Music and Media Focus

CD: Increasing Your State Of Wellbeing
Artist: Andrya Lopez
Contact: www.spirittransformations.com

Although the practice of meditation dates back to ancient times, it is as popular today as ever in a myriad of forms. While many have evolved out of religious and spiritual traditions from around the world, the use of meditation need not be tied to spirituality and can simply be done as a way to calm the mind and create a state of relaxation. A popular form in the Western world is guided meditation, and the new release by Andrya Lopez, entitled Increasing Your State Of Well Being, is a perfect example. Guided meditation, or guided imagery as it is also called, is defined in Wikipedia as: “a form of meditation where an individual is verbally guided into a state of consciousness either by a person’s live voice or by a recording of a voice. This process and practice of meditation requires an individual to follow verbal instructions that teach the individual how to relax the entire body, clear the mind, concentrate on breathing, and focus one’s awareness and attention.What one chooses to explore when meditating all depends on the individual’s intentions, needs, and level of interest and passion.”

The practice of meditation is of particular interest to Andrya Lopez who has an extensive background in the holistic health field. For the last 25 years she has worked as a Certified Massage Therapist, and has expanded her practice to include hypnotherapy, Reiki, flower essences, and more. She also holds a black belt in Aikido. Here she discusses her motivation for creating this recording, and its potential benefits: “This CD of guided meditations was created for people who are new to meditation. I believe that committing yourself to daily meditation practice is the ultimate form of self-love. As you allow your time of meditation to evolve and deepen on a daily basis, you will be amazed at the benefits of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels. It will transform your life in ways you never thought possible.” Collaborating with Andrya on this project is a talented electronic musician named Christopher Pearre (aka Synthesist) who I have had the pleasure of writing about with his excellent Light and Dream Slate CD’s. In addition to his solo recordings, Christopher has done projects with a number of other holistic health practitioners as well as creating a meditation CD for the A.R.E (Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research & Enlightenment). This makes him a perfect collaborator for this project and his music blends beautifully, adding to its effectiveness.

The first of the recording’s four tracks, “Being Fully Present,” begins with Andrya’s soothing voice along with the sounds of surf lapping upon the shore, and dreamy synthesizer music. One thing I noticed right away was how well the music flowed with the narrative. On a lot of the guided meditation projects I’ve heard, the vocal seems to be recorded over a previously created piece of music. While on this one, the music has the feeling of being sculpted to interact with the words. Very nice! Andrya’s experience in the healing arts comes through as she gracefully guides the listener into a relaxed state in the present moment. At just over five minutes in length, this is the shortest of the four meditations on the album, and serves as a nice introduction, as well as a brief meditative experience for someone wanting a peaceful break in their day. This is followed by a ten and a half minute track called “Violet Light Meditation.” In the first half, Andrya sets the mood and creates a powerful healing visualization, followed by a musical interlude for the listeners to immerse themselves in, before being guided back to full waking consciousness.

A soft bell-like tone begins a meditation entitled “I Am The Light,” which at eighteen minutes is the longest track. Ethereal synthesizer sounds create a gentle ambience to drift away on. In this meditation Andrya not only uses guided imagery and visualization but also introduces affirmations for the listener to connect with the light within. The album closes with “Chakra Meditation,” in which Andrya leads the listener on a journey through the seven energy centers, each with it’s own corresponding color and musical note. As before, there is an instrumental section later in the track to be in a meditative space with. A nice thing about this CD is that with the four distinct tracks, you can listen to them all or individually depending on the time you have available for it. Andrya does a nice job of presenting the narrative and visualizations in a way that while metaphysical, are still accessible to those who may not be familiar. This CD could be a valuable tool to anyone seeking more calm and centered moments in his or her life.