Yoga Videos Aren’t All Equal at Getting Out the Kinks
Yoga used to be the kind of thing someone’s eccentric aunt did – a woman with a braid wrapped around her head who entertained the children by putting her foot behind her neck.
I tried screening three different videos on a day when my neck and shoulder muscles were tighter than last year’s jeans. I had knots the size of Rhode Island that had been there for weeks.
Jane Fonda’s Yoga Exercise (A.Vision) relaxed them. Kathy Smith’s New Yoga (BodyVision) warmed them up. Three hours later, after falling under the reassuring southern spell of actress Dixie Carter’s Unworkout (MCA Universal), they melted away.
Here’s how it went:
An all-natural Jane Fonda appeared on a set that looks like a craggy moonscape, wearing plain red leotards and tights, and sporting a French braid down to her hips. (It’s a hair extension, but what do we care.)
She demonstrated the classical Sun Salutation, a choreographed yoga routine traditionally used to greet the day, her huge Ted Turner diamond gleaming in the spotlight.
Then she asked us to join her...