Yoga Dice: Review
Here we are on another Sunday evening. Is it just me or are the days blurring completely together at this point? Sure I have a bit of a routine on weekdays as I work from home, but its obviously not the same. How are we all holding up with our fitness routines? I would be lying if I said I am sticking to things 100% of the time. The main reason I love going to the gym so much is because it is a place I go solely for that purpose. Working out at home has far too many distractions that are a lot more appealing. Let me connect that to the point of today's post. If you are like me you are having a hard time keeping interested in workouts, maybe you need something to change things up a bit? I haven't had a post dedicated solely to reviewing a product in a long time, so I figured why not use the time I am stuck at home to try something out to review!
Yoga is a pretty popular practice that a lot of people like to add to their fitness routines. In college I practiced yoga a lot more often and I was able to pretty much keep up with some of the more advanced programs, but I lost that ability through a lack of practicing and gaining some weight since college. I still love it and can keep up decently well though! I was scrolling through Amazon a while back when I came across these Yoga Dice by Chronicle Books. I immediately thought this was such a fun idea! So what exactly are yoga dice you may be wondering? Well the little box comes with seven dice, each including a variety of poses for each chakra. In case you don't know, Chakra is each of the centers of spiritual power in the human body (Oxford Dictionary). You roll the dice, and then use the positions that show up as your routine. Sounds pretty simple right? Well it is! You really have a lot of flexibility (no pun intended 😉) while using these when it comes to a yoga routine. Basically there all no rules other than rolling the dice. The rest is up to you!
So to talk a little about my experience with them, I thought they were a great idea. I spread out my yoga mat on my bedroom floor, made sure I had some comfy clothes on, bare feet and all, and rolled my dice. I figured I would include a picture of my very first roll of the dice! So what now? Well this is where your creativity and motivation comes into play. The first time I used the dice I did the poses in three different cycles and held each pose for about thirty seconds. I didn't quite like that way of doing things, so the next exercise I changed things up a little. Yoga as some of you may know also focuses a lot on breathing with the poses, so I decided the second time around to do just that. I did a much slower session this time, focusing on breath and really focusing on the relaxation. Instead of counting seconds with each pose, I focused on my breath and did deep inhales through my nose, and deep exhales through my mouth. I did a cycle of four breaths with each pose. I found this to work the best for me. Overall I was able to use these dice for a good number of yoga workouts.
What are the pros and cons of this product? Let's start with the pros. I think the best reason someone will like this product is because it offers an alternative to set yoga programs that may get stale overtime. Every roll of the dice offers a brand new program for you to personalize and make your own. I personally rolled the dice once and cycled those poses a number of times. You also can do them once, then roll them all over again to make a whole new cycle for your second round. The dice also comes with a nice little booklet to describe the poses and which chakra they line up with (which is nice for the wildcard pictures on each dice that give you a chakra symbol to pick a corresponding pose.) I think this is a great yoga tool for those of us that are beginners or just not as experienced as an expert. How about the cons? Well I think these would not be great for someone who likes a more structured workout. Some of us just prefer a video of someone demonstrating each pose as they go and following along. If you are not a fan of learning things on your own you probably will not enjoy these at all.
My overall review of this product is that I loved them. I have enough of a yoga background that I did not struggle with these at all, and I loved the ability to cater my cycles to fit my needs best. I also loved that the dice came with the little instruction book I mentioned earlier. I know a number of poses just from past experience, but being able to read through the little booklet and refresh my memory on how to do a pose was great. I think this would also be great for beginners for that very reason. If you are more experienced with yoga and are looking for a nice challenge, I would suggest you skip this and continue with your practice as is. I love to do yoga mid-week as a nice way to stretch out my muscles and let them recover before weight-training again. I fully plan on continuing to use these dice at least once a week for this. If you are interested in these at all, the link to the Amazon page is here. Stay active and healthy as much as you possibly can right now and remember not to beat yourself up if things are a little messed up for the time being! Stay safe!
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