Hemalayaa’s Yoga For Everyone

Can we talk about my new girl crush for a minute? Okay, great.

She’s pretty, nice (at least I imagine so) and she’s got a super toned body – but still looks like she eats things. And she does exercise on film, that you can do at home in your living room.

Her name is Hemalayaa and I’m hoping that we can be BFFs.

I’ve done a few of Hemalayaa’s videos, and although I’ve had mixed feelings on editing or content sometimes, I’ve always really liked her.  I think part of that is the fact that I really like how she looks like she has an attainable body and that she doesn’t seem to take exercise all that seriously.  I do a lot of exercise videos and sometimes it feels sort of absurd how serious instructors seem – I mean working out should be fun.

I’m not a huge yoga fan, although, I really liked Yoga For Everyone because it’s not typical yoga.  There are no traditional vinyasas, at least not ones I’ve ever done before, and there is a lot more warming up into poses.  Hemalayaa really spends most of the video warming up your joints, which actually makes the few traditional moves you do a lot easier and a lot deeper.

There’s a lot more moving than I would say I’m used to in yoga; a lot of rolling of hips, shoulders and wrists which makes the video a lot more active and a lot more dance-like, for lack of a better term.  It’s definitely not the kind of video that I think someone who has a strong passion for yoga would enjoy.  But for someone like me, who sees yoga more as a slow painful chore to undergo, it actually kind of works. I really enjoyed this one.

The DVD consists of two 20 minute practices.  You can do both at once for a longer practice, but honestly I don’t really see a need for that.  They really do seem like they’re meant to be done individually and after 20 minutes I really did feel more open, stretched and totally energized.

The negative of this one is that it anticipates that you just happen to have 3 yoga blankets laying around awaiting folding and placement.  You can use towels, but still – be prepared.

A preview of the video is available on Amazon.com and if you’re a Netflixer, it is available for rental.