Rest and Relax

by William Ruhlmann"Enter a world of peace and tranquility," reads a note on the cover of yoga instructor Wai Lana's third album, Wai Lana's Rest and Relax. Unlike her first two albums, Yoga Music of the Heart and Yoga Sound, which were purely musical albums intended to accompany her yoga exercises, Rest and Relax is an instructional disc. On the first two tracks, "Free Your Mind (Gauranga Breathing)" and "Relax Your Body (Yoga Nidra)," Lana, speaking calmly and with a slight Chinese accent, discusses breathing and relaxing techniques that have a hypnotic effect, especially when combined with the ambient music. The final track, "Soothe the Soul (Gauranga Meditation)," is a 28-and-a-half minute ambient instrumental intended to accompany a state of complete relaxation.