When I first heard about Deepak Chopra’s Leela, I couldn’t imagine how Chopra could connect the polar opposites of a fast-paced video games and the mind-chilling elements of meditation. I was intrigued, to say the least.

Leela is a production resulting from the alliance of Chopra and THQ Inc. that uses the gaming technology of either the Kinect for Xbox 360 or the Nintendo Wii to help players maintain physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual balance.

The Xbox version detects your body’s movements, while the Wii requires you to hold the controller. Either way, the games pick up on the movements of your body to help you “relax” and develop into that state of “balance and flow” that Chopra continuously refers to in his writings.

Once you think about it, doesn’t it seem perfectly logical that Chopra could use game systems, created to follow our body’s movements, to guide us into a state of relaxation? Simply shift the focus away from competition and high scores, and instead, make the goal of the game something we’re all striving for: inner peace.

How can Leela help you get there? The game’s main focus centers around the ancient system of Chakras, the body’s seven energy centers (each spot is highlighted with its color on the screen).

Leela invites you in with seven specific exercises focused on each chakra, gradually increasing through 40 levels of difficulty. You start with the root; your hips, with circular moves (nothing strenuous–chakras react to gentle movements) that mimic yoga’s gentle moves. The heart chakra exercise calls you to harness fireballs that release gems imbedded in descending rocks. While these chakra exercises are important, the key to these exercises is how they narrow the focus to each chakra; bringing the “attention” there. This is one of Chopra’s constant prescriptions for healing. The game moves you through progressively higher levels, as you complete the game’s exercises. For shattered nerves, zone out with Leela and the game’s guided meditation mode, where the accompanying soft voice talks you down into a state of calmness and receptivity. Here the focus is on images and teaching you important breathing techniques that relax your nervous system. You can express your creativity by creating your own mandala. I am intrigued by the “Oracle” game I have yet to “unlock.”

This game is certainly a refreshing change from mind-numbing video games, and I am looking forward to future editions of of this game — one that might include yoga too! This meditation/relaxation game is certainly a refreshing change from mind-numbing video games, and something I hope to see expand.

Also check out the Leela Mandala Facebook App to create and customize your own personal “mandala” – artwork that expresses an individual’s unique essence and intentions. If you’re interested in being entered for a chance to win a copy of Leela, provided by THQ, along with a Wii console, provided by BlogHer, leave me a comment below, answering the following question:

How do you find peace and balance in your busy daily life?

Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older.

Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.

You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 11/11/2011 – 12/8/2011.

Be sure to visit the Leela Roundup page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!

A review to the best yoga DVDs for beginners and beyond. There are two secrets to maintaining a strong at-home yoga practice.

• Find a good teacher and learn the basics. Let the instructor guide you, and put you in the right position so you can “feel” what each pose is supposed to do to your body.
• Have a wide variety of yoga DVDs to choose from. This keeps you from getting bored, and ensures that you always have access to a yoga routine that meets your needs of the day.

So, here’s the list of the best yoga DVDs. Click on the picture of each DVD to go directly to the Amazon.com page.

Yoga Shakti

If you want to invest in only one yoga DVD, this is the one. Shiva Rea, a yogi of international fame, created this beautiful DVD in India and the Maldive Islands. This innovative yoga DVD contains 4 complete practices, (with adjustments for beginner, intermediate and advanced). Plus, the DVD features a unique yoga matrix, a mistake-proof system that allows you to pick and choose your practice session to suit your time and needs. Out of the 7-days-per-week that I do yoga, I use this DVD for at least 4 of those days. The core of this vinyasa flow yoga DVD are the sun salutations, dancing warrior, forward bends, lunges, hip openers and twists. Also includes pranayama (breathing exercises) and meditation. And you can set options for music only, or music with instruction. Music is Indian-New Age — soothing and great to listen to.
Power Yoga: Total Body Workout:
Rodney Yee, who has been a teacher of yoga for over two decades, created this 60-minute vinyasa flow yoga DVD as a workout to build your core through balance and strength. Beautiful scenery along the Hawaii coastline, this yoga DVD helps you detoxify your body by building heat while integrating body, mind and spirit. You can customize this DVD for beginner, intermediate and advanced.
Baron Baptiste: Journey into Power:
This video will quickly help you build your core and stamina. Baptiste gives very detailed, accurate instructions on placement, noting which fingers of your hand need to be pressing, and which toes should be pushing. Baptiste is an excellent yoga teacher, and this 45-minute vinyasa flow will build strength, while creating a reservoir of calm within yourself.
Kundalini Yoga for Beginners & Beyond:
Kundalini Yoga awakens the kundalini energy that is coiled int he base of your spine through sound, movement and breath. The goal is to move this energy up through the chakras of your body. Ana Brett & Ravi Singh, the creators of this DVD, claim Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and the Red Hot Chile Peppers as their clients. This DVD includes two 25 minute sets which can be done by themselves, for a quick, invigorating workout, or, if you have more time, you can do both together. Also includes the ‘Five Tibetans,’ exercises to keep you flexible, energetic and youthful.
A.M. and P.M. Yoga for Beginners
This two disc yoga DVD set is designed for busy days when you need to feel calm and centered. Although this video is aimed at beginners, the experienced yoga practitioner will be able to modify the poses to create the level of workout needed. However, at all levels, this beautifully-filmed Yoga DVD is designed to rejuvenate and calm the mind. I use the 20-minute A.M. yoga workout to help me build a solid foundation for the rest of the day. This very gentle workout energizes the body, and reminds you of the connection between mind and body. The P.M. session is, what Rodney calls, “a gift.” The gift of relaxation. He guides you through stretches, standing poses, and forward bends to help you feel calm and revitalized. I often am asleep before the DVD is over.

The Barkan Method: Hot Yoga
Here on DVD is Barkhan Method Hot Yoga sequence, which is a bit different than Bikram’s Hota Yoga Method.  This detailed instructional DVD set allows you to work on the postures at home, and is idea for daily practice. This DVD has a very nice feature:  You can reference a posture by clicking the select button on your remote, and it will take you to a tutorial that will examine this posture in fuller detail.  When finished, you hit select to go right back where you were.
Yoga for Stress Relief (With The Dalai Lama):
Need I say more? Barbara Benagh, the creator, has practiced and taught yoga for nearly 35 years, and opened the famed Yoga Studio on Beacon Hill in 1980. This DVD includes a 30-minute lecture of the Dalai Lama teaching “how to meditate.” The advantage of this DVD is that Barbra has created flexibility, offering a 20 or 90-minute workout, with the ability to tailor the workout to match your individual needs of the day — such as hip openers, or breath work. Truly, a unique yoga DVD, the sessions include: neck, shoulder and back issues; lower back tension; mood uplift; anxiety relief; and stomach and digestion issues. Whether you are new to yoga or not, any the 20 yoga sessions will satisfy.
Bryan Kest Power Yoga Complete Collection:
Bryan is nice to watch. But there’s a lot more to this yoga DVD than beautiful bodies. Kest teaches yoga classes in Santa Monica, California to the stars. So, you can experience what the stars do with this strength-building 3-volume set. Volume 1, Energize; Volume 2, Tone; and Volume 3, sweat. Volume 1 is designed for beginners, as each challenging pose is followed by rest. Volume 2, Tone, you hold the stretches and poses for a longer period, but Kest still gives you opportunities to rest if you need to. If you’re an advanced yogi, you will still find enough here to challenge you. In Volume 3, you build sweat with back-to-back sun salutations, and solid balance poses to help you build strength. Despite all the hard work you’re doing, this Yoga DVD is soothing, and Kest offers gentle reminders to push yourself, yet stay true to your own practice, regardless of what is going on around you. A powerful Yoga DVD, that makes you very grateful for Shavasana (relaxation).
Yoga Conditioning for Weight Loss:Deluxe DVD Edition:
For some, the goal of any exercise is weight loss. But why not combine this goal, with a way to relieve stress and connect your mind, body and spirit? Suzanne Deason, the creator, and other instructors lead you through a series of asanas (poses) that will be easy for beginners, and experienced yogi practitioners. Detailed instructions are throughly covered, and gives you 4 options for modifying. This is a 45-minute program that will help you get up and move, and create a solid sense of well-being.
Shiva Rea – Creative Core Abs:
To Shiva, the abs are “our physical center, and our inner fire.” Yogi’s say, the abs are the spot of our physical, emotional and spiritual selves. Think about where you feel it when you hear some bad news — hits you right in the center. In this DVD, Shiva takes you through 3 different programs, that range from 7 to 20 minutes, with precise metaphors to take you into the pain that will bring you a solid core.The 3 sessions provide enough variety to keep things from being mundane, and the beautiful scenery and music help too.
Seane Corn – Vinyasa Flow Yoga – Uniting Movement And Breath A very good yoga DVD for beginners, Seane is passionate about yoga, and builds her instruction every step of the way around pranayama (breathing) and asanas (poses) working together.

I looked up from the hospital gown that draped over my belly, my knees poking through the stiff cotton fabric, dotted with green diamond rosettes, and was surprised to see the straight black hair framing the face of my still pregnant girlfriend, as she poked her head through the doorway. She had come to visit my first-born son and me. I had been through an ordeal… my emotions within the last 24 hours had run through the possibility of loosing my son, to an emergency c-section, to the beautiful realization that he was all right, to the awareness that I now had a catheter, and to the excruciating pain in my belly if someone dared to make me laugh. Or worse, if I had to sneeze, or cough. Excruciating pain.

Like a true girlfriend, she sat down on the bed beside me, and snuggled up close to see how I was, before checking on the baby. I lifted the sheets, and showed her how magically this birth had just “flattened my belly like a pancake.” A weight had truly been lifted off of my lungs, and air was much easier to take in. I was thinking how lucky I was to get off so easy – no crunches required. The second I gave birth, my stomach was instantaneously “concave.”

Except when I lifted the sheets and saw her eyes, I sadly realized my perception was a little skewed from reality. Maybe it was all those percocets I had been taking. She looked at my belly, and back up to my face and said, “yeah, it takes awhile to loose some of that.” A bit embarrassed, I pretended to know what she was talking about, brushed off her words and turned our attention to the little baby lying beside the bed.

Fourteen years later, she surprised me again by standing on my doorstep, her black hair falling forward, framing her face. Like a true girlfriend, she plopped down on the sofa with me, and she held me close, knowing a hug was what I sorely needed. Her hand dropped slowly across me, and we both noticed the four-inch wide gap between the waist of my pants and the now truly concave shape of my belly.

A girl may carry her emotions on her face, but it is her belly that reveals what’s happening in her spirit. The belly is the center of power. Yogis tell us that strengthening the belly is vital, as all the energy centers radiate from the frequency given off by the belly. That little pouch that first appears signals the arrival of a new life, or the “extra tire” reveals her satisfaction with the people she loves, and in her confidence to eat just two more of those chocolate chip cookies. Sometimes the belly is not just flat, but seems to be missing. The cookies have lost their charm, and greasy indulgences of junk food are simply passed over. Nothing seems to fit. Almost as if she is getting rid of everything that no longer belongs to who she is. When the belly is truly concave, this is a time when a girl is quietly giving birth to herself.

In exactly 18 minutes, I can fall deeply asleep, wake up completely refreshed, and for a brief couple of seconds, not remember where I am, or even what century this is. My cheeks will feel flushed and drained, as if I have been asleep like a teenager sleeping past noon, blissfully unaware of the dawning of the day. In 18 minutes, I can wipe out extreme exhaustion and face the second act of the day, and handle  whatever the four boys want to dole out.

The practice is called Yoga Nidra, and yogis say that I am really not asleep, but actually my mind is more relaxed than if I were asleep. I’ve moved to the Delta state, beyond the Alpha state of sleep,  between dreaming and waking. Because the entire Yoga Nidra session is on my Ipod, the track brings me down to deep relaxation in two or three minutes, and then back up to a state of alert waking consciousness, without any effort on my part. I am simply horizontal the entire 18 minutes.

Yoga Nidra is extremely relaxing, and yogis say this state is a place of extreme healing. This is the place, yogis say, where your thoughts originate –  the place before the dreams. The practice heals me, helps me think clearer, and makes yoga nidra healing for my family.

For me, it’s 8 hours of sleep packed into 18 minutes. If this makes sense, it actually gets rid of that restless state I often find myself in, when I’m too tired to fall asleep at night. I can do Yoga Nidra at 7:30 at night, feel refreshed and alert, and yet still fall into bed and go to sleep again at 10:30 and sleep through the night.

I have searched the Internet for a you tube video of Yoga Nidra you could play right now, but I could not find one. The script is available, but this would do you no good, as you will be “out” and unable to read this.

It is on this CD by Shiva Rae, Drops of Nectar. I bought it years before I started blogging, so this is not a review. I’ve loaded onto my Ipod, and I listen to it at least 3 times per week. Despite the repetition over the years, Yoga Nidra never fails to “knock me out.”

Doing yoga….
“Mom… I’m scared in my bed. Will you sleep with me?”
“Just settle here beside my yoga mat (it’s dark) and fall asleep.
Doing yoga….
“17, 18, 19”
“What are you doing now?”
“I’m doing my exercises… I’m doing 100 pushups.”
Doing yoga…
“Mom, I’m thirsty. Can I come downstairs for water?”
One water cup filled, sent them off to bed again.
Doing yoga…
“Mom, I have to write an essay about this editorial cartoon – and I just don’t get it –why is Obama afraid of Cheney?”
Doing yoga…
“Mom, I just remembered…”
“It can wait till morning.”
“OK… but don’t forget to tell me to remind you that it’s my share day at school tomorrow, and I signed up to bring the snack.”
Doing yoga…
“Mom.”
“No. Go to bed. I’m busy.”
“But this is really important.”
“Go to sleep.”
”It involves electricity and water.
“What?!”
“I accidentally spilled my water cup all over the CD player.”
Doing yoga….
“Mom… if our team goes undefeated….”
Doing yoga….
“Mom… now, tell me again… our governor is ending snow days, why?”
Doing yoga…
“Mom… don’t forget. I need a plant for my habitat open house tomorrow night. A really BIG one.”
Doing yoga…
“Mom, can earthquakes happen here”
Doing yoga…
Mom… my feet keep getting uncovered. How do you keep covers from falling off of you all night?”
Doing yoga…
“Mom, my homework won’t print. It says out of ink.”
Doing yoga….
“Now it says it’s time to align the cartridges.”

I gave up yoga the very month of WoYoPracMo: 31 days of yoga. Skipping yoga this month wasn’t intentional –I simply began shoving off my yoga mat as a way to catch up, here and there, on some sleep and deadlines in a world that gives me so few hours of solitude. Then, I started to rationalize, to my yoga friends, that maybe I was doing yoga everyday, because at least I always did Shavasana — relaxation pose.

The problem was, I got hooked on not doing yoga. Once I began calculating how much extra time I would gain by skipping a session here and there, I realized I had struck time-machine gold. I snatched up the minutes as quickly as if they were marbles scattering across a floor. Once I dipped my toe into those hours normally reserved for yoga, deadlines began to melt away, and so did my stress level.

Or so I thought. Truth be told, the only treasure I really found was Fool’s Gold.

As the month wore on, I found a new friend. Insomnia. At first, I didn’t catch the connection between my dwindling yoga practice and my newfound familiarity with the ceiling in my bedroom, my sheets, and my pillow. Without missing a beat, insomnia showed up on my pillow night after night with increasing frequency, first making its appearance known as restless legs. RLS is a syndrome I inherited from my mother, and one that must be managed to avoid a night of pain and lack of sleep. If you’re a sufferer of RLS, you know the drill; pick from the list of remedies and hope one works.

But, over the years of my faithful yoga practice, I forgot what RLS was. In fact, I thought I was cured from RLS. Yoga had sufficiently stretched out my sciatic nerve through the long, deep slow hip-openers, as the twists uncoiled the tensions built up through the day along my spinal column. I hadn’t realized that the benefits of pigeon pose (the queen of the yoga hip opener poses) wash away with water at the dawn of a new day.

RLS does eventually pass in the night, leaving your body exhausted and worn out from the tension to sleep – even if it takes until 2 a.m. Yet, just as my body was opened for sleep, molehills became mountains. Insomnia picked up tiny threads of anxiety that were hidden, tucked away in my brain, and exploded them in the form of movies that played out in my imagination while I watched, helpless. Insomnia showed me no mercy. Maybe, if I had heeded the words of Shiva Rae, and “made an orbit around the sun of the heart,” sitting Indian style, and making small circles, those nasty little demons would have left me before the hours of sleep, resolved.

As I lay there, staring at the ceiling, worrying myself sick, the manifestations spread to my shoulders and neck, magnifying kinks that did not get worked out through the simple stretch of downward dog. My sleepless state had reached, in my nightmarish, exhausted state, pandemic proportions. When morning came, and I realized how ridiculously inept my horrors were, and I laughed. Sleepily.

One night – the worst and last night of the entire nightmare – I walked all the way down the three flights of stairs to the kitchen to get a drink of water, I shielded my eyes against every digital clock along the way, as I couldn’t bear to see how late, or early, it really was. But, by the time I made it to the refrigerator, I couldn’t resist looking at that green light: 4:35. Horrifying to think my alarm would be going off in less than 3 hours; and I was still very much in need of a good night’s sleep.

As I walked back up the stairs, my mind started to recollect other nights, in my past, when I had confronted night after night with the dark, quiet house, worn out from exhaustion. That’s when I made the connection between my sleeplessness and lack of yoga. This nighttime wakefulness was precisely the problem of my pre-yoga days.

What had originally started out as a great time-saver had instead led me to the most exhausted I have been in a long time.

The best part about not doing yoga is doing yoga again. I took my time, and eased my body back into its familiar routine, giving myself lots of long deep breaths, and the freedom to not go as deep as I had in the days before, but, rather to ease myself back into the long stretches. That night, I did, sleep like a baby.

It’s crucial that I be able to do yoga at the drop of a hat.  Literally.  Yoga takes time, and when I find myself with unexpected minutes, I usually seize the opportunity to indulge in a bit of deep core strengthening and stretching.  It soothes my weary ears from all that screaming. If I have only 10 minutes, and I am really tired, I select the 10-minute Yoga Nidra from Drops of Nectar to be transported to a deep state of relaxation and rejuvenation; I feel as if I’ve slept for 8 hours.

To allow this, I carry yoga with me on my cell phone.  The MP3 files of my favorite routines are loaded on my phone.  (Here’s how to to sync your MP3 files to a non-ipod mp3 player with itunes.) The voice of a trained instructor keeps me focused on my breath, on the next pose; rather than the laundry that needs switching.

Surprisingly, a yoga CD can sometimes take you deeper into yoga  than any yoga DVD. DVDs require you to watch; difficult to do while doing yoga.  A CD requires you to listen and move.  A good instructor can use good metaphors to talk you through the poses so carefully and accurately, that you won’t need to try to strain your neck just to see the TV; everything you  need to know is right there, in your ears, whether your eyes are closed or not. These CDs or Yoga MP-3 files truly are the ultimate in a portable yoga studio, allowing you to do yoga anywhere, anytime, directly from your Iphone, your I-pod, MP-3 player or CD. Also, these CDs are a bit less expensive than DVDs.

Here’s a list of my favorites.

Yoga Chant

Jai Uttal’s music accompaniment on this 2-CD set is the perfect backdrop that allow you to shut out the world and get serious about yoga. Shiva Rea, is an accomplished yoga instructor, with a calm voice, and has a natural talent for saying the precise word that enables you to get into the pose properly. You will be surprised at how deeply you will enter into a yoga practice with a simple CD; this CD contains asanas designed to open your heart, and increase the amount of air flow to your lungs. The music is the perfect companion to Shiva’s soothing instructions that take you deep into a yoga practice that you adjust based on your level, your time constraints. Each routine can be tailored every time, and eds with poetic mediation’s by Hafiz and draws upon the wisdom of the Upanishads. Throughout the poses, Shiva intersperses her instruction with wisdom — “make sure your hips are even throughout this pose. Even hips are a metaphor for equanimous mind.” The common feature you will find with all of the CDs listed here is that each one grows with your practice. No pose is closed, as Shiva always opens the door to a deeper practice from where you are today.

Yoga Sanctuary: A Guided Hatha Yoga Practice

True to its name, Yoga Sanctuary is a versatile, portable yoga studio that allows you to choose from either a Solar or Lunar practice, guided by the yoga master, Shiva Rae. Within each practice, you can further customize your solar and lunar routines to match your time constraints and level of practice. The solar practice is fast, aerobic and strength building, including asanas for balance, strengthening the core, and backbends. The lunar CD is slower, giving you the space to open your neck and shoulders, hips and spine, and prepare you for sleep. Actually, it melts your tensions away so that you can sleep. In an ideal world, I would ultimately do a solar practice each morning, followed by a lunar practice each evening. If only there were enough hours!

Bryan Kest’s Long, Slow & Deep: A Complete 90 Minute Yoga Workout (CD & Booklet)

This is truly a luscious yoga treat of relaxation and rejuvenation.  This CD is designed for those days when sun or moon salutations stir up too much energy, and you are looking for a soothing, slower yoga practice — but you still don’t want to get short-changed out of the benefits of your daily yoga practice.  In Bryan’s words from the case:  “I wanted people to see how utterly potent this kind of practice can be even without focusing on strength, endurance or even acquiring much heat. I also wanted people to experience the benefits of holding poses a little longer, giving these massive areas (hamstrings, groin, hips, shoulders, etc.) more time to release deeper.”

The Yogi’s Companion
While the pose on the cover may look intimidating, Lauren Peterson has created a yoga system here that takes listeners through a yoga journey whether you are beginner or advanced, with a large foldout poster of 175 photos of this yoga’s flow sequences.  In addition, this CD allow you to customize the session to meet the amount of time you can dedicate to yoga for the day, as well as “what you feel like doing” today.  This DVD was selected as an Editor s Choice by Yoga Journal.

Yoga Nidra Meditation CD: Extreme Relaxation of Conscious Deep Sleep Our first yoga pose is Yoga Nidra.  Yet, we do this pose from the moment we are born, without knowing what it is. However, it is this pose that generates the most healing.  Yoga Nidra means simply, Yogic Sleep.  Here, you leave your waking mind, go past the dreaming state, and consciously even the stillness of the Deep Sleep State — yet remain awake.  Here, you balance the energies and greater depths of mediation.  This empty state is the place were stress is transformed, and healing begins.

Drops of Nectar

Every yoga pose is a journey to one place — Shavasana. It is here that is yoga’s final pose. When achieved, shavasana releases a natural flow of “nectar” down the spine, and then permeates the entire body with relaxation. Drops of Nectar allows you to achieve this rejuvenating state at home, following the Shiva Rae’s guidance. This sublime two-CD program is a yoga CD that you do primarily on your back; but does include some stretching asanas, but primarily you will be guided through the progressive relaxation of 36 areas of the body, the five koshas (layers) of the body, a special meditation for healing areas of pain and blockage, and the secret ball society for releasing tension in specific areas of the body. There are also specific shavasana practices, including Lunar Shavasana, which prepares the body for deep and restful sleep, and Awakening the Lotus” chakra-based meditation.

Sandwiched between long hours of sleep deprivation and the hopelessness that came when I realized there wasn’t a thing I could do to stop my baby from crying, I longed, for the first time in my life, to smoke a cigarette. The hacking cough that would have accompanied the puffs eluded me, because I never joined my peers, behind the school, when they drew their first puff. I had never smoked; yet I craved that slow inhalation that smokers take.

In that sleep-deprived, post-delivery daze, my imagination conjured up cravings of deep inhales with a vision of myself sitting at the kitchen table; relaxed, hands free, except for the cigarette, drawing long, slow puffs, thinking meditatively about what I would do next.

Funny, I didn’t give a thought to where I would find the minutes to sit, with idle hands. From the first hour that our first-born child crossed our threshold, my meals were eaten on the sofa, while I nursed him; then I changed his diaper; then I tried to rock him to sleep, or gave him a bath, or changed his clothes. When would I find the time to hold a lighted torch?

As soon as I got some sleep, months later, I would have reasonably weighed the probability of hurting the baby with the torch, and the dangers secondhand smoke. But those days were way, off into the future, at the time.

So, instead of smoking, I started yoga. Both vices involve deep breathing, and heavy exhales. The welcome departure I craved from the short gasps, sobs and inconsolable screams that accompanied my colicky baby. Car rides did work to stop the screaming, but because of my c-section, I could not drive. So, my husband would drive us when he came home from work, and I would sit in the backseat beside this little six-pound baby that needed the flannel-blankets my Mom had made for him last summer, propped up around him just to keep his head from falling.

Yoga is less expensive than smoking, but as I soon learned, eats more of my time.

My first yoga teacher was a kind woman with dark hair and dark eyes that fell in love with my baby. The class was Thursday nights at 7, in a large classroom in a building that held offices. There was a lighted candle, and six or seven of us. The poses were difficult; but the teacher was gentle. Learning the poses, especially because they were so challenging, gave my mind a welcome break.

Once, when my husband was out of town on Thursday, my teacher suggested I bring my baby along to class.

I bathed my little boy, and dressed him in his finest soft cotton sleeper, dotted with blue bears. His red hair set off the glow from his crystal blue eyes; and he beamed the minute my teacher said “Hello.” Sitting in his carrier, he sat beside me as we went through the poses in the candlelight room.

Halfway into the poses, he started to cry, and out of respect for the other students, I scooped him up and we went home. It is a myth to believe that babies naturally “settle down” just because they sense someone in the room is doing yoga.

My husband began to travel more and more; the practicality of a scheduled class became less of a reality. Fortunately, my passion for those long deep breaths didn’t die, despite my inability to attend as often as I liked. I discovered the world of VHS tapes — with complete yoga routines. A portable on-demand yoga studio that changed my life, and opened me to an entire new world. I craved the continuity, and I relaxed into the routines where someone else, gently told me what to do next. Someone else was in charge.

Then the bomb fell; my beloved teacher was moving away. “Your first yoga teacher always makes the deepest impression,” she told me. “You’ll think you’ll never replace her, but someone will come into your life that is better than me.”

My last teacher, my fourth, carried me through a deeper practice, deeper into my muscles; a place that I can’t imagine that first teacher showing me. This physical journey paralleled health issues I would soon face; and continues to reflect back to me the grooves that life’s pain and joy have brought into my life. She was bold, insisting I do balance poses while pregnant. My resistance finally lost to her will, and I soon found that standing in dancer’s pose, holding one leg behind me and tilting forward with my free arm outstretched, was the only time that my back was free from the weight of pregnancy; my lungs opened, and I was able to carry more air down to the beating heart of my baby. Good yoga teachers intuitively know not only what your body needs today; but what it will need as you evolve.

Still, in many ways, yoga is a habit; and a vice.

I will do yoga when I am sleep deprived, especially when my muscles ache, and sometimes I even cancel time with friends so that I can fit in the time for my yoga. I miss, from what I hear, great TV shows; they’re right in the middle of yoga.

Before I started yoga, I was unaware that there would be built-in triggers that would keep me tethered to this soothing practice. Now that the backs of my thighs and calves know how deeply they can be stretched in downward dog, they crave it; and remind me that they have not done this yet as I try to drift to sleep. That lower back of mine, reminding me of the burdens I carried throughout the day, is instantly soothed with a forward bend, either sitting or standing. Yoga is about balance. Each forward bend must be balanced with a backward bend. My muscles know this; they expect me to keep the demand.

I have learned, through yoga, how to take a breath so deep, that it begins from a deeper place than my belly button.

Out of the desperation of colic, yoga has become my vice, a very good one at that. The unexpected treat of yoga is how it allows me to discover, somewhat unexpectedly, who I am not, and who I am. This is why I return to the mat. Because I missed myself. I am no longer the person who can’t remember to buy trash bags at the grocery store, or the woman unable to cook a meal who pleases her family. With yoga, I remember who I am.

And yes, to answer all of those email questions about the best one to buy, here is a list:

A Gift Guide

This has been said about Pilates: “You will feel better in 10 sessions, look better in 20 sessions, and have a completely new body in 30 sessions.”

If a Pilates DVD is on your (or her or his) wish list, here’s a review of the best-selling Pilates DVDs for beginners and beyond and why these DVDs lead the collection of the best.

Pilates Beginning Mat Workout

Pilates instructor Ana Caban clearly demonstrates proper alignment and technique for 10 minutes, and focuses on how to use the core muscles to strengthen the abdominal and back throughout the workout. Then she introduces a challenging 20-minute series of Pilates moves, instructing clearly with demonstrations, with constant reminders about technique, breathing and form. For an introductory DVD, this one will leave your abs sore.

Element: Pilates Weight Loss for Beginners

Similar to my favorite yoga DVDs, this DVD is filmed against a beautiful view overlooking the ocean. This is a beginner to intermediate workout that not only burns calories, but teaches you the basic alignment of Pilates. You’ll learn the core basics here: Control, concentration, precision, center, breath and fluidity.

On the Ball Pilates Workout for Beginners

This DVD by Lizbeth Garcia has been voted the Best Pilates Video of the Year by Health Magazine. Using a ball as a prop, this DVD teaches you how to do several Pilates exercises at home that you may have never thought possible.

Pilates Complete For Weight Loss

Many people come to Pilates for one simple reason: to loose weight. This DVD designed for beginners, intermediate and advanced students burns fat, builds muscles to tone the body. The DVD includes more than 15 customized mat workouts that range from 10 30 minutes.

Crunch – Super SlimDown: Pilates Yoga Blend

Ellen Barrett combines power yoga moves into a system she calls  “core-conditioning power pilates,” which makes good use of basic core yoga poses, Warrior II, extended right angle, cobra, locust. However, in these poses, Barret has you “pulsing” in and out of positions as if this were a aerobic class.  This generates heat for calorie burning. In the Pilates portions, there are leg lifts, core work, with a focus on breathing and alignment.

10 Minute Solution: Rapid Results Pilates

This DVD is perfect for anyone who has no time to exercise. The DVD contains 5 Pilates workouts, each 10 minutes. Lara Hudson uses a technique called Power Precision Sequencing to gives you fast results. If you have more time, you can combine them for a longer workout –for 50 minutes.  Each workout works on a specific area of the body to tone, firm and sculpt your muscles.

10 Minute Solution: Slim & Sculpt Pilates

Just like the 10 minute Solution series, this one includes 5 10-minute dynamic Pilates workouts designed to slim and re-shape your body.  A DVD band is included in the DVD case, and gives you the type of workout traditional reserved by Pilates machines — the Reformer and the Cadillac.

Hit the Spot – Pilates

This Denise Austin Pilates DVD gives a selection of customizable Pilates workout to zero into specific areas such as hips, thighs, buttocks, abs and waistline — all while improving your alignment and posture.

Pilates For Beginners

This DVD is one of the clearest, best beginner Pilates DVDs that you’ll find. The pace is slow enough to keep you from getting lost – yet quick enough to give you a challenge and a workout.

Classical
Pilates Technique – The Complete Mat Workout Series English &
Spanish (Modified Basic / Basic / Intermediate / Advanced / Super
Advanced)

This amazing DVD received  2003 AWARD OF DISTINCTION . Peter Fiasca, is the founder  Classical Pilates Inc., who began the Pilates method during 1988 in New York City. This video moves fast — fully encompassing traditional poses in the way they were intended to be done.

There were some nice things about going without power for four days.  The kids went to bed when it was dark; woke up by the sunrise.  Reading by candlelight is nice, once you get the hang of it. And the house was entirely quiet. No humming of anything.

We all have our vices; and there was this one thing that I could not do without: I have a substantial collection of Shiva Rae, and Baron Baptise stored on my Juke cell phone as mp3 files. Sure, I know I should have kept the phone free for emergency phone calls; and save what little battery power I had left. Our last connection with the outside world…

But, I couldn’t help myself. That one hour of yoga is the one thing I cannot do without.  No exceptions.  A must for any Mom.

Besides, we could alway use Dad’s phone.