I don't know if you remember, but years ago I spoke with you on the phone after ordering a replacement of the Challenge video. I had had back surgery and was slowly working with the video and recovering my flexibility. I just want you to know that after slipping away from yoga for a couple of years, it was your video that I returned to and still love. Thanks for making it, and good luck with all your endeavors!

In this routine, Donna Davidge Amrita begins with a short introduction in which she explains that the goal is to awaken Kundalini energy through the use of three modalities: yoga postures, breathwork, and sound. For the opening chant of “ong namo guru dev namo,” Amrita is teaching live while indoors, but following this, the scene switches to a simple outdoor set.

Amrita starts outdoor segment with traditional Kundalini warm-up moves such as neck rolls, spinal rolls, and the “life nerve” stretch. To conclude the warm-up, she comes to standing and combines jogging with little punches forward and Breath of Fire (BOF). From here Amrita moves into the first set, a series of postures which mainly focus on the spine. The first of these, body drops, is quite challenging, as it involves sitting with the legs outstretched in front of you (staff pose), lifting the body with the strength of the arms only, and then letting the body drop. Other poses which appear in this sequence include Kundalini lotus pose (a wide-legged seated balance), spinal rock, frog pose, camel pose with BOF, chair pose, maha shakti posture, stretch pose with BOF, rock pose with spinal flexion, cat/cow, and spinal flexion with hands interlaced behind neck. This series concludes with lying on the back, doming the chest, then lifting the arms above the chest, making fists with the hands, and finally, letting go and resting briefly in corpse pose.

Amrita states that the second set is the pituitary set. This sequence begins with a low lunge posture; Amrita adds BOF to this pose and then moves into a version of pigeon pose before repeating on the other side. This is followed by a series of standing postures: standing forward bend (legs two feet apart), Kundalini eagle pose, Kundalini triangle pose, cobra (looking left and right), and flower. The set ends here; Amrita allows just seconds for resting in relaxation pose before giving the instruction to roll back to seated, where she cues a final “sat nam,” bringing in the total practice time at right around 44 minutes.

Although Amrita pauses in a seated position between postures during this practice, she also moves very quickly from pose to pose throughout. Given this, I would recommend this video mainly for those who are already experienced in yoga. This practice might be a good fit for someone who practices vinyasa or power yoga and is hoping to try a Kundalini practice that is dynamic in nature.

I don't know if you remember, but years ago I spoke with you on the phone after ordering a replacement of the Challenge video. I had had back surgery and was slowly working with the video and recovering my flexibility. I just want you to know that after slipping away from yoga for a couple of years, it was your video that I returned to and still love. Thanks for making it, and good luck with all your endeavors!