CD Relaxation

I’m often asked what music I am playing during my guided meditations each week. One of my favorite musicians for meditative music is the multi-instrumentalist C.G. Deuter. He’s an interesting guy…… bee keeper and Zen master living in New Mexico. He has a studio in his house and plays all of the instruments himself. He records & mixes each album and gives it to his record company for duplication and distribution. His music is always interesting, whether it is upbeat and joyous like Sun Spirit or more laid back like Sea & Silence. He has put out over 30 albums in as many years, although most of the older ones don’t seem to be available anymore. Besides the two that I mentioned above, I also like to use Wind & Mountain very much.

I was just reading an article by a doctor whose opinion I respect. His name is Dr. Joseph Mercola. In this article he talks about getting enough sleep and what time of night is best to sleep. I know that I personally don’t get to sleep early enough according to Dr. Mercola. He says that sleep deprivation is a form of stress on the brain and body and that it ages us prematurely. Since we are concerned with reducing stress for relaxation, this is valuable and pertinent information. For the article click Too Little Sleep May Accelerate Aging.

Music is the universal language that we all understand. It transcends communication barriers and gets right to the heart of feelings. There has been a great deal of research into the power and effects that music has on our minds and bodies. I remember reading about an experiment with plants 20 or 30 years ago. The researchers played different kinds of music and watched the reactions of the plants in the experiment. Melodic Baroque music from composers such as Mozart and Bach elicited a flourishing response where hard rock caused them to wilt and draw back from the speakers. Now, I’m not saying that rock music doesn’t have it’s positive uses. After all, I AM a musician who likes almost all forms of music. But for the purpose of relaxation, more laid back music is needed. It might be performed with synthesizers, acoustic guitar, flutes, violins, or piano ….. whatever music is played, the purpose is to let go of stress and calm the body and mind down. Nature sounds are also very soothing to the Human Instrument. Check out these relaxation CDs for Nature sound recordings.

One of the most important factors in reducing stress and creating a healthy lifestyle is keeping a positive outlook on our lives. What we think & believe and our emotional state creates our experience. Our thoughts create what we experience, but our EMOTIONS are the engine that makes it happen. The stonger that we feel about something, the faster we will experience it. There are many tools to help us keep a healthier perspective on life, but I have found the following resources to be of immense value:

• Practicing GRATITUDE for everything in my life, whether I perceive it as “good” or “bad“. The challenging events are actually the greatest gifts to me because they take me out of my comfort zone and help me to grow.

Start off by choosing the things that are easy to be grateful for … air to breathe, food to eat, shelter from the elements, close friends and family, etc. The more things I feel gratitude for, the more things show up for me to feel gratitude … and the circle continues. Here is an experiment to try. Go to this web site Go Gratitude, sign up for the FREE e mail which you will receive for 42 days and let me know about your experience.

• Another tool for good emotional health is EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques). It was originally designed to reduce the psychotherapy process from months and years down to minutes and hours. From there it as discovered that astonishing physical healings also occurred. Symptoms faded for everything from Migraine Headaches to Cancer. It’s a simple technique of tapping on accupuncture points. You can learn all the basics by downloading the FREE EFT Manual.

I wish you good health,

Dan