From the Ground Up

From the Ground Up is a 97-minute yoga practice based on Scaravelli Yoga, which emphasizes the breath, the ground, and the spine. Instructor Darlene Bink focuses on these three principles throughout this yoga session by drawing your attention to the breath, coaching you to drop your weight into the ground, and reminding you to extend your spine. She describes this video as an energizing practice aimed towards beginners/advanced beginners or anyone who is new to Scaravelli Yoga. Darlene cues in both English and Sanskrit, and the names of each posture are helpfully shown on screen.Darlene starts the practice on the floor in “Lying Release” (lying on back, knees bent), noting that she begins all of her yoga sessions this way. She lingers here, giving you time to relax your body into the ground and to follow her instructions for the 3-part breath. Darlene continues this slow pace through the entire video, moving slowing and methodically. Remaining on the floor, you will do hand-to-foot pose with a strap, knee to chest (a.k.a. thread the needle), lying waist twist, and cat pose. Moving to a standing position, Darlene performs a shoulder stretch with the strap (cow face arms). She then provides detailed setup instruction for tadasana, or mountain pose, before moving into the standing postures. First comes a flowing series from mountain to chair to standing forward bend; Darlene encourages you to keep your arms very loose when you raise them overhead. Next, you will continue with the same freeness of the limbs for warrior 1 and warrior 2, again moving at an unhurried pace. A lunge series follows (low lunge, runner’s lunge, and low lunge with arms extended), and then Darlene concludes the standing work with tree pose. Coming into child’s pose, Darlene moves into down dog and back for a total of three repetitions. She then performs plank pose (she calls this chaturanga, but she never actually has you bend your arms), cobra, bridge, simple seated pose, and full seated forward bend. The final active posture is crocodile twist, a lying spinal twist; Darlene begins this posture in a distinctive manner, as she has you lie on your side and then twist to your back. Finally, Darlene allocates a full 10 minutes for savasana: she provides guided relaxation for the first half but then allow silence (with the exception of the soft background music) for the second half. She finishes the practice by gradually awakening your body and leading you back to a seated position.This video has a unique format in that two on-screen camera angles are shown at all times, one with a larger main image and one in a slightly smaller frame. Darlene instructs via voiceover, and she sometimes uses one of the two images to demonstrate modifications. This practice is best suited for those who are relatively new to yoga (but ideally have some prior familiarity) and who prefer to move through the postures at a measured, methodical pace. Although the session is fairly gentle on the whole, poses are often held for an extended length of time, which may be a strength and/or stamina challenge to some. The lack of more challenging postures may make this practice less appealing to experienced yoga practitioners, but as mentioned above, yoga beginners who are wanting a slower session are likely to thoroughly enjoy this video.