 Fantastic device, probably not for "hardcore" meditators |
| Review Date: March 26, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Russell Christopher, Charlotte, NC USA |
I have a long time, twice-a-day meditation practice which includes breathing techniques, but was curious about this device anyway. So, I bought it on impulse. It is impressive, but simple and easy to use. I'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't have some sort of regular (2-3 times daily) stress-relief practice in place. It's function is simple - you simply breath in, then exhale when the device prompts you to. The tool sort of "teaches" you how to breath based on feedback on the screen, and as you learn to focus on the breath...poof, you stop worrying about other stuff.
After you learn the "how to" part and get regular with your breathing sessions, the additional personal benefit may be more limited. Since I'm already very familiar with using the breath to center myself, this item could become a glorified "breath counter": The ancillary good stuff is that it records a history of how many sessions of breathing I've done and details about same, and the device will always give me feedback on my current state of mind (am I taking slow, well spaced breaths or short jerky ones, etc.)...I'm just not sure that those functions are quite worth the asking price.
Back to YOU, however. I'd absolutely recommend this device for anyone who doesn't do meditation and/or Pranayama regularly. For those folk who want a scientific approach to stress relief and might feel uncomfortable with the spirtual trappings of Yoga / meditation / etc, this thing is also perfect.
The device itself is very solid feeling, and I'm sure would survive multiple..."drop tests" (although I haven't been clumsy enough to try it yet!). You'll also be able to get started with it very quickly without spending tons of time with the instructions.
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A little expensive, but it works great for me
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| Review Date: March 26, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Mark B, Austin, TX |
I bought this thing because I was curious about it, thought I'd try it out and intended on sending it back once I convinced myself that it was a glorified breathing machine. Well, the thing works for me so I won't be sending it back.
You can read about the theory behind it at their website, but basically it measures your heart rate variability which in turn is supposed to reflect your emotional state. The device prompts you to breath out at a certain time to bring your HRV to an optimum level, which it measures by giving you a rating of 1-3 cubes at the bottom of the screen, 1 being bad and 3 being good.
The first thing that I wanted to know was whether it accurately reflected my mental state, which I doubted it would. So I've tried thinking about something stressful at random times during periods when I was otherwise relaxed (3 cubes) and it gives me 1 cube pretty much every time. 1 cube definitely feels worse than 3 cubes. I've repeated this many times over and I don't doubt now that it can tell if I've gone from a relaxing state of mind to a stressful one. I can also tell now, based on how I feel, when I will get 1 cube vs. 3. This has turned out to be useful information because I can make myself feel relaxed without having to use the device, so I think the biofeedback component is really useful - it has helped me train myself to relax. It's a bit like a relaxation coach. I still can't get as relaxed on my own as I can using it, but maybe in time I'll be able to.
The next thing I was interested in is whether this thing is any better than just sitting there and breathing calmly. Having convinced myself that it accurately predicts whether I'm stressed, I've tried to test this by ignoring the breathing prompts and just breathing in a nice calm manner and recording how many 3 cubes vs. 1 cubes I got in 15 minutes and comparing that number with the one obtained from breathing based on prompts for 15 minutes. Generally I get about 30-40% more using the prompts. The difference seems to be decreasing, but I think that's because I have learned to breath the way it wants me to w/out the prompts. Basically I'm getting better at using breathing to decrease stress so I don't need to rely on the device as much. At the beginning though, I wasn't too good at using breathing to calm myself.
Obviously I can't tell if this works for everyone, and I bet some people are good at using deep breathing to calm themselves so that they wouldn't benefit so much from this, but I've been pleasantly surprised in that it's not a scam and it has helped me to de-stress without drinking a bottle of wine every night like I used to do (kidding). I'd like to see the price come down though.
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The Real Deal
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| Review Date: June 25, 2007 |
| Reviewer: SanDiegoDude, San Diego, CA United States |
This might seem to be a gimmick along the lines of the thigh-master or the ronco fish-a-matic.
Surprisingly, it works fabulously - I started using it when I had a couple of business deals that were having problems out of my control. I found myself relaxed and able to make decisions and able to let go of the things out of my control, and able to enjoy my time when I wasn't working w/o worrying about the deals. I was able to compartamentalize things much better than in the past.
I think this device can be called "mediation reminder for non-new-age types." By having the box, which is about the size of a deck of cards, sitting on my desk, I remember to use it, whereas I've never been able to remember to meditate, despite all the positive press about it. I also like that the product literature describes the process as activing your parasympathetic nervous system (which you can confirm actually does exist) rather than painting it as some sort of spiritual journey. I wish this device had existed when I was in grad school.
The benefits of meditation have been scientifically proven, but too often the messengers are the crystal channeling/aromatherapy/past lives types, who while usually sweet people, aren't as believable as say an article in a medical journal. This device is for those who want the physical effects w/o the new-agey story attached. Try it.
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seems like a gimmick, but it's not
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| Review Date: August 3, 2008 |
| Reviewer: SanDiegoDude, San Diego, CA United States |
This might seem to be a gimmick along the lines of the thigh-master or the ronco fish-a-matic.
Surprisingly, it works fabulously - I started using it when I had a couple of business deals that were having problems out of my control. I found myself relaxed and able to make decisions and able to let go of the things out of my control, and able to enjoy my time when I wasn't working w/o worrying about the deals. I was able to compartamentalize things much better than in the past.
I think this device can be called "mediation reminder for non-new-age types." By having the box, which is about the size of a deck of cards, sitting on my desk, I remember to use it, whereas I've never been able to remember to meditate, despite all the positive press about it. I also like that the product literature describes the process as activing your parasympathetic nervous system (which you can confirm actually does exist) rather than painting it as some sort of spiritual journey. I wish this device had existed when I was in grad school.
The benefits of meditation have been scientifically proven, but too often the messengers are the crystal channeling/aromatherapy/past lives types, who while usually sweet people, aren't as believable as say an article in a medical journal. This device is for those who want the physical effects w/o the new-agey story attached. Try it.
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genious
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| Review Date: April 3, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Sarah, Brooklyn, NY |
| I've had chronic insomnia for the last five years and have tried everything but still need sleep aides. So far the Stress Eraser gets me to sleep faster and I've been able to cut way back on the dosage of sleep medication. Being someone who practices yoga and meditation, I recognize that the device enables you to get the benefits of those things in much less time and with a fairly guaranteed outcome. While it seems like relaxed breathing is something you could do on your own without a device, it works much better with the device because you can't cheat- when your thoughts wander, it catches you. I try to use it for about fifteen minutes each night but I'm usually falling asleep before I can finish the session. I sleep deeper and my jaw is more relaxed in the morning. Most importantly, it's not medication. And stress is really really bad for you and most ways of combatting it are costly and time-consuming. Once you own one of these you can relax quickly and completely any time you need to. I want everyone I know to have one! |
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