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Review of "The Joy of Meditating"

By Salle Merrill Redfield
Time Warner Audio Books, 1995
Review by Christian Perring, Ph.D. on Jul 22nd 2003
The Joy of Meditating

This is a one-hour meditation tape with four guided meditations. They are meant to help the listener relax.  Redfield first tells the listener to relax his or her body and then she takes the listener on a journey that is designed to help the listener feel more at peace.  Other meditations are meant to help listeners get a deeper connection with the divine.  Her slow and monotone voice is accompanied by a musical backing of new age sounds -- a wind instrument and a harp.  On the path Redfield takes the listener on, one can hear the sounds of birds and gates opening and closing as one goes through them. 

Obviously, one has to be open to this sort of meditation for it to be effective.  If, like myself, your reaction on being told to "relax your intestinal area" is to snort with laughter, this tape will probably not be helpful to you.  Similarly, if you have difficulty imagining sending your love out to someone in the form of light which is then absorbed by the person you are loving, then you will probably want to try a different form of relaxation.  You might also prefer other meditation tapes that do not use so much guided imagery -- such as imagining you are going on a walk with a setting sun.  However, if none of this puts you off, then you may well find The Joy of Meditating a useful resource.

 

© 2003 Christian Perring. All rights reserved.

Christian Perring, Ph.D., is Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College, Long Island, and editor of Metapsychology Online Review.  His main research is on philosophical issues in medicine, psychiatry and psychology.

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