Shiva Rea - Radiant Heart Reviews

• I am a Shiva Rea Fan ..

  
  By A23O8T3LNL9YY8 on 2007-11-15
  I have 3 other Shiva Rea DVD's and this one is a bit different. The others have many, many options (time, focus, ets). This DVD is one complete workout. Her voice is so soothing, her instructions are impeccable (you don't have to look at the screen constantly) and the music is wonderful. The warm-up (Prayer Wheel Meditation) is a continuous 8 minute heart opening flow. You will be doing a sort of rock with one leg forward and your arm moving together away from you and then towards your heart.
  The longest flow (Heart Salutions)is 20 minutes long. There are traditional poses in this section, but with a twist. Your arms are always flowing and some the standing poses are done on your knees. For those of you with knee problems, you may want to keep a pillow handy or skip this one. A good 10 minutes or more of the 20 are spent on your knees, one at a time or both. There is a very short relaxation and meditaion at the end of this section if you want to end here.
  At the end there is a 3 minute engergizing flow. I wish that it were less energizing and more relaxing. The DVD ends with this flow so there's no relaxation at the end.
  There are also two bonus sections taken from Shiva's previous DVD's (Trance Dance and Fluid Power) making the total yoga time over 40 minutes.
  Please don't let these few items I mentioned sway you from buying this DVD. It is worth every penny and I just relax on my own at the end.
  
  
  

• Love Shiva Rea

  
  By A3N3ECARKEGH0P on 2007-11-13
  I purchased this DVD after attending Shiva Rea's yoga instructor training at Kripalu. It includes backbends to open up the heart center (anahata chakra) through the practice of a heart salutation (Hridya Namaskar). Although short (only 35 minutes) in length, I love this DVD. Its not quite like having Shiva teach the Hridya Namaskar in person, but pleasant in its effects. After the practice, I feel that on a physical level, my chest and intercostal muscles have opened up; mentally I feel open to the idea that I can remain open in the face of adversity; and emotionally I feel open to the gentle, graceful and compassionate nature of my heart. I would not recommend this DVD for beginning yogi's as proper understanding of alignment is assumed. Without this awareness, one may do more harm than good. So, if you are an intermediate or advanced yogi looking to open up your heart - by all means enjoy this DVD.
  
  

• Good to do before meditation or as a wake up kriya

  
  By AWMU4C4CH21TE on 2007-11-24
  I own just about every Shiva Rea dvd. This one is only 35 minutes long plus 2 sets from Yoga Trance dance (twisting kriya) and Fluid Power. The dvd has 3 sections:
  1. Breathing vinyasa in which you move your arms and legs like you are doing tai chi in unison with your breath. Your arm go in and out with your breath and over and around your head and chest- to open your heart and bring joy. It is slow motion meditation.
  
  2. Heart salutation: cat/cow, moving half split (on one knee and one leg straight); side angle on knee, triangle on knee, lunge hip opener,lunge back bend, camel holding onto heels and releasing one arm and swinging it back, cobra with om on exhale, bow pose with om-done 3 times, lying twist, happy baby. It ends with a seated meditation with hands in lotus mudra. (20 minutes)You'll need a pillow or blanket for tender knees.
  
  3. twisting kriya with chanting Ha. (3 minutes)
  
  parts 1 & 3 did nothing for me. I liked 2 a lot as it prepares you for seated meditation and I use it at night before my nightly meditation. It opens up your shoulders and hips making it easier to sit and puts you in a meditative mood to recieve blessings.
  
  If you hit play all, you get the energetic kriya last which may not be what you want after the relaxing heart salutation. There is not a matrix on this dvd so it makes it harder to program a customized set. Shiva spoiled us with her unique matrix.
  
  My only complaint is that the cinematography was a little too artsy and that you really couldn't see what she was doing as it was either in shadows or shot from far away. Also when she asks you to say om with a pose, she doesn't say it with you and if you are face down and not looking at the screen, it is hard to know when to chant and when not to chant. Minor quibbles.
  
  I felt very calm after doing the heart salutation and I can see using set 2 every night as I love camel, the hardest pose on this dvd.
  
  I can also see doing set 3 plus the Yoga trance dance twisting kriya to wake up in the morning before a hatha or kundalini yoga set.
  
  

• Creative calming Flow for the heart center

  
  By A14FXA57XJNPDO on 2008-02-25
  I'm a Power Vinyasa Yoga instructor with my own studio in germany. Since I'm german my english spelling is pretty bad, please excuse me for that!
  I own a lot of Shivas DVDs and also had the opertunity to learn from her personally on one of her retreats in Germany. I enjoy her great amount of creativity. She surprises again and again with her different fresh aproaches to Flow Yoga. Her work is a great contribution to the evolution of Yoga in the world.
  About the product:
  The main material of the DVD (without the Bonus, taken from Fluid Power) is a little more than 30 Minutes long. It consists of an entering movement meditation (Prayer Wheel), the main Heart Flow and a Kriya (energizing Movement Flow). You can do them all together, or one at a time.
  I liked the Heart Flow a lot. Like all of Shivas Flows it is very creative with a lot of flowing and pulsating Movements you wont find anywhere else. This is not a Power Yoga like Flow. Regarding its intensity it is more like a lunar Flow, calming, opening without vinyasas.
  The Flow does what Shiva promisses: It openes the Heartcenter beautifully. You can feel it strongly afterwards!
  I enjoyed this main segment (about 25 Min) very much, but I have to say, that I did not like the entering movement meditation. For me this Movement called Prayerwheel hasn't much to do with Hatha Yoga anymore. It is simply a Tai Chi Movement. Tai Chi can and should be done with a Yoga-Mind, so in the end it's all Yoga, but I would prefer to see more Hatha Yoga on a Yoga DVD from a Yoga instructor. After all a Yoga Instructor is best in teaching Yoga, while a Tai Chi Instructor is best in teaching Tai Chi. So even though it is a nice part, it was not for me for I thing it goes to far away in a complete other territory.
  The Kriya in the End is very dynamic and Kundalini like. The second part of it reminds a little of Martial Arts Movements like Yogi Bhajan also taught in some of his very dynamic Kundalini Flows. This is probably not for everybody who likes more "traditional" Ashtanga or Flow Yoga. Everybody who liked Shivas Yoga Trance Dance or her Martial Arts inspired Variations on Fluid Power will like this one to.
  As a conclusion I can recommend the DVD to everybody who enjoys creative Flow Yoga. It is well worth the money, if only for the Main Heart Opening Flow. It is a great one for the days when you don't want to work on strengt and stamina so much, bu still want to do some Yoga to open and energize your body and calm your mind.
  I hope this review was helpfull to you! Let me know. I truely hope so.
  Check out my listmania list for all the Yoga DVDs I recommend. The list is constantly evolving. Ones again, sorry for the poor spelling!
  Namasté
  
  Kai
  
  

• Not quite for true beginners

  
  By A2HRD88UXWL0M7 on 2008-03-21
  Overall, glad to have this in my collection. I have done yoga off and on being mostly off right now I was looking for something to ease back in to practice. Let me say if you are very low on flexibility or yoga experience then these poses will be challanging and there is a chance you may do them wrong (even a slight chance for injury) because instructions are as if you have done these before. Perhaps this is true if you own other Shiva Rea discs, I do not.
  
  The pace seems to go fast, could be a more mindful, gentler pace and be just as much benefit. In the additional bonus features you can see 7 minute previews of 2 other of Rea's Dvd's. I must say that I'm glad to see them because I can tell her style isn't what I'm looking for. It is very fast and alot of quick twists of the spine (adding elements of kundalini I suppose, some tai chi in the 3rd segment) I am just not at that level of flexibility and want a more breath focused yoga.
  Again, not bad to have in a collection of dvd's but not a main source of yoga for me. The scenery was beautiful and her poses flawless and lovely to watch.
  
  
• A beautiful routine to open your heart to love!
  By A3AHDR4F2J7YXX on 2008-02-03
  There are several short routines on this DVD, but unlike Shiva's other DVDs, there is not a matrix to customize and pick the sequence of your routine. Here's what you get:
  3-part Practice:
  Prayer Wheel, 9 min.
  Hridaya Namaskar (Heart Salutation), 20 min.
  Energizing Heart Movement Meditation, 3 min.
  Extras:
  Twisting Kriya, 7 min.
  Yoga Trance Dance, 8 min.
  
  The Heart Salutation is a wonderful morning practice, all performed on the floor and kneeling. It's a lovely way to start your day, wake up your body, and get in touch with deep love energy for yourself and others. It ends in a lovely deep seated meditation.
  
  After the seated meditation it goes right into the standing Energized Heart Movement and Shiva's very loud energized voice. It does not fit at all with the rest of the practice and there is no way to omit it! I would rather sit in meditation and have 3 min. of soothing music than the super-energy of the 3rd section. It takes you right out of the lovely feeling from the heart salutation! I would give this DVD 5-stars if it wasn't for this issue.
  
  Additionally, this DVD gives you a choice of playing the segments without naration, just music. I would rather have a choice of naration and no music, so I can add my own.
  
  This is really quite a lovely practice, except for the two gripes I have. Does Shiva publish the heart salutation on another DVD within a matrix choice? Place email me if you know.
  
  See my other reviews on Amazon for other great yoga practices!
  Namaste'
  
  
  
• Enjoyable, but with camera flaws
  By A1V7SKRF1OBYUZ on 2008-04-30
  I would give this a full five star rating if the camera work, while pretty, was not a source of deep confusion and vexation the first few times I did the work out. Occasionally Shiva will instruct you to do something--say, "bring your left knee up to your side" but because she's shot in shadows, you can't actually SEE what it was she just did and only figure it out a few moments later when she progresses into the full movement. Where exactly is her knee? Where should I put my knee? Oh shoot. She's doing something else now! Wait. How did we get on our backs?...we were on our stomachs a second ago, right?...This isn't a problem when you've got the asana flow basically figured out, but initially it can throw a wrench of confusion into what was otherwise a very smooth practice.
  
  Such flaws aside, I otherwise very much enjoyed this practice. It is very calming and invigorating (so funny how it can be both, but it is). I think this practice is suitable for beginners as long as they aren't totally new to practice. I'm a fairly recent beginner and only moderately flexible for the most part (and I have the tightest hamstrings ON THE PLANET) and am just establishing a regular yoga practice, and I could do this work out with relatively little difficulty once I'd run through it a few times and gotten over my camera woes.
  
  
• Delightful - hope Shiva gives us more brief, chakra oriented practices like this!
  By A2V202NMFIDMYC on 2008-05-17
  My only mistake was holding off buying this DVD until 2008 and missing out on an exquisite little gem. It's a perfect early morning practice, with gentle music and a Prayer Wheel warmup as the sun rises behind clouds ... a brief period of arm circles and Ohm chants, a heart chakra "massage," then the Prayer Wheel which consists of gently rocking forward and back in a staggered stance, while circling the arms to stimulate the chi. This section alone is better than the strongest morning coffee!
  
  The next segment, Hridaya Namaskar (heart salutation) is complete in 20 minutes, perfect to set the tone for your day. It features gentle kneeling stretches to warm and open the spine and graduates to gentle/moderate backbends as the sun continues to rise, the most vigorous being Ustrasana (camel). Backbends are appropriately countered with forward bends and side stretches. You are bathed in nurturing! Rather than lying Savasana, the practice ends with a seated meditation followed by prana mudra arm/breathing movements, which you might enjoy better than lying still again after sleeping.
  
  The closing Energizing Heart Movement Meditation will launch you into your day with a vibrant attitude, in three closing minutes. The music picks up apace as Shiva leads through a standing "ha" kriya with arm movements to open the ribcage and release any last stagnant air, and prepare your spine to uphold the stresses of the day. If you wish to stimulate your morning further, the Twisting Kriya from Yoga Trance Dance and Jala Namaskar from Fluid Power are both included in the bonus chapters.
  
  Though my review is geared toward a morning practice, this would also make an uplifting refresher after your day, before moving into nightly chores. I only ask - Shiva, can we have more chakra centered practices? How delightful would a similar brief compilation be for the head centers, root chakra, throat ...
  
  
• A Nice Short Practice
  By A2L6EV0V3SOATU on 2007-12-07
  Shiva Rea is my favorite yoga teacher and I like all of her DVD's , though this is her least exciting one in my opinion , the main 20 min practice (Heart salutation) is a nice relaxing series of side stretches and backbends like camel and bow. Like other reviewer have mentioned the other 2 segments are short and a little bit "parve" though I liked the 3 min. moving meditation at the end. There's also 2 bonus segments that you can add to your practice from Fluid Power (Jala Namaskar) and Yoga Trance Dance (Twisting Kriya) though "Jala Namaskar" was also on Trance Dance with a different setting. On the whole , it's a nice short practice that you can add to other workouts as a stretch or do it on its own if you don't feel like doing much. Also take a look at her live DVD from Yoga Journal, a new practice cd "Yoga Wave" coming in february and a new DVD "Surf Yoga Soul" next year , can't wait!
  
  
• A Jewel of Excellent Yoga Filming from the expert of Fluid Moves.
  By A2GCNYVDBSWSEU on 2008-01-14
  Nice. Could be added as bonus to her previous dvd. It is much sorter than other dvds. Buy it together with another ShivA REa dvd if a beginner. Buy it anyway if advanced. Same wonderful filming -if you don't do yoga just watch! This practise would round the Fluid Power dvd. Has some Aum chanting in poses, which is nice. Also some Qui Qong (Chi Kung) like moves. Shiva Rea is well informed as well as very inspired, so you get traditional practises, given in a fluent and honest way. Through her experience and body-feeling she adds moves that feel a need, especially to a female body. Yoga is evolving and teachers that give expression to new needs are so welcome. Shiva is indeed riding the wave and offering joy to many.
  
  
  

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