Trudie Styler's Warrior Yoga
A Powerful, Rewarding Yoga Routine from a Celebrity Practitioner
Oct 27, 2009
Best known as the producer of movies such as Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, or perhaps even better known as wife of rock star Sting, Trudie Styler is also a yoga devotee. In partnership with fitness expert James D’Silva, she has put together Warrior Yoga, an intense, fairly advanced yoga workout that’s different from many other offerings from Gaiam.
Fluid, Intense and Challenging Workout
The yoga presented in Warrior Yoga relies largely on vinyasas, or sequences of poses that flow from one to the other. Poses are not held for extensive periods, and balance and a sense of flow is necessary to successfully navigate the sequences. Beginners will likely find the program difficult to work through at first. One major drawback is that D’Silva, who narrates the DVD, does not provide very many alternate approaches to difficult poses. Intermediate beginners who know something about how to modify poses will find their way through the workout, but the beginner will probably find themselves frustrated. One possible solution to this is to go slowly through the shorter workout, practicing in pieces until the full workout comes together more easily. Though this might put some off, the extra work will be worth it to master this flowing, expressive workout.
The DVD offers two separate workouts—the Express Workout at 25 minutes long and a full workout at 45 minutes. Even experienced yoga practitioners will be challenged by the Express Workout, while the longer one will provide even more opportunity to advance in ability. There are also two separate meditation programs, one narrated by Styler and one by D’Silva, to round out the yoga experience. The spiritual aspect of yoga is emphasized a bit more in D’Silva’s narration, but this in many ways adds to the experience rather than detracting. Also adding to the ambience of the DVD is instrumental music from Sting, largely drawn from his album Songs from the Labyrinth. The music proves not at all distracting, providing a pleasant and relaxing background to the fluid, constantly moving workout.
Additional Materials
Also included on the DVD are interviews with Styler, D’Silva and Sting, discussing yoga and also talking about work Styler and her husband have done on the Italian estate, Il Palagio, where they live and where the DVD was filmed. Il Palagio is huge but largely eco-friendly, and the interviews will be welcome to fans of Sting.
Overall, this is an excellent DVD, providing high-quality material for yoga enthusiasts, Sting completists, and anyone who would like to venture into a style of yoga different from many of the more mainstream yoga gurus.
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