The Whole Music Experience

image from Pix a Bay (free images) Often when we think of mantras, our minds turn to religious chants such as kirtans. We intentionally use mantras with our meditation practice or perhaps, when we feel frightened or alone losing our connection to the Divine, we chant mantras. However, this article is not about the warm fuzzy feelings we experience from sacred words and phrases. My definition of a mantra is a phrase that we repeat either mindfully or mindlessly. While some mantras are obvious such as the Moola Mantra or the Gayatri Mantra which are sung in Sanskrit, repeated words in everyday songs also act the same way on our brain as sacred mantras. While, a sacred mantra brings us closer to God or our god-self experience, a mundane mantra manifests our everyday life experiences. As modern-day humans, we surround and cloak ourselves in mundane mantras--ranging from the Rollingstones' "I can't get no satisfaction," to R.E.M.'s "I am superman and I can...

Crowd, photo by Patricia Herlevi When I came up with the idea for this post on lyrical content and consciousness, I remembered an incident that I experienced shopping at Whole Foods Market in Seattle.  As I was making my way through the organic produce section, and then the supplement and beauty sections of the store, a rock song from the 1970s, "Smoking in the Boy's Room" blasted from the store's PA system. I even heard this song (which I never liked) while I was in the restroom.  And no, I wasn't smoking in the ladies room. How many times do we find ourselves in a public situation where we have no control over words and music filtering into our brain, heart, and nervous system? I remember thinking about the irony of unhealthy music playing in a store that promoted its healthy lifestyle.  And yet, many so-called sustainable businesses have no clue about music consciousness. For the Whole Foods Market of that time (2005?), the decision makers did not make ...