Can music enhance your meditation experience?

For most of us, the term “Meditation” conjures up images of people, sitting cross-legged and listening to Indian “Sitar music”.

As per the “Brain Wave Theory” - there are five categories of brain frequencies: beta, alpha, theta, gamma, and delta, which influence the state of mind differently. Listening to the right kind of frequency helps the brain harmonize with that frequency thus enabling it to reach the desired state. Alpha frequency music is believed to be the ideal frequency for meditation. I am still skeptical about some of the claims made by some of the companies who market music utilizing this technology. They often claim to “balance” your brain, increase your creativity and bring peace to your mind.

I rarely used music, when I first started practicing meditation about 15 years ago. I tried using Indian classical instrumental music – flute and violin (Yes! Violin was introduced to Indian Classical music in early 1800s – British fiddle – that is a future blog story) as a background and found it to be beneficial. Baroque music pieces with slow movements were also favored by me. About 5 years ago, I was amazed at the levels of the relaxation I could achieve when I used a combination of electronic music, sounds of nature (ocean waves) and chanting.

You need to experiment with different pieces of music and choose the ones you can relax most easily with.

Quite accidentally, I discovered the music of JS Epperson. I tried two of his pieces (See below for free download) and I am impressed by the musician’s creativity and ability to produce hauntingly relaxing and beautiful music. I reached him by phone in Seattle a few weeks ago and interviewed him for this blog.

Jay – tell me a little about yourself

From the age of two years, I always enjoyed playing music– I was obsessed with drones and I would sing harmonics over the hum of car engines. I started experimenting with electronic music when I was in University of Southern California (Thornton School of Music). I made the connection between music and the brain in a communication class when the lecturer told us “What goes IN with music - comes OUT with music”! {Sudesh’s note – I agree – when I listen to the song hits of the 80s – it triggers beautiful and detailed memories of my life associated with those songs}. In early 1990s, I started providing music to institutes and individuals, who wanted to use it as background for meditation and relaxation tapes.

What is your mission?

Though some people may feel that here is a spiritual component to my work, my primary interest is in the physical responses to musical stimuli. For the most part, I am deeply interested in interpreting "artistically" and applying these research findings to my music. I am now in the process of updating my website to sell some of the music tracks for a dollar each. I am also experimenting with donations from my listeners.

What advice do you have for my blog readers?

• Start with the intention
• Block time for meditation regularly.
• Create the right environment.
• Let your family members know that you would not like to be disturbed (except for emergencies).
• Pick the right music.
• And let yourself GO

(Sometimes I relax by listening to music created by others. The very act of creating music is very relaxing for me. I often go on “meditation” binges 2-3 hours in a DAY! Of course, don’t listen to this music while you are driving or operating heavy machinery!)

Check out JS Epperson’s music and let us know what you like about his music.

DELTADREAM
http://higher-music.com/discography/deltadream-binaural-sleep-beats/

INSIGHT - A THETA MEDITATION
http://higher-music.com/discography/insight-theta-meditation/

Photo credit: Ajay Royyuru - http://tinyurl.com/WorksByAjay