Entering the Avatar State

Finding your zen isn’t just about sitting cross-legged with pinched fingers humming until you connect to your spiritual self. Zen, in its simplest form, is slowing down and finding peace; being centred at your core and mentally in touch with your soul, allowing you peace and power amidst transitions and nervousness.

To me, finding my zen is about feeling at peace within my own skin and with my surroundings, which I often find very difficult to do as I suffer from ADHD and anxiety. With a near continuous flow of energy inside of me - whether induced by my hyperactivity disorder, a mass of anxious feelings or simpler still, new story ideas chirming out of my brain like a never-ending factory - I find it very challenging to sit down and actually relax, be centred, or at the very least - stop.

But there is one thing that will never fail me when I need to realign my haphazardly messy mind, body and soul and that, is music – or more specifically – film music.

Music in itself is possibly one of the most multifaceted and diverse works of art. The differences between each genre and style can sometimes be incomprehensibly drastic. But it doesn’t mean of course that one person is stuck to one genre/style of music within their shelf of songs. I pride myself in being a hard-core fan of Muse, who are a long time running English rock band. I also love David Bowie and other classics of the 70s/80s, and I will dip into a wide variety of odd pieces of music from different artists and bands without collecting their albums or becoming an avid follower. Then, at the same time, just past the only Ed Sheeran song in my music list (Perfect) there’s Edvard Grieg – Piano Concerto in A Minor Op. 16 – I. Allegro Molto Moderato. Followed swiftly on by Etude Op. 25 No. 11 in A Minor (Winter Winds) – Chopin, Gladiator – The Battle and Hiiro No Kakera Opening. And that’s skipping over a very random debut from AC/DC’s Highway to Hell in and amongst that lot.

At a glance – yeah – from heavy rock to classical music it’s irrefutably evident that my taste in music is wild, but for people who understand the specific genres of music it’s grows even wilder. To someone who has studied classical music the difference between a piano concerto by Grieg and a piano etude by Chopin is one of many musical incarnations of chalk and cheese. As is seeing Hans Zimmer’s fantastical film score for Gladiator right next to a theme song for the anime series Hiiro No Kakera.

It’s overwhelmingly varied for just one person – and believe me, I haven’t even scratched the surface of the level of diversity within my own music archive. As such, I very rarely recommend bands, artists, composers or even pieces of music to other people for the simple reason that it’s a challenge to comprehend someone’s musical taste – as it constantly changes over time – and it’s nowhere near as easy as saying “hey, just watched this great TV series that I think you’ll enjoy”. Of course, that is, unless this said person is admittedly avidly into only one style of music or band, then it really isn't too hard to make a suggestion - but as soon as it gets to music recommendations for someone with more than one taste (which is the case for most people) ... [insert Mission Impossible theme here].

To some extent, music is also very personal. Take a slap at a TV show or film I like, I can live with that, take a dig at the music I listen to… it’s hard to explain but, in some ways I feel like a part of my personality was ripped into, pulled out, analysed and then thrown into the bin - even if I can accept it's simply just a difference in tastes.

However, the one thing that I am never ashamed or worried to recommend to almost anyone is a fantastically written film score. Film music speaks to me like a friend who really gets me; it journeys me from a roman empire to a wizarding school, battling the great bewilder-beast to duelling a sith lord and never failing to catch the appropriate emotions. Maybe I am a bit stuck up my own delusional confidence that film music is as powerful and gripping to everyone else as it is to me, but I believe that film music can speak for itself without the visual aid of the film crew; it brings you on your own personal story visualised and created within your own mind and imagination. Which is sacrilege for me to say as a film maker myself, but as a musician and indulger of music I speak from the heart.

This is where the path strays back to zen, don’t worry, I hadn’t forgotten! Zen. Whilst it’s aim is the same, it’s journey for everyone is different. Stereotypically, most people associate zen-music as being calming hums or ocean waves lulling in the background of a repetitive hovering dream-like inverted pedal. But it's not always. For me, it is as I said – film music. I’m thinking you’re probably very conflicted about now. Yeah, in some respects if you have a nice calming section in the film that has a beautiful melody it could work… but what about a scene where the music is full of frantic panicky fast-paced action-packed music sequences – how on Earth does that calm or centre you?

Maybe I am just that anomaly.

But when I listen to film music I enter a world that is entirely my own. It doesn’t matter if I have seen the film/series that the music comes from because as soon as I divulge into the sounds I am no longer an ordinary girl on Earth with overwhelming problems – I am in a world that no one else shares with me and I am in charge of its fate. The only thing that guides me is the powerful mellow French horns and muted trumpets that thunders over the frantic violins and stomping cellos and the echoes of the choir’s haunting harmony; each instrument playing it’s vital role in the fate of my meditative state.

"For in dreams we enter a world that is entirely our own. Let them swim in the deepest ocean, or glide over the highest cloud." - Dumbledore (JK Rowling; Harry Potter)

When my worries and stress and hyperactivity become overwhelming, the journey I travel through within the music isn’t always a fictional journey of heroism and fantasy powers, no, the journey can be just as real as you or me. Sometimes, these journeys are the ways in which I find the answers to the particular problems that have me out of balance. That is, without having to sit and wallow in the miserable state of rethinking past conversations, or how to organise a to do list that’s weight is tearing my calendar in half and all the while attempting to actually clear my mind.

Overall, yes, it centres me. I sit there letting my body relax meditatively whilst my mind journeys into another world and my soul finds a way to align everything back together.

When I listen to film music I enter my own Avatar State and find my inner self again.

My recommendation to you is film music – or Tv music - of your own choice. A good music score to send you on an adventure that maybe serene, that maybe action-packed but one that will journey you into discovering the answers that will find your peace and find your centre.

My top favourite film/TV music list:

Hans Zimmer – Gladiator

John Powell – How To Train Your Dragon

John Williams – Harry Potter and Star Wars

Jeremy Zuckerman – Legend of Korra

Danny Elfman – Corpse Bride, Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Michael Giacchino – Up, Ratatouille, Coco, The Incredibles, Rogue One

Lorne Balfe – His Dark Materials