The Elaine Petrone Method: Stop the Back Pain

It Works
I love this method! I have used it on and off for several years. The concept is simple, gravity does the work and using the breath to release excess tension allows the body to relax. This is explained throughout the DVD. Elaine explaines that, "feeling the body is the fist step to changing the way the body aligns."

I have had only a positive experience with the balls. Her method is almost like accupressure in the joints. Also, it is explained to go at your own pace. People who are very tight in the joints may feel alot of excess pain that they are use to ignoring and it may seem as if injury has been caused by doing the method.

I have had various injuries before I tried this method. I purchased this in an attempt to HELP MYSELF HEAL, and it does help.
The most important aspect I have learned through using this method is to allow healing to happen.

Finally, if you are ready to get in touch with your body, I highly recommend giving it a try.

Infuriatingly incomplete
On the plus side, this has about 5-10 minutes of useful advice and the balls feel pretty good--I prefer them for some areas to harder massage tools. However, the video is about 45 minutes long, so that's a high haystack/needle ratio. She also never gets around to explaining some things, like why she has her sample woman put two balls under her back while the sample man only uses one (she says she'll explain in a minute, but she never does). She doesn't explain how the balls work or give any cautions about using them, and reviews of her other products show that people have injured themselves on them. So, I'd check with someone with good knowledge of anatomy about how to place the balls and where to avoid using them. If you want the balls, I'd order the book instead since it's cheaper and presumably has more information. I've watched the DVD once (parts twice to try and find her explanation of ball placement, which never happened). I'll probably never watch it again as all the...

RELIEF for BACK PAIN!!!!
I bought the DVD with 2 balls included around 5 or 6 years ago. I was experiencing pain or tension in the back and it seemed that everything I did just worsened the pain for me. I could not find any relief until I happened to see this on Amazon. I could not imagine 2 little balls helping but thought I would have to try it to understand. I watched the video and frankly thought a lot of it was unnecessary so after watching the whole thing I decided to try it. I stopped the video to the point where the 2 balls were actually being used (the beginning is simply relaxation exercises) then got on the floor on my back with knees to my chest and the video on. I placed the balls one at a time under each cheek of my rear-end and held the knees to the chest as suggested then as I felt relief to the back tension, I slowly opened the knees outward and held that position. This does not sound relaxing but I am here to tell you that it is extremely relaxing. I would slowly bring the knees in...

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Yoga for Beginners

Brilliant :-)
I am slowly learning to like yoga. It's still not my absolute favourite workout, but this dvd is helping me even more to enjoy it better. It truly is for beginners and even I found it easy(ish) to do.
Desi is a great instructor and she has a clear, calm way of cuing and the camera work also allows you to see the moves better and practice them yourself and follow along well. There are two workouts, Solar and Lunar, which seem to be a trend now (doing an AM and PM workout). The Solar one is energy boosting and the Lunar routine is more stretchy and slower paced to be relaxing. It is meant to also lengthen your muscles which I feel it is probably doing.
I've done this three times now and I'm constantly getting a little better. I find it great to do on hectic days because it really is relaxing, and each workout is under a half hour so it's not too hard to fit into your day. I like this a lot and would highly recommend it to almost everyone. It is very do-able.

Great dvd for beginners
When I first got this cd, I was 177 lbs and very out of shape. I started doing both Solar and Lunar every day and at first I could not keep up with the video, and would have to stop and start the dvd. But I kept trying and by the end of the first week, I was able to keep up with her (although dolphin pose is still a problem for me).

After using this video and adding 1 mile of jogging per day, I have lost 30 lbs in 4 months, and have never felt stronger. I highly recommend this dvd to people who are just starting out with yoga and want to see results quickly. I will keep using this video because I really like the production quality and Desi's instructions are greeat and her voice is very calming. It's like having yoga and meditation in one dvd.

NOT good for true beginners
Ultimately, I think if you already have a decent understanding of basic yoga, this video would be a good work out... I hope to work up to it. But if you have really never done yoga before and do not know much about it, this video is too fast and does not spend time on basic poses and correct form. I need something slower, that spends time on getting the poses right. Eventually, I think this would be a good every day routine...

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