Meditating to music can be really helpful. The right music can block out the noise of the world and buffer you from distractions. New Age music is really the best type of music for meditation, however some of it can make you really sleepy. It’s important to find music you enjoy that doesn’t make you sleepy, because you can’t reap the benefits of meditation if you’re asleep! If some music consistently makes you sleepy, you need to shop around for something else.

The best bet is to preview music and find what appeals to you. Some artists that people like to meditate to are Vangelis, Kitaro, Deuter and Deva Premal, among many others.

A few other tips:

• Keep in mind that a meditation album that has worked well for a while may stop working for you. Albums that you’ve had great meditations to in the past can simply stop working. It’s important to not hold on to the hope that these albums will work again, and instead simply find new music to meditate to.

• Also, don’t listen to your meditation music outside of your meditation. When you listen to meditation music in other situations it creates associations with whatever activity you are doing. For example, if you listen to your meditation music while commuting, you will think of your commute when you next meditate to that music. It just makes it a bit harder to keep your mind quiet. Most folks don’t like to listen to New Age music outside of meditation anyway, so it’s usually not much of an issue.

• Meditating with headphones is recommended if your environment is noisy or if you want an extra bit of insulation from the outside world.

• Download your meditation music—don’t stream it! You’ll have a better experience with downloaded music.