Autonomy: Stretch

Keri Tombazian
Year Released: 1996

Categories: Athletic Stretch


I lucked into a WONDERFUL tape here! Autonomy: Stretch is a great, relaxing athletic stretch, but with a meditative tone that makes it seem almost yoga-like in attitude. There are three different exercisers who go through the stretch routine silently, while a narrator talks you through the movements. This format was OK, I have to admit that the narrator's voice was very soothing, although the narrator was occasional just a tad BEHIND what the exercisers were actually doing which was quite distracting. The music is also chosen to be soothing and relaxing, and the set, a dark set but with a golden sort of light is obviously intended to complete the meditative theme. Although the attitude is very meditative, the stretches are pure and simple athletic stretches. VERY thorough stretches, they even stretch the forearms and the fingers. Each body part is stretched at least two and often three times in different positions. There is a standing upper body stretch, standing lower body, a total body floor stretch, and a "self resistance" stretch which involved pulling into a stretch, often with a towel, contracting against it, and re-stretching it. The neat thing about this tape is that you could stop the tape after the standing stretching (about 14 minutes as I recall) and have a wonderful, thorough stretch. OR, take an additional 8 minutes or so to add a floor stretch. THEN, the last 9 minutes is the self-resistance stretch. The whole tape is 30 minutes and I will probably do the whole thing together most of the time, but it is good to know that on time-crunched days you could stop earlier and still have gotten a thorough and effective stretch. I cannot imagine a tape being more thorough or more effective. The fact that the narrator is sometimes slightly behind the exercisers, and the cameras often focus in on the beauty of a body part right when I need to see the whole position, are minor problems. The stretch is well worth ignoring them. A definite A+! Ultimately, after I'm more familiar with the tape, I will probably turn off audio and put on some of my own favorite soothing music while following the exercisers without the narration.

Instructor Comments:
the "models" (they weren't exactly instructors) showed wonderful form and demonstrated the stretches beautifully. The narrator who talked through the stretches had a soothing and pleasant voice

susan p

11/12/1999