Customer Reviews

BirthWell Yoga - Exercise, Nutrition & Relaxation for Pregnancy with Dr. Kelley Valle, OB/GYN [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a midwife who has attended births for 20 years, I routinely encourage my clients to participate in stretching and toning (low impact aerobics) classes as part of their daily routine, and also as preparation for labor and delivery. Dr. Kelley Valle's video "Birthwell Yoga" is sensitive, comprehensive, and inspirational (so surprising and encouraging that an OB/GYN promotes prenatal yoga and midwifery, and actually performs the positions and asanas herself!) It is also a supremely "user-friendly" video. I distributed my copy to several of my clients who are using the video every day in preparation for the birth of their babies. I have also discovered that it is a great relaxation adjunct for any healthy woman, whether of childbearing age or not. I have begun to use the video three times each week, and have discovered that I feel more relaxed, more toned and ready to deal with my busy work days with a new perspective of peaceful consciousness. The background music is soothing; the presentation of the positions and asanas is easy to follow and to execute; the nutritional information is brief yet complete. I recommend this video wholeheartedly to all pregnant women who cannot attend prenatal yoga classes; I also encourage any woman who wants to learn the stress reduction techniques associated with yoga to buy this video...it will be the most worthwhile investment you can make.

I have been teaching Prenatal yoga for several years. I have seen first hand how the repetitive use this type of yoga can improve birth outcomes and the overall wellbeing of pregnant women. The video is very safe, gentle and relaxing, concentrating on breath work to release tension and stress. The main purpose seems to be to prepare the woman's body for easier and healthier childbirth. There seems to be a deeper purpose for which the other reviewers have seemed to overlook, and that is the hightened connection and bonding with the baby. Repetitive use of the visualizations and vocalizations are proven to enhance the mother-baby relationship in many ways. Most women don't understand how important the use of sound is in childbirth. This is the only prenatal yoga video I have seen that emphasizes practicing vocalization for pain management. Also a woman can take the skills learned to empower herself during the birth of her child. I highly recommend this video and it makes a great gift!

Although I am new to yoga I have done some and I was expecting more from this video. The background were sotthing and the music was relaxing but the yoga poses were too few. I don't feel like I have fully stretchecd. I also didn't like the EXTENDED visualization. You lie on your side for close to 15 minutes "relaxing to music" Over all I am very disapointed in the video. I guess if you are doing nothing at all it may be a good start. I did alot of research before buying this video and unfortunatly there dosn't seem to be too much out there in the way of yoga for pregnancy.

I'd never done yoga before and would highly recommend this for other beginners. The poses are easy and safe, the stretches are gentle, and the narrator does a good job of explaining the poses. The backdrop and music were also relaxing and quiet, which I appreciated.

The video is structured well - starts with the poses, then has everything else that can be skipped (if you want to) at the end, including a nice relaxation and visualization segment and very brief vocalization, chanting and nutrition segments (the vocalization, chanting and nutrition bits are only worth watching once. The relaxation/visualization segment you only need to do with the video once or twice to do on your own - so, just watching the first part of the video is sufficient after the first couple of times.)

I used this video during my first pregnancy during the last 2 trimesters, and I really found it to be relaxing and I looked forward to doing it each day. I thought the stretches were gentle yet effective. I liked the relaxation techniques and the time spent connecting with your baby. This was really my first attempt at any kind of yoga, so I was afraid this would be too intense (I am not a very flexible person), but it was not at all difficult to catch on to and the stretches were not really difficult. I did notice that my flexbility significantly improved. There were some toning exercises involved as well, which I felt were the right difficulty level for a pregnant woman with a growing belly. I think that it also helped in my recovery time (although I had a c-section).