How To Use Music With Meditation

And I’ve found that I can experience all of the dhyanas while treating music as a meditation object. In fact, as we get deeper into meditation, we stop registering sounds altogether. And the signals they’re generating are still being sent to the brain.

They are regular beats of a tone and are usually used alongside binaural beats and monaural beats in a process called entrainment. A chant (the word comes from French chanter, from Latin cantare, “to sing”) is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often mostly on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Listening to Gregorian chants written 500 years ago can be a really solemn, transformational experience. Sometimes binaural tones will be listened to by themselves, but more often they’ll be combined with other musical elements to form more harmonically interesting soundscapes. The beat then forms an almost imperceptible background tone, often in a similar key to the other musical elements.

Meditation is an ancient tradition that is practiced in cultures all over the world and is an integral part of some religions and types of yoga. There are many types of mediation, and people use some types to help treat mental and physical health conditions. Music therapy also had significant benefit in preventing burnout in operating room staff. A 6-week study showed that after having access to 30-minute music listening sessions each day at work for a month, staff reported decreased stress levels and less emotional exhaustion. Finding something to focus on and hone in on when meditating can be a challenge at first. By using music, you are giving yourself something specific to focus on.Listening to music, all on its own, can be seen as a form of meditation.

Using a soft pad as the backbone of a meditation composition is a good foundation to build upon. Think of this base like a pillow, a soft platform from which everything else is built. When using sounds that do have a fairly high pitch- like Cricket ambience or bird call – these sound can be softened with EQ and compression and Relaxing Music To Sleep To by placing them at the back of the composition. A member of our medical expert team provides a final review of the content and sources cited for every guide, article, and product review concerning medical- and health-related topics. Inaccurate or unverifiable information will be removed prior to publication. Some guides and articles feature links to other relevant Sleep Foundation pages.

You sit, you don’t speak, you don’t move (if it’s not walking meditation), and you are alone with your thoughts. If you’ve never meditated before, and you try it in silence right off the bat, the quiet can sometimes put people on edge. But let’s talk briefly about some of the music that’s unique for meditation. If you’re just starting out, this might be a good place to begin.

Music forces us to take a present-centered perspective on reality in order to engage with it. Whether it’s Debussy or deep house, in order to perceive a musical piece we have to follow each beat or note as it happens in real time. This sense of being present feels good; not being present can even make us unhappy.

"Here is when many teachers suggest focusing on the breath, but focusing on music can do the trick, too." There are many qualities that we can experience under the influence of music with no formal training. These include increased focus, empathy, lowered stress levels, pain relief, and prosocial tendencies. These are all also well-documented effects and goals within the various Buddhist meditation systems too. I’ll just add that you’re completely free to choose to listen to music while you meditate. You’re free to listen to the news while you meditate, even.

Ludwig van Beethoven is quoted as saying, “Music is the mediator between the life of the senses and the life of the spirit”. If you are interested in experimenting with this form of meditation, I recommend starting by just focusing on the breath for a period of time. If you are new to meditation, start with five minutes.