Amazing CD! 2008-08-10

Reviewer: Amy L. Williams

This CD has changed my life! Anyone who struggles with depression should try the breathing exercises on this CD. I have struggled with debilitating depression for years, and I have had periods of serious malaise and low energy. But this CD has changed all that! The exercises on the CD are meant to give you more energy, and they really work. When my brain feels like it's in a fog, I do these exercises and I feel much, much better.

What an underappreciated product. Everyone with depression should own this CD and, Ms. Weintraub, you should really be teaching this technique to fellow yoga instructors (maybe you are already, I'm not sure...). Thank you so much for changing my life. I would highly, highly recommend this product!

Very good primer on yoga breathing techniques 2007-09-04

Reviewer: Beth Cholette

In this CD, yoga instructor Amy Weintraub, who struggled with severe depression herself, teaches various yoga breathing techniques, or pranayama. Given her own history of depression, she focuses on the ability of breathing exercises to increase prana (life force) and thus improve mood, but these practices are actually appropriate to address a wide variety of conditions, from depression and anxiety to more commonplace issues like stress and fatigue.

There are a total of 13 chapters on this CD, including an introduction, 2 meditation practices, and 10 individual breathing exercises (approximately 2-4 minutes each). The majority of the breathing techniques are performed in a simple seated position (try them while sitting in front of your computer at work!), but a few involve arm movements or even basic standing movements designed to increase energy. Whereas the greater movement is more energizing, other practices are more calming, such as alternate nostril breathing. Weintraub covers breathing techniques from several major yogic traditions, including the ujayyi pranayama common to most forms of hatha yoga and Kundalini yoga's breath of fire. Other components included in the practices are breath retention and body locks (eg, lowering the chin to the chest). The two longer meditations (9 and 14 minutes) incorporate breathing with increased awareness, intention, chanting, and relation.

Although I can't personally vouch for the effectiveness of these breathing techniques for alleviating depression, as a psychologist, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this CD to a client who was experiencing depressive or anxiety symptoms. Furthermore, yogic breath work is appropriate for anyone wanting to attain a greater sense of calmness, relaxation, and peace, and Weintraub does an excellent job of making these timeless techniques accessible to a modern audience.

Just what I needed! 2005-05-15

Reviewer: A. Truame

The 11 tracks of breathing exercises on this CD help transform me in the morning from a fatigued and grouchy gal into my higher self in 38 minutes! Even if I have time to do just 4 exercises, I feel energized, centered, and more clear-headed. (The other 2 tracks on the CD are an introduction explaining the author's recovery from depression via yoga and a 15-minute guided relaxation.) I am not clinically depressed, so you don't have to be to benefit from this CD, but I would definitely give this to my friends who are. I've never done yoga, so I found it helpful to look at the photos of a couple of the sitting and standing postures in the author's book, Yoga for Depression, even though the verbal descriptions are good.