Music to Transcend To

Cafe Society
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I have Panic Disorder, and there are certain places and situations which cause my heart to race and my blood pressure to shoot up. There’s generally no rhyme or reason to them. One of these odd places/situations is my bed when I’m trying to get to sleep. It doesn’t happen when I’m sleeping at someone else’s house, and it doesn’t happen if I’m reading, playing a game on my Palm, masturbating, having sex or doing anything else in my bed other than lying down with the specific intention of going to sleep. It also–and this is important–gets worse if I focus on my breathing in this situation. I can’t explain it, but that’s how it works: I notice I’m breathing too deeply, I can’t seem to breathe at a natural pace, then my heart starts racing because I’m freaking out about my breathing, which gets faster as a result, etc., through the vicious cycle. My therapist recommended transcendental meditation as a way of calming myself down so I can drift off to dreamland, and so far, when it works, it works beautifully.

I do intend to use it to actually, you know, transcend, one of these days–but for now, I can only tap that well once or twice a day. With my anxiety meds, I have to take a little siesta every day if I hope to make it through the day without being too drowsy to focus on anything.

Anyway, I tried the classic “aum” thing, but for some reason I can’t “make myself hear” it in my head without breathing it out too, which just makes me breathe faster and pay more attention to my breathing, so that’s a no-go. So far, the thing that’s worked best is to put on some gentle chill-out music or trad jazz and remind myself to focus on nothing but the music.

But I need more workable music for reaching a transcendental state. I got A Love Supreme by John Coltrane, knowing it’s supposed to be a very spiritual album, and so far it’s been disappointing me in that regard–seems to be more of a trance/CEV thing than a transcendental thing. Even the album cut of “Acknowledgment” is too “active” to meditate to, and I was rather disappointed that it didn’t have the overdub of Coltrane softly chanting “a love supreme…a love supreme…a love supreme…”

Anyway, if anyone’s had success doing TM to music, or knows of any particular albums that seem like they would be good for it, let me know. I’m open to any genre.

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Probably wrong genre’, HD, but I have found that Mozart’s Requiem in D Minor and Rachmaninoff’s Vespers work well for me. Both are available on youtube should you wish a sample.

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I’d go with the long-form chant of the Ramayana on “The Bali Project.” 60 minutes of chanting in Balinese, nice “shape” to the recording, peaks and valeys type of thing.

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Tabula Rasa by Arvo Part sounds like it would be perfect for you - serene and quiet, but not simply background music. Lots of open space in the music, with subtle moments that touch both the melancholy and the beautiful quiet moments.

In the article in the New Yorker I read that introduced me to this composer and this piece of music, they discussed how popular it was in hospitals with patients in long-term or terminal care - it eased their minds, apparently. Between that statement and my own experience listening to it, it seems like it would work…

There are dozens of yoga/meditation mixes available - you can check Amazon; I seem to remember searching ones and hitting a motherload, but no way to evaluate them other than the ratings on line.

Oh - I have another strong recommendation, maybe a couple: Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich and Koyaanisqatsi by Philip Glass - they are both “Minimalist” classical pieces - where the intruments set up a tight, repetitive pattern and slowly over time vary the rhythms or the relationships between groups of instruments so they move in and out of sync with each other. It sets up this sonic landscape that seems vast and endless, similar in nature throughout but with variations along the way. Much more complex and layered than typically trance music, but either could be very effective, I would surmise…

Hope this helps,
WordMan

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Sigur Ros helps me get to sleep when I have insomnia.

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Just put the song “Maranatha (Come Lord)” from Lisa Gerrard and Patrick Cassidy’s “Immortal Memory” on repeat. That song puts me into a trance nearly every time. Also the album “Spiritchaser” by Dead Can Dance (also with Lisa Gerrard) is a good one for relaxing. In fact, the Amazon.com review’s first line is “Listening to Dead Can Dance is a transcendental experience.”

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Thanks for your suggestions, everyone!

This sounds interesting. Where can I find this?

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In the World Music section of your local record store. It’s a 3-CD set of Gamelan music; the near-hour of chant is just one cut.

Micky Hart of the Grateful Dead executive-produced the record in Bali.

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I opened the thread to suggest this one, and am not surprised to see that someone else already has.

(I obtained my copy as an illegal download from Limewire, which hasn’t seemed to defeat its purpose by losing any sleep over it.)

French composers seem good at gently getting you outside of yourself. Besides the obvious choice of Eric Satie, give a listen to Gabriel Faure, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. (Poor Ravel: over twenty hours of music and all anyone remembers is that silly Bolero)

You could search for anything titled “berceuse” which means “lullabye,” and is what many composers often titled these works.

And did you know that Raymond Scott, whose goofy, dynamic works were used in Looney Tunes cartoons, also pioneered electonic music for the purpose of sending babies to sleep? (could Phillip Glass have been one of those babies?)

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For generic music like this, you might try “Music from the Hearts of Space”, a program broadcast on many NPR stations.

For classical music, I second Ravel and Debussy. Also Vaughn Williams.

A very few specific recommendations:
Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe; Valse Nobles et Sentimentales (piano version); Mother Goose suite
Debussy: Preludes for piano; nocturne for orchestra #1, “Nuages” (Clouds)
Vaughn Williams: “The Lark Ascending”; Fantasia on “Greensleeves”
Liszt: Concert Etude No. 3 in D flat, Un Sospiro (A Sigh)
Schubert: Impromptu in G-flat major, op.90 no.3
Holst: Hymns from the Rig Veda, third group (for women’s voices and harp)

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Krishna Das, Live on Earth.

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Bach, Art of the Fugue

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This is why I love this place. You guys know everything. :cool:

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Actually, Emperor Tomato Ketchup by Stereolab might be the automatic self diagnostic program for Kuboydal.

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His Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten is certanly worth exploring, too. I dislike lazily describing music as ‘hypnotic’, but that piece comes close to deserving the title.

The American minimalists might offer what you’re looking for - Steve Reich’s Six Marimbas is a possibility, and I found a very short clip of a performance here.

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Ikarus/Wolfgang Stindl - Pretty well any of his music is music you can “chill out” to. (Try Shiva, Alive, and Tomorrow is Another Day.) Some of it is dancey, but still laid back.

Enya - Enya (You can also find most/all? of these songs on the BBC’s The Celts album) and Watermark in particular are good for this.

Clannad - Enya’s family, she was in this group, I am not sure if she still performs with them or not. I think so.

Martyn Bennett some of his works are good for meditating to, others are soothing but make you want to dance.

ETA: Seeing that it is specifically to send you to sleep, go try Enya’s self titled album/The BBC’s The Celts. It’ll send you off to a peaceful, restful sleep, no trouble. Play it just under your hearing level. Try, you’ll see. It hasn’t failed yet.

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Coming back to add, here is one of the songs from Enya’s Enya. Aldebaran. The whole album is very ethereal, and soothing. ETA: Further, a search of Amazon.com pull up this: The Celts and Enya. :smiley:

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Missed the edit window on this last bit! Argh!

Was going to add, Paint the Sky With Stars also isn’t bad, and easier to find. The Enya album is the most soothing and restful IME though.

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I’ve been liking Brian Eno’s Music for Airports.

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Ray Lynch’s Deep Breakfast.