Relax and De-Stress: Rest, Re-balance, and Replenish with Classical Music for Healing

Andrew Weil (Performer), Joshua Leeds (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Andrew Weil, Joshua Leeds
• Audio CD (September 26, 2006)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sounds True, Incorporated
• ASIN: 1591795400
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #139,324 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #7 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Theatrical, Incidental & Program Music > Intermezzos

Editorial Reviews

"Legendary composers like Beethoven, Bach and Chopin instinctively understood the profound effect that music can have on our emotions and physical bodies. Now best-selling author and physician Dr. Andrew Weil has joined with producer and sound researcher Joshua Leeds to bring you Dr. Andrew Weil's Music for Self-Healing Series-classical music for promoting good health. With Relax and De-Stress, the first CD of this new series, listeners will enjoy a selection of soothing classical music, scientifically selected and performed to reduce physical tension, dispel anxiety and create inner calm. The award-winning players of the Apollo Chamber Ensemble perform each piece on Relax and De-Stress with the guidance of the sound-healing research of Dr. Weil and Joshua Leeds. Through subtle rearrangement and emphasis on the underlying psychoacoustic harmonics embedded in the music, these renowned musicians draw out each composition's innate healing potential. Masterpieces such as Debussy's "Reverie" and Vivaldi's "Winter" (Largo movement) are presented in a specific order on the CD, easing the listener with each track into a deeper state of stress-free tranquility. Relax and De-Stress is the perfect choice for listeners who wish to slow down from a hard day's work, prepare for a good night's sleep or simply unwind with some of the greatest work from classical composers."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Relaxing CD Using Psychoacoustics, June 7, 2007

By 

Janet Boyer "Author, Blogger, Mystic" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
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"The music will help slow your heart rate, deepen your breathing, and move your brainwaves in the direction of calmness. Think of this CD as an acoustical balm for your nervous system to be played whenever you feel the need for peace, stillness, and tranquility." - From the liner notes

The hurried pace of overcommitted lives and manic striving is a breeding ground for stress and disease. Stress hormones bathe our delicate nervous system resulting in the fight-or-flight response once reserved for survival, resulting in fatigue, fuzzy thinking and irritability.

Fortunately, there are wonderful stress-reduction products out on the market like Dr. Andrew Weil's Music for Self-Healing: Relax and De-Stress. Joshua Leeds, an expert in psychoacoustics, has designed this CD to soothe the body's primary pulses--heart rate, brainwaves, and breathing rate.

In a sonic progression spanning 60 minutes, Leeds has selected and re-arranged instrumental compositions by renowned composers expressly for inducing the relaxation response. By arranging the musical selections so that each piece is progressively slower in tempo and simplified in melodic complexity, gentle healing sounds can relieve an overtaxed nervous system.

With lovely performances by the Apollo Chamber Ensemble, the Relax and De-Stress CD features the piano, cello, and oboe arranged by Leeds with four psychoacoustic techniques in mind:

1. Resonance - The impact of one vibration upon another

2. Entrainment - A natural process whereby heartbeat, breath and brainwaves speed up or slow down to match an external rhythm

3. Auditory Pattern Identification - Passive hearing techniques designed to relieve the mind of the tendency to "work" to figure out musical patterns

4. Beauty - Resolution between dissonance and consonance found in harmonies, melodies, and performances

Here are the eleven musical pieces found on the Relax and De-Stress CD:

* Aria Lento by Bach

* Reverie by Debussy

* Concerto for Oboe and Strings Sarabande (with nature sounds) by Corelli-Barbirolli

* Arioso from Cantata No. 156 - Bach

* Intermezzo Op. 116 No. 4 in E Major - Brahms

* Concerto for Oboe K. 314, Adagio non troppo by Mozart

* Cello and Piano Sonata in G Minor, Op. 65 Largo by Chopin

* Sonata Andante transcribed from Cello Suite No. 3 by Marcello

* Sonata in A Major D959 Andantino by Schubert

* Winter, Largo from The Four Seasons by Vivaldi

* Meditation by Moussorgsky

* Theme from Largo of "The New World Symphony" by Dvorak

I've listened to Dr. Andrew Weil's Music for Self-Healing: Relax and De-Stress several times and find it to be very relaxing. Aesthetically speaking, these aren't musical selections I'd put in my stereo to listen to for pleasure (even though they're pleasant), yet I can tell a measurable difference in both my mood and bodily state after I begin listening to this CD.

In fact, I'm listening to Relax and De-Stress right now and I'm noticing that my breathing has deepened and slowed--and that tension in my shoulders and neck seems to have melted away.

If you're looking for a soothing CD to put in the stereo after work or perhaps to listen to while you make dinner or get ready for bed, I can recommend with confidence the Relax and De-Stress compilation arranged by Joshua Leeds.

Janet Boyer, author of The Back in Time Tarot Book: Picture the Past, Experience the Cards, Understand the Present (coming Fall 2008 from Hampton Roads Publishing)

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Is there such a thing as TOO relaxing???, January 5, 2008

By 

Jennifer Maciel "kitten as a cat" (Scottsdale, AZ) - See all my reviews
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Wow, this artfully designed musical collection truly does what it says - the psychoacoustics technic really works! Carefully selected classical pieces and soft instrumentation make this an absolute delight to listen to.

However, what I originally purchased this for was to have some relaxing ambient background music to play while I'm working - and this definitely does NOT work - it's too relaxing! The songs are specifically ordered to be gradually slower and softer, and I can't get through half the songs before I want to take a nap. So for daytime ambience, I don't recommend it. If you're looking for a late-night wind-down or a cure for insomnia, I could not recommend it more highly. You'll be ready for sweet dreams in snoozeville by track 11, no drugs required!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Relaxing, January 3, 2007

By 

C. T. Massage Maschino "energy worker" (Augusta, ME. USA) - See all my reviews
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I use this tape in my massage practice and the people seem to like very much and I find they seem to relax easier.