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Let's Yoga: Tackling Krishna

Alisha Karabinus
Updated ·4 min read


The relative ease of the Naga class in Let's Yoga was apparently a cruel joke meant to make yoga seem easy. After three lessons in the next step, the Krishna class, it is clear that yoga is not easy, not at all. The Master's Lesson quickly moved from "This isn't so bad!" to "OMG whaaaat?" in the space of a few sessions. Ever looked at yoga poses and thought some looked hard? You were right.

But after completing over half of the Krishna class, it got a little easier, and I'm willing to concede that maybe the exercises weren't quite as face-rockingly hard as they seemed at first. They were, however, a huge leap forward from the Naga class.

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The Krishna lessons focus on the chakras and working on specific areas of the body. Maybe I am just a total wuss, but, while the Naga class seemed very beginner-friendly, some of these poses were not only more complicated -- featuring more steps -- but more difficult in general. Also, unlike the Naga class, there was a real sense of necessary repetition, as in there was no way to get some of these right the first time. I'll be repeating these lessons for practice. While that's good over all, it was very unexpected after the simple review that closed the previous class.

One pose in particular in the first class elicited a laugh as soon as it came up -- the banyan tree pose. It was definitely the most difficult for me in the first three lessons here, and unfortunately, it was also the one I couldn't seem to find a video demonstrating it, so I'll try to describe it here. It starts as a push-up pose, from the upper position -- and then you're instructed to shift so that only one side of your body (say, the right) is supporting your weight, and the left hand and foot are off the ground as you turn to the side, forming a straight line with your arms, while the unused foot rests atop the other. As Let's Yoga ran through the audio instructions, I just laughed and started talking to my DS. I think I asked if it was serious. Really, it's a good thing no one was in the room, or they might have hauled me off.

During challenging poses, the breathing is absolutely key. I learned that if I can remember to focus on breathing once I'm in a position, I can hold it -- even if it's difficult -- for as long as necessary. It takes your mind off of the stretching (and sometimes straining!) muscles, and holding the pose as long as Let's Yoga requires really does help.

For a lot of these, I found it helpful to go into the Pose List and read the tips and watch the short animated clip demonstrating the pose without actually doing it. As the movements are growing more complext, it's difficult to follow only the audio instructions, and you can't always turn your head and look at the DS if you want to do everything properly. After all, alignment is a big part of yoga, and if you're watching a screen, you're not aligned.

I also, over the course of these three lessons, solve the mystery of the sun salutation discussed previously. Let's Yoga features several different versions of the Sun Salutation, and they vary in difficulty and complexity.

Rather than listing the poses from all three lessons, I will list only those in the first here, to give a taste of the difference in the Krishna class. While we'll spend a few more days with Let's Yoga (and personally, I'll be spending a lot more time with the title, as I'm hooked on yoga now!), we'll focus on some different aspects. With these pose lists, I hope to have given potential users a good idea of what to expect from Konami's trainer.

Krishna Class 1: Full Activity List (14 minutes)

The DS has a lot more to offer besides just traditional games, and we love to test the efficacy of training titles! Keep up with our yogathon as it happens, or for more features like this, check out our week with My French Coach.