Rating: 
Summary: Exceptional
Review: Mantra Girl's Erin Kamler has the artist's touch and it shows in every facet of this exceptional dvd. What an inspired gift!... Superb eastern music sung by Erin herself plays in the background, and a breathtakingly beautiful outdoor location by the ocean with palm trees yet (something we don't see where I live), very high quality production... It's like attending a special yoga class, you work out alongside Erin (the instructor), and four other female students. Note to regular yoga enthusiasts... Kundalini yoga is different from other branches of yoga, in some ways more exotic. There's an emphasis on powerful breathing and a different type of movement (it's not power yoga). You flex your spine quite a bit to get the energy flowing for instance, or sit cross-legged while twisting your torso repeatedly to each side. I often feel more revitalized after several minutes of kundalini yoga, than I do following an hour of regular yoga. It just works much quicker when you're doing breath of fire. There's a spiritual element to kundalini yoga you often won't find elsewhere and the eastern influence is definitely present. So if you're looking for a western "all body, no soul" type workout, kundalini yoga may not be for you. But for those of us who want more, kundalini yoga delivers in spades... This routine ends with a relaxation where you lay on your back, followed by chanting (two mantras) which I like, but that part can be avoided if you're iffy about chanting. I give Mantra Girl two thumbs up. I've seen my share of disappointing kundalini yoga dvd's, but this one (along with her follow-up "Advanced Kundalini Yoga For The Spiritual Warrior") has me falling in love with kundalini yoga all over again. Erin has raised the bar to a new level for at-home kundalini yoga workouts. I only hope she decides to produce more yoga dvd's down the road! More likely than not I'll buy them all.
Rating: 
Summary: A great challenge, but some downfalls
Review: This is a beautiful practice, with beautiful people (and their outfits) and beautiful music, but I have to say when I first played the DVD it seemed to be geared for male viewing. Rubbing hands vigorously and then showing close-ups of women with large chests didn't impress me as serious Kundalini Yoga. I was disappointed that the DVD does not include menus (it just runs from beginning to end like a VHS tape). Also, the voice seems to be dubbed in. If you can put all that aside, it is a very challenging Kundalini practice and well instructed.(Although I would not consider it for beginners. I would recommend Ravi Singh's DVDs for beginners.) The best part is Erin's music on the DVD -- it is wonderful and enlightening! She has a music CD available which I'm sure would be well worth the money. Please see my other recommendation for Yoga and Meditation DVDs on Amazon and thanks for reading!
Rating:
Summary: Best Chakra Balancing Yoga Workout
Review: This is an intermediate level kundalini yoga routine. Not too easy - movements are done for more than a few moments and it requires a bit of strength and endurance to keep going and not stop. But even the beginner can do these moving postures for as long as they can and if necessary take a brief rest in between, and work up over time. Many of the moves are done while sitting cross-legged on the floor, involving such things as arm movements, twisting of the torso, or pelvic rocking motions.
I really enjoy the chakra balancing emphasis of this routine, working up through the body's energy centres one by one, opening the heart, etc. My favourite part involves the 8th chakra (auric field) surrounding the body. While that might strike some as strange, it's very effective and empowering... Simple moves which cleanse the aura of the heavy energy we invariably pick up in negative environments or just by being around people who don't make us feel good. All I can say is it works! I feel fantastic after this workout, no matter how drained or exhausted I am beforehand, it always lifts me up.
Oh and I disagree with the comment about this being a male-oriented video due to big chested class partipicants?! I only recall one woman in the class who fits that description and frankly, it wasn't something I gave any thought to before until I read the other review (but then I'm female). I prefer to focus on the task at hand, which is maintaining my yoga practice. And this routine is more fun than any of the kundalini yoga classes I've taken so far.
The DVD is a little over an hour long (I think about 1 1/4 hours) so unfortunately I don't have time to do it everyday. But I highly recommend it for anyone interested in kundalini yoga.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Pleasant
Review: This is the first yoga DVD I've ever purchased so I am no expert by far. As a scrub nurse, I do know that after standing on my feet for 12 hours in the operating room, this routine loosens up all of my stiff and tense muscles, and restores my mood. As a beginner, I found this DVD to be "just right" -- not too difficult, but fun and entertaining.
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