Product Details

• Actors: Gary Kraftsow
• Directors: Ian Albert and Mark Holmes
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Bayview Entertainment/Widowmaker
• DVD Release Date: February 3, 2009
• Run Time: 155 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (105 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000U0C9UE
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #475 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #27 in Movies & TV > DVD > Exercise & Fitness

Editorial Reviews

Yoga Journal:Yoga for Strength and Toning

Whether you’re an athlete,a yoga practitioner,or anyone interested in a great workout,these challenging practices will provide you with visible results. The 60&ndsh;minute Toning and Strengthening Sequence,along with the 30&ndsh;minute Core Practice,will work your body in new and different ways and leave you feeling stronger,leaner,and more flexible. These dynamic sequences are designed to cleanse and support all of your body’s systems,giving you a well&ndsh;rounded and fun workout that will awaken your physical and mental strength. From Yoga Journal magazine,the most trusted name in Yoga today!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Go Yoga, May 21, 2010

By 

Shreya - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Viniyoga Therapy for the Low Back, Sacrum & Hips with Gary Kraftsow (DVD)

Once regarded as simply an Eastern discipline, yoga is now a familiar part of the health and fitness scene. A recent national survey has found that nearly 16 million Americans currently practice yoga. Although many people are doing yoga to ease stress and improve their health, a growing number have specific medical goals in mind, such as getting rid of their back pain. But does it really work?

Well, according to a 2009 study in the journal Spine, yoga therapy CAN reduce pain and functional impairment in people with chronic low back pain. This condition can be difficult to treat, and not surprisingly, having a bad back is one of the most commonly reported reasons people are turning to alternative and complementary therapies like yoga.

With great videos like Viniyoga Therapy with Gary Kraftsow DVD 2-Pack [[ASIN:B000U0C9UE Viniyoga Therapy for the Low Back, Sacrum & Hips with Gary Kraftsow, you don't have to be enrolled in a study, or drag yourself to a class to get all the pain-relieving benefits of yoga. Just pop the DVD in, and you'll find the video divided up into some of these sections, such as...

-Presentation on Understanding Back Pain and the application of yoga therapy.
-Technique Workshop on how to safely perform postures and movements.
-Focused practice for Low Back and Sacrum Therapy.
-Focused practice for Hip Therapy.
-Integrated practice for sustained low back Strength and Stability.

Its set up pretty well. In a nutshell, they cover some facts about back pain, and then introduce you to the theory of yoga and some of the postures. Then, you can pick which area you want to focus on (like the low back), and you'll be slowly guided through a series of poses that will help get you stretched out and strengthened up. If you're worried about getting injured or hurt, don't be. All the poses are pretty gentle, and the stretches can be as mild as you want them to be. And the music and verbal instructions are quite soothing.

So if you think you'd like to try yoga to take a bite out of your back pain, this would be a good choice. If yoga's not your thing, books like Treat Your Own Spinal Stenosis offer some pretty good exercises too.

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough and helpful, April 1, 2008

By 

Patty (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Viniyoga Therapy for the Low Back, Sacrum & Hips with Gary Kraftsow (DVD)

This is not a flashy pretty video, but a low budget production. Don't let that put you off. No waterfalls or new age music here. Host Gary Kraftsow sold me when he mentioned he conducted a study for the NIH linking back pain relief with this specialized yoga that was later mentioned in the Annals of Internal Medicine. That gives his method some credibility. I'm just starting these postures and they seem to work. I am getting some relief.
This DVD is in several manageable parts. Part one covers causes of back pain and some physiology and is surprisingly interesting. Next there is a detailed section of all the poses. If you practice yoga already you may not need this stuff. The real meat of the DVD is the 3rd section with 2 separate short workouts and a third part that is longer with strengthening poses. He recommends starting with the 2 short practices before moving to the strenghtening postures. Good advice because I tried the strengthening poses ahead of schedule and it was a little painful. I started over a few days later with the easier 'aligning' practice and I'm back in business. I am feeling better after just a few days. These poses are deceptively easy. They gently get the muscles back where they need to be. It makes sense. I would recommend this DVD to fellow back pain sufferers.

194 of 226 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very understandable, very helpful, September 13, 2007

By 

Merope (New Mexico, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Viniyoga Therapy for the Low Back, Sacrum & Hips with Gary Kraftsow (DVD)

First, this is a high quality production. I mention that only because many yoga dvds are such low quality. Gary Kraftsow is a real pro -- the visual and voiced instructions by him are excellent. The theraputic advice is clear and to the point. He says in the intro that the only way to focus on each of these poses is to know what their purpose is, so the first section of the DVD is educational and informative, the second is a pose by pose description, and the third is three separate practices, about 30 minutes apiece.

Kraftsow also favors function over form -- a welcome relief from America's silly yoga Culture of Perfection. You do the poses to strengthen and heal your back, not to compete in some "pose off", a la Bikram Yoga.

Pose instruction is easy, and the poses are very basic, even for someone in the throes of back pain or who has never done any yoga before. The sessions are flow yoga style and there are three different workouts, focusing on different issues.

All in all, highly recommended. Namaste.