22 Zen Tunes ☯️

Meditation and music are calming transformative activities that are beneficial for our health in multiple ways. Everyone escapes reality differently – through dance, dreams, movies, medicine and the imagination – the list waterfalls into infinite sources of inspiration. Music can transport us to another place or state of mind through art and empathy. A song can make us feel understood. With a second year of the pandemic upon us and universal energies intertwined – Zen and mental health is essential.

Sometimes musicians and artists can articulate feelings better than most human beings. Communication is an art form expressed in a myriad of ways. Music genres vary by taste, but energy and emotions are universal. Peaceful music can alter an environment while meditating, stretching or taking a recess from life. Whether you prefer classical, nature sounds or electronic music – this soothing eclectic 22 song soundtrack has helped center my head and heart. A healing journey from beginning to end, each song transitions delicately to the next for a peaceful Zen experience. Press play and let the outside world disappear.

1) SIGUR ROS “Njósnavélin”

Zen Feeling: Floating into the unknown beyond the cosmos

Zone: When in need of a brief escape from reality

Carefully plucked from one of Tom Cruise’s lesser known abstract films, by director Cameron Crowe, Vanilla Sky, is music and movie magic intermixed. The soundtrack is filled with musical treasures. This particular song by Icelandic experimental shoe-gaze rockers make the stresses of the world melt away.

2) BILLIE EILISH “everything i wanted”

Zen Feeling: Comfort of relying on someone who loves you

Zone: Calm anxiety & go for a walk

California bred siblings, Billie and Finneas O’Connell, collaborate on an elegantly dark brooding electronic pop song about their brother sister relationship, the vibe and melody feel like being embraced by a kind familiar caretaker in a safe cocoon. An auditory gift that rejuvenates the heart and soul with sweet lyrics.

“As long as I'm here

No one can hurt you

Don't wanna lie here

But you can learn to

If I could change

The way that you see yourself

You wouldn't wonder why you hear

They don't deserve you”

3) BUSH “In A Lonely Place”

Zen Feeling: Desire

Zone: Relaxation remedy

Written by sullen singer Ian Curtis of Joy Division, and performed by Bush for The Crow City of Angels movie soundtrack – this cover encompassing desire and distortion in six minutes of sexy laments for companionship that feels both comforting and tantalizing. “How I wish you were here with me now.”

4) DEVENDRA BANHART “Brindo”

Zen Feeling: In the mood for love

Zone: Uplifting hit of dopamine

A soft soothing bilingual lullaby in English and Spanish, by Colombian singer-songwriter, Devendra Banhart, that gives hope to blossoming love and new beginnings with his soft psychedelic pop folk.

5) CAT POWER “The Greatest”

Zen Feeling: Letting go of the ego

Zone: Enchanting romance

This song is best felt with the heart. It carries dreamy grace, romance, emotional frailty and a string orchestra that is beyond words.

6) IRON & WINE “Such Great Heights”

Zen Feeling: Soothing

Zone: Missing friends & life

The prettiest acoustic cover that puts my soul at ease about every woe created in life. From existentialism, the past, the future and the ever present now. It can pump any jaded heart back to life with this breathy berceuse.

7) MAZZY STAR “Fade Into You”

Zen Feeling: Dreamy

Zone: In need of affection

If you could be cuddled and cradled by an angelic mermaid siren whose nurturing voice swept you away to dreamland, and put that feeling into a song – this would be it.

8) LEONARD COHEN “Suzanne”

Zen Feeling: Enlightenment from poetic storytelling

Zone: In need of a perspective shift & an open heart

Canadian poet, novelist and wordsmith genius Leonard Cohen can bring one to tears with his empathy. I’ve listened to this song a thousand times while traveling. It brings me peace when I’m in a foreign land in need of inspiration from an unexpected place.

“Now, Suzanne takes your hand and she leads you to the river

She's wearing rags and feathers from Salvation Army counters

And the sun pours down like honey on our lady of the harbor

And she shows you where to look among the garbage and the flowers

There are heroes in the seaweed, there are children in the morning

They are leaning out for love and they will lean that way forever

While Suzanne holds the mirror”

9) SYLVAN ESSO “Coffee”

Zen Feeling: Safety

Zone: Getting in the flow

This melodic tune gets me in the groove on any occasion.

10) SPIRITUALIZED “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space”

Zen Feeling: Weightlessness

Zone: Float away into another world

A trip to another world.

11) BAHRAMJI & MANEESH DE MOOR “Dreamcatcher”

Zen Feeling: Awareness

Zone: Meditation

Mindful meditation soundtrack to zone out.

12) EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY “Your Hand in Mine”

Zen Feeling: Spacing out

Zone: Decluttering the brain

Forget about life and unwind to instrumental music.

13) INTERPOL “Leif Erikson”

Zen Feeling: Seductive & sentimental

Zone: Sedating like a tranquilizer

Soothing lyrics, vocals and sounds, perfect for airplanes.

14) THE ANIMALS “House of the Rising Sun”

Zen Feeling: Therapy for the soul

Zone: Forget about the outside world

A mix of raw emotions.

15) M83 “Midnight City”

Zen Feeling: Energizing

Zone: Escape & get in the zone

An escape.

16) RADIOHEAD “House of Cards”

Zen Feeling: Beauty of falling in love

Zone: Meditative lullaby for the modern world

Heavenly.

17) PORTISHEAD “Glory Box”

Zen Feeling: Yearning

Zone: Pacifying dub bass rhythm

Trance like.

18) MASSIVE ATTACK “Angel”

Zen Feeling: Apathy & erotica

Zone: Tune out excessive noise & tune into nirvana

Oblivion.

19) BEACH FOSSILS “Sleep Apnea”

Zen Feeling: Nostalgia

Zone: Introspection

Sleepy dream

20) BRIAN ENO “On Some Faraway Beach”

Zen Feeling: Freedom from fear

Zone: Acceptance to inevitability of death

A life well-lived with no regrets. Shifting the dread of death to a heavenly orchestra, musically taken away by the ocean’s tidal waves into an unknown mystical after-world, wherever it may be – sky, universe or sea.

“Given the chance

I'll die like a baby

On some far away beach

When the season's over

Unlikely

I'll be remembered

As the tide brushes sand in my eyes

I'll drift away

Cast up on a plateau

With only one memory

A single syllable”

21) THE SMITHS “Asleep”

Zen Feeling: Whimsical & hopeful

Zone: Melancholia

An alien seeking home in a world that doesn’t know exist here on this earth.

22) ERIK SATIE “Gnossienne No. 1”

Zen Feeling: Calming

Zone: Healing

A classic from a 19th century French composer to bring things to a finale.

***NOTEWORTHY MENTIONS***

YouTube Channels for soundscapes & ambience: