Film

Headspace: Unwind Your Mind

Name: Headspace: Unwind Your Mind
Genre: Documentary, Animation
Released: 2021
Cast: Andy Puddicombe, Evelyn Lewis Prieto, Ginger Britt Daniels, Darren Pettie, Simon Prebble

Light-hearted
Slow-burning
Dip in and out

A 15-minute interactive guided meditation film from the Headspace app, blending animation with voiced relaxation exercises. You choose your own path through different moods and scenarios—sleep, stress relief, focus—each beautifully illustrated and anchored by calm narration. It's for anyone who wants meditation but finds sitting in silence impossible, or who needs permission to stop.

If you liked this

The Midnight Gospel2020

Animated series where conversations become meditations. Each episode pairs philosophical discussion with trippy visuals and a meditative rhythm underneath. Different purpose, same hypnotic effect.

But It's genuinely about dying, grief, and letting go—beautiful but heavy. Not a comfort watch, even though it feels like one.

Waking Life2001

Rotoscoped animation where a man drifts through dreams having long philosophical conversations. Hypnotic, meandering, designed to be watched in that half-asleep state you're already in.

But It's deliberately weird and long, with no plot or payoff. Some find it pretentious; others find it pretentiously slow.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Headspace: Unwind Your Mind

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Koyaanisqatsi1983

Both use visual rhythm and sound design to move you into an altered mental state, but Koyaanisqatsi does it through overwhelming detail rather than simplification.

No dialogue, no plot, only time-lapse cinematography and experimental music. It's meditation through pure image and sound; your mind does the work. Hypnotic in a completely different register—not soothing, but absorbing.

But Made in 1982 on film stock, so it looks deliberately strange now. Some find it tedious; others find it revolutionary. No middle ground.

Whale Rider2003

Both trust that slowness and repetition can be engaging. Both ask you to meet them halfway rather than grab your attention aggressively.

A quiet New Zealand film about a girl communing with whales and ocean. Meditative storytelling—nothing is rushed, everything is earned. You don't watch it so much as drift into it.

But Almost no plot in the traditional sense. If you need conflict and resolution, you'll find it slow. Culturally specific in ways that might feel unfamiliar.

A Ghost Story2017

Both visualize invisible mental states (meditation, grief) and ask you to sit with them without rushing to resolution.

A man as a ghost, watching time pass from a corner of a house. Profound meditation on grief, existence, and impermanence—animated scenes depict centuries of history in minutes. Quietly devastating.

But It's dark and existential, not relaxing. The pacing is glacial. If you came to Headspace to escape difficult feelings, this goes the opposite direction.