Deepak Chopra's Leela - Xbox 360

I have a hard time relaxing and clearing my mind, am always looking for new ways that I might be able to learn how to do that, and to learn to meditate. THIS IS THE GAME...not even a game, a wonderful resource and tool to help balance myself, and clear my mind. It is an easy, slow-movement game with beautiful sounds and pictures, and as a testament to trying to learn to clear my mind, I did go into some sort of meditative state while playing, as I started the game and the next thing you know, 2 HOURS had passed and it felt like 5 minutes. I LOVE this and would highly recommend it to ANYONE who wants to just take some time to relax, rebalance yourself, and re-connect your body to your mind and spirit.

Leela is a mixed bag but not a bad one. It depends on what you are looking for. It could be better in many ways but I applaud it as one of the first dedicated uses of the XBOX kinect to enhance spiritual practice. I hope that others follow and use this platform for interactive guided meditation as well as disciplines like Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Reiki and other healing forms of body work. The first thing you need to know about this program is that it has three major sections. After you create a personal mandala (you don't have a full creative palette here and it is hard to make the game freeze on the exact shape you want), you are invited to either PLAY or REFLECT. If you want to relax do not enter PLAY. All of the "games" listed under the chakras will quickly tense up the part of the body required to move the game pieces and as you go up in level produce more and more adrenalin. One section, the one on INTUITION reminded me a lot of the tunnels in Mizuguchi's "Eden" and blasting rocks and gems in the POWER section did not connect me with my personal power, only my rail shooter skills. Still, this has to sell as a game and the games in this section are reasonably fun if not spiritually enhancing. As noted the games are fun, but for those of you who own Chopra's Wild Divine or Journey, this game does not contain anything like those calming visualizations and does not allow you to control the game via relaxation and breathing techniques. Beyond knowing what your chakras are and what they do, you won't win the games by using your body to "gently flow" the game piece as suggested in the instructions. A jerky movement is required to quickly pop the game piece on a particular course, especially at the higher levels of each game. Not one of the six chakra games I've played so far has left me feeling relaxed or meditative. Even at the second level (there are 7 levels of play for each charka) of the second Chakra game, the "gentle sway" of my hips that was supposed to guide the game piece around a circle, quickly turned into exaggerated side lunges to get it to move any distance at all. The REFLECT contains STILLNESS and an ORACLE that opens once you reach the third level in all REFLECT offerings. This area doesn't have games. It is made up of breathing exercises and guided and unguided meditations. I found that most of the exercises didn't provide me with more than I could do on my own. You get to pick from several types of droning music while watching three bars expand and contract with your breathing. Kinect watches your breath which is cool but there is a bit of hesitation here and there that makes the feature more annoying than useful. Wearing a tight fitting top would probably help this. Be sure to note the time stated on each breathing level as there is no bonus or penalty for right or incorrect breathing. You simply sit for the amount of time indicated when you first enter the level. It is also useful to note that most people don't like to meditate in glaringly bright light. Kinect is light sensitive so you have to pump up the lumens to get a good reading, especially for those of you with darker skin. I also found that most of the dialog and guided meditations I encountered moved too fast or went on too long. I found the "ORACLE" to be more of a thought for the day or affirmation generator. I didn't find what it generated to be that meaningful in terms of answering my question. I wasn't able to get into the AMBIENT section yet, but from I've seen I assume there will be additional audio files available there. I'll report back when I finish the levels and provide more details.

This game is so boring and repetitive and frustrating. It is not clear what order to play or unlock items. I played and kept pressing next and then at the end of the first set of levels there is no more next button but everything else is locked. Additionally, the game itself incrementally adds components to the level, it does nothing for stretching, yoga or relaxing. Wow - this is bad, no wonder it was only $10.

relaxing game

Beautiful relaxing and involving. This "game" "Leela" could be the entire justification for getting the x-box 360 Kinect. I only wish it came fully unlocked and explorable. Hopefully my 7 year old, who loves it too, will unlock the levels. He is better at "succeeding" at the levels than I. He even tried and liked one of the meditations. It is so so so different from anything else I have seen. If you know of anything else for Kinect that is Beautiful, fully involving of Body and Mind, and Non-Violent, please tell me. I hope it will inspire others to create this sort of content.

Leela is a tough "game" to review. I didn't purchase the game expecting a deep and rewarding gameplay experience, but I was hoping for a relaxing one. On the one hand, I did get what I expected from the guided meditation (or Reflect) exercises, which are indeed very relaxing and are a great way to unwind and get grounded after a long day. The mini-game (or Play) sections are a very different story. The first few levels are engaging enough, and the controls don't work against you to make the experience too painful. However, as you move on to the later exercises, and particularly the higher levels of those exercises, it becomes apparent that the Kinect controls leave a lot to be desired. It is ironic that I have not felt so frustrated playing a game, if not literally angry, as I have felt while playing some of the later Leela levels. They bring neither a feeling of relaxation or accomplishment upon their completion, but rather a sense of relief that it is over, and possibly a sense of shame for even forcing yourself to get through it in the first place. The game tell you to relax and make subtle movements, but before long you will find yourself rigid and jerking left and right just to try to accomplish your goals. Sadly, due to the sloppy and unintuitive controls, the entire 'Play' portion of Leela is a missed opportunity. It will often leave you feeling more agitated and tense than before you put the game in. Again, the guided meditation portions are much better, but the fact is that you can find videos on the internet for free that work just as well. The main reason to buy this game is for the Kinect functionality, which barely functions at all. I still recommend this game for those of you looking to get into meditation, as the "Reflect" potion of the game does a good job of easing newcomers into the concepts and practices. However, I highly recommend holding off until you can purchase it at a lower price ($20 or less). For those looking to purchase the game simply for the mini-games, I recommend passing on Leela entirely. It is not worth the time or the money. Edit: In light of the fact that I've been able to find videos online (for free) that work better than this game both in terms of providing movement exercises and guided meditations, I've lowered my review by one star. I highly recommend simply downloading the demo to find out if you're interested in these types of exercises. If so, keep in mind that there are better and cheaper ways of pursuing exercise and relaxation than this game offers.

I love this game so much I had to buy it again after my toddler destroyed the first one! Great for relaxing and focusing inwardly. Some games are frustrating but it’s nice to be tested in the element and keep the mind set of positivity. A great challenge with zen in mind.

This is both a game and this is a meditation tool. The game part uses the Kinect sensor (which does offer good body tracking) and offers calm arcade style games. One of these, seven games, which represent the different Chakras has you twist your body back and forth to maneuver an orb through air currents, when you hit the proper up or down arrow, your orb moves closer to the target where you deposit the energy you collected as you moved through the air currents. Another game has a circle, representing the earth, where you turn your hips to rotate the circle and help germinate seeds that spawn from the center and need water and sun to green up the circle. These are only two of the games, however, each game, has increasing levels of difficulty adding to the length of the expierience. The other part of this title is meditation. It offers relaxing musical accompaniment to guided instruction for deep breathing exercises and calming strategies. All in all, the title is actually replayable, however, it is not for everyone, definately not for the 1st person shooter lover. Also Leela is now part of the Microsoft Kinect Fit family, which means, if you are a subscriber to Xbox Live Gold, then you can download the free Fit app which tracks calories burned in this and other select Kinect titles. Finally, Leela, as stated by Chopra's voice over, in the game stands for "Play" a sandscrit word. So it is not a homage to some woman out there, or maybe it is?

I'd buy it again. Great game and fun!

slow exercise

Item arrived promptly. Maybe it's just me but I couldn't seem to "connect" (or is that Kinect!?) with it. I'm all about meditating but this didn't really do it for me. I'll have to try it a few more times.

Came quick and in great condition

PERFECT