Music for Meditation and Healing

“A Music Meditation,” “The Benefits of Meditating” and “Creating Meditation Music” introduce all the information you will need to make a choice to meditate using a music background. Further to this, I will be presenting a video version of this newsletter as an introduction to a new series of music videos that feature each of the 24 meditation tracks and a selection of transient pieces I have released over the past 40 years. These music videos will outline my inspirations, my visualisations and the musical ideas I have used to create the tracks.

With the current renewed interest in people wanting to learn to meditate and many also wishing to restart their meditation practice, I have been prompted to re-introduce this simple and natural approach to meditating. If you have been on my database for a while, perhaps you may already be a regular meditator and will likely be aware of this information. Of course, there is always new information coming through, so if you can add to this from your own experience, I would very much appreciate your support in sharing this Newsletter at this time. Feel free to share your comments also …

A Music meditation  …

• In an atmosphere of customised music, practicing meditation feels more natural, and easy to achieve and sustain deep levels of relaxation.
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• Music for meditation also has the effect of masking background distractions and disturbances.
  ‍In a busy world, finding a quiet space to meditate, can be a challenge. Music written for meditation, is music that  has the “feeling” of quietness. From the outset of a meditation, the meditator naturally connects to the music (even if they are not actually listening to it). Their connection and the music effectively masks low-level noises and distractions, enabling them to sustain the depth and duration of their meditation. In the event of an intrusive interruption, the music is still invaluable to the meditator, by returning them to the level of relaxation they were at, prior to the interruption.
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• Using music to meditate can add an element of enthusiasm and positive expectancy to meditating regularly.
  ‍I recommend a daily meditation for the reason that through regularity, the benefits of meditating are accumulated and thus become consolidated within our feeling memory. However, making meditation a ‘daily habit’ can take anywhere from weeks to months. Fortunately, most humans have a good relationship with music in one way or another, albeit their favourite might not be the meditation style. Never-the-less, a “lover of music” in the general sense, will more easily accept the effect of the music as part of their meditation practice. This adds a persuasive component to meditating during a habit-forming period.
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• Using music in meditation helps us move smoothly and more directly into and out of our meditation space.
  One of the most challenging aspects of meditating is the being able to transition smoothly between a waking state and a meditative state. With the music following a deepening contour from the beginning, this transition can be automatic for the meditator. Add to this, a similar contour in reverse can naturally transport the meditator back to their waking state at the conclusion of their meditation, thus avoiding needing to opening one eye to see the time, or setting an alarm-clock, which is not recommended.
   
• Music adds a “journey-like” feeling to meditation.
  ‍Even if using the same music, the journey effect can be different with every meditation. Many meditators practicing in the early stages, enjoy this effect of the music. Being on a journey is a positive experience in meditation, it not only provides continuity of deep relaxation, but also cocoons the meditator, reducing the likelihood of being distracted by background noise.
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• Setting the music volume.
  ‍Setting the volume of the music at the right level is important when meditating. I have found that a lower level in the music, is helpful in achieving a deeper meditation. Once we are meditating with eyes closed, our hearing can become more sensitive, especially in a quiet atmosphere. For this reason I recommend setting the music to a quiet level before sitting down to meditate. The music should feel like it is in the background — we are not listening to it, but we are hearing it.

‍The benefits of meditating  …

When we look at the benefits of meditation, it is worth noting that there are several different types of meditation. The differing focuses of meditation types often relates to the benefits that can be achieved. There are also different dynamic levels of meditation, from meditating in movement to meditating in stillness. 

Meditating in an atmosphere of congenial music can itself be classified as a different meditation style. Although, many different types of meditation do use music in and out of the meditative process. 

Generally speaking, a “Stillness” approach to meditation is probably the most universal meditation practice. Stillness of mind and body is a big part of achieving a meditative state. The stillness approach to meditation is particularly appropriate to the western world, in that the ‘stillness factor’ is very affective in alleviating stress and tension and is therefore oriented toward the Health and Wellbeing of the meditator.

Inner Peace is a component thread of most meditation styles. Developing a sense of Inner peace can have a positive overall affect on the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of the human bodymind. I believe that Inner peace is a ‘state of being’ that connects the meditator with all things in the universe. People who develop their Inner peace always feel ‘connected’ as a result. When we are connected universally, we not only 'feel’ at peace, but we naturally develop a healthy, happy and contented outlook on life.

At the beginning of the Inner Peace journey, our first connection is with our essential self. In a Stillness meditation, we are able to let go of the ‘movement dynamic’ relating to our physicality. In our modern world, many people never get to experience their deeper self due to the emphasis placed on the physical human, being all that is. 

Sitting in stillness for extended periods of time give rise to the subtle yet profound energy of our inner or ‘essential self’. Practicing meditation is what brings this into our awareness. Knowing ourselves at this level is a huge benefit to the health of our human life at every level. 

Our universal connection may at first seem like we are a product of the infinite cosmos that surrounds us in every direction. And, we may well be “Star-Seeds” in the consciousness sense. But as we investigate using our higher consciousness, we are learning that we have a connection with something more grounding and intimately closer to where we actually are . . . 

As human beings, our lives are inextricably connected to Mother Nature and the continuing evolution of life’s amazing creation. Planet Earth is our home, our lives are not only connected with each other but perhaps more importantly, with Mother Nature. When we feel this connection within, our lives somehow become whole and complete. Our wellbeing is greatly enhanced by the benefits our harmony with Nature has to our natural immunity. We are thereafter, capable of consciously (and energetically) healing ourselves and others. As more people take on this connection, human longevity will begin to extend far beyond where it is at the moment.

Many of my meditation music compositions are inspired in my connection with Nature. The Music itself also contributes a healing energy through our meditations …

Learn to meditate to music

Creating meditation music 

I came to meditation music through the unlikely avenue of Rock n Roll Music. From the beginning of my life, music was special to me. When pop music hit the radio waves, I thought I had found my life purpose. Considering the small size of the music industry in New Zealand, I did reasonably well. However, there were times in Rock n Roll where I felt a little out of place. As time went by, these differences began to surface more frequently until I just found myself looking in other places for my music future. I decided to learn meditation in order to clear the way for a fresh start … 

‍Ironically as it turned out, Meditation itself was the link to my music future . . . a journey that still continues today.

It took me a while to develop ideas for meditation music. I had to firstly clear away the attachments I had to the old music - it was a long process. Once practicing meditation became familiar to me I was able to formulate ideas around the construction of what I could write. 

Technically, in writing this music, I utilised the new generation of work-station keyboard synthesisers that were marketed in the 1980s. This was convenient in that I could create my all own sounds and freely layer arrangements that could be completed up to the mastering stage.

Meditation was a dance of stillness 

The TEMPO of the music was a serious consideration, as was the TIMBRE of the sound I would use. The DURATION of the music was also clearly important. 15 to 20 minutes was a good meditation length, so in the end I opted for a continuous 20 minute composition.

In terms of the TEMPO, I found myself putting ideas together in the range of 50 - 60 beats per minute (BPM), which is quite slow.  Of course, the beats themselves could not be heard and were not really part of the arrangement. Meditation needs to flow. I found that any semblance of a percussive beat, would inevitably surface the meditator from their practice. The only purpose of working with BPM would be in the editing process which I didn’t really use that much for this music.

The sounds I worked with were mainly mellow in quality, so working with the Fender Rhodes Electric piano sound was a good primary instrument to lay down the basic shape of the entire composition. After that I would add other instruments and sound effects that created an arrangement and complimented the theme.

The Meditation period itself had a natural contour in terms of how a meditator would naturally move from a waking-state toward a deep meditative state, stay there for a while and then after a time, resurface from  a meditative state and back to a waking-state. At first I saw this three-pronged approach resembling, “taking a breath, holding the breath and then releasing the breath”. I then realised from my earlier music training, that this shape resembled a known form in music composition called “Sonata Form” - a popular music form used in the classical music period. The other analogy I made of the meditation contour was more related to spacial-learning or visualising. I saw the form of the music being a bit like a “donut” in shape.  I will refer to this a bit later in the summary. 

The first movement of the music would begin in a normal way with a theme that felt relaxing to listen to. During the first 5 or 6 minutes the music would gradually slow in tempo and begin to fragment, becoming more unstructured as it morphed its way into the second movement and a further 8 minutes of the meditation. The second movement would have no real ‘pattern of occurrence’. It would just flow onward in a random time spectrum, rather like the feeling of clouds gently passing without being noticed, or the random frequency of rain drops - slowed down. 

As for the meditator, once sitting comfortably and closing eyes, their meditation would begin along with the first movement of the music. In general terms, as the music progresses, they would move from a BETA State of consciousness - (awake with normal levels of alertness) and into the upper ALPHA State - (relaxed with calm levels of activity). As the first movement continues to slow and fragment around the 6-7 minute mark the meditator would have progressed to the lower end of the ALPHA State. At this point they move into a semi-conscious state, and with the music becoming almost unnoticeable they potentially approach the THETA State of consciousness - (a very deep state of calm)  

In my own meditations I often notice myself going in and out of consciousness during the second movement of a meditation. I know this happened because I would find myself losing the music and then resurfacing to find myself suddenly further on in the composition. 

At around the 15-16 minute mark, the second movement concludes where I would begin to restructure the music used in the first movement, to create a feeling of positive completion for the third movement and the final 5-6 minutes of the meditation. Doing this, gently resurfaces the meditator back to an ALPHA State and to the conclusion of their meditation.

I found myself naturally exceeding the 20 minute duration by a couple of extra minutes due to creating natural spaces where the music was very slow. In the end this worked well, because even though the meditator was back to their waking Alpha State at 20 minutes, it was always a good idea to sit for a couple of extra minutes before getting up and getting on with the day. A twenty minute meditation would actually conclude around twenty-two  minutes or thereabouts …

So to summarise, the completed Sonata Form structure of the music, had a dynamic contour of a DONUT shape, with the hole in the middle (the second movement) representing the deeper, Theta and Delta State vibrations. The material ring-sections of the donut (the first and third movements) represented the transitions between the Beta and Alpha, and the Alpha and Beta State vibrations.

Composing music is largely an intuitive exercise. In this music, while I am aware of the scientific ramifications of using musical sound in healing and meditation, I try not to let this influence what is coming through for me intuitively. I believe in the end, people connect with the music at an intuitive level. Creating music with science and technology alone, really doesn’t compete — sorry AI

I have with different compositions, varied my structural approach to creating music for meditation and Healing. I have also coloured the music with various musical themes that resonate with nature and spirituality. I have done this because I think that practicing meditation not only connects us universally, but also “Earths us through Nature”. This leads to knowing ourselves deeply for who we are as consciously creative entities at source.

I do believe we have to be careful with how much we take in, at a rational level. If we go too far, science and logic will end up creating our future for us. If we proceed in a balanced way, with our creative and rational minds working together; our natural connection will guarantee a future to which we all contribute through our inner happiness, our inner peace and our extended wellbeing. 

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I thank you for reading and for sharing 

May your peace be within

Much love and creativity

Jeffree

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07/18/2025