Realizing a mystical connection with the divine or experiencing unity with God or mystical love is one of the aims of Sufism.

To reach this objective in Sufism, songs, texts and poetry are used through chanting.  The type of music used to do this is called qawwali. 

Qawwali music is a devotional form of vocal music.  It has this spiritual function to facilitate the divine connection.  This is the core purpose of Qawwali, this devotional form of music.

Qawwali falls into the genre of North Indian Classical Music and has particular musical characteristics.

A particular chanting practice is used in order to arouse the emotional and spiritual connection with God.  The recitation of Gods name is what is used for this chanting practice.  ”Zikr” is the name given to this chanting practice.  The listening practice of this devotional music is called “sama”.

Zikr and sama set the context in order to experience the emotional connection to God within Sufism.  The poetry or text is the vehicle through which the mystical love is communicated and experienced.  This poetry or text is given a musical setting.

The performers aim for that of the listeners is to bring about an intensification of the text.  The singer will shape via improvisation the structure of the music in such a way that this can be done.  The singer uses repetition of phrases, clapping and changes in tempo to intensify the emotions of the listeners.

There are two functions to the process of intensification: that of reinforcing but also in the generation of increased spiritual arousal.

The performer is acutely aware of the impact of his performance on the listeners.  As long as the song is effecting the audience, it is continued.  The song is stopped and changed once the effect stops.

Thus the practice of chanting within the tradition of Sufism is used to experience a unity with God or a feeling of mystical love and connection.

Each CD set comprises 4 slightly deeper CDs and come with instructions for how long you need to listen to them. The earlier Centerpointe levels are usually finished within 3 to 6 months but the deeper levels (called Purification and Flowering) can take a year or more to complete each level.

Centerpointe works by playing binaural beats or tones. It plays a marginally different beat into each of your ears, which explains why the Centerpointe system needs to wear stereo headphones.

The binaural beats are hidden by the soothing sound of rainfall. A few of the tracks also play tolling bells.

The Centerpointe CDs have two half hour tracks. When you move on to each CD, you’ll listen to the first track for the first few sessions to allow your brain to adjust.

The idea of binaural beats is very simple. Your brain is slightly confused by the two different tones and does its best to make them sound the same. As this happens, your brain begins a reorganization process. Quite often the CDs will allow things in you to release themselves, freeing you up to be a better person.

Once you have progressed beyond the first batch of Holosync CDs, you can personalize any future sets. You call a special phone line and reading some personal affirmations (you’re given help on how to word these). The next batch of CDs you receive will have these affirmations recorded as silent subliminals, as well as the regular binaural beats.

By definition, you won’t consciously hear these silent subliminals but they’ll be received loud and clear by your brain – as though they were normal speech.

Which means that as you progress through the Centerpointe Holosync levels, your meditations will get deeper and deeper and you’ll see even more positive outcomes from your listening.

Check out this full Centerpointe Holosync review here.

mindfulness meditations

In this day and age that we live in, people are constantly trying to get more done in less time, in an attempt to keep up with the frenetic pace of today’s world. As a result, many people are dealing with anger, resentment, depression and stress, or they simply “zone” out and end up living their lives on complete “auto-pilot” and not truly experiencing anything. An effective way of dealing with all of these issues, and many more, is to regularly engage in mindfulness meditations.

The concept of mindfulness meditations is to help you to be more aware, or mindful, of the many aspects of your life and of everything you are doing. So many times it is easy to get into a groove or a rut and fail to recognize patterns of behavior, attitudes, emotions and actions that begin to take over. Sometimes, it seems that it is easier to let habit or outside circumstances and influences “push” us through the day, and living starts to take on an aspect of “unconscious existing.”

Experts in a number of fields have declared that a person can’t change things in their life if they are not aware of the problems. When people “zone out” and get into a mode of operating on auto-pilot, it is difficult to bring problems to conscious awareness, but through mindful meditations this can be reversed.

Taking time on a daily basis for mindful meditation practice is the way to become aware of the patterns that a person has fallen into. Once this awareness is brought about, the person who is meditating can then start to see their life from a different perspective and start to see where they can make changes and improvements. In general, meditation techniques help people to gain a more balanced, realistic and grounded view of their behaviors, attitudes and actions.

As you become more aware of all the different aspects of your life, your unique situation, and the environment you are surrounded by through mindfulness mediations, this in turn helps your body to relax, which also helps the nervous system to relax. As a result, stress can be greatly reduced simply by becoming aware through the meditation process.

Having an increased awareness of your own life and your environment is beneficial because it allows you to begin to take more control of your own life. Many people say that one of the things that cause them the most stress is the feeling of having no control of their lives. Mindful meditations can often be the way to become aware of the unconscious habits and patterns that will allow the person to take steps to change the patterns and regain control.

subject of meditation

Many people hear talk about those who meditate on a regular basis, but for the most part, they are somewhat in the dark about exactly what it can do for a person and what the real benefits are. When people think about the term meditation, they conjure up images of monks in far off monasteries on isolated mountain tops. But these days, meditating is a practice that is becoming more and more commonplace.

While it is true that the practice of meditation has strong and deep connections to many Eastern cultures and religions, it is also a fact that meditation has been practiced around the world by a wide variety of people of many beliefs. While meditating is something that has been done for thousands and thousands of years in these other areas, it has only been in the last few decades that it has become better known, understood and practiced in the Western world.

Meditation is something that can be done by any person, no matter what their age, background or lifestyle. Over the years, it has proven to help people reduce anxiety and stress, and cope with the challenges of life that come up for everyone.

There are a number of different approaches to the subject of meditation, but they all center on the same basic principles. The first thing people need to do when learning how to meditate is to quiet the mind of the clutter and chatter that is so common in today’s life, and increase mindfulness of things that can calm and relax.

Some of the more common ways to meditate that are among the most recognized, are prayer, transcendental meditations, mindfulness meditations, Zen meditations, Taoist meditations, and Buddhist meditations. Some of these meditation techniques require that the body be kept absolutely still, while others incorporate deliberate and controlled movements.

Regardless of the method of meditating, the process leads to a deeper contemplation and reflection of whatever is going on in one’s life, helping to bring those things that are most important to the surface. In this way, meditating can help to open the way for spiritual development and spiritual enlightenment because it is an effective way of allowing the mind to focus on the inner aspects of life and tune out the distractions of daily tasks and demands.

There are a number of different healing benefits that have been reported throughout the years. The benefits are most often seen by those who choose to make meditating a regular practice that is incorporated into their daily lives. Many have reported that their meditations have brought about healing in the physical body, the spirit, the emotions and the mind.

A few of the most commonly reported health benefits from meditation include the reduction of blood pressure levels, a lower resting heart rate, better circulation and oxygenation, better breathing and improved sleep patterns. Many people have also said that they feel more energetic, and that people comment to them that their skin and overall appearance seems younger.

meditation music

In many Western countries nowadays there is a rather strong and growing trend to learn how to meditate. There was an era, not so many years ago, when Westerners thought of the meditation practice as belonging to the hippie generation, but today it is considered more of a mainstream discipline that is becoming more and more popular. Even though many variations of meditating have been used for thousands of years, the Western cultures are finally becoming aware of the benefits.

In recent years, an increasingly expanding list of professional athletes, celebrities and business leaders have been learning how to meditate for themselves. These high-profile people have also been more and more willing to speak up and share the benefits they have received from meditation techniques. In some instances, coaches of professional or college sports teams, leaders and owners of businesses have introduced meditation practices to their teams and/or employees to help improve performance.

There are many different approaches these days that people can utilize in order to learn how to meditate. There was a time when the only viable option was going off to an Eastern ashram, where a religious leader or mystic would lead the participants through meditation techniques and principles. Getting to one of these retreats was usually quite expensive and there were limitations on how many people could be accommodated.

Many different books have been published over the years to teach meditation. But, somehow trying to learn meditation through a book was a challenging task for many. As a result, many people were not able to experience the full benefits of meditation and in some ways were even left with a negative experience, simply because they were not utilizing the best learning method.

These days there are many guided meditations on CD, as well as MP3 downloads. These mediums are an easier and more effective way to introduce people to mediation. Most of the time, once they become familiar and comfortable with this practice, they are able to expand and meditate on their own or with special meditation music.

Another popular way to learn how to mediate is with DVDs or online videos. For many people, it really makes more sense to stick with the guided meditations that they can receive as an audio file, because many of the DVDs are simply an introduction to the meditation practice. In most forms of meditation, the person’s eyes are closed and so they will not be watching a video, although the DVD might include a section of meditation music for the person to use.

Once a person learns the basics of how to meditate, they can customize their practice to suit their own needs and to support their own spiritual journey. They may move on to learn Zen meditation, transcendental meditation, or some other form, and in many cases they will develop a practice that borrows elements from various meditation techniques.