Yoga: Core Cross Train

I have and enjoy may of Rodney Yee's yoga practices, but it took the Borders going-out-of-business sale to get me to purchase this one. The DVD features two practices, Strength and Restorative, each 30 minutes in length, plus a 12-minute "Getting to Know Rodney Yee" interview. I have broken down each of the two practices in detail below.

STRENGTH

The first 9 minutes of this routine take place on the floor, and it is somewhat reminiscent of Yee's older Yoga for Abs. Moves include bringing a single knee to chest, lifting the head to the knee, lowering the straight legs to the floor, reclined crow pose, and several reclined twists, hovering the legs above the floor. Yee rocks on the spine to a seated position, where he proceeds to spend about 3 minutes of seated vinyasa work, moving amongst staff pose, cobbler's pose, wide-legged seated pose, half boat, full boat, and flying cross-legged pose. (Note: this sequence is very similar to the Hip Openers segment from Yee's AM Yoga for Your Week DVD.) Next, he moves into down dog, performing knee-to-nose and cat/cow. This is followed by a repetition of the seated vinyasa series. Yee then focuses on the side core with several side stretches as well as variations on side plank. Moving onto the stomach, he performs sphinx, locust, cobra, and upward dog. Transitioning back to lying, Yee rolls several times between seated forward bend and plow pose. He then comes to standing for some brief torso twists/side stretches, returns to seated for a few repetitions of bridge pose, and concludes the practice with a short (about 1.5 minutes) relaxation. Although I really liked parts of this routine, it felt a bit disjointed to me.

RESTORATIVE

This practice uses a single blanket as a prop throughout. To begin, Yee rolls the blanket as a "belly bolster," lying on the stomach lengthwise over the blanket for cobra pose. He also folds over the blanket for child's pose. Similarly, the blanket is used across the lap for cross-legged seated forward bend and under the torso for seated wide-legged forward bend. Other postures include cat/cow, down dog, gate pose, and reclined stomach twist. Yee uses the blanket to facilitate the relaxation, both under the upper back and under the hips. For the final relaxation, he performs 2 minutes of "constructive rest" with the knees up and then 1 minute over the bolster full-length before concluding the practice in a seated position. I really enjoyed this routine, especially given that unlike other restorative practices, which tend to be prop-heavy, it only required the single blanket.

This is definitely not my favorite Yee DVD, but I do like it and I am glad to have it.