Customer Reviews

Creating Calm In Your Life: A Guided Meditation and Stress Reduction CD

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Rivka's Creating Calm is simply one of the best guided meditation CD's available. Rivka's voice, her material and the pacing of her meditation is perfect for doing just what this CD says it will do -- create calm in your life. Unencumbered and undistracted by the usual new-age background music (tinkly bells, soft choruses or sitar riffs) Rivka leads you simply and directly to that calm, still point that is the door to your true self. I especially liked the tracks "Short, Simple Meditations" and "Excellent for Beginners." The first removes the barrier of "I don't have enough time" and the second dissolves the problems of "It's too complicated or scary to be with myself." Very nice, refreshing and different, work.

i read the conflicting reviews of this CD and realized that different people want different things from a meditation CD. i chose this one. i personally find music distracting, so the fact that i can focus solely on a calm voice helps me get into that really relaxed place. i've also done plenty of meditation in yoga and writing classes where i was guided into a forest or cave or whatever... i really like that in these meditations i'm focusing on relaxing my mind and body without traveling all over. these are simple, straight-forward, short trips to a deeply relaxed place. works for me!!!

I bought this CD based on these reviews. These must have been friends of this author because this CD has to be the worst meditation CD I have ever had. The first half is repetitious basically talking about watching your breathe and following it. Nothing else! The second part is no better. Let me just say, I don't write reviews and for me to write this review means it was a terrible CD.

My mind is always so racey. I barely slow down on a given day. My husband gave me this CD for my birthday and I was pretty hesitant to use it. At first I found it hard to sit for the fifteen minutes, but having someone guiding me along the way really helped. I found the instructions straight forward and the teacher's voice to be very soothing. I use it most days now to unwind. I like that there is a variety of different meditations to choose from and the fact that they are short. I recommend this CD to anyone who needs help calming themselves down."

I've been looking for a CD to help me relax for awhile now. Most of the meditations on the CDs I've heard are too long, too complicated or just boring. This CD has really helped me. The meditations are simple and direct. The teacher's voice is very gentle and that alone makes me feel much calmer. I definitely recommend this CD.

As a psychologist and meditation teacher, I come across many stress reduction CDs. "Creating Calm In Your Life" by Rivka Simmons is a real gem. Ms. Simmons has a soothing, calm voice that evokes relaxation and a quiet mind. Her meditations are short, simple, and sweet; ideal for busy people in a busy world. This is the kind of CD that people would actually use.

I found this CD perfect for short spells of mediation--I'm always trying to talk myself out of it--and being able to do a 15 minute meditation compared to some of the longer ones available, has actually got me started meditating! I've read some of the other reviews and it seems like the complaints they have are about meditation in general--you really are just focusing on your breath, I mean not to be a nudge but they seemed like problems people have with meditation in general. There aren't a lot of bells and whistles here , maybe that was the concern--it is very direct, no music, etc. In any case I found this to be completely helpful and a great start to my meditation practice.

I'm fairly new to the whole meditation scene but I loved this CD. There wasn't too much talk, no new age music, just simple calm instructions that really helped me focus. I definitely recommend it.

This is not truly a "meditation" cd. The author guides you thru tensing and relaxing the various muscles in the body, from head to toe. Personally, I do find it helpful; but someone with more meditation experience will probably not get too much from this. There is no music or "white noise", and occasional background sounds can be heard, as if the cd were recorded in different environments at different times. The one thing I found particularly annoying was the author's way of interrupting my concentration by saying "Where is the mind now?"; however she only does this during the "Mindfulness Meditations". I recommend skipping those two and go directly to "Progessive Muscle Relaxation" exercise and the "Body Scan" exercise.

I really love this CD. Listening to one of the 15 minute meditations helps me go from feeling completely wound up to feeling calm again. And I have kids, so 15 minutes is usually all the time I can grab for myself. Rivka does a great job guiding you into a relaxed and calm state very quickly and easily. When I am really stressed, my kids tell me "Listen to your CD!" That's how well it works! Highly recommended.