Dr. Yoga House Call is one of the latest offerings from the husband/wife team of Ravi Singh and Ana Brett.  In the same style as their previous videos, House Call features Ana alone on screen, practicing on a small rug in an all-white room, while she and Ravi take turns providing voiceover instruction. You'll recognize some of the music and yoga sequences from their previous videos, but there's plenty that's brand new here as well.

House Call has over 3 hours of footage, which makes the DVD extremely versatile but can also feel a bit overwhelming.  On their website and elsewhere, Ravi and Ana recommend that you begin with the Tune-Up and Breath Primer (optional), do the Warm-Ups, and then select from amongst the Yoga Remedy Options and the Dr. Yoga Quick Sets (these shorter sequences are meant to stand alone as well). There is some overlap amongst the segments–for example, some of the Warm-Ups and Remedy Options sequences appear as part of some of the Quick Sets. However, the transitions are virtually seamless, and all of the practices flow very well. Ravi and Ana frequently make statements about what the exercises are designed to do for you (e.g., "according to yoga, this will give you _____"), although they generally don't describe exactly how this process works.

The Main Menu offers the following options:
*Play DVD
*Tune In
*Breath Primer
*Energy Warm-Ups (14 minutes)
*Dr. Yoga Remedy Options
*Dr. Yoga Quick Sets
*Deep Relaxation
*3 Amazing Meditations
*Closing Prayer
The Main Menu leads to several sub-menus as described below.
Dr. Yoga Remedy Options:  Fertility & Potency (10m), Bye Bye Back Pain (11m), Strong Bones & Muscle Tone (13m), Anti-Arthritis (9m), Heart Helper (12m), Breast Cancer Prevention (4m), Immune Invigorator (7m), Brain Booster (13m), Eagle Eyes (10m), Inflammation Relief (6m)
Dr. Yoga Quick Sets:  Move Your Energy Move Your Life! (10m), Flexible & Free (16m), Strong as Steel (13m), Health & Happiness (16m), Kundalini Yoga Superset (34m)
3 Amazing Meditations: Amazing Minute Breath (6m), So Darshan Chakra Kriya (3.5m), Sa-Ta-Na-Ma Meditation (14m)

The same three meditation sequences also appear on Ravi and Ana's other new release, Yoga Quick Fixes.  Unlike Quick Fixes, which centers more on interventions for common yet temporary conditions (e.g., fatigue, stress, headaches, etc.), Dr. Yoga offers potential remedies for more chronic issues as described above, including fertility, back pain, arthritis, and cancer.  Starting with the Energy Warm-Ups, the practices here tend to be more active than on Quick Fixes, including more use of Breath of Fire and greater involvement of rapid arm movements, particularly in the immunity-based practices.  Furthermore, the overall level of this DVD felt more challenging than Quick Fixes, as there are some very difficult exercises which require breath retention combined with movement.  Personally, my favorite segment on the video was the Bye Bye Back Pain, which was a more relaxing practice that included longer holds of the postures.

If you've never done yoga before, this DVD is probably not best place to start:  not only is it fairly challenging, but also Kundalini yoga is quite distinct from the more traditional forms of hatha yoga with which most people are familiar.  Similarly, if you've practiced yoga but are new to Kundalini, be prepared for something a little different–i.e., most of the exercises will not be recognizable as classic yoga postures (although there are a few down dogs here), as there is a lot more movement and different breathing techniques are used, particularly the Breath of Fire.

In general, I would classify this DVD as more energizing than relaxing.  Overall, it is an extremely well-produced, well-organized Kundalini yoga video that is a likely must-have for Ravi/Ana fans as well as others who enjoy the Kundalini style of practicing yoga.

© 2007 Beth Cholette

Beth Cholette, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist who provides psychotherapy to college students at SUNY Geneseo.  She is also a Top 100 Reviewer at Amazon.com and the official yoga media reviewer for iHanuman.com.