Customer Reviews

Sanctuary

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I purchased this CD to use for meditation and for use during yoga. I actually have found myself pulling it off the shelf to listen to just for the heck of it. The music is beautiful and moving. Wonderful to help someone center themselves and gain some perspective. Peaceful and haunting melodies filled with just enough of the unexpect to keep the listener interested. Perfect for meditation and yoga.

"Sanctuary: Music from a Zen Garden" by Riley Lee is a rare gift. I usually play this when I am on the Internet working and I am rewarded with a working environment that is pleasant, toned down, moderate. Not gentle, boring, sleepy, just relaxed and casual. I am still able to concentrate on my work without distraction but am not bombarded by unpleasantness.

A KAYCEYGIRL AUDIO LIBRARY MASTERPIECE!!

This CD is absolutely enchanting! The soft gentle flute combined with the Japanese zither is utter relaxation. What I personally like about the tonals in "Sanctuary..." is that they don't travel to one's "somber side", which can have a tendency to put your mind in slight depression. If you are interested in "unplugged" ambient music of the best kind, then this CD is a must!

From the opening soulful drone to the very last note, I can't think of a better way to spend just over an hour of one's time. If you're looking for a way to bring peace and tranquility to your day, this is the CD for you. I listen to it at work and somehow, with Lee's Shakuhachi and Moon's Koto softly playing in the background, I'm able to keep centered and balanced in an otherwise tumultuous environment. This disc is also a perfect compliment for meditation. Whether you're an experienced listener or a Shakuhachi neophyte, you will find this to be a most excellent example "blowing Zen" and of what it means to be a dai shihan in the art.

As a craniosacral therapist, I am constantly on the lookout for music that does not interfere with a clients process and possibly enhances it. This album is exactly that. The music swims through the room as the artists dance together in simple and seemingly exquisite bliss. My clients love it and after I bought this album, I immediately bought it for my closest bodyworking friends.

An interesting series of interpretations; evocative, occasionally and (somewhat ironically) intense; rich with soaring emphasis. A string of adjectives is pointless since this is one of those special collections which has precisely the meaning that you bring to it. The pace and timing is exceptional - most notably the intensity of the silences that have been artfully bracketed in a way that is a wonderful metaphor for the visual textures of the 'Zen Garden' that is the album's namesake. One of the most rewarding aspects of the album is the duality of the listening experience. It lends itself to active listening - if you are in the mood for (say) meditative visualisation, while being equally good for providing a landscape or background for a centring exercise where the goal is stillness.It is HIGHLY recommended that you listen to an original and not an MP3 or some other ersatz reproduction which will lose all spaciousness and simply will not do the work justice. Check out your local library (yay Libraries!). It was a librarian that pointed me to the album 'Rainforest Reverie' - also by Riley Lee - which is much better than the title suggests and is a worthwhile companion to 'Sanctuary'. It is also interesting to note that other reviewers have found this album useful in combination with Yoga. Personally, I'd suggest that unless your Yoga is moderately advanced (in which case why would you need music?) you'll find it a distraction and at best it will detract from the intensity of focus necessary for a truly rewarding Yoga session.

Wow! What a wonderful atmospheric album for our busy lives. This CD is the perfect complement to relaxing-- whether that be while reading a book, or doing Tai Chi, or Yoga, or cooking dinner. I highly recommend this album to massage therapists as well. Both musicians on this album truly shine, but blend together exquisitely.

This is a wonderful CD for meditation or spiritual study. Very centering and peaceful. I'm glad I found it.

This is my favorite CD for relaxing, doing yoga, or just playing for background music. As one of my friends say, "It's just about the best plinky music CD around!"

I love this CD in the background -- it's there when I'm driving the kids, picking up toys, flipping through the newspaper during a free moment. So it isn't music I focus on front and center, but it enhances my life while I'm involved in other activities. It's serene, it's calming without being engaging. Good stuff!