Search - Bellydance for Beginners with Suhaila: Fitness Fusion Yoga on DVD

With beginners like these.......

Bianca | Bellingham, WA | 12/18/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

".....who needs professionals???? Seriously, this is NOT for beginners to yoga or bellydancing. You MUST have some experience (especially with undulations) or you'll be a little confused or completely lost and discouraged. I can get through the yoga well enough, in fact, I LOVE the yoga section....but when she starts using undulations there is little explanation. She incorporates them interestingly with cat & cow, but I wound up just pushing my stomach in and out. It is tough to isolate your upper and lower abs from one another and if you can't do that already to some degree, you may find this DVD frustrating. Though I can see that it's wonderful exercise and practice!! Suhaila doesn't only expect you to undulate, but she also expects you to switch the direction of the undulation at the drop of a dime while layering it on top of figure 8s and later on top of some crazy gluteal squeezes. I know things like this improve over time and with practice, but to call this a beginner video when it lacks detailed instruction on how to do ADVANCED moves is just wrong. It is a great video, though, and if I were an intermediate or advanced bellydance student who could undulate even only a little I would have given this more stars. A little side note: Suhaila is beautiful and inspiring and I watch her bonus performances while I sweat it out on my elliptical machine!"

Relaxing and Spiritually Healing

Rebecca Johnson | Washington State | 11/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yoga is relaxing and strengthening, while Pilates can shape your entire body very quickly. Bellydance is where your soul is free to express its creativity in a swirling of sounds and bodily expression. This is an internal and external workout to prepare you for such adventures.

Suhaila is sensual and spiritual as she moves through a dance-preparation workout designed to strengthen and tone through the use of Yoga and Pilates essentials. This is not a dance routine, nor is bellydance the focus. Instead, you can relax into the flowing movements or focus on your stomach in more subtle undulations or experience the relaxing stretching yoga postures.

Suhaila draws on dance exercises from Pilates, but enhances the movements with her innate sensuality. I love all her workouts and this is one of the essential and more relaxing workouts in the series. For beginners this would be an excellent point to start from because Suhaila does teach some figure 8s which relax the hips and give you a good workout.

There are balance exercises that would be enjoyed by intermediate bellydancers. Advanced bellydancers might enjoy the relaxing postures. I like the cat/cow stretching from Yoga. The undulations are easier to do while standing, so during some exercises you may prefer to just stretch or modify various positions to suit your strength level.

~The Rebecca Review
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Good Workout

Kimberly K. Marchese | Colorado Springs, CO United States | 06/13/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I was surprised how sore I was the next day. The workout seemed kind of tame. It was very slow and I didn't feel any burn. I was wondering if I was doing anything. I did feel very relaxed and refreshed after the workout. Then, the next morning, my triceps, upper back, obliques and buns were really sore. I have to say, at first I was a bit intimidated by all the belly rolls and butt crunching. I'm getting better over time. This isn't a complete body workout, it seems to target those above mentioned areas. I imagine, in combination with the other 3 workouts in the series, you'll get a full body workout. I'll be trying the Pilates and Jazz soon and I'll keep you posted!"

Part of my regular training regimen

Shantell Powell | Kitchener, ON, Canada | 06/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I did the Suhaila Yoga DVD tape today. It starts off deceptively easy, and then quickly works its way to things I just can't do. And I don't think I'll be able to work my way up to it, either. It all comes from my inability to have turnout at the hip. Since I have no turnout, when I sit on the floor with my legs open in a V, I simply cannot lean forward from the hip. In all other ways, I have excellent flexibility, but I'm just built a little crooked.

So I find the exercise where I'm supposed to sit in a V while doing glute isolations impossible to do correctly. Yes, I can isolate my glutes. I can isolate them very, very well. But I don't get the airtime Suhaila does, because I can't hoist my petard, so to speak. I can layer undulations over top of glute isolations (although it is a definite challenge), but I just can't do it in that position.

So maybe I'll try doing it while standing in a horse stance or something. That would certainly be an excellent workout!

I think the Yoga DVD is my favourite of the bunch. The yoga is integrally related to the dance movements drilled, and I think this video will be invaluable to people who have difficulties learning how to do abdominal isolations and camel undulations. It's also good for advanced dancers, because the one-legged mayas and figure 8s are an excellent challenge to your isolation skills and balance!

Your heart rate might not go cardio on you, but you'll definitely get a workout out of this video. Check it out!
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