The blog Kickstart Your Drumming just included Ryan’s video on practicing without pedals in their recent article about practicing in general. Always nice to see someone sharing the knowledge.
http://www.kickstartyourdrumming.com/practice-drumming-without-drums/
Practicing on a pillow… dubious at best, but the rest of this article is spot on.
Ryan Alexander Bloom 
Hey there,
This is Yannick, the person behind KickstartYourDrumming. Thanks for mentioning me here – and I’m glad for the video. Very helpful for this article!
Also, I do believe in pillow practice and have seen great results with it. But surely, it’s not for everyone 🙂
Thanks!
Pillow practice has some benefit, but it’s dangerous for beginners or for those who haven’t established their free stroke thoroughly. If you can’t feel and control rebound, it’s not good to practice without any as it just drives you further from the goal. On the condition that you’ve got no rebound issues, a workout on a pillow can be useful for wrist strength and the simulation of floor toms. Also perhaps it can be effective for timpani strokes.