Effortless Relaxation: Relaxing Music with Subliminal Affirmations

Personnel: Steven Halpern (grand piano, electric piano); Georgia Kelly (harp); Kat Epple, Bob Stohl (flute); Schawkie Roth (alto flute, bamboo flute).
Recording information: Banquet Studios, Sebastopol, CA; The Music Annex, Menlo Park, CA.
New age composer Steven Halpern has been at the forefront of healing-based music since the mid-'70s when he released his debut, Chakra Suite. Over the years, his many recordings have been used for relaxation, therapy, meditation, yoga, and a variety of other uses. In 1980, he launched the innovative Subliminal Affirmation series with the album Effortless Relaxation, a set of mostly keyboard-oriented instrumental pieces intended to boost the body and inspire the subconscious by way of relaxing musical tones and positive affirmations that are spoken onto each track, but mixed so low as to be inaudible. Remastered and expanded for its 35th anniversary, the 2014 edition adds five new tracks utilizing Halpern's Aural-Sync brainwave entrainment technique which boosts the 8 Hz alpha brainwave frequency thought to enhance therapeutic relaxation. ~ Timothy Monger