Here are some basic tips for getting started with Sacred Acoustics recordings. Keep in mind that these are not strict rules, these are basic suggested guidelines. Each of us is unique, each of us will find our preferred most effective way of listening, so keep it in mind when you are listening to these suggestions. Feel free to try these and other things to make your listening experience the best it can be.
PART 1 - WHERE TO LISTEN
We recommend the best position for listening to Sacred Acoustics recordings is lying down. This is a little bit counter to many other meditative or spiritual practices of going within that recommend you sit straight in a chair and have your feel flat on the ground, or maybe sitting cross legged on the floor or kneeling or sitting up on a cushion or small bench.
These are acceptable ways listen to Sacred Acoustics recordings if that's your habit but lying down can really offer the body an opportunity to get very profoundly relaxed which is what our tones are designed to do, so that the mind awareness can be set free. If lying down causes you to fall asleep, another video will address those issues, but lying down is great.
Some people might feel like they have a little pain and in that case find some pillows, put them under your back or under your neck or sit up in a reclining position. Just find that position where your body can be very profoundly relaxed. Some people do like to listen while walking or sitting up and that’s fine if that works for you.
One thing we absolutely do NOT recommend is to listen while driving. That is because our tones can put the listener into a drowsy state sometimes without realizing. That’s just a little bit too dangerous for other people on the road so keep that in mind when you choose when to listen.
Now try listening while lying down, or any other position, and really experiment through different listening sessions to see what works best for you.
PART 2 - WHEN TO LISTEN
Many people ask what is the best time of day to listen to Sacred Acoustics recordings and this is really up to the individual listener. We all have different schedules and different opportunities to fit things into our day.
First thing in the morning can be a really interesting time because your body is already very relaxed. Right when you first wake up you don’t have a lot of things going on in your mind
except maybe some memories of dreams, this could be a really good time to listen. Others like to listen in the afternoon when they’re taking a break from their work. Others listen before they fall asleep because they find it helps them to get into a relaxed state.
Something many listeners maybe don’t think of is to listen in the middle of the night. That can sometimes affect your dreams and can be fun to do if you wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble falling back to sleep. You can even set your alarm and put those headphones on at 1 or 2 am and see what happens in your dream space.
How often you listen is up to the individual listener. There are no hard and fast rules. Some people find that they get a little groggy when listening or it’s such a powerful experience, they couldn’t do it more than once.
Once a day is the minimum that we recommend that you try to work in. If you can’t do it once a day, don’t beat yourself up, try and do it a couple times a week. If you’re only doing it once a week, you may not have as good results.
The more you do it, the more results you’ll have. You will go through plateaus where you think you’ve maybe reached the full benefit; keep on listening because those plateaus will turn into more breakthroughs.
If you want to listen more than once a day, that’s fine as well. Some people listen several times a day, it really just depends on how you’re reacting to the tones and how much you can really fit into your schedule.
PART 3 - TRACK YOUR EXPERIENCES
A very useful thing to do in conjunction to listening to Sacred Acoustics recordings is to keep a journal. What we mean by this is to keep a paper and pencil or pen nearby where you’re listening to Sacred Acoustics recordings and at the end of your listening, jot down some notes any notes about what you experience, any body sensations and images and insights.
Write them down because, like dreams, they can be very fleeting and you might forget some details. It can be very useful to just write them down even if they don’t make any sense at all, they can be useful over time to notice patterns.
If you write it down and it doesn’t make sense, two weeks from now it might make a lot of sense. It can be fun to go back through that journal.
Also keep track of any intentions or feelings that you have prior to listening and also anything that is happening outside of your listening experience that may or may not be related – things like interesting synchronicities or interesting dreams that may be related to one of your listening sessions.
Keeping track of your experiences is very useful over time may sometimes surprise you in the end to find certain patterns so we really encourage you to keep that journal by your side when listening to Sacred Acoustics recordings.
PART 4 - AFTER LISTENING
Sacred Acoustics recordings are designed to put the listener into a profoundly relaxed state: brainwave states associated with sleep and dreaming and profound relaxation; brainwave states in the ranges of delta theta and alpha.
These states can make the listener feel a little groggy so at the end of most of our recordings, with the exception of our recordings designed to sleep, we include what we call beta signal. This is a higher pitched tone which to some can be a little disconcerting but they're in there by design to help bring the brain out of that deeper state.
Sometimes that’s not enough and some people are still a little groggy afterwards. In this instance, we recommend that you perform some additional grounding activities. Listening all the way through to that higher range frequency is your first step, but if that’s not enough, try walking outside barefoot, splashing cold water on your face, or take a cold shower. Do some vigorous activity like exercise or play with a pet or child where you can maybe more easily find some good hearty laughter.
Anything like that is going to help you to get grounded. Cold water is really the quickest, easiest defense in most cases, so try that if you’re feeling a little bit groggy. Keep in mind when listening to not plan very intense activities following your listening session until you’re able to get into that more grounded state.
I hope that these tips have been useful to you with getting started on listening to Sacred Acoustic recordings and there’s many other tips and techniques in the other videos that we have provided in this series. As always, if you have further questions, please feel free to reach out to us at sacredacoustics.com.
Yes, we advise listening with headphones. A good sound system with left-right speakers may also be effective, but we do not recommend use of one-speaker systems.
Is it best to listen to the sounds? with earphones-? or does that matter?
Should you listen on a sound system that has good or very good speakers?
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Knowing how to maintain a core sense of presence and balance creates a foundation of strength to move from empathy to compassion, and at your finest, altruism, when you take action to help another without concern for yourself.
Karen Newell
Author
co-founder of Sacred Acoustics and co-author of Living in a Mindful Universe