This yoga DVD contains four exercises, of four
different durations: 10, 15, 20, and 25 minutes.  It is a low budget production, filmed in what looks like a large
well-lit room of someone’s house. 
Evamarie demonstrates the yoga positions from a yellow yoga mat laid out
on a dark hardwood floor in front of a large brick fireplace made with new
bricks and decorated with old kettles and pans and large pots.  She speaks out loud telling the viewer what
she is doing as she does it. There is "lite classical" music in the
background of the soundtrack.  The
production looks like it was done using two cameras, since the image tends to switch
between two viewpoints.  Evamarie speaks
confidently and pleasantly, giving helpful instructions. 

The workouts are relatively introductory, and
proceed at a leisurely pace.  This is
partly because Evamarie is busy explaining what she is doing and how to achieve
the poses.  So it takes a little while
for her to get through some of the poses, and on occasion you may find after
having watched the workouts a few times that you are finished with a pose
before she is.  Still, for most poses,
keeping in them for a longer time is more beneficial, so this is not a
problem.  She leads the viewer through
breathing, forward bends, leg stretches, twists, balance poses, and other
standard poses. 

In my review of another DVD by Pilipuf, I commented
that some viewers may find her appearance a little distracting.  In this one, she wears more conventional
workout clothing and the camera rarely gives a close up of her face, and only
her long long hair that flows down from her head is distracting.  I found that I hardly noticed it after
watching a couple of workouts.  Her
dramatic facial expressions help to add emphasis to her words, and she seems
very comfortable with herself here, in a context that is quite unusual.  Presumably she has had practice in leading
many yoga classes. 

The main selling point for this DVD is that it
provides four short workouts of varying lengths, which can be very useful when
you want to get a little exercise at home but have not got time to go through a
longer practice. 

Links:

·       
Tree of Fitness
web site

·       
Review of
Introduction to Yoga DVD: Gentle, for Extreme Beginners

© 2006 Christian Perring. All
rights reserved.

Christian Perring, Ph.D., is
Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College, Long Island, and editor
of Metapsychology Online Review.  His main research is on
philosophical issues in medicine, psychiatry and psychology.

Categories: Movies, SelfHelp, General