Search - Amy M.D. Saltzman :: Still Quiet Place: Mindfulness for Young Children

Great for adults too!

Peachbulb | New Jersey | 02/13/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first heard of mindfulness meditation a few months ago and have tried several albums. This is my favorite and has become basically the only one I use. This album is designed for children, and I can certainly see how it would be good for children.



However, adults can benefit too!



A few reasons I like this album more than any other:



1. Most of the meditations on this CD are only 3-4 minutes long. With the hectic lives we lead, sometimes stopping for even 10-15 minutes is too much. But everyone has 3-4 minutes. A few tracks are longer, but not more than 12 minutes.



2. You can do it right at your office desk. It's great when I'm having or about to have a stressful moment at work, and it's only 3-4 minutes out of the day. I just slip on a pair of headphones and listen to the tracks on the computer. You don't move around or anything, so nothing is disruptive to others.



Some of the short meditations say to lie down or sit on the floor, but that's unnecessary. You can easily do them in your chair. If you're in a really open space and don't want co-workers seeing anything at all, you can even load them onto an mp3 player and do them in the bathroom LOL



3. The speaker has a nice soft voice. A meditation guided by someone with an annoying voice is, well, annoying.



4. I'll admit to finding the tracks kind of fun:-)



As of this review's date, you'll spend less money buying the whole album, so that's definitely the way to go, but in case that changes, here are a few notes for people buying track by track.



* Wilds (track 6) isn't a meditation; it's happy music clearly meant for children. The two intro/explanation tracks (1 and 13) also aren't meditations, but they're well worth listening to, especially if you're relatively new to mindfulness meditation. If you're using this with children, you'll definitely want the children's intro (track 1).



* Bubbles (track 9) requires a bubble wand, so I skip this one. I can see it being great for children though.



* Pebbles (track 10) asks you to use ten pebbles, but you could substitute with ten of anything that you can easily pick up and put down. Marbles, peanuts, M&M's (assuming M&M's really do melt in your mouth rather than your hand:-)), paper clips, pencils, etc.



* Jewel (track 3) asks you to have a jewel in your hand, but any small thing you can hold will work. I've even used a white-out bottle.



* Body Scan (track 12) and Brief Sit (track 14) are more similar to traditional adult mindfulness meditations. They're around 12 minutes and are very nice.



CONCLUSION: I can't recommend this album highly enough for not just children but adults as well.



I have albums with longer meditations but find myself using this one almost exclusively because it gets me just as relaxed and grounded in 3-4 minutes rather than 20."