Search - Mind Body Spirit: Simply Relax on DVD

Cringe inducing music

vegan mom | 05/11/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The scenery is wonderful. Serene, breath-taking, relaxing, mesmerizing, intoxicating, blissful, fluid... and then, the music. Some parts are mundane piano, others sound eerily like slowed down horror movie music, still others are old and canned sounding, and then there are others that are indiscribable. I don't know what the goal of the sound was. Maybe some type of high-pitched new age warped music? That could have been the goal, but what they created was only what I can imagine would be the sound of that drowning cats would make. I have to turn the volume really low or off to play this. Listening to the dvd counteracts the effects of watching it. Why put all the energy into the film making and then slap some horrendous music on it?"

Does what it claims.

roika | Southern United States | 07/01/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I haven't watched this on a TV set or projector yet; only on my computer monitor, so I can't comment on the technical quality of the images here; only the content.

There are many beautiful and restful scenes here that support the purpose of the DVD. To that end, the images of tropical beaches, flowing water, flowering plants, and ominous skies (often shot through colored lenses) serve the theme well. Sometimes two images are coupled together or superimposed to produce a single effect. Thankfully, there are no humans in the scenes to distract one from imagining being in solitude with nature.

The musical accompaniment mostly consists of stock new age piano (sometimes monotonous drones, sometimes simple noodling, sometimes sounding like Floyd Cramer on valerian root, sometimes Liberace on caffeine), lilting synthy-sized strings and flute-like solos, coupled with undulating white noise to provide fake wave sounds -- all of which has its own unique effect, I suppose. While I usually wince at this kind of musical production, in this setting it's not too objectionable.

I did hear the subtle synthesizer effect that one reviewer complained about, which occurs approx. 36 mins. 30 secs. into the film -- in fact, my curiosity regarding that was one of the reasons I ordered this DVD! Ha! But I didn't find the effect offensive at all. It's very brief (occurring only twice), and adds some ethereal color. A nice change, but nothing jarring or dark, really. I did appreciate those piano passages that reached beyond simplistic ballad-esque progressions, approaching moods not usually encountered in this genre. Those measures were at times more reminiscent of Satie or Debussy, therefore more interesting.

Most often the DVD is quite conducive to relaxation, even inducing sleep. I'm not one who can sleep while music is playing (my brain insists on listening to it, analyzing it -- plus, what composer wants to put his audience to sleep?!), but I could see how this particular combination of imagery and music could lull me to the brink of a nice afternoon nap!

The DVD features are bare-bones, with no option for solo nature audio (probably because there are no real nature sounds in the film), solo music, or having both together. If you don't like the music, I suggest you play the images on your DVD player, and play your favorite relaxing CD to go with the scenery. Unless your DVD player has the capability, there's no programming in the disc to let you create your own play list.

All-in-all, this product invokes relaxation and so it does work as advertised, and while it doesn't exactly approach high art, it isn't bad either. In fact, it's quite soothing for those times when you want to spend some time alone, in meditation, or ruminating upon everyday problems and solutions.

So go ahead and purchase without fear. This product does exactly what it was meant to do, not always more, but certainly no less. I wish I could say that about other relaxation DVDs I've bought!"

Very Peaceful!

Gigi R. | NY | 01/29/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Beautiful beachy scenery to a gorgeous musical score. I truly enjoyed playing the DVD and just enjoying the changing scenes. I found it to be truly therapeutic."