Deep Stretch/ Yin Yoga with Mimi Solaire

Just wanted to write a quick update: 11.7.16This DVD has become a treasure. There is really nothing like it out there.After doing the stretches I feel a deep, soul peace. I feel completely relaxed. And my body feels fantastic.This is an awesome DVD! SOOOO smart and SOOO effective.It's Yin Yoga, which means it's slow and you're working the deeper structural aspects of the body, tendons, ligaments, bones . . .I love the way it's organized. There are several sections, but they very naturally flow one into the other. They work wonderfully together, or you can do them separately.I ALWAYS do all of it, which is one hour -- without the bonus section. I just love it too much to skip any of it.And the music is FANTASTIC, super, super relaxing. She has all the right cues for the moves, but just the necessary ones. She doesn't talk just to talk. That means you get the benefit of the healing music as well, which adds greatly to the practice in terms of relaxation and deep awareness.I have found when I am done I feel blissful and light as air. After my first practice, the next day I felt even better than after the practice. Now that I've been doing it a while, I feel the same way, really looking forward to the practice, but I've advanced in the poses, gotten more flexible, and now a whole new kind of stretching is possible. For example, I couldn't do the seal pose very well at first. Now I've gotten better, my spine is more flexible and now I'm stretching all the muscles of the torso. I had no idea I even had those muscles -- it's how it feels. Amazing.I almost forgot to say . . . I was in good shape and have been all my life, but after doing this practice, I've definitely felt more freedom in my spine and hips, besides overall flexibility. Feels fantastic.One of the other reasons I can't stay away from this DVD is that it's SOOO nurturing, besides creating deep inner peace and spiritual realization.WARNING -- If you're used to doing fast yoga as exercise, this yoga practice is not about that. It's Yin Yoga. It's about structural benefits and emotional and spiritual benefits.What I would like next from Mimi is another DVD exactly like this one, but with some new poses, and perhaps some slightly more challenging ones -- like the next level sort of a thing.In any case, this DVD has inspired me to get into Yin Yoga. I've read a bunch of books by now and am taking our local Yin Yoga teacher training :-) I am so excited.

So, this week I went on travel for business and I wanted to have an easy yoga routine that I could do in the evenings without a lot of space or special equipment. I found this video and decided to rent it, to try it out on my Kindle Fire.Well, it was exactly what I wanted. Each evening, I laid out a sheet on the floor (a yoga mat would have been better, but it wasn't critical for these poses), took a hot bath to loosen up, then did perhaps 20-30 minutes of the video to unwind before going to sleep. It was wonderful!Ms. Solaire's voice is very soothing, and so is the music, and I found the timing and instruction to be perfect! I've found some videos to be lacking in the timing department, perhaps because the instructor is focused on production or ??? With this video, I felt like I was in a room with an instructor and I always consider it to be a compliment to a teacher when I can do most of the poses without looking...but it was very nice to have the video when I needed that feedback.I would highly recommend this for those of you who like gentle yoga. I am going to buy the video, or perhaps the DVD, maybe even both. It's a nice repertoire that I won't get tired of.

I'm writing this review for other active 20somethings. This DVD had very high reviews, but I wasn't sure about it. All of the reviewers seemed to be grandparents or inactive adults, and I worried that this DVD would be too easy. I'm also generally anti-yoga, and was looking for a stretch dvd not a yoga dvd.So, why did I buy this DVD? I have a full time job, a part time job, a mortgage, and I'm a year into a two-year executive MBA program. I feel tense most of the time, and I was looking for an outlet for all of that stress.I felt different after just one session with Mimi. I'll tell you now that you might not feel like you're doing anything while you go through the DVD (I didn't), but you WILL see and feel results. I'm a former figure skater (15 years) and dancer, and now I run. I honesty don't know how I lived my life before Mimi.Mimi is calm and encouraging, and while I was initially skeptical, I now completely trust her. Her program allows you to relax completely and deeply. It's a time to take inventory of both your body and mind. Many of us have very busy schedules, and the only time we stop moving is when we're asleep. I've found this DVD to be both a physical and emotional experience. If you have stress in your life, unacknowledged emotions you need to work through, or if you're just looking for some peace and self reflection, buy this DVD. You will not be sorry.

As much as I love this stretch video, I wish there were some kind of guide posted for those who download or steam the video. You begin on the floor and the title of this is "Back Stretches". Then at 19min 45sec, it goes to "Hips and Legs", and you're still on the floor. You'll use a strap with that segment. The last segment is at 39min 55sec for "Neck and Shoulders" and you'll use a rolled up towel to support your neck. Oh, there is a Bonus super Stretch Segment at 1hr 17seconds that she refers to as "more challenging", and it is! Here you'll see the old downward facing dog standard and more.Personally I was looking for deep stretches while standing. I work at a desk for most of the day and I wanted something to do on breaks. The music is soothing and quite familiar, I listened to this exact music by Liquid Mind as a student while I studied for exams (listen to it on Pandora!).