Heisig did not work for me too

When I was starting to learn Kana, all I did was to practice writing each one over and over after my sensei showed the class how. I guess it helped that my teacher was a bit strict regarding neatness of Kana so I was also forced to write beautifully (that was before -- not anymore

)
So if you are a tactile learner, you might benefit from writing down kana. If you can find animated Kana gif files on the internet, that would be helpful because you will also know the correct stroke order.
If you are a visual learner, like TheEnglishKnitter, you can benefit by using pictures to associate a Kana (and eventually kanji). For example, in our class, we learned the hiragana の superimposed on a "NO parking" sign. Something like that

...And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make...