When you use any form of music to enter into a meditative state, it’s called bhava samadhi, a tranquility of the purest sentiment devoid of any negativity.
Spirited meditation is not about losing your consciousness and falling flat on the floor in a daze, in ecstasy. Instead, it is about rising above your body consciousness, it is about providing an outlet to your physical energies resulting in a complete and total harmony of your body and mind.
How to Do It Right
In order to do spirited meditation correctly, you will need a piece of music, any genre, that starts out slow, builds to a crescendo and then flows gently, slowly like a river murmuring in autumn. You can take three different pieces of music and combine them, make a playlist of your choice, or simply pick anything that fulfills the criteria above and play it. There are four primary stages roughly spanning 10-15 minutes each.
The build-up stage: In this stage, the music is playing slowly and you build up the energy by being aware of your breath and your movements. You can recall past incidents, negative emotions, or joyous moments, anything you like during the first stage.
The release stage: The second stage is about dancing hard and wild (without hurting yourself or others if you are in a group) so you may release the built-up of stored energy.
The let-go stage: Once you gently sway to the slow music and you completely let go off all that you've just released. You forgive, you surrender, you let go. With each gentle movement, with each sway, you experience the lightness of being, slowly aligning yourself with your energies. You remain in that state even after the meditation has ended. One of the important things in the third stage is to play a different music than the first stage even though both are slow-tempo pieces of music. In the first stage you are aware of your breathing, your thoughts and emotions. In this stage, however, you are just being present in the present moment. You are just enjoying ‘being’.
The rest stage: In the fourth stage, lie down on the floor in shava-asana, the corpse pose to internalize what all you have just done, experienced and assimilated. There’s no music in the fourth stage. You just listen to your own breathing – inhalation, exhalation, inhalation, exhalation.
Follow the steps below to begin the spirited meditation:
Spirited meditation is a wonderful way of releasing the pent up energy and even excess calories in the most meditative way possible. It is a great way of introducing meditation to youngsters. Even as adults, some days when you feel restless or too full of energy, when you just can't sit down and meditate, you could do this meditation instead. A wave of joy will wash over you making you feel light both physically and mentally.
Spirited meditation is not about losing your consciousness and falling flat on the floor in a daze, in ecstasy. Instead, it is about rising above your body consciousness, it is about providing an outlet to your physical energies resulting in a complete and total harmony of your body and mind.
How to Do It Right
In order to do spirited meditation correctly, you will need a piece of music, any genre, that starts out slow, builds to a crescendo and then flows gently, slowly like a river murmuring in autumn. You can take three different pieces of music and combine them, make a playlist of your choice, or simply pick anything that fulfills the criteria above and play it. There are four primary stages roughly spanning 10-15 minutes each.
The build-up stage: In this stage, the music is playing slowly and you build up the energy by being aware of your breath and your movements. You can recall past incidents, negative emotions, or joyous moments, anything you like during the first stage.
The release stage: The second stage is about dancing hard and wild (without hurting yourself or others if you are in a group) so you may release the built-up of stored energy.
The let-go stage: Once you gently sway to the slow music and you completely let go off all that you've just released. You forgive, you surrender, you let go. With each gentle movement, with each sway, you experience the lightness of being, slowly aligning yourself with your energies. You remain in that state even after the meditation has ended. One of the important things in the third stage is to play a different music than the first stage even though both are slow-tempo pieces of music. In the first stage you are aware of your breathing, your thoughts and emotions. In this stage, however, you are just being present in the present moment. You are just enjoying ‘being’.
The rest stage: In the fourth stage, lie down on the floor in shava-asana, the corpse pose to internalize what all you have just done, experienced and assimilated. There’s no music in the fourth stage. You just listen to your own breathing – inhalation, exhalation, inhalation, exhalation.
Follow the steps below to begin the spirited meditation:
- Loosen your body by gently shaking your limbs.
- Breathe deep a few times to normalize your breath.
- Turn on the music and start dancing to its rhythm.
- Start by gently swinging and swaying to the music. This is the first stage. Pay attention to your breath. You may not be able to hear your breath since there’s music playing in the background, and that’s fine. Just be aware of your inhalation and exhalation as you dance to the slow rhythm.
- In stage two, as the music builds up, follow your heart’s voice (or your body’s movements) and simply just dance. Dance away all that’s stored in you and causing you any grief at all. Release the energy inside you.
- Slow down again to a different piece of music in the third stage. Just flow. Follow the six principles of meditation. You are just dancing and flowing with the melody, rhythm and notes of your music.
- When the music stops, in the fourth stage, simply lie down on your back. Just rest and watch your breath and it’ll harmonize your energies.
Spirited meditation is a wonderful way of releasing the pent up energy and even excess calories in the most meditative way possible. It is a great way of introducing meditation to youngsters. Even as adults, some days when you feel restless or too full of energy, when you just can't sit down and meditate, you could do this meditation instead. A wave of joy will wash over you making you feel light both physically and mentally.
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