Relaxation Music - Choosing The Best

Which is the best relaxation music? The answer to that varies from person to person. What one will find relaxing another will find annoying. On the other hand, this is not completely a matter of taste. There are certainly some universal principles in terms of what types of music are more likely to relax us all. Though this hasn't been thoroughly studied by science, we can at least be guided by the experience of others.

For example, many people have reported that baroque music causes a relaxation response. In particular, it has been found that baroque music at 60 beats per minute causes your brain to produce more alpha brainwaves. We'll get into why this is important in a moment. In the meantime, here are some specific compositions that may help you relax.

A. Vivaldi - The Four Seasons

J.S. Bach - Concerto in G Minor for Flute and Strings

G.F. Handel - Concerto number 1 in F

A. Corelli - Concerto No. 7 in D Minor

Telemann - Double Fantasia in G Major for Harpsichord

Actually, it is often just a passage or movement of these that is most relaxing. The movements referred to as "largo" are generally most relaxing.

Some people find that the best relaxation music for them is light jazz (Try Dave Koz and Luther Vandross). Others like the eastern music, like that which uses the Indian Sitar (Try "Chants of India" by Ravi Shankar). Many prefer generic easy listening music with sounds of nature mixed in.

All of the above can be bought inexpensively. In fact, even the best "sounds of nature" and "easy listening" relaxation CDs are usually under thirty dollars. But if you want a more scientific approach to relaxation, you might want to budget a bit more and try true meditation CDs.

Brainwave Entrainment

Part of the reason certain types of music work better than others has to do with what they do to our brains. In our normal state of consciousness our brains primarily produce brainwaves at 14 - 30 hertz, which means cycles per second. These are called "beta" waves. Alpha waves, at 8 - 14 hertz, are produced when we are in a more relaxed state. Theta waves (4 - 8 hertz) come with a deeper meditative or drowsy state, and delta (below 5 hertz) waves are produced during deep sleep.

Regular meditation can stimulate these states of consciousness. In particular, you can get into the relaxing alpha state quickly with practice. But you can also get into it quickly with music that has been embedded with certain beats. This was proven decades ago, and is the basis for the newest brainwave entrainment technologies. All you need to do is listen with headphones and these audio products take you down into a relaxing brainwave pattern.

The bottom line?

For a little bit more money you get a true relaxation technology. And these CDs or MP3s generally have pleasant music for a background too (although some use the sounds of rain or waves). How do you choose the best of this kind of relaxation music? My recommendations are below.