Club composes harmonious community through shared interest in musical meditation
The UCLA Music Meditation Club utilizes musical instruments and mantras to heighten students’ meditation experience. While it highlights music, the club also features other activities such as yoga and guest lectures to help build a community. (Courtesy of Christian Diaz)
By Phoebe Chen
Jan. 5, 2020 10:38 p.m.
This post was updated Jan. 7 at 2:37 p.m.
Students use music meditation to break the silence between one another and build connections.
The UCLA Music Meditation Club utilizes musical instruments and mantras to heighten students’ meditation experience. Roughly 30 students meet every week to partake in various activities – such as yoga, presentations and guest lectures – that are centered around meditation and well-being. The members form a tightknit community through their shared interest of meditation, said Hari Bhakta, leader of the club and a fourth-year philosophy student.
“It’s a whole mix of building community, mental health (and) creating a gathering where students can refresh and connect with like-minded individuals,” Bhakta said.
Vishnupriya Bohra, a member of the club and first-year business economics student, said she found a sense of belonging in the Music Meditation Club. She said she joined the club knowing she would find other students who shared her interest in the practice, and also enjoyed the guest lectures, as they covered meaningful topics and became comfortable having discussions of a similar nature with her peers.
“(There) was already common ground,” Bohra said. “From there, it was easier to build friendships and relationships with the people. I love going back there because I know I have friends that I could … have real conversations with.
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The club hosts special meditation sessions that often utilize mantras to guide the experience, Bhakta said. “Mantra” translates to “mind” and “to free from” in Sanskrit, and they involve chants that are collectively repeated using a musical melody. To further guide the mantra experience, students sometimes use guitars, drums or cymbals. It is easier to engage the mind during meditation with sound rather than silencing all thoughts and thus enter into a deeper meditative state, Bhakta said.
In addition to mantras, the club also utilizes sound bath meditation. For this method, the club invites a professional sound bath player to accompany the students’ normal meditation activities. The process incorporates instruments and sound bowls to immerse the participant in a rhythmic sound frequency. The symphonic vibrations that the sound bath produces relax both the body and mind, making it an extremely therapeutic tool, Bhakta said.
“(The sound bath) creates a super relaxing atmosphere,” Bhakta said. “We end it with the mantra meditation just to bring that flow of musical meditation.”
Compared to silent meditation, Bohra said she finds that the instrumentals help her stay engaged in meditation and maintain focus. Bohra said she usually gets distracted during silent meditation, as her thoughts constantly wander.
”When there’s music and a mantra you have to sing, I find that just by engaging more of my senses, I’m able to not think as much because I have to listen to the mantra and make sure I’m saying it right and listen to the music,” Bohra said.
Second-year musicology student Ceaser Canal said he found that music meditation resonated with him because of his field of study. He said the combination of music and meditation helps him relax and leaves him feeling rejuvenated with a positive mindset.
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After participating in music meditation a few times, Canal said he wants to become more involved with sound baths by learning the techniques and mechanics behind them. He hopes to utilize this learning in the future to create a new instrument or method that will expand music meditation.
“From that experience, it also led me to want to practice even deeper meditation and self-development to create more self-awareness,” Canal said. “So it was an actual gateway for me to grow as a person.
Apart from meditation, the Music Meditation Club hosts a variety of activities that also stimulate students’ minds and senses such as spiritual discussions, guest lectures and vegan dinners. These activities contribute to the club’s overall sense of community, Bhakta said.
The club’s accessibility distinguishes it from the popular workout yoga in Los Angeles, Bhakta said. The Music Meditation Club is connected with a meditation director who shares resources and contacts with the students. As a result of this, students are able to understand what yoga means or where meditation comes from through metaphysical and spiritual lenses, Bhakta said.
“As students, we could see that they’re not actually just watering down yoga or making it into a physical thing, they’re giving us wisdom,” Bhakta said.
