Yoga, weight lifting reach a balance

The popularity of yoga has spawned countless variations and combinations, such as yoga and Spinning, prenatal yoga, yoga set to rock music and yoga with your dog. The new DVD “Sara Ivanhoe’s Yoga Makeover: Total Body Tone With Weights” (Natural Journeys) uses hand weights to improve upper body strength

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Sara Ivanhoe’s Yoga Makeover: Total Body Tone With Weights: The DVD offers a quick 20-minute workout designed to tone the upper body using light hand weights while doing traditional yoga. Starting with basic warmups, Ivanhoe progresses to several poses, including chair pose with butterfly press, warrior pose with bicep curls, and bridge pose with chest press. She explains proper body alignment and offers modifications for all levels. Each exercise is done slowly to maximize the movements.

“I found that using weights gave an extra boost for any of the postures,” says Ivanhoe, who teaches yoga in the Los Angeles area. “When you add weights to poses, it forces you to use that core strength.”

Ivanhoe adds that both beginners and more advanced yoga students will get something out of this workout. “It’s an increased challenge, so someone who’s been doing yoga for a long time will find this a new twist for their practice.”

Price: About $13; available at www.naturaljourneys.com and at www.Amazon.com.

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-- Jeannine Stein