What Is Electronic Music Meditation?

Why Electronic Music Meditation?

I started combining electronic music with meditation in 2015 and it was an instant love affair for me. I have been learning meditation from the masters in India for over nine years. The ashram I go to is very musical, with a lot of dancing and partying – full of life, energy and liveliness. I love electronic music even longer – everything from techno, electro, house and ambient. And so it was very natural for me to bring the two together – I came home early from the ashram and played around mixing meditation techniques on different tracks. It felt so fun and juicy and different. At first it was just for me as I wasn't sure anyone else would get it, but for me it really worked. I found that I could dig deeper into the techniques and deeper into myself and felt less distracted. Fast forward to now and I've shared the meditations at festivals around the world and in London and with the advent of wellness at festivals I think we just have many more amalgamations of electronic music and functional music in yoga and the meditation room.

Define meditation

Not everyone can just sit still in meditation. Most of us need some kind of preparation through movement – that's what yoga is for, of course – but instead of that movement, active meditation can really help people move through tension and irritation and naturally come to a place of stillness and relaxation after finishing the movement. I know a lot of people like this and that's why I think the courses are so popular.

What to Expect in an Electronic Music Meditation Class

I combine the faster electronic tracks like techno or electro with Shaking the Body. That might sound strange at first, but frankly it is amazing. It is a quick fix to get rid of frustrations, negative energy and all the stress of the day and really get into our own energy. It's liberating, refreshing, and has a very natural yet surreal relaxing effect when you stop. It's brilliant when you need to shift energy quickly and don't have time for 90 minutes of yoga.

The beats and bass in electronic music are very tribal and rhythmic and certain tracks can help put our brainwaves in a gamma state. The combination with breathing techniques helps us to stay focused and present and to prepare to sit still afterwards.

Ambient electronic music can be a wonderful follow-up to calm us down and put the body in a parasympathetic state. When the mind and body are relaxed, it is so much easier to slip into the meditation bandwidth.

What I love about combining meditation techniques with electronic music is that meditation becomes accessible and fun for everyone. So many people who have never been able to meditate before often find that this really helps them connect and "step in".

The future of electronic music and meditation

As our collective fascination with audio engineering deepens and music producers create “functional music,” we'll see a lot of exciting things in this area. Functional music is music that is created with the intention of having a “function” alongside entertainment. So this can help focus and get into flow states, dragging brain waves away, relieving anxiety, and also for pain relief. I believe there is still a lot of exciting terrain to be explored that does not compromise the integrity of meditation. Overall, I use the music as a stress reliever, to carry away brain waves, to generate heightened emotions, but then I let everything die in silence so that the meditator ultimately always encounters himself in the meditation range.

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Belinda Matwali is a meditation teacher and electronic music enthusiast who is passionate about making meditation accessible and fun for all. She has been learning meditation from her master in India for 8 years and is studying sound therapy and nutritional therapy. She loves connecting the dots between her passions to create real aha moments and brings this energy to her courses, classes and 1-2-1 sessions. She has traveled the world and lived in Bali, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, Ibiza and now London. Learn more about their Addicted To Being, Ecstasy Now, Flow meditation courses and private bespoke meditation sessions here.