Meditation Videos
Instructional educational videos for meditation.
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Yoga Journal's Yoga 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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Gentle Tai Chi - Meditation in Motion
Enthusiastic instructor Dagmar Munn guides viewers through a series of fun, easy movements adapted from traditional tai chi. Although Munn's routine could offer health benefits to anyone, it seems clear that her target audience is those who find strenuous exercise difficult, as she performs a few stretches and a short workout while seated. The warm-up section begins with a series of self-massages to improve flexibility and circulation, followed by Munn's series of low-impact standing exercises. She runs through her whole routine first (it takes about six minutes) before breaking it into individual moves with detailed instructions. Throughout, a multitude of camera angles show exactly what's going on. The simple movements are accentuated with Munn's subtle tips on breathing and her lucid images for each movement, such as polishing a tabletop. It's not orthodox tai chi by a long shot, but offers a thorough, simple workout for those who wish to keep moving without too much huffing and puffing. --Grant Balfour |
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Alan Watts - The Art of Meditation
"Meditation has no purpose, no objective, except to be entirely here and now." Not an easy concept for the competitive, goal-oriented Western mind, which is precisely one of the things that makes Alan Watts's guide to meditation a fascinating piece of work. Watts, an Englishman who died in 1973 (this piece was shot by filmmaker Elda Hartley in 1971), was an authority on Eastern thought and spiritual practice. Here he guides the viewer through a 25-minute program that's part documentary, part useful guide to meditation. While Watts explains such practical techniques as breathing, posture, and the chanted "aum" mantra, one can just as easily find oneself lost in the kaleidoscope of extraordinarily beautiful, natural images that accompany his words. All in all, those seeking "the naked experience of reality itself" and a connection to "the still, small voice within" will be enchanted by The Art of Meditation. (The video also includes Meditation: The Journey Within, a documentary look at spiritual practices among Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians.) --Sam Graham |
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Stress Free Living: Meditation For Busy Women
Whether you have an hour to spare or just a couple minutes, meditation instructor Maneesha James has an appropriate strategy to reduce stress and unwind. She quietly guides a group of women through the longer exercises on mats in a gym-like setting, but she has a series of actresses show shorter techniques in a variety of everyday settings: the car, the office, a train, home. The first 37 minutes are dedicated to demonstrations of 19 of these techniques. For instance, there's "Face-Off," in which the face is made rubbery and contorted, and "Down to Earth," in which the women jump up and down and then plant their feet to connect with the ground. She also leads the group in a fast-forward demonstration of the Osho Kundalini method--an hour-long active meditation that involves shaking, dancing, sitting still, and finally lying down. The last 15 minutes are dedicated to guided meditation, which the viewer can perform as she watches. The tape includes scenes of waterfalls, crashing waves, and other soothing visuals to the background of the composition "A Woman's Heart" by Cobalt Ocean. --Kimberly Heinrichs |
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Yoga Zone: Meditation - 2 Complete Sessions
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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Mindfulness and Meditation: Stress Reduction
The tranquility that comes from moment-to-moment awareness is the theme from the author of the bestselling book, Wherever You Go, There You Are. In "Stress Reduction," he takes viewers to his Massachusetts Stress Reduction Clinic for demonstrations of sitting, prone, and standing meditation as well as testimonials from stressed-out patients who found some peace through his program. He also takes viewers on a hike through the woods, discusses Henry David Thoreau's Walden Pond, and quotes James Joyce. He gets a little more down-to-earth with a study the clinic conducted augmenting ultraviolet light therapy with meditation for psoriasis patients. Kabat-Zinn's manner is soothing, his attitude is one of gentle prodding, and the visuals are beautifully produced, making for a 51-minute chunk of serenity in a hectic world. -- Kimberly Heinrichs |
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His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Secular Meditation
Filmed in India, Secular Meditation is an introductory class to both the purpose and process of meditation. Of course, the teacher, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, teaches as much with his smiling eyes and laughter as with his words, and the simple wisdom that he shares on this tape will appeal to Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. The framework for the discussion cuts to the root of human experience. All human beings, the Dalai Lama says, want to be happy. This desire transcends all religions or sects, but what is the best way to find happiness? What have our myriad branches of science, schools of philosophy, and spiritual denominations taught us? In his analysis, His Holiness identifies mental and physical happiness as being distinct, with mental happiness being more important. He observes that even if one is physically fit and without discomfort, mental distress can disrupt one's sense of painlessness. Further, as scientists have shown, mental distress can actually cause the deterioration of one's physical being. Therefore, one should pursue a state of mental equanimity. But how does one actively bring peace to the mind? That's where secular meditation comes in. In the final section of the tape, His Holiness suggests several different ways to quiet the mind through single-point meditation with breathing exercises or through the contemplation of compassion. While these suggestions are just a start, they are invaluable for viewers who have never tried meditation before. And for the "experienced" Buddhist or meditator, the Dalai Lama's clear analytical discussion of the path to the cessation of suffering will feel like an energizing breeze that calls one back to "beginner's mind." --Patrick O'Kelley |
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The 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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