Indigo Ocean Dreams: 4 Children's Stories Designed to Decrease Stress, Anger and Anxiety while Increasing Self-Esteem and Self-Awareness (Indigo Dreams) 
asked by flow on November 5, 2006 7:33 AM
"Indigo Ocean Dreams" is the 2nd CD/audio book in this children's series. Like "Indigo Dreams",this 60 minute CD/audio book is designed to entertain your child while introducing them to relaxation and meditation techniques. "Indigo Ocean Dreams" offers longer stories and variations on the same techniques found on "Indigo Dreams". Ideal for older children and as step two for those already familiar with "Indigo Dreams". Four "new" stories explore breathing, visualizations, muscular relaxation and affirmations. Children follow their sea friends along as they learn to manage their own anger,stress and anxiety. The narration is accompanied by healing sounds of dolphins, sea otters and gentle waves. An additional music sound track is included to further enhance your child's mind, body and spirit. Angry Octopus: Muscular Relaxation is essential to a good nights sleep. Children follow the octopus along as they learn to manage anger, relax and see things more clearly. This easy, fun exercise relaxes muscles throughout the body as anxiety, tension and anger slip away. Children and parents will fall asleep more easily and experience a deeper peaceful nights sleep. Sweet dreams! Affirmation Weaver: Affirmations or positive statements build self-esteem and empower children to be the best they can be. Children follow the sea friends along as they weave a web of confidence. Children learn to believe in themselves while replacing negative messages with positive self-talk. Children love this feel good story and the positive effect it has on their lives. Feel good! Sea Otter Cove: Breathing for relaxation and wellness is a basic technique practiced by cultures throughout the world. This ancient technique encourages children to feel calm and in control of their own energy. Children love to follow the sea otters along as they experience diaphragmatic/belly breathing. This self calming technique can be used anytime, anywhere. Lets Breathe! Bubble Riding: Visualization is an effective technique widely used for achieving sports goals, creating success and attaining wellness. Now children can follow the sea child along as they fill their bodies with the colors of the rainbow. Colorful imagery quiets the mind and relaxes the body. Parents as well as children enjoy falling asleep while playing with bubbles. Relax with colors!
Reviews
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Overall, the "Indigo Dreams" series of CDs is excellent, and my rating reflects my general perception across all three of them. The concepts and tone are soothing and the tools it teaches are effective. My very bright, creative 10 year old son suffers from pretty intense anxiety and stress issues; he also has some anger issues and trouble falling asleep, both of which are off-shoots of the stress and anxiety. While these CDs are (unfortunately!) not a total panacea, they are helpful for him on many a tough evening.
We own all three CDs in the "Indigo Dreams" series, and he listens to one or another of them just about every night. When he places one of those discs into the CD player, turns it on, and turns out the light, his body and brain seems to viscerally respond ... most of the time, anyhow. At his age and developmental level, he is just at the cusp of the kids' CDs being a little too young and the teen CD being a little too old, but he seems to benefit from them anyway. At this point, he still leans toward the kids' versions most of the time - the simple stories "zone him out" in a good way, though I can't honestly say that he "hears" them as much more than white noise after so many listenings. There are mornings when he tells me that he can't remember anything past the first or second story on the CD, which means he fell asleep relatively quickly. (YAY!) Sometimes we just skip the CD player to the "music only" tracks at the end of each CD and that relaxes him as well.
The only barrier that prevented me from rating the series with five stars rather than four is a minor "gender issue". My son prefers the voice of the female narrator; unfortunately, she is only present on the Indigo Dreams CD with the purple cover. And, also unfortunately, it's impossible just from surfing on Amazon to ascertain which narrator is included on a CD until one purchases it - the gender of the narrator is not included in the description or even on CD label/gem case. My son has "made his peace" with the male narrator (it wasn't a huge issue), but the female voice still seems to be most effective for him in terms of relaxing. (I suspect that the "Teen Dreams" CD may have garnered a more positive reception with a female narrator, but who knows?) This may not be an issue for most kids, but - if it is - be aware that the "Ocean" and "Teen" CDs include a male voice for the stories/exercises.
As an aside, my husband and I find ourselves successfully using some of the techniques that these CDs teach; I guess after listening to them (even peripherally) so many times we've just absorbed them! We await further additions to this terrific series!
We own all three CDs in the "Indigo Dreams" series, and he listens to one or another of them just about every night. When he places one of those discs into the CD player, turns it on, and turns out the light, his body and brain seems to viscerally respond ... most of the time, anyhow. At his age and developmental level, he is just at the cusp of the kids' CDs being a little too young and the teen CD being a little too old, but he seems to benefit from them anyway. At this point, he still leans toward the kids' versions most of the time - the simple stories "zone him out" in a good way, though I can't honestly say that he "hears" them as much more than white noise after so many listenings. There are mornings when he tells me that he can't remember anything past the first or second story on the CD, which means he fell asleep relatively quickly. (YAY!) Sometimes we just skip the CD player to the "music only" tracks at the end of each CD and that relaxes him as well.
The only barrier that prevented me from rating the series with five stars rather than four is a minor "gender issue". My son prefers the voice of the female narrator; unfortunately, she is only present on the Indigo Dreams CD with the purple cover. And, also unfortunately, it's impossible just from surfing on Amazon to ascertain which narrator is included on a CD until one purchases it - the gender of the narrator is not included in the description or even on CD label/gem case. My son has "made his peace" with the male narrator (it wasn't a huge issue), but the female voice still seems to be most effective for him in terms of relaxing. (I suspect that the "Teen Dreams" CD may have garnered a more positive reception with a female narrator, but who knows?) This may not be an issue for most kids, but - if it is - be aware that the "Ocean" and "Teen" CDs include a male voice for the stories/exercises.
As an aside, my husband and I find ourselves successfully using some of the techniques that these CDs teach; I guess after listening to them (even peripherally) so many times we've just absorbed them! We await further additions to this terrific series!
reviewed by nat on November 14, 2006 12:41 AM
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Ocean creatures make this fun. My girls (ages 3 & 5), can relate to the octopus in the first story, stomp and get mad, then get under control. Then I can remind them later to be like the angry octopus and get control of themselves to fix things, instead of just being angry.
reviewed by fabio on November 29, 2006 4:08 AM