20 Minute Yoga Makeover - Weight Loss

Sara Ivanhoe
Year Released: 2004

Categories: Yoga


This short, invigorating workout is a perfect practice for a busy schedule. It’s a true 20 minutes, as a matter of fact if you start the clock when the routine begins (and not at the introduction) then it’s really closer to 19 minutes.

The routine consists of vinyasas with added arm movements to, supposedly, increase the calorie burn. Initially, these are fairly typical sequences: mountain to chair to forward bend to mountain, or chaturanga to up dog to down dog to chaturanga. But what makes this routine special is that, once things get rolling, Ivanhoe adds in extended leg down dogs and standing twists such as revolved crescent lunge and revolved triangle. I love standing poses and these additions allow me to push my edge in a short amount of time. A real treat!

She ends the practice, rather abruptly, with just one quick seated stretch (single-legged forward bend) and a mudra. The mudra doesn’t quite “seal in the practice” for me, so I usually add a brief final relaxation.

Instructor Comments:
Ivanhoe has a warm, unaffected charm and doing her workouts is like practicing with a friend. Some on VF have complained that her gently measured speech and use of colloquialisms appear condescending, but I just don’t see it. It’s funny how one person’s patronizing is another’s unpretentious.

Gina (aka gxm17)

07/15/2005