Neuroscience Shows How Dance Music And Meditation Have Similar Effects

For those looking to escape the day-to-day drudgery of the city, or the relentless inner monologue of their own mind, no one will blame them for wanting to relax with some ambient pan flute. But the reality is, when you're out in the world and emotions are running high, and anxiety is building, you might not be able to channel the comfort of your home stereo system and soothing spa sounds. "It's a matter of personal preference, and also of intention," says meditation teacher and author Sharon Salzberg. "If your intention is mostly to relax, and get to a calmer space, the music might help. If your intention is to see the patterns of your mind more clearly, silence might help."

City rain to relax and relieve stress at the end of a long day, or even to fall asleep. And you can make meditation as formal or informal as you like, however it suits your lifestyle and situation. Some people build meditation into their daily routine. For example, they may start and end each day with an hour of meditation.

So-called meditation music therefore is a kind of crutch that hinders our practice rather than helping it. Traditionally there would simply be silence or ambient background noise to accompany meditation. "Meditation with music" can very easily turn into "sitting and listening to music", which may be a relaxing and fun hobby but isn't really meditating.

For example, if you always queue up the same song every time you're about to start meditating, it will serve as a signal that it's time to start relaxing and focusing inward. "The music becomes part of the habit much in the same way other types of music might motivate you on your morning run," Alana says. That said, Alana does say there are certain times when music really can enhance your practice, such as if you're meditating somewhere loud and busy (airport pre-boarding meditation, anyone?). Music can help drown out those other noises and bring your focus inward. "The idea of meditation is to withdraw stress relief music the senses from the outside world to focus on your inner world and through that focus, create a singular point of concentration," she says. "Here is when many teachers suggest focusing on the breath, but focusing on music can do the trick, too."

Several years back I used to spend a lot of time just listening to music quietly in a dimly lit room - classical, jazz, blues, rock, and heavy metal. I am not going to call this meditation, but I will say that if you find meditation terribly boring and are unwilling to sit quietly in a silent room, then listening to music is better than watching TV. That being said, you really need silence to meditate.