this movie shows you people dealing with stress ,,how people who have it so hard live a life with no complaints of the daily battles they face..it really makes you think ..my stepson who has some life issues saw the movie and he is taking what he saw in the film and applying it to his own life with that said ..kudos to this film simply amazing its a must see..if this can help people dealing with life and stress then its a great message ..i think everyone who saw it is buzzing about it cant stop thinking of all i saw and learned ..makes you really count your blessings beautiful kudos and bless all who is in this film...... please see this film
10 Reviews
Spectacular Movie
Antjeanne8 April 2014
I was blown away by this film. It told many different stories with a common thread. It made me laugh and cry, it gave me hope and opened my eyes to the big picture. I really think this film will help people deal with stress. I liked the fact that not one of the people interviewed said "poor me, look how bad my life is". No matter what story was told, and what blow life had dealt them, everyone was positive and smiling. I always say that's why the windshield is huge and the rear view mirror is small. What is in front of you is a lot more important than whats behind you. Fill your head with positive thoughts and there wont be room for negative ones. We all have hope and a future! Great movie. don't miss it.
Destressed was a visual picnic
jackinixon8 April 2014
It was an inspirational look into a mans stress related illness and his way back to healthy, happy life. It was beautifully filmed and a joy to look at. It was heartwarming to see Garry work his way through stress by realizing that love and family are the most important things. The shots of Zion National park were beautiful. As were the pieces of footage in the entire southwestern part of the country. the interviews were touching and heartening. The comedic bits added a good deal of levity to a subject that can be sometimes hard to deal with. The feeling at the end of the movie was a treat, it always feels good to leave a theater with a smile on your face. I would recommend this to all people in need of inspiration or motivation.
Destressed is a truly inspiring docudramedy
dana-969-7686388 April 2014
Film-maker Garry Pastore and his team brings an great inspiring docudramedy to the big screen. The baseline of the movie promise us to follow one man journey for sanity in an insane world and it gave me much more than that. Destressed could be read as the story of Garry Pastore, through film. Garry opens his heart and soul right from the beginning with very powerful opening scenes and takes you into his world and the cause of his stress. What follows is a genuine personal journey in time and distance and brilliant mosaic of clips, great music, images and moments chosen with masterly flair, and accompanied by Pastore own gentle, pleasant voice-over.
This is such a rich, generous and inspiring documentary with mission to teach the world how to combat stress. I laughed, I cried and experience a broad range of emotions and it took me quite some time to come back to real world. And the most important thing that it made me think about my stress level and what effect it has on other people. So "Destressed" already inspired me to change some small things at home and work. More people should see it.
This is such a rich, generous and inspiring documentary with mission to teach the world how to combat stress. I laughed, I cried and experience a broad range of emotions and it took me quite some time to come back to real world. And the most important thing that it made me think about my stress level and what effect it has on other people. So "Destressed" already inspired me to change some small things at home and work. More people should see it.
Awesome!!!
annmahoney208 April 2014
A thoughtful, introspective film. Really puts this crazy life in perspective. Garry Pastore has done a remarkable job taking the audience on his quest for Zen and leaves us wanting to go find our own. We travel with him across the country where he encounters people from all walks of life who have experienced a major tragedy in their lives. For example, we meet survivors of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey, the tornado in Moore Oklahoma as well as a severely disabled vet. Through these meetings, Garry begins to feel gratitude for all he has and realizes he has no right to complain. He ultimately suggests that we should all feel this gratitude and do more of what makes us happy. A captivating film!
A Real Life "Pay it Forward"
alphadogtraining-969-6598568 April 2014
I didn't know what to expect, although I knew the premise was about one man's journey to get De-stressed.. It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from, this movie's heart and soul will make you laugh, think, love life, love your neighbors, and want to "pay It forward"!! Everyone needs to see this movie!! This movie should be in schools, churches, and every home!! This movie makes you take pause, and feel empathy, sympathy, and pure joy!! From the tornadoes that destroyed lives, the 106 year old woman who told how she lives her life, the very young military soldier who lost his arm, and both legs; the Hurricane Sandy victims in New Jersey, and the Director, Garry Pastore, who went on a quest to see, meet and learn from all of these people and their experiences.. Truly an eye opener!!! The heart spoke loudly through this entire film!! Carrie MonteLeon
A beautiful film
gugibee1614 April 2014
9.55 A look into one man's journey from a stressful state in a stressful world to life is worth living for him and his immediate family & loved ones. He comes to realize he's not alone. His state of mind is not where he belongs.The people he meets along his journey who have been broken in tradegy offer him encouraging words of hope and faith in the healing process... the hope and faith they still possess after tradegy. He comes home to peace and tranquility after witnessing other people'stradegy with positive attitude. He becomes thankful for what he has and realizes that othershave it worse than him without complaint.He has a wonderful home and family while others lost theirlives and homes in tradegy. He walks in his journey in average health andbody while others while one walks in prothesis with only one arm aftertradegy. We see a woman with severe paraplegic and complications since childhood who possesses inner strength that only God can instill in her effort to reach her goals and go on to believe life is worth living.This beautiful film send a message to anyone who sees it and they will walk away enriched. Congrates to writer director actor Gary Pastorewith gsff winning award Frank Amoruso IMDb gugibee16@yahoo.com www.imdb.com/name/nm3851173/ .
Okay, it might be my expectations
k-398206 January 2019
As a person with anxiety and (a little bit) chronic stress, I was hoping to discover more about meditation, as the poster seems to suggest, and other kinds of self-help tips. Instead I was led to see how people reacted to natural disasters. It is a relevant subject, but if this whole documentary is mainly about such things I wouldn't rent it. And in the beginning the guy even appeared exhausted in a yoga class; I'm really not sure why since it helps many to destress. I didn't finish it because I thought I didn't find what I was looking for.
Of course, this is just my expectations not matching the reality. If you find it fascinating, great.
Of course, this is just my expectations not matching the reality. If you find it fascinating, great.
An effective "empathy machine"
ljburton13 April 2014
Caught up in the minute-to-minute hurdles of modern life -- like George Jetson on his out-of-control treadmill or Harold Lloyd hanging from the hands of a clock -- managing a multitude of maddening minutiae of everyday life: heavy traffic, communications and miscommunications, the paradox of arriving everywhere on time in a sea of unpredictable delays. There is a tendency to beset small setbacks with undue importance; to forget mountains in the face of molehills. How can we temper the effects of these stressors that we tend to over-magnify and over-inflate with unnecessary and needless drama?
"Destressed" illustrates the value of taking a consciously motivated, broader perspective of our lives, and reaping the stress-reducing benefits of empathy and empathetic behavior for ourselves, while helping others in the process. Professors Frans de Waal and Daniel Batson, among others, have put forth the idea that empathy is one of the most valuable skills of individual, social and evolutionary development. Through the process of "walking in somebody else's shoes" we can be moved to take a greater perspective on our lives and be moved to offer help when and where we can. By lending a helping hand and acting we not only help another person, but we help ourselves as well. We gain perspective. We gain a greater sense of self-esteem. We de-stress.
Roger Ebert remarked, "Movies are the most powerful empathy machine in all the arts. When I go to a great movie I can live someone else's life for a while. I can walk in someone else's shoes. I can see what it feels like to be a member of a different gender, a different race, a different economic class, to live in a different time, to have a different belief. This is a liberalizing influence on me. It gives me a broader mind. It helps me to join my family of men and women on this planet. It helps me to identify with them, so I'm not just stuck being myself, day after day." (Rodger Ebert, Hollywood Walk Remarks, 2005]
"Destressed" is an effective empathy machine.
Those of us with a history that placed us in the in the aftermath of 9- 11 in the New York city metropolitan area might remember the strangely calm turn the city took in the last months of 2001 and well into 2012. The city known for a hard-boiled attitude and gruff demeanor lost its angry edge for a while. People were more courteous, friendlier. There weren't any battles for position as traffic merged into or out of tunnels. Spiteful horn-honking quieted down, people looked at each other in the eyes and shared a common sense of tragedy and loss. We were taken out of our own selves and shared a communal sense of empathy for the victims of senseless violence, and we were all victims to some degree. We came out to help and gave up thoughts of our own trivial struggles to lend a hand for the greater good. If you were there, you remember how lives were changed.
Unfortunately old habits die hard, and after the passage of time, people were honking their horns, rude and self-centered again. Some of us were found to be affected with long-term anxiety disorders: depression, anxiety... stress. We went back to our self-centered paradigms, back to projecting all the imperfections in this world onto a lost button, lost cell-phone signals or traffic congestion. We returned to focusing on problems that, when viewed from a grander and more altruistic perspective, are not very important problems at all, as real as they may seem to us in the rush of anxiety. Yet we have no shortage of real problems. War wounded veterans, Katrina, Sandy, earthquakes, tsunamis, school-shootings, cancer, street violence the list is, sadly, too long.
There's a lot of humanity in "Destressed" – Garry Pastore brings us an important message and his personal story that deserves to be seen and heard. It's a good work, and a movie that needs to find the eyes and ears of as many people as possible, people who are struggling with the same issues of the modern world, minor stressors and who might collectively and individually benefit from the message that this film delivers.
"Destressed" illustrates the value of taking a consciously motivated, broader perspective of our lives, and reaping the stress-reducing benefits of empathy and empathetic behavior for ourselves, while helping others in the process. Professors Frans de Waal and Daniel Batson, among others, have put forth the idea that empathy is one of the most valuable skills of individual, social and evolutionary development. Through the process of "walking in somebody else's shoes" we can be moved to take a greater perspective on our lives and be moved to offer help when and where we can. By lending a helping hand and acting we not only help another person, but we help ourselves as well. We gain perspective. We gain a greater sense of self-esteem. We de-stress.
Roger Ebert remarked, "Movies are the most powerful empathy machine in all the arts. When I go to a great movie I can live someone else's life for a while. I can walk in someone else's shoes. I can see what it feels like to be a member of a different gender, a different race, a different economic class, to live in a different time, to have a different belief. This is a liberalizing influence on me. It gives me a broader mind. It helps me to join my family of men and women on this planet. It helps me to identify with them, so I'm not just stuck being myself, day after day." (Rodger Ebert, Hollywood Walk Remarks, 2005]
"Destressed" is an effective empathy machine.
Those of us with a history that placed us in the in the aftermath of 9- 11 in the New York city metropolitan area might remember the strangely calm turn the city took in the last months of 2001 and well into 2012. The city known for a hard-boiled attitude and gruff demeanor lost its angry edge for a while. People were more courteous, friendlier. There weren't any battles for position as traffic merged into or out of tunnels. Spiteful horn-honking quieted down, people looked at each other in the eyes and shared a common sense of tragedy and loss. We were taken out of our own selves and shared a communal sense of empathy for the victims of senseless violence, and we were all victims to some degree. We came out to help and gave up thoughts of our own trivial struggles to lend a hand for the greater good. If you were there, you remember how lives were changed.
Unfortunately old habits die hard, and after the passage of time, people were honking their horns, rude and self-centered again. Some of us were found to be affected with long-term anxiety disorders: depression, anxiety... stress. We went back to our self-centered paradigms, back to projecting all the imperfections in this world onto a lost button, lost cell-phone signals or traffic congestion. We returned to focusing on problems that, when viewed from a grander and more altruistic perspective, are not very important problems at all, as real as they may seem to us in the rush of anxiety. Yet we have no shortage of real problems. War wounded veterans, Katrina, Sandy, earthquakes, tsunamis, school-shootings, cancer, street violence the list is, sadly, too long.
There's a lot of humanity in "Destressed" – Garry Pastore brings us an important message and his personal story that deserves to be seen and heard. It's a good work, and a movie that needs to find the eyes and ears of as many people as possible, people who are struggling with the same issues of the modern world, minor stressors and who might collectively and individually benefit from the message that this film delivers.
A one mans journey to find his zen in this crazy world of stress!
gratefulrick-114-57173422 September 2014
Garry Pastore has made one remarkable film which has a message that will stay with me for a very long time. He takes us on a journey to find his Zen and what he encounters along the way will make you laugh and cry. My wife was so taken by this film and it could not have come along at a better time....she too is over stressed and the message that Garry delivers really put things into perspective for her. After viewing the movie we both looked at each other with open mouths while wiping away tears of both joy and hope. I'm sure that almost every single one of us can learn something from this film....who does not have stress in todays world? It took a man like Garry Pastore to bring this to our attention and to show us what can happen if we do not do something to fix this problem. If you have the opportunity to see this film please do so....run and don't walk to the theater!!! I strongly advise anyone and everyone to go and see this fantastic movie! Bravo to Mr. Pastore for making this and hopefully there will be more like this to come! Rick Verso
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