By David Futrelle
Given the events of the last several days, I’m sure a lot of you are feeling pretty wrung out right now. I certainly am.
One thing I do to get a brief respite from all the terribleness is to flip off the news (which I generally have playing in the background on the TV as I work, probably a bad idea to begin with), fire up the YouTube app on Xfinity, and put on the most extreeeeeeemely relaxing videos I know of, which for me tend to be hours-long videos of sunny beaches with no sound other than the wind and waves and the occasional seagull. When I don’t feel like looking at a beach I turn to videos of woodland streams or rain falling peacefully in the woods.
These videos are good to silently contemplate for a few minutes, or simply to have on in the background. They also make perfect aural backdrops for a meditation session.
So today I though I’d share a few of the videos that have become my standbys when I need a few quiet moments.
If you’ve got any relaxing videos or relaxation/distraction techniques that work for you, feel free to share them below.
We Hunted the Mammoth relies entirely on readers like you for its survival. If you appreciate our work, please send a few bucks our way! Thanks!
For relaxing sounds (no video), I like mynoise.net. I’ll sometimes use their “rain on a tent” to help me get to sleep. There’s also purrli.com, for those who don’t have a real cat.
My knitting buddies have been recommending this meditation app:
https://www.10percenthappier.com/
Have any Mammotheers tried it?
One song I’ve been listening to recently is “No Tears Left To Cry” by Ariana Grande. I’ve been lukewarm about her music in the past, but this is… well, I guess I like the attitude as well as the tune: tired of crying, might as well defy gravity (literally and metaphorically). Oh, and the video is cool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffxKSjUwKdU
For things with weird geometry that are more Halloween-like, I recommend cyriak’s channel.
I like the Bladerunner ambient sound with music videos:
https://youtu.be/MyitVNMFApc
I also like the lo-if hip hop videos with ambient noise. There are a ton of these with jazz, hip hop, chillhop, basically just very mellow music with nature sounds. Some of them with different themes like Sunday mornings or studying at 3AM.
https://youtu.be/JCcXBSgwdVo
Tiny kittens has multiple live streams of their kittens (and Momma cats) on their YouTube channel
I do a lot of flipping off, doesn’t help as much as I’d like though really.
Also, one of my favorites is Kitten Academy.
https://kitten.academy/
I like watching ASMR-ish kinetic sand videos, and videos of people decorating Hungarian gingerbread cookies. They’re very soothing.
Here’s a beautiful cello and hammered dulcimer duet – “Falling” by Marshall Daniels and Everett Hardin:
https://youtu.be/J606mBNlCL8
And Rodrigo Rodriguez on Shakihachi flute:
https://youtu.be/hmRPECd9Yig
Sex.
Don’t watch videos of sex, though. That doesn’t work, at least not for me. Just some relaxing, friendly sex with someone who cares about you and is willing – at least on this occasion – to not expect too much and just enjoy whatever happens.
Moggie, ha, I never heard of purrli. I spent some fruitless minutes (hours?) years ago trying to find some good free purring sounds on the web, to no avail. They were all too short, badly recorded, too harsh-sounding, with lots of loud meows, etc.
I’m too fidgety and nervous to do those soothing sounds thing. I need distractions. Something that’ll keep me engaged but doesn’t require too much thought. Watching horror movies, old gymnastics championships, bad Lifetime thrillers, doing jigsaw puzzles online, things like that.
Here’s a parody of an 80s Australian kid show.
And here’s some floofs having an argument.
I find all audiovisual stuff a bit irritating when I’m stressed or distressed, even my favourite music. Instead I comfort read, especially my childhood favourites. Howl’s Moving Castle is a good one.
I usually pick a random YouTuber and put on a playlist of their old videos for background noise. This week, it’s Jim Fucking Sterling Son.
@WWTH:
OMG! I didn’t know that was a thing! I need to take a look at this.
I go for a long walk. Or cook. Or bugger off to the workshop and make something.
@Shadowplay:
Yes, it’s relaxing to potter around in the shed, making stuff:
I find things meant to relax me generally have the opposite effect.
The ideal is something that gets my body moving and/or gives me something utterly absorbing to focus my mind on.
A walk in the park does it for me. Feeding ducks an optional extra. Cooking too, sometimes, while listening to strange music. A good book.
On rare occasions I even tidy, and this morning was rewarded by finding a shed whisker from the cat. Which I’m now wearing through my earlobe.
Moggie,
https://thejigsawpuzzles.com
Happy All Hallow’s Eve, errybody!
I actually went to my first Halloween party last week. I really haven’t worn a costume since I was a little kid and I was never into the party scene in school, but my brother invited me to one his friends were throwing, so I accepted. I went as Cadfael, buying a monk robes costume on Amazon for about thirty bucks Canadian… although the shipping cost about the same to get the costume to me before the party. Instead of spending another thirty bucks on a bald wig, I actually had my brother shave a tonsure in, roughly the size of Cadfael’s. As I was explaining my costume, a lot of the other party-goers were impressed at that kind of commitment. 😀
That actually dovetails nicely into what I do to relax, which is put on some old TV that I’ve seen a million times, like Star Trek or Cadfael and just play it in the background while I play some casual video games. It’s my version of meditation. Something engaging, but predictable.
Just as a side note, I did debate the wisdom of dressing in the habit of a real religious order from the ol’ “cultural appropriation” standpoint. But seeing as it’s a common enough archetype in Renaissance Festivals and Robin Hood troupes, I figured if I was going as a particular character, I didn’t think the Benedictines (or the Franciscans, which the robes were more akin to) would mind.
Lot a really neat costumes at the party too. A Jedi had built his own lightsaber and one constructed her own Bane mask. They were very cool.
Not really knowing many people, I thought I’d be kind of a wallflower, but I actually found myself mingling for hours. Met quite a few really neat people.
Hope everyone else has a safe and happy Samhain!
I’ve been cheering myself lately by listening to My Chemical Romance’s ‘Welcome to the Black Parade,’ and also to Post-Modern Jukebox’s New-Orleans-jazz-funeral cover thereof – but more some more traditionally calming noise and imagery, calm.com is pretty good – they sell a meditation app, but they have some free stuff as well.
@ Katamount;
ahhh… the tonsure….
I remember seeing the wedding scene in the 1981 classic(ish) movie “Excalibur”. For movies of that stature, historical reference is beyond “for reference only”, to the point of “historically accurate only when unavoidable”…. (although the Arturian Cycle of stories moves between fact and legend at will….)
I was, however, pleased that the monks in the wedding scene had the Celtic tonsure, rather than the Roman tonsure.
regarding the topic of relaxation, I’m finding that very elusive….
Puppehs!