Yoga Journal's YOGA for Back Care

I love all of Rodney Yee’s DVDs! I own several and this one joined the collection today. I got right to it as soon as I got home and boy did it feel good! Do your back a favor and give this DVD a try. It’s short, sweet, easy to follow and I have full confidence that it will benefit my back & spine, Rodney is a fantastic teacher

I wish I had purchased this program when it was first released. It is great for maintaing a healthy back. Recently I encountered problems with my back following an accident at home. Pilates and physical therapy helped but did not take me into the progress that this program has. Because pain causes stress, it has been therapeutic for body and mind connection and designed to keep the entire back strong while promoting proper body alignment. As a dancer I am fit and practice yoga, but I needed a gentle program and sequence to promote instead of disrupting healing.If you are a beginner to yoga, you may be a little lost, so view the program several times or begin with Rodney Yee's beginner series. I would venture to say this is gentle yoga and very therapeutic for those trying to strengthen or rehabilitate the back.There is a section designed with back care exercises includes proper body mechanics for sitting properly. The concept here is to correct the bad posture of everyday which can cause a degenerating back. Simple yoga stretches done in a chair can correct and prevent damage to our spine. Rodney Yee, alongside a physician, are interviewed and offer advice and benefits of yoga.The program is broken down into three sections:1.exploration - simple seated stretches2. strength and flexibility gentle stretching, ie.lunges, Warrior poses, bent legged down dog3.restorative- deep undulating breathing and relaxation, relieving tensions while resting on bolster seated in chairLearning to let go of tension is perhaps one huge element is releasing pain. Learning to break the relationship that we at times acquire with pain is part of the exploration into the self. The concept here is that at times the pain can be tied to emotions. This program has soothing calming effects as Rodney narrates each posture, with cues on proper breathing . He is surrounded by peaceful nature and water as he leads into the poses. The background music is so relaxing and as he says. " let go", you simply let go.Simple items may be utilized to facilitate the poses into more gentle modifications. A bolster, 2 chairs, a blanket, yoga mat, and 2 blocks, these are simple measures that don't add up to the cost of prescriptions or lengthy doctor office visits and fees.The blocks allow you to maintain just enough length as not to compromise the stretch into deeper pose if you are not ready. If you don't have a bolster, 2 pillows tied together work great. I gladly gathered the necessities and begin the program. I modified each posture to my ability.In just one session, I had m relief and that was enough to know I was on the right track to healing. I paced my workout with few poses from each section and continue to progress with it daily! It is a must have for maintaining a healthy back-pricless!

I bought this dvd because I read from the reviews that doing yoga to help with back pain can really help reduce or even eliminate back pain and I found out that it is TRUE. Now, I have always been skeptical of yoga. I did not believe that yoga could do anything but stretch you out. When I looked at a picture of some one in yoga pose, I always thought, how can you strengthen your body just from doing that? But based on the reviews, and the fact that I am in pain ALL the time because I have degenerated disks in my lower back and neck, I decided to give yoga a try. After all stretching did always feel good to me. So I looked up a few simple poses and it helps ease some tension. So I decided to buy a dvd. I did a search on yoga for backs and I found this dvd. Rodney yee's yoga is soothing and very helpful. I like his voice, he is not annoying like some yoga voices can be. I would have given it 5 stars but it took me a long time to get through the dvd, so that I could really learn the poses before moving to the next. It moves just a little to fast. But it is still a good dvd. The poses are very effective and it really does help ease the pain IF you keep up with doing it every day. The other thing I did not know is that I would need 2 yoga blocks and a bolster which I did not have the first few times I attempted to do this dvd poses. I just used a thick blanket rolled up as the bolster. Good dvd, very helpful but you must keep doing the yoga to reap the benefits.

About 15 years ago, I started getting back pain that would not subside. My doctor put me on some anti inflammatory medication / painkillers for a few weeks. After a month after I stopped, it came back and this time I decided to try yoga and happened to come across this dvd. It was my first Rodney Yee yoga dvd and I was so pleased with the results after just 4 days that I bought other yoga DVDs of his. This is still my favorite go to dvd of all times even after all these years and I use it whenever I feel tense and tight all over and it seems to do the trick every single time. It’s only 20 mins, the music is soothing, the locale is pleasing to the eye, Rodney yee’s voice is soothing and instructions are straightforward and clear.

This is one of my favorite gentle yoga routines for when my back is problematic. I've had lower back surgery twice (two discectomies and laminectomy at L4,5 /S1), a minor herniation in my neck (C4/5) that I mange through PT and exercise, as well as rotator cuff issues from lifting. I practice yoga inconsistently weekly, usually a traditional flow or ashtanga practice. This routine is gentle, slow, and takes you through a series of movements designed to release the pressure of the lowers spine, shoulders, and neck. I stick with it for a 3-5x/week for a few weeks and always pleased with the results.

I bought this DVD several years ago but hardly ever used it as I thought the poses were too easy and I would not get much out of it.Lately I began to experience lower back pain each time I played tennis. I tried this DVD again. The first time I only did the 18 minute Flexibility and Strengthening segment. Even as I was doing the exercises, I could feel the tension draining away from my back. Just like that, my back pain was gone. A few days later I played tennis again and the back pain returned. This time I did the entire DVD and felt great afterwards. Now I use this DVD a couple of times a week, whenever I feel any discomfort in my back. I highly recommend this DVD to anyone who has back pain from sports