playlist
Beat's recommended playlist for all of your musical needs.
My Own Private Sea
It’s not an easy task to stay calm and centered, especially living in the middle of a city. I live in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, and like any city, it’s constantly full of sounds, commuters rushing to work every morning or the banging of construction workers building new apartment complexes somewhere nearby. It’s easy to get frazzled, but I’ve found my haven in my headphones.
By Jack Cavanaugh5 years ago in Beat
Zen, Now
I have ADHD, so any moment of peace I can get is a treasure. My head is consistently a swarm of uncontrollable thoughts pestering me at every available moment. I'm 22 years old now though, so I've been living with this for quite some time now and have found some pretty good ways to work with my disability, and music is often at the core of it. I spend my work days listening to music that most would likely consider very abrasive or even annoying including the likes of "Death Grips" and "100 Gecs." I spend my evenings mostly playing video games with friends listening to lots of eccentric, high energy pop artists such as "Charli XCX" and "Dorian Electra." I often spend my nights listening to very experimental and often bizarre rock groups such as "The Mars Volta" and "Black County, New Road." I say this all to mean that I listen to a wide variety of music, most of which would be considered the very opposite of relaxing. At first listen, some of the songs on my playlist might seem to be more distracting than relaxing as well. To me however, all the songs on this playlist come together to serve the greater purpose of shipping me off to the most peaceful place imaginable with their sometimes otherworldly ambiance. Much of the music I listen to serves to help drown out the sound coming from within my mind so that I might focus on the world around me during my day. When I want a moment to myself however, the music on this playlist puts me into a beautifully introspective state that manages to shut out both the world around me and the excess noise in my mind so that I can truly look into myself and meditate. Even now as I type this out, the trance like verses of "Dump" makes me feel like I'm being lured away from the reality in front of me into a peaceful world of relaxation. As "Hidden Place" comes on, I feel less like I'm lying on my bed listening and typing and more as though I'm on a continuous adventure in my mind, wandering through a forest into some sort of ethereal Fairy Grove. I wander out of it as "Storm" comes on and I now find myself in some sort of quiet jungle until "Shadow" whisks me away into some other world I've never seen before. "Falling" plays as I feel myself wander deeper through the strange void of my mind until I find myself wandering through a small town's streets as "Rainy Day" plays along. "Beneath the Mask" beckons me to find rest in a small Café as it turns to night and as it plays I feel as though I could rest here forever. "Mic Check" plays with its borderline ASMR inducing samples and I find myself nowhere else but my own room, on my bed in my own body at peace with myself more so than I ever have been. To me, this playlist is a way for me to go on a journey within myself. The songs create an ethereal tapestry that manages to lull me into a peace that shuts out the noise of my usual thoughts, while still stimulating my imagination enough to keep me going on my meditative journey. I know not if others will have the same reaction to the songs I've selected, but I know at the very least they help me direct my focus inward like nothing else can.
By Jim Malone5 years ago in Beat
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.
By Alquimista5 years ago in Beat
Zen Playlist
The playlist that’s my go to when I’m feeling like I need to center myself and calm down or escape reality for a bit is called my “Chillax” playlist. I listen to this when I’m in all sorts of different moods. Whether I just got out of a rough shift at work and don’t feel like dancing and singing, or I just woke up and don’t know what I feel like listening to yet. I could be mad at my husband or annoyed with my 5 year old and I just can’t go wrong with this playlist.
By Katlynn Lajean5 years ago in Beat
Brew Your Soul
Brew your soul, the same way it sounds. Music is life and is like blood pumping through. The language of music is complex yet simple. Rather it’s the intrinsic rap lyrics that leaves you studying the dictionary or jazz music with no words but the colorful notes.
By Michael J. Harris5 years ago in Beat
Nostalgia, Meet Zen
Track 1: The first kiss between my parents witnessed by my cognitive self was at a Neil Diamond concert. As an 8th grader, was the bottom tier of fashion, wearing a knock-off Panama Jack light blue long-sleeve t-shirt from Ventures with “jeans” in the flimsiest sense of the word, in that they were made with denim but missing a zipper and button, flared along the waist with full-on ruffles, and a built in belt, to ensure I was never invited to a sleepover.
By chris miskec-rhymes-with-whiskey5 years ago in Beat
Ocean Spray Vibes
There is a delicate balance between nostalgia and wanderlust that, if struck correctly, creates a lucid strain of peace inside of me. This is how I learned meditation is not an act, but a feeling—one that, like all feelings, can be elicited, refined…curated, like a mixtape. And being the music-lover I am, this analogy makes perfect sense to me; from a young age, I’ve associated specific songs with specific feelings, foods, or even friends.
By Devin Dabney5 years ago in Beat
