Resonance

What is resonance, and what does it have to do with spirituality and personal development?

Resonance is the way something vibrates in response to the vibration of something else near by.

Before we think about resonance itself, let's just think about vibration, and again what it might mean in our personal development studies and practices.  Everything has its own natural vibration.  A number of musical instruments use this characteristic in order to allow us to create beautiful music.  We can change that natural vibration by altering the tuning, for example by tightening or loosening a guitar string.

Spiritually we also have a natural vibration.  This vibration can allow us to create beautiful spiritual "music" in the world around us, or if we are not tuned right we can create great discord instead.  By focusing on and developing our spiritual beliefs and qualities, especially the latter, we can determine whether the world hears beautiful music from us or, as St Paul described, a clashing cymbal.  Not that I want to criticize cymbal players or other percussionists who play their part in orchestras all over the world.

So, which would you prefer?  To create beautiful music that all around you can enjoy or to make a horrible discordant noise that will make life a misery for all who encounter you?  I hope it is the former.  We are all human, so sometimes we will be out of tune and won't be able to help making a horrible noise, but just as a violinist can learn to produce a beautiful sound rather than the awful screeching which no doubt he or she created when first taking up the violin, so can we learn to become more beautiful inside and produce beautiful spiritual music.

Back to resonance.  If you have tuned yourself to produce a beautiful sound, that is the sound you will produce when something or someone nearby is tuned in the same way.

Students of physics will be aware of the concept of "forced vibration".  If you take a tuning fork and strike it with a mallet it will produce a sound, but the sound is very quiet.  But if you now place that tuning fork on something able to vibrate at the same frequency, a board of some kind, everything will vibrate and a very loud sound will be produced - a beautiful note.  This is a form of resonance.

We can do the same in life.  If we have tuned ourselves the right way spiritually we will respond when someone or something else nearby is on a similar spiritual  frequency.  Also, we will cause the environment around us to resonate, and our small quiet voice can become a mighty, powerful sound.  A sound that will attract similar frequencies in those around us, perhaps lifting them to higher spiritual levels.

I used the word "attract" quite deliberately.  Like attracts like.  If you have spiritual vibration that is full of love and beauty you will attract to you other people and even other things and situations of a similar vibration.  This can only make your life, and the lives of those around you, happier and more fulfilled.

This concept may seem rather obscure, but it is so important!  Work hard on improving your tuning and allowing yourself to resonate to good, pure, helpful feelings.

For further help in both understanding this concept and developing and using it, take a look at this video by the "spiritual vibration" specialist, Christie Marie Sheldon:

"Love or Above Spiritual Toolkit"

Using Music to Ease Depression

Shakespeare wrote "If music be the food of love, play on".  Music can, indeed, be the food of love, and of every other emotion.  It also has great power, particularly through the use of emotions, to heal, improve relationships, improve your memory, study far more effectively, and help you grow and develop your personality.

Take depression for example.  Now before anyone thinks I am suggesting you avoid medical treatment, I am not.  Depression is a serious illness and therefore has to be taken seriously.  If you think you might be suffering from depression your first port of call should be a doctor.  But having said that, music can be used very effectively to help ease the symptoms of depression.  It is also a great way of dealing with a melancholic mood that may or may not be caused by depression.

How should you use music to help ease depression, or the blues?  You should create a playlist of appropriate tracks of music.  Begin the list with music which seems to match your depressive mood.  Melancholic, slow tunes.  Blues music would be a good start - or perhaps Fado or Enka if you are familiar with those styles.  If you enjoy classical music, then perhaps Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata, or Wagner's "Liebestod" from "Tristan and Isolde" would be appropriate.  The key is to use music you like, of whatever style, but which clearly matches your mood.

Believe it or not, just listening to this kind of music matching your mood can change your mood completely, hence the popularity of blues music for example.  But do not stop there!  The next step is to select some tracks that are more "mid tempo".  Ones that are a little faster and feel a little happier.  An example might be "Only the Lonely" by Roy Orbison, or Bach's "Air on a G-String".

From there, move to some more "up-beat" and happier pieces of music.  For example "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys, or "Für Elise"by Beethoven.

Finally, end your selection with some really joyful, faster tempo pieces.  "Fun, Fun, Fun" by the Beach Boys, "All You Need Is Love" by the Beatles, Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever", or the "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's 9th Symphony (i.e. the final movement) all spring to mind.

When you play this selection, in that order, you will find it lifts your mood.  You should find yourself in a much happier state by the end.

Again I stress this is not a cure and is not intended as an alternative to medical advice when needed.  But it can certainly help alleviate symptoms of depression, and is certainly very powerful when you are simply feeling low and want to snap out of that mood.

Don't wait until you need to use this playlist.  Create it now, and then keep it ready for when you really need it.  If you wait until you need it you will find it much more difficult, and perhaps even impossible, to create it properly.

Make sure you use styles of music that you are comfortable with.  I have given examples of pop music from the 60's and traditional classical music, as these are styles I enjoy.  If you click on the title of each track I have suggested you will be able to obtain a copy if you do not already have it.  But you can equally use modern rock, punk, hip hop, new age, or anything that moves you.

The example I have given is just for lifting your mood, and it will do that in a very powerful way.  There is not enough space here to go through all the other ways you can use music in your personal development journey, although I may introduce some more in a future blog if enough people ask me to do so.  But you can see the technique I have used here, and can then modify it in order to create different playlists for different purposes.

If you are interested in pursuing this further, check out "The Tao of Music" by John Ortiz.  You can get a copy here.  Alternatively, if you are in the UK, try this link: UK Version.

Get going now and start using music to improve your mood!

Music For Meditation

by

Jacob Jarden

From the very early days of meditation becoming popular, music has been a integral to it's effectiveness. There are certain strains of music that are known to have particularly beneficial effects. Music quickly alters ones state of mind, whether it be rock music to get the pumping, sad music to stir emotion, or meditative music to relax the mind. The most common effect of meditation music is the relaxing power to induce feeling of calmness and pleasant mood in the person meditating. A few other special tribal and meditation types of music hold a cleansing quality. This type of music generally has an effect on your "Chakras". Specific wavelengths and vibrations tide up your "chakras" and spiritual blockages.

Together with other equipment of meditation like meditation chairs, meditation music has also been flying off the shelves. In forums conducted for meditation, there is a roaring trade for quality meditation music. In fact, as long as the music fulfills its sole purpose of relaxing the mind and pleasing the temperament, listening to any of the music varieties is helpful.

The most fundamental reason why people partake in meditative activities is that they want to address the unbalanced moments and aspects of their lives as calmly as possible, and this is where music helps them release from the chaotic world around them. Although their are some specific meditation music styles that are highly recommended, you may stumble across your ideal audio tracks somewhere else, simply find the music that helps you relax and allows you to clear your mind completely.

No one can say that bringing your heart, mind and body as well as your spirit into a peaceful harmony and alignment can ever be an easy task. But meditation music makes the whole process all the easier for you. With the right genre of music, meditation will remove all material and emotional interruptions from your mind and allow you to discover new levels of deepest concentration.

You will soon notice a change in the way your body feels, a if positive energy is literally flowing through your body. No matter how much a stressed lifestyle you live, when meditation time comes around, everything about you and around you feels tranquil.

In order to truly achieve inner-peace, you will need to learn to work on strengthening the relationship of your mind & body, a feat that is much easier to achieve by embracing the power of sound, a sense that is often overlooked with many mind and self improvement techniques.

There are many aspects to think about, when looking for music to meditate to. The music strain should have the quality to act as a stress manager. It's important you understand that the right type of meditation music depends on your meditation plan. For example, morning meditation is not similar to meditation in the evening. For your morning meditation session, look for music that is fresh and energizing, ready to give you a truly natural kickstart. At night, the music you will use will be relaxing and work to relieve the stress of the day that has passed.

Remember, that 'Meditation Music' doesn't have to be instrumental. Some of the most effective meditation tracks simply use nature noises, such as the cliche sea or forest noises. The point is to ensure that the pace of the meditation music matches the particular ambience and mood that you are looking to achieve in your meditation environment.

About the author:

Jake Jarden lives in Indiana with his wife and son. He offers a free publication on common sleep disorders [http://relaxandmeditate.net/sleep-disorders.php] and effective cures. His recent writings include research into the healing powers of different meditation techniques [http://relaxandmeditate.net/meditation-techniques.php]. Visit relaxandmeditate.net for more info.