yoga bliss hips - yikes - what did i buy?

[Vee]

The few DVDs of kundalini that I encountered have put me off the method and I especially don't see the appeal of Ravi & Ana. I bought 2 of their DVDs and consider them hands down winners for the most unsuitable choices for me.

[eam531]

Originally Posted by Eibhinn

Not to detract from the love many people have for kundalini yoga, but it's worth noting that the Amazon reviews for Ravi & Ana products are deceiving. Yes, lots of people give them 5 stars and love them, but what you don't see are the many many people who give the workouts 1 to 3 stars. When I first tried Ravi and Ana's workouts I started to think I must be crazy because I seemed to be the ONLY person who didn't like them. Dig a little deeper and it appears that Ravi & Ana co. are one of those companies who actively (and successfully) campaign to have negative reviews removed from Amazon by claiming they are inaccurate. There are many many many accounts of people posting negative reviews for Ravi & Ana's dvds multiple times only to have the reviews removed (each and every time), until they finally gave up trying to share their opinion.

I tried several Ravi & Ana practices, and found Yoga Bliss Hips to be the strangest and least enjoyable to me. Although I enjoy some aspects of kundalini, I am clearly not a kundalini person despite trying to force myself to be in light of people's rave reviews and claims of amazing weight loss and health improvements. Of everything I tried by far my favorite practice (and the only one I still do) is Maya Fiennes' Kundalini Yoga to Detox and Destress. That's a great one to start with, in my opinion. I find a lot of kundalini kriyas highly uncomfortable - but that's not the case (or less so) with Fiennes' practice.

Sat Jivan Singh Khalsa's 'Peace of mind in stressful times' is the same set that Maya did on 'Detox and de-stress'. It's a set that I learned in teacher training--in my manual it is called 'Stress set for the adrenals and kidneys'. An excellent set; nice to have a couple of choices for it.

Interesting about the Amazon reviews for Ravi and Ana; that is really a shame. No instructor, no matter how popular, is going to reach all students and those people who did not like Ravi and Ana's practices should be able to voice their opinions without being censored. That really makes me think quite poorly of them, and as time has gone on my feelings about their practices have changed, and I got rid of all of their DVDs. The only kundalini DVDs I do are Nirvair's and Sat Jivan's. Interestingly, when I took teacher training, the majority of my classmates had no idea who Ravi and Ana were, but they did know Nirvair.

Someone else mentioned finding some of the kundalini yoga sets uncomfortable. Well, so do I, and I are not talking about 'oh gee, I am doing something new and my muscles are kind of achey'; I'm talking about 'my kneecaps are going to explode!' I modify all the time, and always have. One of the biggest complaints I had about my teacher training was the lack of modifications shown for the exercises. Since I had background in other forms of yoga before the teacher training, I knew what modifications to make and when I teach, I make sure to include them. It might be one thing to learn kundalini yoga in one's late teens/early twenties (the age when a lot of the old timers like Nirvair and Sat Jivan and Gurmukh got into it); it is quite another to teach yoga newcomers in their 50s and expect them to do frogs, stretch pose, and the like, without giving them modifications ... also, it is perfectly okay to skip a posture that is counterindicated for you. (At least, when I am teaching!)

Sorry to babble ...

[ddj]

Originally Posted by MomOf2Gremlins

Yes!!! A kind VFer sent me a few of his work and love them! If I had more $ I'd want all of his DVD's!

I adore Nirvair Singh Khalsa. I wish he'd put out more dvds.

How lucky you are that someone sent you a few of his dvds!

[goldillocks]

I too was shocked when I saw my first Kundalini yoga dvd and thought "what the f... is this?"
But I totally love Kundalini Yoga now and it does make me feel so good
I still hate the tuning in part and the chanting though.
But I love the majority of the exercises which are very core intensive and I find Kundalini Yoga is a great substitute for Pilates which I find really really boring.
Also I believe that the rapid fire breathing and the long inhales and exhales really do oxygenate the body as they make me feel great afterwards and it really decreases my apetite and cravings for sweets.
I have a large collection now of many Ravianas and Maya Fiennes

[SharonNYC]

Originally Posted by eam531

Interesting about the Amazon reviews for Ravi and Ana; that is really a shame. No instructor, no matter how popular, is going to reach all students and those people who did not like Ravi and Ana's practices should be able to voice their opinions without being censored. That really makes me think quite poorly of them, and as time has gone on my feelings about their practices have changed, and I got rid of all of their DVDs. The only kundalini DVDs I do are Nirvair's and Sat Jivan's. Interestingly, when I took teacher training, the majority of my classmates had no idea who Ravi and Ana were, but they did know Nirvair.

I don't think Singh/Brett are very well known in the kundalini community in my area either. I think their buzz is more among people whose practice is confined to DVDs.

But then, in yoga anyway, there seems to be quite a separation between the class world and the media world. Although everyone in my teacher training knew who Rodney Yee was, I was their introduction to Erich Schiffmann -- I thought that was pretty funny. But then Yee does a lot of teacher trainings in my area and Schiffmann doesn't.

I had heard elsewhere that Singh/Brett try to be very controlling of their "image" and that is a bit of a turn off.

[Pat58]

Eibhinn, thank you for pointing that out about Amazon and RaviAna petitioning to have negative Amazon reviews taken down. I'm finding censorship at odds with the earthy, hippie, love the world presence they put forth.

[Lucky Star]

It makes sense. I never see anything but rave 5-star reviews and I think really?

[daisysunshine]

I had (as my nature) decided that I liked Ravi/Ana and bought all their dvds.
I did them and I was like holy moly what the heck did I buy? It really hurt me (i have the weakest shoulders on the face of the planet - so most of the arm movements bugged me). It was mostly because of this that made me anti-Yoga for so long [but thankfully Sadie Nardini and Tara Stiles is pulling me back into the fold].

[Demeris]

Originally Posted by ddj

I adore Nirvair Singh Khalsa. I wish he'd put out more dvds.

Me, too. I love his gentle, goofy good-nature

[toaster]

Actually, as someone who reviews frequently on Amazon, I am surprised to hear that Ravi & Ana may have been able to get negative reviews removed. I've often used the "report this" button in hopes that non-reviews would be removed (e.g., reviews that are for the vendor, not the product, or are from people who say things like, "I haven't tried this DVD yet, but..."), but I never seem to be successful. In addition, I have seen negative reviews for Ana & Ravi's DVDs on Amazon--true, they are rare, but they are there.