Customer Reviews

Mindful Solutions for Stress, Anxiety, and Depression

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a "beginner" to mindfulness, I was happy to find this CD to be both informative and easy to follow. Dr Goldstein discusses mindfulness in a way that even a true beginner can understand and jump right in. The guiding voice of Dr Goldstein is calming and pleasant to listen to. I generally use at least one of the guided meditations everyday. The "taste of mindfulness" is a short 5 minute meditation that you can listen to during the day when you need a quick break from the your daily grind and the "meditation for the body" is a great way to relax your entire body before bed.

I wanted to express my delight with Dr. Goldstein's CD. I have listened to many mindfulness and relaxation tapes in the past twenty years, but this one really made an impression on me. Dr. Goldstein's voice and message goes beyond the run of the mill "relaxation" tapes and takes one to a place of sublime mindfulness dealing with many different type of situations, being mental,physical or both.I highly recommend trying this CD. May his voice and message reach out and touch you as it did for me.

~J. Nassif, Age 62

This is absolutely one of the most accessible explanations of mindfulness I've ever found. I was vaguely familiar with all the information, but Dr. Goldstein's tangible explanations (and calming voice!) to made me realize that this is useful in my own life and not just for the devout.

The best thing about this audio is Dr. Goldstein's voice. Just listening to him speak was instrumental in calming me when I could feel the stress mounting. He has a warm, soothing, chocolatey brown sort of voice that helps you focus on what he's saying, which is great, because what he says makes a lot of sense.

I used it as a tool to help get rid of panic attacks, and it made a difference. Great for daily mediation exercises, if you do those, and helps you relax physically as well. Good info, pleasure to listen to, highly recommended.

I love the information on the CD but find the person speaks a little quickly. I find that I have to really concentrate to process. I'll have to listen to it again to see what I missed.

THis CD is excellent. I have been looking for a CD to help me with my meditation and mindfulness practice and Dr. Elisha Goldstein's voice and ideas were extremely insightful and soothing. I felt really relaxed and accepting of myself and my situation each time I listened to it. I highly recommend this CD for anyone who has any issues with anxiety or depression or really every day chaos. I look forward to hearing more of his work and following Dr. Goldstein's success.

This really works and helped me so much-wish I had had it years ago but right now my life has taken a stressful turn and I have to say I am really able to let things go with the help of this cd and use it on a daily basis!!! I highly recommend it to everyone!!!

Dr. Goldstein's solutions for stress reduction has greatly increased my ability to relax and fall asleep. I have anxiety and have a hard time calming down. This CD teaches techniques that are very useful and calming.

This CD is a simple yet powerful tool that anyone can find applicable and useful in their daily lives. Dr. Goldstein's voice is soothing and awakening. It is great for anyone at any stage of their meditative development.

This meditation CD focuses on the concept of mindfulness. Mindfulness is being connected to the present moment. Unlike most meditation CDs, the listener must give these exercises his or her full attention. The listener is not encouraged to fall asleep and is often reminded to reign in focus if the mind begins to wander. The key is to pay attention to day-to-day activities, even mundane ones like taking a shower or eating a meal. People often miss out on little experiences because their minds are constantly cluttered with anxieties, worries, anticipation and other things that can lead to stress. Mindfulness practices are designed to help people get control of their minds. This CD is over 79 minutes, so you definitely get your money's worth, but other CDs have used the meditation techniques used here without the "mindfulness" tag, so I question the usefulness of this CD outside of the concept itself.

The first three tracks are introductions to what mindfulness is and the ways it can be practiced. At one point, Dr. Goldstein lists vocabulary words pertaining to emotions. He says that people sometimes confuse thoughts with emotions which masks the true emotion. Negative self-talk can, therefore, be confused with facts. The vocabulary of emotions did not strike me as being all that useful as finding a word to describe an emotion does not, to me, seem that significant of a difficulty. Goldstein also describes six ways of thinking that can lead to stress and anxiety: catastrophizing ("what if..."), emphasizing the negative, mind reading, trying to be the eternal expert (always having to be right), thinking one knows how people should act/behave (leading to anger at others or guilt over one's self), and blaming by holding others responsible for one's pain or blaming one's self for the pain of others. Goldstein states that it is best to approach rather than ignore negative emotions.

There are three meditation exercises ranging from 5 minutes, 17 minutes and 24 minutes in length. In the introduction to them, the listener is guided to breath through the belly. This technique is used in many meditation and anti-anxiety CDs. The listener is also encouraged to recognize thoughts and emotions as they come and go and understand that they are not permanent. The point is also to focus on the meditation exercises and keep the mind, that is bound to wander, on the present moment.

The first and shortest meditation focuses on belly breathing. There are many silent segments in this and the other two sessions. There are also long silent moments after each "ding" that indicates a new track, which is a little annoying. The second session shifts to physical sensations of the body which has long pauses as Goldstein guides you through different parts of the body. Again, this technique is used in many other anti-stress CDs. The final and longest meditation session is also designed to notice sensations of the body (though it does not go specifically through the body parts). About mid-point through the exercise, Goldstein has you ask yourself if you feel safe enough to continue. I am not sure what that was all about as it is basically the same type of exercise as the other two sessions and it doesn't change much from that point on.

In sum, I am intrigued by the concept of mindfulness for relieving stress, but I think more innovative ways could be found in presenting this idea on a CD. Instead of the belly breathing and focus on the body parts that is so often used in these types of CDs, I wish other techniques were tried. Maybe during the silent moments, the listener could be guided to listen for sounds or how the air feels, etc. Not just internal things but external things as well since we are supposed to concentrate on the moment. There are probably other, more unique ways to teach mindfulness on CD. I think the concept is important, but the techniques have been done before.