Customer Reviews

Breathworks for Your Back

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ms. Swayzee wrote her book for the lay person, yet you will find that it is not at all simplistic. IF YOU WANT RELIEF FROM LOW BACK PAIN OR IF YOU HAVE A HEALTHY BACK AND YOU WANT TO KEEP IT THAT WAY you must learn how to function, day to day, utilizing a stable trunk. This means, that YOUR UPPER BODY AND LOWER BODY NEED TO LEARN TO STAY TOGETHER AS A SINGLE, STABILIZED, UNIT as you lift, work, carry, etc. This book tells you how to use your inner abdominal muscles to achieve a stable trunk. In my opinion, the critical discovery set forth in this book is the use of forced-expiration breathing to achieve a body stabilizing abdominal contraction. This technique allows instant access to a stable trunk and can therefore be used moment to moment, throughout the day. I use her method constantly all day long. This is the only effective way I know to protect the back during the damaging rigors of everyday life. It allows a person to quickly target the proper abdominal muscles and then to maintain a more powerful, more sustained abdominal contraction when needed. During quieter activities when I am not lifting, pulling, pushing, carrying etc. I maintain a constant 10% to 15% contraction as a matter of routine posture. I look better and I feel better. IN FACT AFTER TWO YEARS OF SERIOUS DAILY LOW BACK PAIN, I FEEL GREAT!! If practiced for a few weeks, this health-preserving technique soon develops into a reflex that becomes automatic. THIS BOOK CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

I love the book. Very well explained. Simple exercises but very effective. I have bought many books about the back, and this is really the best. I just would love to get the audio tapes. I live in UK. Please, if you know how I could get them, write me to javismiles@excite.com thanks a lot

This is the best book ever for understanding and attaining strength and health. The exercises REALLY work. I saw results in a couple of weeks. My back feels better and my stomach looks better. And I keep doing the exercises everyday because the author talks me through them! No pages to turn and nothing to remember. Breathworks exercises are on cassette too. I love the sound of her voice! The best combination ever, information AND motivation. Get the book and the tapes now!!

I thought the book was wonderful and has been a tremendous help with the ongoing, nagging back problems I have had for years. I do the excerises religiously and have seen and felt nothing but improvement since purchasing the book in May. When will the author be releasing another book?

This book will help you. I've suffered from chronic back pain for the past 6-7 years and I've seen a dramatic change in my levels of pain. BUY THIS BOOK! I was out on sick leave from my job as a teacher for four weeks. In desperation I turned to Amazon and looked for some type of help. I found Breathworks but I wasn't convinced that breathing exercises could help but I was desperate. I was still at home for the next two weeks and found by the end of this time I went from not being able to stand up to being able to return to work and finish out a full day. I complete about four to five exercises a night just before bed. The deep breathing relaxes me and helps fall asleep.

On a more vanity driven note, I have gone down one pants size and people are asking me how much weight I've lost.

For the first time in about five years I feel hopeful about what the future may bring and the possibility of being free of pain. I'm on my way to a better and more healthful life thanks to this book.

This year, I experienced an extremely painful bout of sciatica. Although the pain was quickly alleviated through a combination of acupuncture and deep tissue massage, I could sense that a "third leg" of my treatment was missing. My acupuncturist suggested Gyrotonic/Gyrokinesis. After taking a dozen Gyrotonic private lessons, I was amazed by the amount of body awareness that had been taught to me, and even more amazed that my body remembered it from lesson to lesson. This book sounded as if it would be able to clarify (at least partially) how this process happens. And indeed it has.

Please read Chapter 1 in entirety! It explains what happens in the body when the exercises described in the book are performed. After reading this chapter, I could accurately predict the breathing sequence in the fundamental Gyrotonic Arch-and-Curl exercise -- actually, I can predict the breathing sequence for any Gyrotonic exercise. Although I have not actually practiced the exercises laid out in the book, they make so much sense from a Gyrotonic perspective that there is no doubt that they will work as the author describes. Many of them (to my eyes, at least) bear a marked resemblance to Gyrotonic routines.

The author promises results in a few short weeks. She says that you will have better posture, more energy, and less stress. What she doesn't mention is that your newfound core strength will also make lifting things a lot easier. This is a terrific book, and a must read if you have back pain. If you're fortunate enough to live near a Gyrotonic studio and can afford a series of private lessons, the lessons of this book will be translated into an incredible freedom of movement. But Gyrotonic is definitely not necessary to the understanding of the book -- it merely makes lessons to be found in this book more accessible through a defined series of simple physical movements.

Disclaimer: I am not a Gyrotonic professional. I have no vested interest in either teaching or promoting Gyrotonic. I am a layman -- an unathletic engineer who has found Gyrotonic to be the fastest and easiest way to learn to move correctly. It also happens to be the Rosetta Stone for evaluating Breathworks.

This book was an easy read. The author makes a successful effort to communicate on the average reader's level as opposed to trying to impress you with alot of technical jargon. There is however, enough hard-fact, expert language that even the most advanced excercise enthusiast doesn't tire of reading this book. Swayzee is an excellent author and knows her topics well. I look forward to learning more from her in future books.

I've tried several different ways of dealing with almost none existent discs, and this set of exercises intrigued me. I find the technique is easy to learn, easy to keep up, all with wonderful results. Buy the book, learn it, Do It - You'll like the results. Freda

Straight forward information on getting your back in shape and keeping it there.

In the back of the book there is an order form
for the audio tapes. A 2 Tape Set is $10.95
plus $1 S/H, plus tax for CA residents 7.25%

Send check to: [payable to C.E.T. For Life]
C.E.T. For Life Exercise Therapy
PO Box 877
Cedar Ridge, CA 95924

I just sent for mine, I hope it comes!