Meditation DVDs
DVDs to assist with relaxation and meditation.
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Relaxation and Breathing For Meditation
The importance of the breath is familiar to anyone who practices yoga, as is its significance in the pursuit of a deeper, more meditative state. But it never hurts to be reminded of that connection, especially as yoga's growing popularity has turned it in a more active, less contemplative direction. The title of this DVD program pretty much describes the content; it consists of two approximately 30-minute sections, one ("Conscious Relaxation") devoted to several easy, relaxation-inducing poses and the other ("Conscious Breahing") focusing entirely on the breath itself. (Also included are an 8-minute "guided meditation" and an interview with instructor Rodney Yee.) It's unlikely that you'll break a sweat, and you won't "go for the burn," as yoga practitioners seem intent on doing these days--but you might reach a place of stillness that's considerably more profound. Note: The use of certain props (mat, blanket, pillow, chair) is recommended. --Sam Graham |
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Yoga Zone - Meditation: Two Complete Sessions (Beginners)
Yoga may build strength and tone muscles, but there's much more to this ancient art than just a trendy way to get fit. In this two-session tape, Alan Finger introduces some of the techniques yogis have used for centuries to quiet the mind and experience extended states of peace. He begins each session with what he calls "premeditative" asanas, physical poses like Dandasana or the potted-palm series that prepare the body for the intensive stillness of meditation. In the first session, he then concentrates on breathing techniques, including alternate nostril breathing and the Kriya breath, as well as the use of a mantra to calm your mind if it's feeling restless. In the second session, he has students visualize geometric shapes representing the body's chakras, or energy centers. Both sessions strike a pleasant balance between guided instruction and quiet sitting, and together they provide the basic tools a beginning student needs to establish his or her own meditation practice. Best of all, Yoga Zone: Meditation urges students to take the tranquility, wisdom, and creativity accessed during meditation and put these qualities to work in their everyday lives. --Mary Park |
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Yoga Journal: Yoga Practice for Meditation
"Meditation is a time-honored practice that reduces stress and revitalizes the body, mind, and spirit," explains Rodney Yee, instructor for Yoga Journal's Yoga Practice for Meditation. "Meditation is awareness of posture, ease of breath, and attentiveness of the mind." In this beautiful video, Yee quietly and expertly leads you through five yoga practices that release bodily tension, improve posture, and open up breathing. The setting is grand and gorgeous Yosemite National Park, where Yee demonstrates poses in a meadow flanked by trees and cliffs, or at the edge of a lake or waterfall. The rewards of meditation are "living more calmly, more fully, with strength and grace," promises Yee. The practice is divided into five segments: Mountain, a series that moves from pose to pose, used for making the transition from daily activities to a sitting meditation (12 minutes); Garden, gentle movements done in a chair that open the hips and stretch the back (10 minutes); Tree, four sitting poses, using props to modify the poses to your personal flexibility level (10 minutes); Wind, with the focus on the movement of breath, releasing tension, and relaxing deeply (10 minutes); Sky, a meditation focusing on posture and breath, and "inviting the mind into the present moment, time and time again" (8 minutes). --Joan Price |
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Meditation Tool Kit (Forest, Sky, Water)
Soothing nature scenes, New Age music, and quotations from Buddha and Keats are the "tools" provided in this 172-minute DVD "kit." Each of the three sections (forest, sky, and water) can be chosen individually from the menu, but they also run continuously, allowing the viewer to meditate as long as he or she wishes. Although there are no instructions, each section does begin with a thought or an idea. For instance, the sky section begins with the admonition to pay attention to the now. Several more quotes from eastern and western sources as varied as Shakespeare and Gandhi are sprinkled throughout each section, briefly interrupting the visual journeys through woodlands, waterfalls, and clouds. The scenes often have the dappled beauty of a Monet painting, which, combined with the restful music, should put even the most uptight person in a relaxed mode. --Kimberly Heinrichs |
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The Method - Meditation Through Movement
Katalin Zamiar promises her combination of Tai Chi, Qigong, and Yoga will help practitioners find "balance between the manic and the mundane," and her calm radiance alone is testament to her method. The choice to tape herself alone outdoors in the high desert with meditative background music reinforces the serene atmosphere. She begins the 44-minute program with 20 minutes of uniting breath and movement using standing postures and movements. There are knee bends, balancing poses, and yoga back bends. She makes it easy on beginners by working on legs first and gradually adding arms. The balance of the program is the meditation segment. She talks viewers through it ("Relax your eyes…. Calm your breath.") and then lapses into minutes of silence alternating with intermittent voice-over instructions. If you're not meditating along with her, you're basically watching an attractive woman with a maddeningly flat stomach sit in a cross-legged position for 20 minutes. --Kimberly Heinrichs |
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