Relieve stress, anxiety with healing music

Not all healing music programs are equal. Some CDs bill themselves as tools for relaxation or meditation, but they have no real basis for that claim. The artists below have made a serious study of music and its effects on the brain and the body. Their compositions were created using knowledge gleaned from years of research and testing.

Even so, music is a personal preference and some artists will appeal to you more than others. It's important to find music that's both effective and enjoyable, because you won't listen regularly if you don't like the music. I got these CDs in boxed "variety" sets of healing music, and there were artists in the sets that simply didn't appeal to me. Those discs are no longer in my collection. I've owned the selections below for more than 10 years and I still find them pleasant to hear and effective at easing my anxiety.

While the CDs work best without distractions, I'll often listen to them during the workday. With the sound volume low, they don't disrupt my productivity but they still provide a calming atmosphere. I find listening through headphones is most effective for relaxation and stress relief; I think the subtler elements of the music are lost when I listen with speakers -- or maybe the headphones just provide a cocooning effect, blocking out other sounds. Whatever the reason, I definitely get better results when I use headphones.

You can't rely on always being near a stereo when anxiety strikes -- not when so many stressful situations happen when we're away from home. Having a portable music player is a great way to keep soothing music with you wherever you go. I keep an MP3 player by my bedside and often use it to listen to the titles I've mentioned. Listening to healing music is a great way to quiet your mind and prepare yourself for sleep; I always find I sleep better when I spend half an hour listening to Music for Brainwave Massage before bed. And you don't need an expensive player -- the baseline models have more than enough capacity to hold many albums of healing music.

One suggestion: I strongly recommend buying different headphones for use with these players. The style that comes with the player is one I find very uncomfortable, and you can't relax if your ears hurt! I've listed a couple of alternatives below, including the ones I'm using now. They feel more natural than anything else I've tried, so I'm definitely using this style from now on.

Prefer downloadable MP3 versions? Most of the discs I mentioned are also available in MP3 format so you can have immediate access to healing music. (Please note: only the first track of Harmonic Resonance is available in MP3 format; it's on the album Healing Music Project 3, which includes a selection of other tracks as well.)

Also, don't worry that the MP3 versions (which are typically compressed) won't retain the integrity of the original compositions. I purchased two albums in MP3 format and I've had great results using them, so I feel confident that none of the subtleties of the music were lost.