Yoga Burn (Her Yoga Secrets) Review – Will Zoe Ray Cottons Yoga Burn System Really Help You Lose Weight?

Summary: Yoga Burn is a 3-month long fitness program which is targeted towards women who are looking to lose weight, reshape their bodies and increase their confidence.

The program is divided into 3 distinct phases which build upon one another, developing the skill and stamina necessary to flawlessly glide through a full-length yoga flow class.

While the workouts are fun and definitely get your heart pumping to burn calories, the lack of variety may not be the biggest motivator in sticking to your fitness goals.

A Yoga System For Women

When it comes to women and fitness, our bodies have unique needs that undergo significant changes throughout our lifetimes. Pregnancy, fluctuations in hormones and menopause all increase the tendency to gain weight - and a corresponding difficulty dropping those pounds.

Between work, raising a family and the variety of other tasks life throws our way it often feels impossible to find the time to address our own needs. However, the value of self-care is immeasurable, and your health and happiness is paramount to your ability to take care of those you love and be successful in life.

As a single mother, yoga not only allowed me to get back into a size 6 following my pregnancy, but setting aside that little bit of me time each week proved to be critical for developing a sense of calm and serenity in an otherwise hectic life.

Yoga Burn is designed to help women like you and me take the first steps towards integrating a regular exercise routine into your life: building healthier habits for long term benefits.

Things To Consider Before Purchasing Yoga Burn

Yoga Burn actually has a lot to offer even the experienced yogi as it differs significantly from a traditional yoga practice. The pace - particularly in phase 3 - is much quicker as the intention is to keep your heart rate up throughout the entire duration of the class.

Likewise, the use of a lot more dynamic movements - rather than statically holding postures - makes the workouts much more cardio intensive.

That said, this program is also well constructed for someone completely new to the world of yoga or fitness in general. You’re not going to see any of those typical “advanced” poses - such as headstand or arm balances -- instead concentrating on simpler, foundational postures.

Finally, there is very little focus on the relaxation commonly associated with traditional yoga. Prepare to push yourself, sweat, and keep up the momentum for the entire 45 minute practice.

If your main goal in choosing a fitness program is to lose weight and build lean muscle, then Yoga Burn is a good option to consider.

If, however, you are interested in learning more about a traditional yoga practice you’re better off looking elsewhere.

What Is Yoga Burn?

With a tagline like “helping women get lighter, sexier and happier” there’s no confusion as to what Yoga Burn was designed for.

This program specifically targets women who are looking to lose weight, tighten and tone their bodies, all while building up their self-esteem through positivity and the formation of healthy habits.

Your instructor Zoe Bray-Cotton will guide you through the workouts, each designed to have the greatest fat-burning and body sculpting results in the shortest period of time.

Yoga Burn utilizes a technique called “Dynamic Sequencing:” First you’re taught the basic movements, then - just as your body begins to get comfortable - the sequence is adapted to increase the intensity. This approach keeps your body guessing, forcing it to address new challenges and not leaving any room for you to get lazy.

The 3-phase design is set up in just such a way as to enable you to build the skills necessary to seamlessly transition into the more advanced workouts: starting at the foundation and building upon this in a gradual, detailed manner that is accessible to even the most novice yogi.

What You Get

Thankfully you gain immediate access to the online videos, since it took over ten days for me to receive the DVD set. When someone chooses to take on a new fitness regimen, a ten day wait can mean the difference between carrying through or sticking to bad habits.

When I did finally receive the DVD I was disappointed. The packaging left much to be desired, and my copy arrived broken with one of the discs loose on the inside.

I was unable to get the DVDs to run on my PC, and when I ran them on my DVD player the display did not fit the screen correctly - cutting off the image on the sides.

Overall, the video quality was much lower than when played on my computer or tablet.

I would have been content with just the digital files, which you can download for offline access.

The DVD Set Includes 4 DVDs:

Phase 1: Foundational Flow

These first four weeks are dedicated to helping you become familiar with the poses used throughout the program and begin building the foundation needed for a strong yoga practice.

While these are beginner videos, they still move at quite a quick pace in order to get your heart pumping. Thankfully, since you’ll be repeating each video 3 times in a row (15 minutes each), you’ll have a chance to get to know the sequence: So don’t get discouraged if you find it hard to follow along the first round through.

Phase 2: Transitional Flow

In this phase you begin to incorporate all the foundational poses you’ve learned - flowing from one posture into another - and speeding up and switching the sequences around to keep you on your toes (pun intended).

Each of the 3 videos is dedicated to working one of the major muscle groups: Upper Body, Lower Body and Core. This way, by the end of the week you are guaranteed to have covered all your bases for building long, lean muscles.

Phase 3: Mastery Flow

After completing the first 8 weeks of Yoga Burn you’re now ready for the Mastery Flow classes. These 3 videos have a slightly different feel than the previous ones: there are more repetitions of poses (for maximum muscle fatigue), and now - instead of focusing on just one muscle group - the sequences include compound muscle exercises to target the entire body.

While it may feel tempting to skip right over to Phase 3, it really is recommended that you follow the program from start to finish. The sequences in the Mastery Flow videos are tricky, and quick - even for an experienced yogi such as myself there are many benefits to becoming accustomed to the types of movements used throughout the program by completing the 3 phases.

Final Phase: Torch Flow

This phase came as a complete surprise. After receiving my DVD set I opened it up expecting to find the exact same content as was available to me online. However, I immediately noticed the presence of a fourth DVD which I assumed contained the bonus content.

Wrong! It was a complete Final Phase that was never mentioned in any of the promotional material. The layout is identical to the other 3 phases in the program, with three 15-minute videos to be repeated three times in a row. However, now the workouts bear even less similarity to traditional yoga: including plyometrics, “speed bursts” and new, unique combinations of the Yoga Burn exercises.

These final three workouts are intended to give you the greatest fat burning results yet; so if you’ve successfully completed the first 3 phases get ready for one more challenging month!

Bonus Content

Beginner Flow

This bonus video actually stood out as my favorite. The Beginner Flow is a gently paced, 45-minute long sequence which serves as a great introduction to yoga for beginners, as well as a lovely calming practice for any level.

The poses used throughout are accessible to everyone, and the practice is both fun and relaxing; incorporating a lot of gentle twists and a nice, long relaxation period to close the class.

I recommend bringing out this video any time during the week that you feel the need to wind down. It’s an especially nice practice to do right before bedtime, really allowing the body and mind to slow down and let go of the baggage you’ve accumulated throughout your day.

Tranquility Flow

At just 15 minutes long the Tranquility Flow is a nice “quick fix” for stress and mental fatigue.

This short sequence is similar to a “restorative yoga” practice, except that the poses are not held quite as long (for only 1 minute, as opposed to 3 to 5). While I would have liked to see a longer video, including a final relaxation, I appreciate that this was intended to be a quick practice.

Ultimately, I prefer the Beginner Flow when comes to relaxation -- but, in a pinch this short video can do wonders to lower your stress levels and improve your mood.

Pose Tutorials

In the bonus content you will find individual tutorials for each of the 21 foundational poses used throughout the program.

While as a yoga teacher I do feel Zoe could have given more cues to help guide you in and out of the pose, these videos - each under a minute long -provide a nice basic walkthrough: giving you a chance to examine the alignment in isolation.

I highly recommend looking through this section before beginning the program; that way you will already be familiar with the basics of each exercise before diving in.

Tips & Tricks

In this short video Zoe gives you some extra advice on when and where to practice yoga. She also introduces the yogic breathing style known as “ujjayi breath” or “ocean breath.”

I definitely feel that there could have been a lot more included in this video; and - more importantly - that the regular workout videos should include references to the type of breathing recommended to use while practicing yoga.

In yoga, the breath is considered to be your practice, and everything else - including the poses - is secondary. Thus, it strikes me as a bit odd that this key information about how to breathe is tucked away in the bonus section.

Zoe’s Emails

What I felt was lacking in the Tips & Tricks video I received in a series of emails from Zoe throughout the duration of the program.

These emails are not only a great way to remind you to get on your mat that day, but they provide a lot of useful information regarding goal setting, building healthy habits and maintaining a positive outlook.

Of course, an equal amount of the emails are intended to sell you additional videos and accessory products. Due to the influx of these “spammy” elements I found myself not opening many of Zoe’s emails after a short while.

What we liked

With the goal of weightloss in mind, these videos certainly do the trick. Yoga Burn is a great way to get your heart rate up, sweat and burn calories without having to step onto a treadmill.

Additionally, as with most forms of yoga, these videos can be done almost anywhere and zero equipment is needed - well, except a mat of course. You can easily transform any space in your home into your personal gym in seconds: so there’s no excuse to skip a workout!

What we didn't like

I found the weakest aspect of this program to be the lack of variety. While the 15-minute workouts are fun, engaging and just the right amount of challenging, repeating the same video three times in a row every week for a month can get monotonous.

Ultimately, I would have preferred workouts that were a full 45-minutes in duration - including designated warm-up and cool-down periods. Also, the addition of a final relaxation would have made this feel a lot more like yoga to me.

Here’s An Alternative

If you’re just getting started, Yoga Burn’s 3-phase program will help you fine-tune the basics and start to integrate a regular fitness routine into your schedule.

However, if you’re already an experienced yogi, or are looking for more variety Grokker is an amazing resource for all your fitness needs.

Your membership to this premium subscription service grants you access to thousands of videos on everything from yoga and weight training to healthy cooking classes!

At only $14.99/month -- dropping to $9.99 if you sign up for one year - Grokker offers the best value for your money.

Grokker is also a great way to supplement your Yoga Burn workouts, or help you continue on your fitness journey once you’ve completed the 3-month program; but you don’t have to take my word for it - take advantage of their free two-week trial right now and see for yourself!

CONCLUSION

Don’t stay stuck in your fitness rut: while forming habits for a better, healthier you is never easy, programs like Yoga Burn are a great way to get you on the right track.

With just 45-minutes, three times weekly, you can meet your exercise goals, develop a fitness regimen to suit your lifestyle, and - most importantly - stay positive!

The 3-phase design ensures you won’t encounter a workout before your body is ready for it; and observing how your performance improves throughout the month - as the individual exercises and workouts become easier - will keep you motivated to continue on your journey.

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