Element: 5 Day Yoga

I have tried and liked some of instructor Ashley Turner's other Element Yoga DVDs, but this one didn't click with me. Here are some of the issues I had with it:

*The flow of the sequences. Turner tends to do a very long series of postures on one side of the body before doing them on the other side of the body--in reverse order. This felt VERY unbalanced to me.

*The length of the yoga segments. The DVD is billed as having 5 15-minute yoga segments, so I was expecting short routines that I could use as post-workout add-ons. Well, 2 of the 5 routines clock in under 15 minutes (at 14:39 and 14:40), but the other three were well over (16:52, 16:52, 17:40). And in truth, ALL of the routines was actually significantly longer than this, as 2-minute breath intro and a 7.5 minute shavasana were AUTOMATICALLY added to EVERY routine--so each routine was actually OVER 25 MINUTES!

That being said, the DVD is programmable, which is nice, and the breath warm-up and shavasana are only played once if you program multiple segments. I've offered a brief breakdown of each practice below, including the time for the segment (without the breath warm-up or shavasana).

STRENGTH & STAMINA (14:39)

This routine is supposed to focus on the lower body; Turner does spend a lot of time on one-legged balance work. She includes Kundalini yoga moves, such as a fists of fire kriya.

ENERGY & FLEXIBILITY (14:40)

As suggested by the title, this section focuses on flexibility; it does this mainly through hip-focused work. Moves include three-legged dog, low lunge, and fire log pose.

CORE POWER (17:40)

I'm not sure how this practice was supposed to address the cardiovascular system (as billed on the DVD case), but it did focus on the core through yoga crunches on the floor and standing twists.

STRETCH & RESTORE (16:59)

I found it very odd that this segment had "restore" in the title, as it mainly focused on backbends, which are energizing! Poses included were cobra, locust, sphinx, dancer's, bow (2x), and side bow.

STRESS RELIEF & MEDITATION (16:52)

This practice was designed with "seated poses to flush out stress," and I probably liked it marginally better than the others. It included swim-type movements to open the shoulders, twisting lunge, warrior 1, and cow-face arms.

As a long-time yoga practitioner and new yoga instructor, these routines simply did not fit with how I enjoy practicing or how I like to teach. Like all of the Element products, this DVD has high production values, but I think even this series offers better choices.

This DVD contains five approximately 15 minute yoga routines that you can mix and match. A 2 min warm up & an 8 min cool down are automatically added to your workout. Ashley works out alone in front of the Pacific Ocean, a pool, and beautiful greenery. You wont need any equipment for these routines.

Strength & Stamina (15 min): Exercises include sun salutation, forward bend, plank, low cobra, down dog, chataranga, 3 legged dog, crescent pose w/ fists of fire, warrior poses, standing splits, 1/2 moon, chair pose, & static sumo.

Core Power (17 min): Poses in this detox routine include: chair, roll like a ball, yoga bike, reverse crunch w/ leg extension, oblique crunches w/ leg extensions, cat cow, spinal twists, down dog, runners lunge adding a twist, and twisting triangle.

Energy & Flexibility (14 min): Exercises include cat cow, bird dog, table top knee to elbow pulls, down dog twist & drop, 3 legged dog hip circles, 1/2 splits, and hip flexor stretches.

Stretch & Restore (17 min): Poses include sun salutation, cat cow, down dog, plank, cobra, lying low back work, childs pose, rabbit, bird dog, table top bow & arrow, chair pose, standing balance bow & arrow hold, balance quad hold, side lying boat pose, boat pose, bound angel pose, and forward fold & roll up.

Stress Relief & Meditation (17 min): Exercises in this tension & stress relief include forward fold, standing arm circles, chair pose, chest opener, plank, swimmer, lying shoulder shimmy, low cobra, down dog, dolphin, spinal traction, up dog, runners lunge, crescent pose, warrior 1, tricep stretch, and concludes with a cross legged seated meditation.

I rate these intermediate yoga routines. Ashley provides modification options for some exercises. The DVD provides lots of variety with workout times & mix & match options. I received this DVD to review.