for too long, then this DVD is perfect. If you're looking for something to fit into your day and give you a great practice, then again this DVD is highly recommended.