The best classical meditation music for mindfulness and yoga

11 May 2022, 15:58 | Updated: 17 May 2022, 14:13

By Classic FM

@ClassicFM

We’ve put together the most relaxing, calming playlist of music designed to de-stress and help you unwind.

Classical music can be the perfect accompaniment to meditation, mindfulness and yoga. Since the beginning of history, humans have used music as an aid to meditation, prayer and yoga: from Gregorian chants written 500 years ago to Arvo Pärt’s haunting minimalist music written just a few years ago.

Classical music in particular has been found to be profoundly relaxing. So we’ve put together a list of the very best music for meditation.

There’s something from almost every era of music, because no matter what changes in music, people always need moments of stillness. We hope you find something that works for you.

Listen on Global Player: Inner Harmony with Dr Alex George, our live playlist dedicated to the benefits of classical music

1. Arvo Pärt: Spiegel im Spiegel

   The Estonian composer's most popular piece is deeply calming. Its title translates as 'Mirror in the Mirror', making it most appropriate for a moment of reflection.

   Read more: The most relaxing pieces of classical music

   

   Anne Akiko Meyers Plays 'Spiegel im Spiegel' (Mirror in Mirror) by Arvo Pärt from 'Smile'

2. Alexis Ffrench – Radiate

   Alexis' unique style taps is sure to help you relax, with his mesmerisingly simple piano melodies.

   

   Alexis Ffrench - Radiate

3. Jan Sandström: Det är en ros utsprungen

   Sandström is known for his wild Motorbike Concerto for trombone, but this piece is altogether more ethereal, literally stretching out a work by 16th-century German composer Praetorius into something celestial.

   

   Jan Sandström - Det är en ros utsprungen

4. Max Richter: Dream 3 (in the midst of my life)

   Taken from Richter's Sleep an eight hour long work, designed to accompany an entire night’s rest. If you can stay awake you’ll find it can equally bring deep serenity.

   

   Max Richter - Dream 3 (in the midst of my life)

5. Debussy: Clair de Lune

   The title to this beautiful, lilting piano piece translates as 'moonlight'. Debussy was inspired by a poem by Paul Verlaine, which begins, "Your soul is a chosen landscape..." That's worth meditating upon.

   

   Debussy - Clair de Lune on LED piano

6. John Tavener: The Last Sleep of the Virgin

   Tavener gave instructions to the performers of this piece to play very, very quietly “at the threshold of audibility.” Let those handbells resonate deep within your soul.

   

   TAVENER: The Last Sleep of the Virgin/HILDEGARD: O eterne deus

7. Morten Lauridsen: O Magnum Mysterium

   A Christmas song telling the story of Christ’s birth, Lauridsen’s 1994 choral masterpiece is a work of profound sensitivity and spirituality.

   

   S:t Jacobs Ungdomskör - O Magnum Mysterium by Morten Lauridsen

8. Erik Satie: Gnossiennes

   Enjoy this complete album of piano music by Erik Satie, the perfect way to relax for a longer meditation session.

   

   Erik Satie - Gnossienne No. 1

9. Thomas Newman: Any Other Name

   Piano and atmospheric electronics combine to make this enervating piece from Newman's soundtrack to American Beauty a favourite among Classic FM listeners.

   

   Any Other Name

10. Charles Villiers Stanford: The Bluebird

    Stanford's setting of Mary Coleridge's poem is a miniature gem: the soaring soprano line lifts you into a transcendent realm.

    

    Stanford The Bluebird

11. Erik Satie: Gymnopédie No.1

    For a brief few moments of mindfulness, try Satie's alternating progression of two major seventh chords – G and D. Sweet, melancholic and just the tonic.

    

    Erik Satie - Gymnopédie No. 1

12. Eric Whitacre: Lux Aurumque

    Eric Whitacre's touching piece is based on a short Christmas poem which reads, “Light, warm and heavy as pure gold, and the angels sing softly to the new born baby.” Simply sublime.

    

    Light and Gold: Lux Aurumque - Eric Whitacre

13. Philip Glass: Satyagraha, ‘Evening Song’

    Concluding where we began, in the world of minimalism, Philip Glass's haunting climax to his opera about Gandhi is pure musical mesmerism.

    

    Philip Glass Evening Song

For more relaxing music, download or sign in to Global Player where you’ll find our live playlists: Inner Harmony with Dr Alex George, Classic FM Relax, and Calm Piano.