In the blog category “Website Content Feedback”, I will publish my answers to questions posed to me by users who use the website resources as well as their suggestions and feedback. I will be delighted to publish their experiences as well as testimonials wherever appropriate.
I received a question from a person who listened to “Mental Noting” guided meditation and its accompanying blog post on my website. She found it very helpful. However, she wished there were simple sounds or music in the background to “hold” the meditation together to create continuity. She asked me why I did not have any background music in any of my meditations.
There are definitely some benefits associated with having background music within guided meditations. In fact, some articles have begun to appear in the journals of National Institutes of Health about the development and usage of Mindfulness-Based Music Therapy (MBMT) program used for women receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer in hospital settings. This program, used within the broader framework of music therapy in Oncology, promises great potential for recovering patients. The researchers who have published these articles believe that the role of music and mindfulness in theoretical frameworks within cancer-specific models should be explored.
On my website, however, the main purpose of “Mental Noting” (and other mindfulness meditations) is to observe non-judgmentally whatever arises in the mind without influencing the mind in any way. Having some background music will influence the mind and it could result in a somewhat artificially induced experience. We must create continuity in these meditations with our own natural powers of concentration. During our practice of meditation, each time we bring our wandering mind back to the object of meditation, we are strengthening our power of concentration that will result in us providing continuity to the practice.
To conclude, there are advantages of having background music within guided meditations but it all depends on their context and purpose.
