Meditation Music Makes It Easy

We've all heard of mood music, but "music to meditate to"? It sounds a bit ridiculous, doesn't it? Of course, the power of meditation to speed healing, enhance mood - all those good things have been scientifically proven and are widely accepted today.

But many people find it difficult to reach the fabled Alpha relaxation state in simple meditation. It can take months of practice to learn to sustain an Alpha state for any length of time. And as for the deeper Delta and Theta states! They can require a real adept and years of practice.

Robert A Monroe, creator and founder of the famed Monroe Institute and perhaps best-known for his books on out-of-body experiences, was actually a highly successful sound engineer by profession. He discovered that by playing music with different beats in each ear, the brain itself would become entrained and pulse at the difference between the two beats. Using this "binaural" beat technology, it was possible to select which frequency to entrain the brain to, and by listening to Alpha binaural beats the brain was placed in the Alpha (7 - 13 beats) meditation state.

With the deeper states it was found best to first entrain to Alpha for a while. After this it can be lowered to Theta (4 - 7) for a while before going to Delta (0.1 - 4 beats). The Beta (13 - 60) brainwave state is the normal waking state.

This discovery revolutionized meditation for many people. At the flick of a switch it became possible to get into the Alpha state. And the deeper meditation states could be reached 10 - 20 minutes later.

The Alpha state is a state of non-arousal. This is the best state for quiet contemplation, relaxation and learning. There is research which indicates that, while the cortex operates at Alpha or Beta (normal waking state for adults), the hippocampus operates at the Theta frequency. By extension, the brain stem may operate at the Delta frequency. So getting into theta puts you more in touch with your emotions. Delta would then be related to autonomic body functions. So the deeper brainwave states may help further in releasing tensions and healing.

Binaural Beats (which require the use of headphones) were discovered in the 60's and 70's - eons ago in terms of modern technology! Nowadays we also have Monaural Beats, Isochronic Tones and Trypnaural Isochronic Tones. None of these newer technologies require headphones. Many of them are now mixed with relaxing music and are now offered as music to meditate to and considered very effective.

If you are interested in meditating, but don't want to waste months learning how (and who has the time, these days) then there are hundreds meditation mp3s available online free or for purchase and immediate download.

And proven Binaural Beat meditation CDs are available from The Monroe Institute (Hemi-Sync), as well as Centerpointe (Holo-Sync) and other similar websites. You can even get free software to generate these beats and tones and super-impose them on your choice of relaxation music.

The proven health and mental benefits of meditation are easily available to anyone with an mp3 player or a CD player. Other beneficial music such as Solfeggio tones can be combined with entrainment pulses to enhance their effect. With the easy availability of this music, why hesitate? Get yourself some highly effective, technologically advanced music to meditate to and improve your life in many ways within minutes.

Learn more about meditation music and meditation by going to MusicToMeditateTo.com at: http://musictomeditateto.net/.

Original article

Music For Guided Meditation

A guided meditation (or guided imagery recording, if you prefer) is basically a simple production, composed of a narration track and background music (or in some cases, nature sounds). Because that's all there is, each part is quite important and needs to be good, to make an effective product. In this article I'll be talking about background music.

In the early 1980's, sythesizers became available to the public, and since that time have become less and less expensive, more commonplace, and easier to use. By easier to use, I mean that it's easier to dial up any sound you'd like to hear, make that sound come out of speakers, and record it. As I write this, I have what amounts to a whole raft of sythesizers inside my computer, waiting to be triggered by a keyboard resting nearby.

In addition to electronic sounds, the sort of real life instrument sounds that sythesizers can make have become very realistic, to the point that in some instances it's hard for even a trained ear to distinguish them from the real thing.

Meanwhile, the process of recording music has gotten far more accessible than it was 30 years ago. At this point, I've got almost as much sophisticated recording gear in my computer as we did in the grand studios of yore. Even great microphones can be had much less expensively now.

So, access to musical sounds and the means to record them has gotten very easy.

But just because someone has a hammer, nails, and wood, doesn't mean they can build a proper house. Making good music still requires talent, training, practice, and effort. And since virtually everyone can make and record music today, there is a lot of not so good music available, especially of the sort of background music that's typically used for guided meditations.

Unfortunately, there's so much poor music on the market it's hard to sift through to find the good stuff. So when you listen to a guided meditation, and it seems to you that the music isn't so good, trust your ears -- you're probably right!

What makes a good guided meditation background track... good? Like many things, music is very subjective. But at the very least it should have a soothing quality, it should hold together well as music on its own, it should draw the listener in without distracting from the narration, and it should have an intangible "substance" that brings depth to the whole program. In an ideal world, it would be an original score composed specifically for the guided meditation, much like a movie has its own score composed for the action on screen. If that's not possible, music should be selected that fits the script, and supports and enhances the storyline.

You can hear programs with great background music at The Healing Waterfall, and even download a free guided meditation.

Original article