Live Yoga Class (Yoga July 5)

Eoin Finn
Year Released: 2004

Categories: Yoga
- Audio Workout

Workout Length: 80 mins
Level: All
Equipment: Mat
Date Released: 2004
Availability: Free audio download from Vancouver Yoga.com

This is a really nice audio practice from one of my favourite instructors. The practice itself is very basic. This is a vinyasa based practice so there are vinyasa's between every pose or sequence of poses. If you do not like sun salutations you will not like this practice.

You begin with sun salutations as usual then go into standing poses. This section includes standing forward bends and a triangle series (regular triangle, forward triangle, and revolved triangle). Next is crow pose for balance before going into some more standing closes including side angle pose and revoled prayer twist. After this, if my memory is correct, is standing big toe pose. The hip opener section that follows is a nice change from Eoin's usual emphasis on pigeon pose. Instead you do lunge pose, crescent lunge, and the splits. Next is seated forward bends and twists. The abdominal section is typical Eoin, quite similar to what he did in Power Yoga for Happiness. The next section is more foward bends - wide leg forward bend and turtle pose, then firefly. Then you do supine pigeon followed by backbends. The backbend section is nice and long and includes all types of backbends. You begin with lotus and bow, then camel, bridge, wheel, and standing backbends. You'll really feel good in the back after this! The last sequence includes another seated forward bend and supine leg stretches. He does not include shoulderstand and plough so I usually pause the track at this point to add them in before savasana. And that's it! Savasana is nice and long with nice relaxation reminders throughout.

The music varies a lot. There is reggae-type music with vocals, some eastern style music, more mainstream soft music with vocals, and some general new agey-stuff.

One thing I find refreshing about this practice is that it was recorded from an actual live class so Eoin is a lot more natural than in more planned recordings. I know people will be wondering about teh "woo-woo" factor. Eoin doesn't make any new agey comments here like he does in other workouts. He does make some funny jokes and coments, including some sort of off-color remarks that some may find distatesful (i.e. moving the foot behind the head in supine pigeon improves your status on the online dating site!).

You do hear a lot of background noise in this workout. You can hear him talking to the class participants and encouraging along the way. You can also hear them jumping back into chataranga. I find that this gives the class more of an authentic feel. It almost feels like you are a part of that large class in his studio.

I find myself using this practice a lot because it is so simple. You get a lot accomplished here - the hip openers are short but effective, the ab work is good, and the extra back work at the end feels really nice. It's nothing special but gets the job done. I have problems with my neck so it's really good for me to do a lot of back work. I noramlly find that Eoin puts too much emphsis on the hips so this is a nice change.

One problem is that the track is too long to fit on a CD when burned as an audio file. This is rather annoying because there is a lot of talking at the beginning that could easily be cut out to make it short enough to fit. I was able to do this using sound editing software at work, but most people don't have access to this. You can always burn it as an MP3, and most newer CD and DVD players will be capable of playing it.

Instructor Comments:

Megan

01/01/2005