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What is Meditation music?
Throughout history, men and women have meditated.
Meditation can take many forms. For some it is an activity to be done in silence, or with the sounds of nature in a remote location. For others it may take the form of a chanting, mantra, a bell.
There are no rules, for as everyone is different, everyone will find and experience a different way to meditate.
In the western world it is harder to find remote places, even at home there is background noises and that is one reason why meditation music is becoming more popular. But that is not the only reason, as we have evolved, so have some of the techniques used to help meditation. Just because people did not have the facilities to meditate to music as and when they pleased, does not mean we cannot use music to enhance and help in the meditation.
So what types of meditation music are there?
Most meditation music is in fact simply relaxing music, many using ancient instruments or ambient synthesisers mixed with nature effects, e.g. whale or dolphin. I have indeed written some of older material in a similar style before I got more involved in this area.
The most important thing about the meditation music is not what it says about it on the cover, what others have said about it, but when you listen to it, how do you really feel.
Do you like it? Do you think you can meditate with it for a long period of time?
There is no right or wrong in the music you choose. What one person might like another might dislike.
The most common element that all meditation music has is that of a slow tempo, normally around 60 beats per minutes or slower. This helps to slow down your heartbeat. In comparison dance music has a tempo of 130bpm, increasing the heart rate.
There are some people who meditate to white noise. White noise can be thought of as the static on a radio. It covers all sound frequencies and is a very good masker, however it is a very unattractive sound, and long term use (on tests on mice at least) show detrimental effect.
The most common sound of nature to meditate with is that of the ocean waves. This works for many reasons. The sound of the ocean is rhythmic. It is a great masker for external noises. The waveform of the ocean is very attractive to our ears, it is smooth and gentle, the first sounds in the womb of water, and it again covers a large range of sound frequencies and thus can be thought of the friendly form of white noise.
Although I have ocean waves CDs and relaxing ambient meditation music CDs, my new work involves what I feel is the next type of meditation music, that of specific music for different types of meditation.
For slow deep breathing meditations I spent a lot of time creating an album to teach slow breathing. The end effect was simple and yet powerful and effective. Ambient sounds, with gentle chimes to breathe in and out with, with the gentle background of water. The CDs work as a focus point, something to concentrate on while reducing the number of breaths you take per minute.
Music to divert the mind can also take the form of mantras. You can indeed purchase meditation CDs with mantras on it; some to listen to, others to join in with. I must admit I have not used them, but many other people feel they are of great use.
Other meditations involve meditating on the Chakra points in the body.
Meditating on each Chaka releases and heals different emotions and that is why I created an album “Music of the Chakra” in which each track related to the emotions/mood/key of a specific chakra.
It can be thought of in a similar way to that of Gustav Holst: The Planets Suite in which each track related to the emotions of a specific planet.
Meditation music comes in many styles, you could indeed meditate to slow tempo modern pop music if that is what you feel most comfortable with. The adventure is in finding what music, is right for you.
I will continue researching and learning about different meditations, to create more specific music for meditation.
Warm regards
Charles Vald http://www.ambientmoods.com with online audio demonstrations
Email me with any questions [charlieejv@yahoo.co.uk]
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