Yoga and Meditation Music for a Spiritual Practice

Yoga and Meditation music can greatly enhance your practice.

In my personal practice, I aim to increase my awareness and to decrease the internal chatter within my mind. Yoga and meditation music helps me. Once I can quiet my “monkey mind,” I feel more connected to God and the Universe. This connection is one of the primary reasons I practice.

“Incessant thoughts of the past or future is a virtual reality. Aliveness is right here and now.”

I like to practice yoga with and without music. The sound of the breath or the sound of silence can be very powerful. When I do listen to music while practicing, I prefer spiritual music. This Lady Gaga song has been played in a couple of the classes I participated in. This song does not help me bring awareness internally or to the moment. I’m not criticizing people for listening to this type of yoga and meditation music during asana practice, it’s just not my preference 🙂

I prefer beautiful music with mantras and minimal English words. I prefer music that is calming yet strengthening. This helps me move inwards. Rather than trying to interpret lyrics, spiritual music without English words helps me stay lucid in the moment.

I’ve found these songs throughout the last six years from various sources. One of the best parts about traveling internationally is that you’re exposed to different culture, music, and teachers. I feel so grateful to have found such powerful yoga and meditation music. You’ll notice by the lack of YouTube views on some of these songs, these songs are relatively unknown. That’s why I’m so excited to share the following yoga and meditation music with you!

Some my favorite yoga and meditation music:

Baba Hanuman by Shantala

Om by Peruquois

I Will Surround You by Stars of the Lid

Now We Are Free by Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard

Baba Hanuman by Krishna Das

Muladhara by Shiva Rea & Alex Theory

Gobinda Hare by Snatam Kaur

New Moon by Chinmaya Dunster

I hope this yoga and meditation music helps enhance your practice. Let us know what you think and feel free to share your own yoga and meditation music in the comments section below!

Carrying a Woman, A Short Zen Story

Two monks were returning to the monastery in the evening. It had rained and there were puddles of water on the road sides. There was a beautiful young woman standing there, unable to walk accross because a large puddle of water. The elder of the two monks went up to a her lifted her and left her on the other side of the road, and continued his way to the monastery.

In the evening the younger monk came to the elder monk and said, “Sir, as monks, we cannot touch a woman ?”

The elder monk answered “yes, brother”.

Then the younger monk asks again, “but then Sir, how is that you lifted that woman on the roadside ?”

The elder monk smiled at him and said, “Brother, I left her on the other side of the road, but you are still carrying her.”

image via flickr

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The first time I read this short zen story, I just smiled for ten minutes straight. I think we often times let rigidity and religious doctrine become an impediment to our spiritual growth. Here are the two principle lessons I found in this story:

• Kindness is almost always the answer
• Live in the present moment, the past is in the past (even two minutes ago is the past)

It’s a great story too, because it can be interpreted in a number of different ways.

What are your impressions of this zen story? There’s no wrong way to interpret this, we’re curious to see what you think!

Charles A. Francis does a great job talking about the mindfulness movement that is spreading by the day. We see the practice of mindful meditation transforming our society whether that is in the next few years or the next 100 years. At some point, a major emphasis will be placed by schools, governments, and educational institutions on meditation and the practice of being mindful to the present moment. We believe that this process helps mitigate suffering.

Via Mindfulness Meditation Institute

You’ve probably noticed that talk about mindfulness meditation is much more common today than it was just a few years ago. Nowadays, I hear about mindfulness meditation from a variety of different sources: on the news, television talk shows, online, and most often in conversation.

It wasn’t long ago that people who meditated were considered to be on the fringes of society. In the 60s and 70s, they were called hippies. In the 80s and 90s, they were called new-agers.

Today, people who meditate are seen as progressive and open-minded. Whatever term we may use to describe them, they are generally loving, kind, generous, insightful, and willing to help others achieve the same rich and fulfilling lives they have.

Mindfulness Meditation Migrates to the West

Though mindfulness meditation has been around for a long time, its migration to the West has been slow, but that has changed over the last few years. There are several reasons for this:

• Changes in the social and political environment. The end of the Cold War has enabled more communication between Eastern and Western societies.
• Advances in communication technology. The rise of the Internet has made communication between cultures much easier, which previously did not interact very much.
• Prominent figures active in diffusing the practice. Most notably, the Dalai Lama has been quite active in engaging the West. Interestingly, a great deal of his interaction has been with the scientific community, to encourage scientists to conduct research on the practice.
• Compatibility with Western values. Since mindfulness meditation is practice, and not a religion, practitioners don’t have to abandon the current spiritual faith in order to avail themselves of the benefits of the practice.
• Effectiveness of the practice. Mindfulness meditation is proving to be extremely effective for all-around personal development.

Read more about scientific evidence, the practice in relation to social issues and more by clicking the link above. 

What are Mala beads? 

Mala beads or Buddhist prayer beads are a string of beads  — 108 is a common number — of uniform size. They have a large role in Buddhist and Hindu meditation practices.

We first were introduced to Mala beads by Rory Trollen while on a yoga retreat in Thailand.

How do I use Mala beads?

Hold the mala in your hand at the head bead (the bead with string attached). Then choose the name of a Buddha, Bodhisattva, mantra, prayer or a chant. Each time you recite the name or mantra, you move your thumb up the mala by one bead.

For example, when reciting the name of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, you say, “Namo Di Jang Wang Pu Sa” and then you move your thumb up one bead.

There are a certain number of beads on malas – usually 108 is standard. Malas are used as instruments for counting each individual recitation of a  mantra/prayer, so that you don’t have to remember how many times you’ve recited. Once you get back to the head mala bead, you know you’ve said your mantra/prayer 108 times.

This is helpful in prayer and chant because certain Dharmas require you to recite a holy name or a mantra a certain amount of times. For example, for Earthstore/Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, you can recite his name 10,000 times within 7 days for certain responses that are detailed in his Sutra.

Separately, holding the mala itself is also a form of mindfulness of the body, which helps return your attention to the present moment whilst reciting.

How do you use mala beads in your practice?