Meditation and Music

There are many types and levels of meditation that result in many different experiences.

You might have seen musicians focused totally on their music, unaware of the audience and if they are performing a solo part, unaware also of the other musicians. They are in a form of meditation.

A harper told me he started playing at home alone and when he stopped, discovered he had been playing non-stop for sixteen hours. He could only have been deeply in meditation.
Shiva is the God of meditation. However this aspect of Shiva is Natraj, Dancing Shiva, who represents the cycle of creation and destruction.

Lucinda Moon, first violin and concertmaster of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra is extraordinary, not only her playing which is amazing, but in her solo performances, she takes her audience on her musical trance journey.

When Lucinda stops playing, there is absolute silence, no immediate bursting into applause, the audience is literally spellbound and needs a few moments to return and then the applause is overwhelming.

Studies on meditation by UCLA physiologist R.K. Wallace showed those who had regularly practised meditation for less than five years had an average biological age of 5 years less than their chronological age, while whose who had regularly practised for more than five years had an average biological age of 12 years younger. [1]

This natural trance state that occurs when we are deeply focused on an activity, is a very safe and beneficial form of meditation as well as being play quite literally increases longevity.

Jung gives us an understanding of these Eastern concepts from a Western perspective and his ideas are lucidly explained by Claire Dunne in her acclaimed book Carl Jung: wounded Healer of the Soul.

To further explore the Eastern concept of meditation, yoga scholar Georg Feuerstein's The Yoga Tradition provides genuine teachings.

[1]  The Australian Newspaper, 19 March 2005 .

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