If you are a student or an employee, breaking your back on an uncomfortable chair for about half of the day, then subsuming core yoga into your daily routine is all that you need. Core Yoga is a hybrid with numerous benefits for people with back pain, flabby abdomen, and fat build-ups around the waist.
What is Core Yoga?
Core yoga heals the inner core of your body, dealing with a set of deep muscles, which grants you stability for essential routine operations like walking, sitting, etc.
If you are wondering where those core muscles are, then you may refer to your navel or abdomen. It includes muscles in the lower back, mid-back, pelvic, and hips. This pack of tissues collectively supports your skull and backbone. Just imagine what would happen if they stop working the right way?
Think of your body as a wire-filled powerhouse, where each cord must be straightened out. If you don’t keep the cords sorted, your body will decrepit, losing not only its inner power but its posture too. To maintain the right shape of your body inside and out, you need to keep your core muscles healthy and strong.
Core yoga poses help you gain the ideal body shape, focusing mainly on your belly and waist. Like power yoga, core yoga centralizes on workouts more than meditations. Therefore, it grants inner power and strength, along with better physique and mental health. Since core yoga features robust and dynamic postures and transitions, I would only recommend it to people with a clean bill of health.
Benefits of Core Yoga
The core balances your entire structure. It’s your core, which enables you to perform a variety of bodily activities. This functionality highlights the importance of a well-structured and robust center in the light of which expert yogis have designed core yoga. Following is a glimpse of boons you can enjoy with core yoga.
1. No More Back Pains
Strengthening your core muscles provides improved support to your spine and eradicates any pain in your torso. It also eliminates discomfort and mobility issues.
2. Enjoy a Better Posture
Core yoga strengthens your muscles and aligns your limbs for a better body posture. Did you know that the balance you need to stand straight is also essential for body ventilation? A well-balanced body posture clears out your air duct, which ensures calm and steady breathing. Hence, core yoga not only improves your balance but your breathing process too.
3. Be the Best Sportsman
With core yoga, you can control the main body muscles that affect your performance in every physical aspect, be it a regular walk or a sports competition. Since every physical activity involves your core, it’s undeniable importance in almost every sport leads core yoga to do wonders for athletes. It enhances their athletic performance, along with improving their overall health.
Who Needs Core Yoga?
If you can’t balance yourself on icy pavement or have trouble taking steep stair-flights, then you probably have a weak core. Since your core is a part of such necessary activities, you do not necessarily have to be a sportsman to practice core yoga. I have listed down some of the main signs of weak core muscles. If you find yourself fitting into any of the categories, you need to add core yoga in your routine before it’s too late.
- Your back hurting for no definite reason is an indication of a weak core. Due to this weakness, your joints bear extra pressure to compensate for the loss of stability and balance, which results in undefined joint pains. So a weak core does not only affect your torso but your joints too.
- Do you feel your energy drain out after a few minutes of standing in a line, or do you frantically look for something to lean on to after a long-standing period? These are two significant signs of a fatigued core. That’s because a strong core stabilizes your lower back and generates power for the required physical activity.
- If you cannot stand up from a sitting position promptly without any support, your core is not doing its job efficiently. Consequently, your body needs extra help to lift you.
- Loss of balance is a primary sign of a weakened core. Try standing straight with your eye closed. If you succeed, then you have a strong core. In case, you feel yourself moving forward or losing your balance; it highlights a fatigued core.
When I started to notice these factors, I failed to understand their cause until I met a yogi to guide me through it. You might not believe it, but core yoga is way more powerful and effective than high doses of medicines that can expose you to a bunch of other side-effects.
Top 5 Core Yoga DVDs for Home-Based Practitioners
1. Shiva Rae Core Yoga
Shiva has certainly made yoga her life. With this DVD, she has offered the perfect workouts for a secure and robust core to improve your balance and posture. The DVD features seven dynamic sessions with a customizable matrix to let you choose your workout routine.
What We Liked
- These intermediate-level core yoga workout sessions will take your core-strengthening game to a whole new level. It enhances your flexibility and balance.
- The customizable matrix enables you to design your sessions on your own as per your energy and time. It was this feature that kept me going throughout my courses as I quickly get bored by following the same routine.
- Shiva being a master yogi, introduces amazingly creative postures that are often quite distinct from the others. Some of the poses are extremely tough and will make you sweaty in almost no time.
- Shiva’s voice, along with the soothing music in the background, makes the sessions more revitalizing.
What We Didn’t Like
- If you are a beginner looking for core yoga, I’d recommend you check out some other options.
- I found her instructions a little hard to follow and had to look at the screen regularly before I got used to her style.
- You may also find her moving a little too fast in the beginning, but you’ll cope with her after a few sessions.
2. Rodney Yee’s Core Centered Yoga
Well, who in the yoga-word hasn’t heard of Rodney? He has been practicing and teaching yoga for over a decade. With this DVD, he will help you find your core center and get it in the right shape. The DVD has five different sections, showing how slight changes in your yoga poses can do wonders.
What We Liked
- Based on the detailed explanation of every pose and their effects, I’d recommend this to practitioners of all levels from beginners to experts.
- If you had to turn down other DVDs because of their level of difficulty, then this is a great choice. Yee has thoroughly explained how little changes in regular yoga poses can effectively lead to a strong core.
- The opposing movements Yee uses to transition into poses offers mental and physical benefits.
What We Didn’t Like
- If you are a dynamic practitioner, you’ll find this DVD a bit slow. It is usually suitable for beginners or for people who mainly prefer slow yoga.
- If you are looking for a core workout session, then this product is not for you.
- Since you have to follow the same yoga routine daily, you can quickly get bored.
3. Shiva Rea Creative Core and Lower Body
With this DVD, Shiva makes sure to give you a fun and dynamic core yoga session. Once you get the hang of how to flow between postures smoothly, not only will your body be on fire but your soul too. Her creative core-strengthening sessions focus on your core and lower body and save you from tiring ab-workouts.
What We Liked
- This DVD is excellent for people who intend to strengthen their core without unnecessary upper body workouts.
- This DVD is excellent for people with limited time. It has four sections that together last for less than forty minutes. You can skip right to the part which you want to practice, in case you are short on time.
- Shiva’s choice of poses for this DVD is quite different from many others. They are instrumental and fun and do not include boring crunches.
What We Didn’t Like
- It does not offer a customizable matrix, leaving you with the same set of exercises for each session.
- There is a short time between the core workout and Shavasana. I used to pause the DVD for a few breaths and a slow transition into Shavasana.
4. Yoga-Core Cross Train
Rodney Yee, the great yogi, has designed this DVD to strengthen and restore your core power, flexibility, and balance. The DVD includes two sections. One is a 30-minutes long core-strengthening workout session, and the other is an equally long restorative session.
What We Liked
- I would call it a practical workout DVD. Its core-strengthening course introduces a dozen poses to practice. There are short resting moments between each pose to let you catch your breath and not be all worn away with it.
- Some of the poses are quite challenging and equally inspiring. Plus, the way Yee performs them will lead you to keep doing them until you succeed.
- The easy instructions make this DVD the right choice for beginners as well as intermediate practitioners.
- The sessions aren’t too long, and you can easily practice them even with a busy routine.
What We Didn’t Like
- If you are a daring person looking for new challenges in session, then this may prove annoying to you. You’ll have to follow the same routine for as long as you don’t switch it with another DVD.
- Since Yee has featured a lot of common poses, you might not be thrilled with what you get.
5. Gentle Yoga: 7 Beginning Yoga Practices with Jane Adams
This DVD is an excellent choice for middle-aged core yoga practitioners. Jane has specifically promoted core yoga for this age group because of the health issues people face during this time. The DVD features three segments that you can practice at different timings during the day.
What We Liked
- You can conveniently practice these divided workout sessions during different parts of the day. Each section has a specific aim around which you’ll find a particular set of exercises. This segment proves quite beneficial for people who need to awaken their muscles in the morning, need relief from a long-sitting job or need to relax for a good sleep.
- Since these workout sessions are not so long, you can easily adjust them to your routine.
- It offers seven habits and over hundreds of yoga poses. So you’ll hardly find yourself getting bored any time soon.
Clear instructions are quite easy to follow, even for beginners. - I find the slow pace of the DVD quite suitable for the target audience.
What We Didn’t Like
- Despite the beautiful scenery in the background, I find the narrations quite disturbing during the poses. Plus, the music makes it more challenging to understand the instructions.
- If you are an electric or power yoga fan, you’ll perhaps find this tedious and slow.
Conclusion
I’d say core yoga is not a choice; in fact, it should be a part of everyone’s life today. You can practice it even if you do not have the signs of a weak core so you can reap its enormous health benefits in the long run.
Shiva Rea and Rodney Yee, as mentioned, are among the most well-known trainers with some great videos to help you practice core yoga in the comfort of your home.
Shiva Rea Creative Core and Lower Body DVD is a choice for people who mainly want to focus on strengthening their core muscles rather than having abs.
For a better variety of poses and routines, you can check out Shiva Rea Core Yoga DVD. However, if you want something age-specific, then Jane Adams here has a great product.
Last update on 2024-11-18 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
