Yoga Zone Evening Stress Release for Beginners
Filmed in Jamaica, Yoga Zone: Evening Stress Relief offers lovely scenery and intensive relaxation for anyone who needs to unwind at the end of the day. This workout is divided into two 20-minute practices that can be done together or separately. The first of these two sessions starts slowly by introducing breathing techniques and yoga terminology. A series of limbering stretches are taught to increase flexibility and allow optimum extension into postures. Cueing is great here, as participants are frequently reminded to breathe in and exhale with each movement. Poses that strengthen the abdominal muscles and a sequence of back bends are performed with modifications offered throughout these postures. Meditation closes out the first session with attention to eliminating tension and increasing breathing capacity. The second set is staged on a sandy beach with greater attention to body alignment and active limbs. The major muscles of the legs and arms are trained through downward facing dog and deep lunges. Postures that lengthen the abdominal wall (like the cobra) are performed as the perfect complement to the preceding abdominal work (in the first session). Breathing is also imperative here. Participants are reminded that each exhale has the ability to move one deeper into a pose (participants are also encouraged not to force their flexibility limits). This fine workout program is ideal for beginners and intermediates who are looking to reduce tension and become more limber. –Olivia Voigts
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Review for Yoga Zone-Evening
The product works well for me. I use the DVD about three times a week. I do notice that I have more energy.
5 Stars I’m type A but I like it!
Yeah, there’s no hippy dippy spiritual crap to laden down my yoga workout here…and yes, I consider it a nice light workout even though it says it’s for evening stress relief. Like I said in the title I’m a type A personality and no amount of yoga in the world could get me to wind down at night but this video makes me feel good, stretched and warm. The scenery’s pretty, the clear instruction was good for my boyfriend who doesn’t know much about yoga. He made it through both practices with me and even said it was easy though he’s rather inflexible. I dunno, I just like it - I’m going to check out some more yoga zone videos.
4 Stars Yoga Zone
I have used this DVD for a few weeks now and I do like it. I didn’t think I would like Yoga but, this DVD seems to help with my stiffness and my stress. I am a beginner at Yoga so this was a good one to choose.
5 Stars Increase Flexibility and Decrease Stress
During the two sessions filmed in Jamaica, you can imagine you are on a beach stretching away the cares of the day. This does not seem to be evening specific (no candles to set an evening mood or sunset), but it does give you a space in which to relax. The yoga exercises have a medium/low challenge with plenty of adaptations for your strength level. Overall a relaxing workout you can do any time of the day. Breathing is emphasizes and one instructor and one student appear in each session. This allows the instructor to explain variations in the postures.
~The Rebecca Review
5 Stars Short and sweet yoga sessions to stretch and relax….
I really like this DVD, it is one of my favorite Yoga Zones. There are 2-20 minute sessions that are to be used in the evenings to wind down the day. They stretch you out nicely and leave you feeling relaxed.
Charles Matkin leads the first session, he is joined by Lisa Bennett, who is he married to which is an interesting tidbit. They are practicing yoga at the Grand Lidos San Souci resort in Jamaica. Charles begins by saying how life is stressful and that it’s important that we learn to manage our stress, and doing yoga is one way that we can do that. The poses that you will see in this session include seated spinal twists and side leans, a few different variations of the lunge position, downward facing dog, warrior 2, fan pose, chair pose and scale pose. There is also a brief vinyasa using complete breaths standing in mountain pose while lifting the arms up and down which feels nice. Charles is a friendly instructor who has plenty of pointers to offer, he reminds you a lot to relax into the poses and not be aggressive. He even jokes around a little bit, even flexing his muscles during the warrior pose. It lightens things up a little bit.
The second session is led by Beverly Murphy, joining her is Lisa Bennett. Lisa is an instructor but appears as the assistant quite a bit too, she is quite flexible and demonstrates the postures nicely. They are practicing in Jamaica again, this time on a beach. You start again in seated position, with seated spinal twists and more side leans before moving into potted palm pose, one of my personal favorie poses. Then you will move into cat pose, then cobra pose into upward facing dog, before moving into downward facing dog and holding for a few breaths. After that you will move into the lunge position, with the option of staying on your knee or going up on your toes, a twist while the hands are in prayer position is added to make it a little more challenging. Then you will move into fan pose before repeating the lunge sequence on the other side. Then you move back to the floor for the rest of the session, starting out in bull seat (cow pose) which is quite an intense stretch, then you will go into sitting angular which is the same as seated straddle position. This pose is held for a few breaths to stretch you out nicely before moving into the final relaxation pose. Beverly is a pleasant instructor with helpful tips, while I haven’t seen all of the Yoga Zone videos, this is the only one I have seen her in. She does a good job and is among my favorite Yoga Zone instructors. While both sessiona are good I find myself doing the second one more frequently than the first, I find it very relaxing and the beach setting is very nice.
This video is geared toward beginners, but I feel that intermediates or anyone looking for a nice basic yoga video would enjoy this. I reach for it quite a bit myself as it’s a favorite of mine. Highly recommended.