Meditative listening to "Sad Dragons"? Yes, it's a force!

Goal of the day: 124 words. Written: 743. "Slibinus" was photographed by: Linas Marcisauskas.

"How can such small things be so much fun?" Unexpected!”

- Words to myself after this mini-experiment

Question: How often do you turn on an unheard album of some unheard band... And listen to it in its entirety without doing anything else but listening? In other words, like meditating - concentrating on the music instead of leaving it somewhere in the background?

My answer: I never did that. Until the experiment with Sad Dragons "It'll Be Over Soon" (2015, 11 songs, 38 min.).

To be honest, I didn't plan this ordeal at all. I just wanted to finish reading About Writing by Natalie Goldberg and I turned on Sad Dragons as a background. This in itself was stupidity, because the words of Lithuanian songs when reading Lithuanian words... It would be a distraction. Still, without thinking too much about it, I started listening.

You can listen to this album here: Repeat(.lt).

My audition went like this:

1. First song: "Let's love the endings". Maybe because she's Cloudy positive, she pulled her ear after a few moments and I wondered and turned the book upside down (and thus breaking it) and looked out the window.
2. "Little by little": I continued watching the view outside the window. True, I should mention that the view is not very special - it's just an unfinished neighboring house, a few electric wires and a pole in the middle of the view, a few tree branches sticking out on the side, an unpaved street in the distance where nothing is happening, and the sky is Lithuanian gray-blue. The words also appeared Cloudy.
3. For the Sun: noticing that I had closed the book I wanted to read, I changed my position and opened it again. When I started reading, I realized that nothing good would happen with Lithuanian words. However, I made a strange decision here and after flipping the book I decided to continue listening instead of switching the channel to electronic trance music. Maybe I was expecting more Cloudy Songs?
4. Find Me: I don't even know what this song was about or how I felt. Although I am writing these words right after the experiment so that I do not forget anything. I must have been in a bit of a meditative state.
5. "Applause": when this song came on I smiled and realized: yes, it was a good idea to keep listening. I continued to listen, I changed my posture a little, towards the end of the song I started to shake my head and look at the mirror in the room.
6. "Won't End": no, this song definitely won't end. The thought was, "damn, I love the ending of this song." The duration of the song, by the way, fully corresponds to the title - even 6.5 minutes! I was still grinning. I closed my eyes. I enjoyed the music.
7. "Bicycle": I don't remember who was here. I began to think that I had come up with a damn good idea and here is a very nice meditation experiment. Maybe at this moment it occurred to me to call everything something like this: "micro-experiment: meditative listening to music". Or same. I'm not sure though.
8. "Give It Up": I sat smiling, grimacing in the mirror, slightly changing my posture again. A cat broke into the manishki from the other room. She said "meow" so I started scratching the back of her head, giving her a scratching orgasm. Anyway, it's a good song, it reminds me of all the invitations to give all of myself to the world. Although I don't remember what the point of the song was or what the proposed solution was, if any.
9. "Firewood": this is where I began to look forward to describing everything and inviting you to try it (wait, I'll get to it). And he reminded me of his father's saying, which he no longer says either out of boredom or fear of growing old: "Life is like a sausage - you eat it and it's gone." Anyway, good song!
10. "You will do nothing": under the thunder, another end of life theme song? I guess I'll have to make them all into an article when I write about the benefits of memento mori and death! That's what I thought about this song. And I was getting impatient.
11. "It's All About To Be Over": I almost turned it off, didn't stop the music, because I wanted to write something so badly. Now I forget what. Or I already wrote it.

Or in general:

• During those 38 minutes, I was surprisingly rested - like after a good meditation;
• I heard the lyrics and they gave me a million thoughts, instead of letting the words pass (as always in the past) through my ears;
• After sitting on the chair for a while, I jumped, clapped my hands over the mask, moved my arms and legs, changed poses - I exercised;
• I have experienced that a meditative state of calm can be achieved not only by repeating some mantras, but also by breathing evenly + concentrating all of yourself on the music and words. It was incredible;
• I even boosted my confidence because I focused on myself for 38 minutes and didn't jump from one activity to another. And it was easier than I thought at first;
• And I know I'm repeating myself, but under thunderstorms - wow, how much strength I gained!

I can't add much for now. I've only heard the phrase "meditative listening to music" (or "music therapy"), but I haven't really looked into it and researched it.

However, according to research: continuous listening to music really has a very positive effect on the brain. And as the experience of my friends shows: they always come back from concerts very satisfied. So far I haven't visited any. Maybe you should start?

So - today's idea:

Try to do this mini-experiment and turn on any album of your favorite (or dislike, or maybe even unheard of) band... And listen to it in its entirety.

It will probably take you about 30 minutes, you will relax together and, probably, you will discover something unexpected. Or you won't find anything if you're distracted. I can't guarantee.

Did I accidentally stumble upon something unexpectedly cool today?

Listening to dragons,
Daniel