Host Lori Trespicio is from The Real World. Instructor Kristin McGee is also referred to as “choreographer.” The setting is a New York hotspot, and a cool DJ supplies the music. These are not promising signs if you’re seriously into yoga, but MTV Yoga is surprisingly good. Advertised as a “faster-paced, upbeat” alternative to standard yoga workouts, the practice is actually quite traditional, based on the “vinyasa” (i.e., flowing series of poses) style. Beginning with several sun salutations, which are among the most vigorous sets of poses in yoga, it includes a variety of standing positions, lunges, twists, backbends, and so on. McGee knows her stuff, especially when it comes to breath instruction, the focus of any good practice; she also breaks down several of the more difficult asanas following the main 40-minute practice. The only real flaw is that not nearly enough time is allotted for warmup, but experienced yogis could do far worse than MTV Yoga. –Sam Graham
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Great! Love her relaxed personality!
I have an extensive library of yoga videos and this one is probably going to become one of my favorites! It’s only 45 minutes long, but I feel great afterward — love that there are modifications for every level — I’m flexible in some ways but not in others so I can pick who I should follow based on how I’m feeling. Love that it’s an athletic but not too new-agey (similar to the Sara Ivanhoe videos — which are also my favorites). Definitely recommended to add to anyone’s in home yoga practice.
3 Stars Moderate/fast paced westernized yoga w/fast tempo music to speed you up, NOT for true beginners
Rebecca did a great detailed review & did a great job of telling you the content of this workout.
To add my two cents:
The room has beautiful architecture & wall coverings, Kristen has 2 girls & 1 guy demonstrating at different levels from seasoned beginner to intermediate/advanced. The music is cool, but it more energizes you, hurries you along if you have limited time before you have to be somewhere which is not relaxing or calming. She even does a fast power yoga pace of warrior 1, 2 & sun salutations 3x.
Kristin has great form & body awareness & there’s a hint of her true respect for the spiritual/body awareness of yoga, but this dvd is geared to more a workout/pilates/fitness session then spiritual. If you’re looking for a mind/body connection, you won’t find it here. She tells you when to breathe, but she seems to race through as if she was told to get it done as fast as possible w/o it being a power yoga dvd.
The moves felt great, but only because I’ve been doing yoga for 5 years could I still enjoy the moves & be aware of my own body & work with it instead of it just being a workout calorie burner, not enjoying the mind/body connection I get from Rodney Yee, Shiva Rea, Wai Lana, Seane Corn, Rainbeau Mars, Teigh McDonough. Yoga for Sex & The Firm’s Power yoga even had more body awareness.
This is NOT for newbies or beginners because of the lack of time for true instruction to avoid injury. If you’re looking for yoga only for fitness w/o body awareness, this is for you or if want something that helps keep you aware of your limited time before you have to run out, if want calmness, body awareness, check out the others listed above.
4 Stars You’ve got to be kidding.
While I’m sure this would be tons of fun if I could do it, it is really not good for beginners no matter what it says. The easy version of the pose is still pretty hard to do. I had to go back to older tapes and work my way up again.. You have to be in shape to do this one for sure.
5 Stars Great yoga workout for the active
I needed to add something to my running since I can’t run seven days a week without getting hurt. I had tried other DVDs but they were all really boring, MTV never fails me though, it was not boring at all, yet it wasn’t a joke by any means. Led by the yoga lady that they used on Sex and the City, this woman is popular and she knows what she’s doing. I guess I can see how the music would be distracting to some, but it’s not like it’s heavy metal or anything, I think the music in regular videos is boring and annoying, so I loved this!!! I would recommend it to pretty much anyone that takes a second look at it. If you thought, “Yoga by MTV? What’s the world coming to?” then it’s obviously not for you, but if you became curious and thought “That could be cool” try it out!! I highly recommend it!
3 Stars I DONT KNOW…
MY sister uses this but when I first saw this I was like “And what year was this made?” The camera is a bit awful for it to be MTV, you know? BUT my sister uses the dvd, so it must be some kind of good.