Title: Yoga for Surfers Presents: Baby on Board Prenatal Yoga for Active Moms-to-Be with Peggy Hall and Melinda Ferreira.
Who’s it for: All expectant mothers. Though this is part of a line of workout DVDs called “Yoga for Surfers,” you don’t have to hang 10 to spread your toes in mountain pose.
What’s the goal: To promote flexibility, balance and healthy blood flow and to minimize prenatal anxieties by releasing physical and psychic tension.
Format: The DVD begins by giving a series of guidelines for safe yoga practice while pregnant and directing exercisers to the Web for a downloadable resource guide on the “do’s and don’t’s” of prenatal practice.
It contains a pair of sequences, one meant to be “energizing,” the other “soothing,” each about 25 minutes, plus segments on breathing exercises and guided meditation, for a 70-minute total running time.
What’s to like: Hall, the “Yoga for Surfers” creator who designed the sequences and directs Ferreira’s demonstrations from offscreen, aims to hit the sweet spot of effort and ease balanced specifically for the expectant mother, and she succeeds in creating a fluid practice.
Focusing on “self-care, soothing and self-appreciation,” she delivers narration that gives frequent encouragement, offers potential modifications and touches on the benefits of the practice. Instructing viewers to operate at about “75 percent” of regular effort, Hall checks in consistently with breathing and form cues as she guides Ferreira, who was six months pregnant during shooting, through the two sequences.
The “energizing” sequence features mostly standing postures: mountain pose; squats of varying depths; gentle standing twists; standing cat and cow and other back stretches; a “throw it behind you” yoga aerobic endurance move; shoulder rolls; a hybrid of a forward fold and downward-facing dog that uses stacked towels or blankets for support; and balance challenges.
The “soothing” sequence, conducted mostly on the floor,includes a wide-kneed child’s pose; a modified camel; side stretches; a back-arching cat and cow sequence that visits upward-facing dog; wrist circles; a mild hip opener; and gentle inversions, including modified versions of dolphin and downward-facing dog. Throughout, Hall reminds the yogini to let her body guide her: “If it doesn’t feel good, don’t do it.” Ferreira seems to feel good, smiling broadly through much of her practice.
What’s not to like: A pregnant lady less interested in the spiritual side of yoga could balk at Hall’s frequent suggestions to embrace the “miracle of creating a new life” or may smirk when told a move should leave her “feeling expansive and glorious, healthy and vital.”
Also, sweat fiends will be frustrated in their quest to perspire.
Distractions: The video’s palm trees and sunshine, which Hall says are intended to “make you feel like you’re on a tropical vacation,” might tempt you to leap up, run to your laptop and scour discount-airfare sites for “babymoon” flights to Hawaii.
Necessary gear: Yoga mat, blankets and a yoga block or pillows for back support.
Credentials: In addition to yoga training from the University of California-Irvine Extension and the Exhale Center for Sacred Movement in Santa Monica, Calif., Hall is an American Council on Exercise-certified personal trainer and weight and lifestyle management consultant.
Bonus features: The DVD menu includes a segment on Ujjayi breathing - also called “ocean” breathing, after the hissing sound it creates - to help ease discomfort; a “book of blessings,” guided meditation to help induce calm by ruminating on gratitude; and a “scrapbook” segment with images of Ferreira’s pregnancy and baby. Tucked inside the case is a reference card of the “best five prenatal poses” for practicing on the go.
Price: $29.95.
ActiveStyle, Pages 27 on 10/07/2013