Bellydance Fitness Fusion with Suhaila - Yoga (DVD, 2005)

I bought this DVD as I was curious as to how Belly Dance and Yoga would be combined. Suhaila certainly answered that question for me. I found that with the yoga poses, she did not advise the participants to keep the shoulders down from the ears (you can injure yourself if you don't), and she also didn't provide a whole lot of instruction on how to breathe. This is predominantly a yoga video, with a few hip moves and undulations thrown in for good measure. On a positive spin, that means that it is really strength training and flexibility training. I really like the glute isolations, I have never done anything like that!

I also found the undulations EXTREMELY challenging, and I kept thinking to myself, if this is the beginner level what is intermediate or advanced? This definitely provides a challenge, something to work towards. She also shows a performance at the end, and includes an interview about her own experiences, that gives you the opportunity to get to know her and connect with her in a way that you normally don't with other video instructors. It is a challenge, so don't get frustrated the first time you try! Overall, I think this is a video I will grow to like more as I get better at it.

I watched all the features, including the bonus workout and the circle dance, absolutely amazing. She included her daughter who appears to be about 3-5 years old in the video. The little sweetheart does a solo performance. She was amazing! I really enjoyed the video very much and learned a whole new appreciation for the fine art of Bellydance.

As a beginner, I think that this DVD's workout is just long enough, stopping right when I wanted to! With the teacher's instructions about which muscles to isolate, I can just work on finding these muscles and start to use and strengthen them. I don't push myself at all, and I noticed that I can usually find one student in the class behind the teacher that shows me a way that I can approach an exercise that I find too hard. I definitely don't do the exact exercises that the teacher shows, so that I don't hurt myself. Instead I use her exercises as a guide as to what muscles to use in slightly easier versions of her exercises. Using this DVD along with other yoga and bellydance strengthening DVDs over a few months, I already feel stronger and healthier. The teacher is nice to listen to and I would give this DVD 4 out of 5 stars.