Meditation Through Music

How do you meditate?

I think that traditional meditation is wonderful--it's restorative, and it calms your mind (that's the best part, for me). But I think traditional meditation is also really difficult. Most of us don't have the focus, or maybe even the time, to just sit still for a stretch of time. If you're committed to meditating, you might devote 5 or 10 minutes to it per day.

But I've realized there are other ways to find that concentrated peace that you catch a glimpse of when you sit in one spot, without moving, focusing on the breath. There are other ways to be still, other ways to quell your racing mind, other ways to sharpen your focus and just be.

I've discovered a piece of music that I can only describe as meditative--listen to it carefully and it will lull and calm you. I heard this piece in a concert with my parents on my trip to D.C. a few months ago and the audience was mesmerized, totally silent, absorbed. In fact, as an interesting 21st-century twist, the pianist played from an iPad that she placed on the music stand, and when she needed to "turn the page," she ever so gracefully and slowly lifted her left hand and swiped across the iPad, then returned her hands to the keys. Even this movement became part of the performance, part of the slowness and sereneness, part of the contemplation.

This piece was written in the second half of the 20th century by an Estonian composer named Arvo Pärt.  I hope you enjoy it, and that it brings you peace.