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Monday 12 March 2012

Music and Meditation

The person who is searching for his own happiness should pull out the dart
he has stuck in himself - the arrowhead of grieving, of desiring, of despair  -

the Sutta -nipata quoted by Deborah Moggach
in 'The best exotic Marigold Hotel'
(for the Elderly and Beautiful)


Music is a language all of its own.It  has the ability to transport us way beyond the cut and thrust of the intellect to a place of inspiration and deep healing. Its lyricism makes it a wonderful companion for meditation, since its phrases and rhythms rise and fall just like waves on the ocean. This bridges the gap between our inner and outer worlds.

The Wow Factor!
Look at the way any wave rises up towards the sky before it tumbles back towards the shore.  Just like waves, music provides us with natural phrases and rhythms, sounds which speak to us and that can help us let go of all our cares and concerns. Have you noticed, at the end of any good performance there's a silence before the audience breaks into rapturous applause?  To me that's the wow factor, 'Wow where did that come from?' - the acknowledgement that we've all been transported into a magical space of inspiration, an inspiration which allows us to come back to our day to day lives feeling as good as new and ready to take on the world!

Last Saturday night, I went along to St. Albans Cathedral to see a performance of Verdi's Requiem, with hubby Bruce and friends Jacky and David. What a magnificent setting! And what a passionate piece of music. I came back truly inspired at how all the various threads of the music; choir, soloist instruments and percussion are brought together to create such a dynamic piece of music. It isn't by pushing and pushing.  This breaks the natural rhythm of creation.  It's by following life's natural ebb and flow.

Singing our Song: becoming the individuals we are supposed to become
We each have a song to sing. But its by letting go and letting our Spirit, not our ego orchestrate the composition that makes all the difference. Each individual byte of our journey deserves to be savoured and given thanks for, whether it be the ebb or whether it be the flow.  It is the following of these rhythms that take us out of the ordinary into the extraordinary.  And it is the following of our own individual rhythms which allows us to become the individual we are supposed to become.

Short meditation
If you have a moment, spend time listening to this piece of music by Litzt.  It really speaks to me. Its just five minutes long, so can fit easily into your day. Trust your intuition.  If this isn't your type of thing, use a piece that's right for you, and then just listen....But listen not just with the head, but with your whole heart as well.  This is what makes all the difference. And so meditation and music really are good compansions.  Music has the ability to transport us out of the orindary into the extraordinary, where magic is part of the natural order of things.





Any comments gratefully received.

Tuesday 6 March 2012

Connecting to the Higher Self with meditation


I'm thoroughly enjoying myself recording and editing a set of meditations for beginners.  Yes editing!  Now I'm certainly no technie, but meditation has given me the confidence at least to try, AND whatsmore enjoy the process. No more screaming at the screen in utter despair!

Meditation teaches us that everyone is a part of the same Universe; we are all connected at the heart level.  So even though we are individuals, we are still One.  But its when we open our hearts through the process of meditation that we begin to really appreciate what a magical universe we live in.

Meditation helps us re-connect to life's natural ebb and flow, and the more I keep up my meditation practise, the thing I am looking for arrives almost as soon as I realise I need it.  How's that for synchronicity?

That's how it was with the recording but more especially the editing.  There are some beautiful programmes out there such as AUDACITY, which can be downloaded for free, but also people like     Tom Evans who has just devised an online course to help people like me who want to produce their own visualisations for the net. A lot of the time the battles in our heads not our hearts, and meditation puts the heart back into our lives.

Margaret Abraham a fellow member of our writing group passed the link onto me in the first place, and I am honoured to be a member of such a wonderful group of like minded people. 

Watch out for the meditations, they will be available shortly