ERIKA HEWITT

You can find the schools of meditation that say you should not meditate to music, that you should only meditate in silence.

Meditation Music

But what if there is music that truly deepened your meditation? That simply by listening to the music, you had been capable of experience far deeper states of meditation than you'll without hearing the background music.

So first we have to consider why is good meditation music.

Any meditation music and then there is really a drum beat should be dumped. Because any drum beats or rhythms can keep your heartrate high and this keeps from stepping into the very deep states of relaxation where true meditation happens.

One other thing consider is the thing that you are actually playing. If you are playing music that's purely synthesized, meaning your sounds you hear are manufactured from electronically produced sound waves, then such music can provide you with a headache and not be conducive to meditation.

One other thing consider is the meditation state of the musician making the music activity. If the musician has attained a higher state of meditation, then their meditative state will be recorded in the music which you hear.

Hymns

There are numerous "brain entrainment" audio programs on the market. They are CDs in what are called "binaural beats." Binaural beats are two separate electronically produced sine waves, one took part in the left channel and one took part in the right channel. These two sine wave drones are slightly different in frequency.

Relaxing Music

The idea behind binaural beats is that they manipulate your brainwaves into slowing, thus creating a "meditative state."

Although such programs may do something, my experience is they are a hindrance to experiencing true states of meditation, not helpful. And they're as electronic as possible.

You'd be greater off listening to a chant or a talk either on DVD or Audio CD of the enlightened teacher. By hearing their voice, their particular state of enlightenment gets transmitted to you through sound. Though it might not be very musical naturally, meditating for this would deepen your meditation considerably.

But there's meditation music in the marketplace that does induce states of meditation naturally, without electronic sounds and without manipulating your brainwaves. Through special recording equipment, high states of meditation are already recorded and changed into sound. And thus when you listen to the music, that same deep blissful state of meditation gets naturally awakened in your soul.