Music for meditation

[thirdeyeblind82]

Hi guys!
Do you think it's a good idea to play music while you're meditating? And if you're actually using it, wich type of music are you listening?

[Matthew]

Not really the most useful idea. Meditation is entering states of mind to see and unravel your habituated patterns of being and doing. Music is a distraction from this and will work against it.

[Delma54]

I play in Goenka chants mostly in all my sitting sections and opposite to be a distraction help me to concentrate

[Quardamon]

Hello thirdeyblind82,

To be honest: I never play music when I want to meditate.
But on the other hand, I sometimes play music that brings me in a meditative mood. The mood differs with the kind of music.
When I feel that I would tighten up by formal sitting, I sometimes play

Deva Premal - Gayatri Mantra

I dance to it - with gentle, large movements. It can be so touching, that tears roll over my cheecks. Like it would formerly happen sometimes while sitting.
After I have played this piece four times, I might sit. What then happens in the sitting is different from what happened during the music.

An important thing is: What is for you a symbol of purity, honesty, simplicity.
If a mantra is something exotic to you, then what it brings will be regarded as something exotic by you (probably).

For several years, I needed the purity of meditation in silence.

Be well,

Quardamon

[frepie]

Buddhist meditation is done in silence. Maybe other types can be done with music, but not Buddhist meditation.
See that when you select the music, you try to direct where your mind will go, how it will feel, what goal you wish to attain. All this is contrary to the practice of mindfulness.
Music sets moods, make some emotion arise, hides others, awakes memories. This could be an efficient way to relax, to "forget" problems, but this is not meditation, because meditation is not relaxation. Mindfulness is about being present to what is here in this moment.

[Matthew]

Well said Frepie.

[goodlife]

I play in Goenka chants mostly in all my sitting sections and opposite to be a distraction help me to concentrate

hi delma,i used to play SNG's discourses and sit for meditation till few months back.. it does help mind settle down.. but my experience is it is more linke undistracted & sincere listening than real meditation (which i feel is continous, clear observation of sensations in the body, thoughts on the mind, breathing etc).  I find it lot more beneficial to meditate in silence ..

best wishes,

[Namaste]

Music is beautiful but it's also hypnosis, and hypnosis /= meditation.

[Delma54]

I play in Goenka chants mostly in all my sitting sections and opposite to be a distraction help me to concentrate

hi delma,i used to play SNG's discourses and sit for meditation till few months back.. it does help mind settle down.. but my experience is it is more linke undistracted & sincere listening than real meditation (which i feel is continous, clear observation of sensations in the body, thoughts on the mind, breathing etc).  I find it lot more beneficial to meditate in silence ..

best wishes,

[Delma54]

Hi little
For me SNG's chantings,... birds,... cars passing by,... people talking,... wind,... rain... Any outdoor-indoor sound catch my attention when I meditate. They all affect my hearing senses.
The meditation object is always at the primary focus of attention, and that these subtle distractions remain in the periphery of awareness,I maintain equanimity intropectively keeping attention on the object of meditation.
Goenka's chantings are usually about 30 min long. They are timing my sittings. as sample. Very useful in the morning when I go to work. At times the chantings motivate me to meditate. I would meditate for an hour. 1/2 hour with chanting in the background. 1/2 in silence. It really works for me.

[hopper]

Hi

I prefer to meditate in silence generally, but if you prefer otherwise then I can recommend:

• The Pearl by Brian Eno & Harold Budd - beautiful 'sound poems'
• Music for Yoga Meditation and Other Joys by Tony Scott & Colin Walcott - apart from a few short bits of spoken/chanted words, an exquisite and unusual combination of Sitar and Clarinet

Enjoy!