Have you noticed how different music will trigger memories, moods, states of Being? I love being in the kitchen cooking
it up with Mrs Monk … dinner that is, while playing some beats or shaking heads to AC/DC. Great fun! Driving, traveling, that’s another vibe… more Smokey Robinson and Indie Folk.
Meditation, now that’s what the first single from The Drunken Monk (A Waking Forest) has been lovingly created for. Definitely not to be played while cooking dinner and comes with a health warning that you avoid listening to the Monk while operating heavy machinery or in any way engaged in anything that requires your attention.
Using music for a specific purpose, giving it a place in your musical wardrobe will strengthen the intended impact. Energy follows intention, at least mine does. So when I created the music for The Drunken Monk it was with a very clear intention to go ‘in’, to bring the listener into a relaxed place of self awareness, enhanced and supported by having sounds, vibrations that the mind can rest on.
The effects of sitting in silence, movement, such as Yoga, Pilates, walking or whatever you do when taking 10 minutes move ‘in’, can be anchored by a piece of music. I guess it’s similar to Pavlovs dogs effect… whenever, you hear the music. Boom! You start salivating… I mean meditating, or at least taking a conscious breath and finding your centre.
Anchors do function like a trigger that will accelerate or expose an associated response. Try it! Meditate with the same piece of music for 7 days. Can be for as long or as short as you like, just do it every day. Can be on your lunch break, on the bus, before sleep. Focus completely on the sounds, allowing your breathe to be full, open with a rhythm that flows with the music and yet is natural for you. Eyes closed,… no peaking, just 100% attention on the sounds, the breath and the sensations you observe during this time. No need to analyse, comment or judge what is happening, just keeping a focus, just listening.
So when I say meditate, you could also play with the instructions and find a piece of music to train to … running, cycling, walking .. I’m sure many of you will already have a motivational playlist for these activities. If you do why not try to deepen the effect. Only use those playlists for specific activities and move into them with a strong sense of purpose, determination and discipline. Now there’s a word I always used to shy away from. I’m a lazy b@str’d so anything that implied that I ‘have to’ do something, my head would drop and I’d five years old. Perhaps a subject for another article. Meantime, do your thing. See what happens when you commit to one specific peace of music only for meditation, to explore and open your inner world, whether it be through stillness, movement or even the creation of Art.
Enjoy!
