Meditation - Honor Yourself Guided by Diddy: An Honest Review
Living a normal life in 2020 has been a challenge for many, especially with the devastating effects of the Coronavirus (COVID19).
People have lost jobs, loved one, and are in a state of constant worry. In addition, stay-at-home, and social distancing orders by the government have made it nearly impossible to interact with the people who bring us joy, laughter, and hope.
With such unrest occurring unexpectedly and quickly, it is understandable that sleep, mental, and physical health have taken a tool and many are now seeking ways to cope.
Luckily, an expected hip-hop mogul has come through with a timely solution. Sean Combs, better known as Diddy (formerly known as P. Diddy or Puff Daddy) recently teamed up with Thrive Global to create a free, yes FREE, 25-minute Audible sessions, intended to guide listeners into a peaceful meditative sleep. It is appropriately titled Meditation: Honor Yourself - Guided by Diddy.
This 25-minute listening session is intended to help you set a vision for your time and unwind from your day by affirming you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.
This is Audibles 10th and most recent installment of a new and free listening series entitled Sleep. This series comes in an effort to "invite relaxation and sleep" in these hard times. The series features other guided meditation session by Nick Jonas, Gaby Bernstein, Jesse Isreal, Sarah Auster, Agapi Stassinopolous, Bram Barouh, Gordon Hempton, Arianna Huffington, and a collection of ASMR sounds by Whisperlodge. In addition to providing this free series, Audible also plans on donating meals daily, through Newark Working Kitchens so those in need and first responders don’t go to bed hungry.
On Tuesday, Diddy announced the release of this gift to us on his Instagram page as he proudly admits, "Listen to me … see I can put you to sleep."
If you are interested in what the audible sounds like, here is a 1 minute snippet of Audible's Meditation: Honor Yourself - Guided by Diddy from Soundcloud:
Audible's Customer Reviews
As at the day of this post, Meditation: Honor Yourself - Guided by Diddy has over 400 five star ratings with a staggering 4.8/5 star overall customer rating, 4.8/5 stars in performance, and 4.8/5 star in story.
The majority of the comments praise the hip-hop mogul's incredible ability to help them relax, remain calm, and sleep with his soothing powerful voice. Many comments also admit to listening to it everyday in order to enjoy it's benefits fully.
"I’ll admit I downloaded this as a bit of joke, figured it would be good for a giggle. I was happily very wrong. That smooth mellow voice guiding you relax, chill and sleep... just brilliant. Thanks to audible for this, and a huge thanks to Diddy for creating this. Just wonderful."
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Out of the 500 ratings, there was only 1 negative comment where the listener gave Diddy 3 stars "for trying". In the listener's words, he said this about his listening experience:
"I try to meditate everyday, this was one of the worst guided meditations I ever heard! I respect Diddy trying something and I respect getting the masses into meditation so I hope this achieves that because the benefits to it are extraordinarily. Not for me but I like that he tried so gave it 3 stars."
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What to Expect from Diddy's Guided Meditation
As an avid listener of guided meditative sleep to help me sleep, there are 3 main things that I look for in a meditation guide in order to make my transition into realm a successful one. These things include background noises, tone of voice and themes explored in the guide. After listening to Diddy's guided meditation, here is my honest take on this experience.
Background Noise
The background noise behind Diddy's voice was a low volume sound wave that played throughout the entire listening session. The sounds wave was cleverly chosen to emit a soothing sense of relaxing which will set the mood for the entire 25-minute meditation.
Personally, I did feel the sound wave was a bit too low in volume which made Diddy's voice seem overpowering and overbearing. Of course this can easily be adjusted by lowering the volume of the guide. But doing so made it hard to hear the soothing sound vibrations which does wonders to my sleep.
The sound wave sets the tone for the meditation while the voice guides the listener through it. If the listener is unable to hear the soothing sounds of the background noise, the overpowering voice can be a distraction from relaxation.
It would have been better to have the background noise match Diddy's voice level in order to create a peaceful soothing balance between voice and background noise.
Tone of Voice
The tone of ones voice is very important in a guided sleep mediation. The tone has to be just right and in sync with the mood the guide is trying to portray in order for it to be effective.
Diddy absolutely killed this! From his many years of making some of our favorite hip-hop hits, Diddy has learned to control and use his voice to portray and ignite emotions and feelings.
Diddy's voice, as we know it already, is very calm and low toned - the perfect combination for a soothing relaxing meditative guide.
Although his voice sounded overbearing due to the extremely low background noise, it was controlled enough to still give the feeling of a relaxing guided meditation.
Themes Explored in the Guide
A major key to getting the most out of any guided mediation is exploring scenarios and making manifest certain themes that are touched on in the meditation. This meditative guide was very thorough in producing and introducing many themes that greatly benefit mental and spiritual well-being. These themes include relaxation, imagination, approval, gratitude, body scan, and deep breathing.
- Relaxation
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Deep Breathing
Deep Breathing is an essential part of relaxation. Most people suffering from anxiety and an inability to sleep have a very shallow breathe. A shallow breathe is linked to your body's response to provide oxygen to the body as quickly as possible in times of stress. This is not an ideal breathing scenario when it come getting a good night's rest or relaxation. In order to feel relaxed through breathing, deep breathing must be exercised. This involves breathing into and out through your abdomen, instead of your chest. The duration of the breath is important as well. A relaxing breathe should have a longer exhalation count, than an inhalation count, always.
- Imagination
- Approval
- Gratitude
Diddy explored a few gratitude exercises that not only made me thankful to be in this moment of relaxation but also thankful for others around me.
The gratitude section of the meditation started with Diddy asking me to take the time to think of the people around me that I was grateful for. After doing that, I was asked to send my energy to them by showing them compassion and sending kindness their way.
For me, this meant thanking my parents, friends, and a few others who continue to have a significant impact in my life. This section of gratitude came to me as a surprise but I am glad it was included because we think so much about ourselves in this day and age that sometimes we miss to take the time to say a simple thank you to others before it is too late. And it really felt good to give thanks to the people around me without even having to making a phone call to do so (even though there is nothing wrong with doing the latter).
The gratitude session did not stop there. After sending gratitude towards others, Diddy them asked that I now send gratitude towards myself. He also instructed to forgive myself for any mistakes or imperfections that may be clouding my mind. If you are someone who has neglected yourself mentally for a long time, this part will hit hard or even make you feel emotional - which by the way is very okay!
- Body Scan
For the body scan, Diddy allowed me to bring my attention to my body - starting from my toes, all the way up to my head. He made me aware of any aches and pains I may be experiencing and guided me to relax those body parts.
What this did for me was it allowed me to be aware of my body and everything happening to it in that present moment. It put me in control of how I was feeling in that very moment.
So, Did it Make You Sleep and Will It Do the Same for Me?
Of course, everyone's sleeping habits and patterns are different.
Speaking for myself, this meditation guide unfortunately, did not make me sleep. This does not mean it won't make you sleep as well. For me, I can confidently say that it did not accomplish the job of making me sleep because of low volume background noise. As a long time mediator, this is something that I have incorporated into my mediation and sleep pattern and without it, sleep is very hard. Of course, you may have a different experience with this and did many who have already listened to it.
Even though it did not me sleep, it did help me explore and be aware of many different aspects of my life that I don't think about of even fail to address. This is a benefit that I know everyone will enjoy!
Summary
Overall, I would give this guided meditation a solid 4 stars out of 5. It was well put together and explained cleverly in a way that will help new meditators, curious sleepers, and mellow relaxers to fully get the benefit of the listening session.
Meditation: Honor Yourself Guide by Diddy is available for free (as at the day of this post) at Audible. While there, don't forget to make your donation to the Newark Working Kitchens to help those in need of a good meal to get a good night's sleep.
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