Customer Reviews

Element: Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm in the 5th week of my 3rd pregnancy. I gained 45 with my first and was in terrible shape. I didn't loose the weight until after my 2nd pregnancy where I only gained 25, but started overweight. I finally lost all the baby weight and then some and now here I am for #3. I am no where near in great shape, but at least my weight is down and I'm working on it. I promised myself I would have a more healthy pregnancy this time. My diet is great, I just needed to find a workout that I would enjoy and that wouldn't take an hour of my time. I purchased 4 pregnancy workouts - 2 pilates and 2 yoga and I love them all. I looked at pretty much every prenatal workout Amazon has to offer (spent a couple days reading reviews) and am super happy with my choices. All 4 make the workout very personal, the music is great, and there isn't any of that super peppy over acting stuff like so many workouts. They are all well trained in their art and have many years of experience behind them.

#1 - Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga with Elena Brower
This is a great workout! This is my first time doing yoga, though I've done some of the moves in my regular non-pregnancy pilates workouts, and I'm loving it. It has really loosened up my stiffness and made my hips and lower back feel so much better. I thought I was going to die during my 2nd pregnancy because of all my aches and pains. I talked with many of my friends about yoga and what I should look for. They told me about how I should feel it, but not overstretch, to know what my bodies limits are. The breathing really helps. This one also has a postnatal workout I am looking forward to!

#2 - 10 minute Solution Prenatal Pilates with Lizbeth Garcia
This really energized me. It uses weights along with great moves and my heart rate was up and going. I love Lizbeth Garcia. I LOVE that you can pick which order you do the workouts in and you can do one or as many as you like! I'm looking forward to the postnatal workout after my beautiful little one arrives!

#3 - Pilates During Pregnancy with Niece Pecenka
All I can say is - wow! My legs are out of shape. The ab workout is great and helps me feel open and even helped my bloated feeling pass. The leg work is a challenge and has a lot of different moves my other pilates workouts don't, but I know it will get easier as I gain strength. Some of he movements aren't always the same length, but I still love doing this workout.

#4 - Yoga for Pregnancy Labor & Birth with Colette Crawford
I did this today and it really relaxed my body and mind (which I needed as my 3 and 5 year old were running around the house doing crazy things). It's very simple and straightforward and anyone can do it. I feel motivated after doing it and so many pressures are gone. As mentioned in some of the other reviews the girls in it aren't super skinny and that is kind of nice sometimes. She talks a lot about breathing, being in the moment, and just knowing your body. I would recommend this to anyone who just needs some time to learn to relax and do some great stretching to help with aches and pains!

I hope this helps anyone out there looking for some great workouts to stay in shape and feel in control during pregnancy. Just a side note, I've noticed working out really helps me control my cravings and wanting to over eat. It strengthens my mind and helps me feel in control.

I just received this DVD last week and have already used it twice. I am 5-months pregnant with my third kid, work full-time, and am so busy at this time in my life that I am unable to attend in-person classes...which is a drag, but I am making the most of it. I was soooo sick my first 3.5 months I couldn't do anything and am now getting my strength back and although this video was easy-to-follow because of the excellent verbal guidance (you can do it with your eyes closed if at all familiar with yoga positions) it was easy for me to focus on my balance and breathing instead of wondering if I was in the right position etc... the workout was a challenge - but not too much. there were a few things that were complicated transitions i.e. getting into Pigeon pose... but they give you enough time to make the transition (however you can do it comfortably) that I never felt rushed or behind. Nothing about the video was annoying. The set is visually pleasing. I like that there are two parts to the video the first part is for prenatal and the second for postnatal. I believe they are around 25 minutes each.

I also bought the crunch yoga mama video, but haven't tried it out yet.

I bought this dvd and have been using since my 30 months. I'm 8 months now and im doing yoga with this dvd almost everyday for 5 mins and I would say that I love it. The moves are slow and easy to follow. Also your breathing gets deeper as you keep practising. i have less back pain now and i feel my body is getting flexible for the labor. I'm also doing the meditation with another dvd which helps to reduce my stress level. i have 2 other yoga dvds but this one is my favorite as the poses are practical and tones each muscle in your body.

I'm in my second trimester and haven't as yet tried the postnatal yoga sequences on this DVD, but here are my impressions of the prenatal yoga.

Pro:
1. Quick session (about half an hour)
2. Instructor is pleasant, not long-winded
3. Has a few poses (like pigeon) which are extremely beneficial to pregnant women.
4. The scenery behind the woman practicing looks lovely! I wish I could sit there with a cup of hot tea! (Irrelevant, but still)

Con:
1. Feels a little hurried - don't have enough time to hold all poses for as long as I would like.
2. Does not end with shavasana (lying down on the floor) - which I really enjoy at the end of a yoga sequence.
3. I felt more short of breath than relaxed through some sequences and I am no yoga newbie.

If I had tried this video out before I bought it, chances are I would have skipped buying it altogether.
It's a good video, but not something I personally find appealing to me.
I love Desi Bartlett's Prenatal Yoga and Yoga Mama by Crunch.
However, the money is spent and I am going to hold on to it for a day when I feel terribly energetic and for the post-natal workout.

This is definitely a great dvd...very calm, very soothing, good flow. It also offers a postnatal workout, which I haven't yet tried. The prenatal portion of the dvd runs @40 min. I really, really like the instructor, Elena Brower - she knows what positions an expecting mother should enter into and has a wonderful sense of calm to her voice.

I would not recommend this dvd to beginners, especially if they just ventured into yoga at the start of their pregnancy. Instead, for beginners, I would recommend The Perfect Pregnancy Workout vol. 2: Yoga.

In addition, if you are an advanced yogi, you will find this dvd is not the most challenging. Instead, I would recommend something more like Prenatal Vinyasa Yoga ~ Jennifer Wolfe for more advanced yogis. However, this dvd is great to have for those days where you feel like your body has less energy as it does calm the body and allow for some really good flexibility poses.

I have done 15 minutes of yoga every morning for the last 10 years or so. The exercises I was doing started to feel like they were stretching my belly ligaments too much. This video is a great balance between stretching the right places for a pregnant woman while still giving the women who wants more of a challenge the right level of challenge during pregnancy.

I recommend this video to anyone who is new or old to yoga for sure! :)

I have purchased other pregnancy yoga dvds that modify for each trimester. I tried this dvd at 7 months pregnant and it was too much for me. I didn't find that this yoga routine was any different from a non-pregnancy yoga routine. This yoga dvd may be ok for the first trimester and part of the second, but I strongly advise being careful when using this dvd for the latter part of pregnancy.

Ok, I wanted to wait until I had done this for a bit before I gave my review. The Verdict: I LOVED IT! It's so relaxing, the voice is not annoying...very calming actually. I used to be an advanced yoga person [before kids and had all the time in the world to work out!] We have two active girls and baby number 3 is on his or her way, so I feel like I'm starting all over. So i'd call myself Beginner/Intermediate [hey, it's been like 5 years] This DVD has become my [ME-TIME]. It's so peaceful and relaxing. It's short-ish, the music is not irritating, and my fav pose is Child's Pose. I am going to be mixing this with another one I got MommyShape Prenatal Complete DVD - Sculpt, Dance, & Yoga for Birth, Baby & Beyond to give me a more well rounded workout [so i can bounce back! LOL *crosses fingers and wishes on a star*]

If you are a beginner I cannot imagine that this would be a hard DVD. I am at the end of my 1st trimester. Whenever a pose becomes difficult, RELAX into it and DO NOT push yourself [you'll get hurt...and be sorry] If it HURTS, stop bending so hard & relax yourself for a second...the more you do it, the more flexible you become and the easier it is, so don't get discouraged.

I hope you all enjoy it and I hope this helped! Check out that other DVD I mentioned. Good Stuff.

I didn't use this DVD for the prenatal portion of my pregnancy. Instead I used Prenatal Yoga by Shiva Rea, which I would recommend. The practices are modified for each trimester and there is a person demonstrating all of the moves in each trimester. For someone like me who hadn't religiously practiced yoga, I was able to choose the modifications that worked best for me.

Now that I have had my baby, I tried using the Postnatal and Prenatal DVD by Elena Brower. I found this DVD to be too difficult. I found myself having to modify moves often. This could be for two reasons: One, I am not someone who has done a lot of YOGA in her life, and second, I had a c-section. Even though it has been 7 weeks since my baby was born, many of the moves are two difficult for my stomach muscles to handle. In addition, I found the DVD boring, and again that could be b/c I don't typically do YOGA. I couldn't wait for the DVD to be done. I found her way of speaking to be annoying (buoyant heart) and I don't need to hear the correct terminology for the movements. (she would say the movement, for example triangle pose, and would then follow it with the way that movement is said in the traditional language)

I would say that the postnatal portion of this DVD should be done by someone who practiced more advanced YOGA throughout the entire pregnancy and could handle these movements. I would also say that if you have had a c-section, the postnatal portion will most likely be too difficult for your abdomen to handle.

I bought this early in my 2nd trimester and have used it ~2-3 times per week since then. I am in my 3rd trimester and it's getting more challenging, but it still feels good at the end of the 30 minutes. I am hoping for an easier labor and delivery, so we'll see how that goes (this is my first baby, so of course I won't have anything to compare to). I also await the day when I can start the post pregnancy yoga. It's quite a deal for 2 30-minute work-outs in one cheap DVD.