Sleep Song

For today's Sleep Song, composer Eduardo Rivera ran computerized string pads through an old tape recorder, resulting in the airy sound heard throughout, reminiscent of a gusty breeze alighting falling leaves. Sampled sounds of crickets, bowed kalimba, and an e-bowed piano add to the rich, sweater weather comfort and ethereal atmosphere. A perfect companion for a slow walk through crisp autumn days.

Original music from composer Eduardo Rivera.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.

After hearing the sound of a wind chime floating through his neighborhood, composer Eduardo Rivera is reminded of a stay in the mountain town of Idyllwild. "The house had these huge wind chimes, that I later learned are called 'King David's Wind Chimes.’ These chimes are larger, deeper, and more sonorous than the ones you typically imagine. They're also in a specific key, so they sound beautiful when you hear all the notes playing together. Because they're so big, you get really wonderful harmonic richness when they ring together and you start to hear overtones.”

Original music from composer Eduardo Rivera.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.

Created using a new musical software called Collage, today's Sleep Song begins with a chord like a question, as if asking whether it's alone in the universe. The response is soothing and celestial, elegant, a drone of chords, rippling out like ribbons of color in deep space photography. There's a quiet assertion in the synth voices, that we are are not alone and are always held safe.

Original music from composer Ryan Holladay.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Today's Sleep Song is all about movement. Almost every track in this piece is constantly shifting with panning or through the use of an LFO (low frequency oscillator), creating a sense of undulation, motion, and flow, of coming and going. The strings are constantly moving, holding one note, but being bowed at different times and by different parts of the bow. The dynamics too are constantly in a gentle flux, creating an effect reminiscent of ocean waves perpetually lapping at carefully constructed sandcastles, resetting the scene again, and again, and again — an invitation to allow change to happen and to let go of what came before.

Original music from composer Eduardo Rivera.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.

Inspired by surfer Garrett McNamara's episode of Meditative Story and his reflections on staring up at the clouds or, as he puts it, "waves in the sky", this piece reimagines the sounds of surf guitar as an unfurling ribbon of notes, echoing and looping over endless blue horizons.

Original music from composer Ryan Holladay.

Music adapted from Garrett McNamara’s Meditative Story, "Embracing everything life has to offer": https://listen.meditativestory.com/hSO8X6ye

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.

Composer Eduardo Rivera shares, "I've been using a wonderful felt piano lately that sounds incredibly intimate. It's been my main instrument for our sister podcast Spark & Fire these last few months. The piano brings out a certain introspection in me, and I let this song evolve naturally. Not forcing anything. It starts with the first note that we're all taught on the piano, C. From there, the melody moves with a 3rd as the interval. While the 3rd packs so much genetic information about a chord (it determines whether the chord is major or minor), I find that it also has an unintrusive quality … like a passerby."

Original music from composer Eduardo Rivera.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.

Music adapted from Varshini Prakash’s Meditative Story, "Together, we move from fear to hope."

Taken from the musical world of Varshini Prakash’s Meditative Story, this sleep song is built around a world of voices. Some melodic and distinguishable, others smeared and abstracted beyond recognition to create a sonic universe of the human voice to lull you to sleep.

Original music from composer Ryan Holladay.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.

Like the best part of an ’80s pop song, this Sleep Song celebrates the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer, and answers the question: What would happen if a song like "Boys of Summer" was stretched like taffy and transformed into an extended soothing melody? The throughline of this piece stems from one sound, a chord reminiscent of pastel sunsets when you cycled until the dinner bell rang. From there, pads, bass, and those classic DX7 chimes will have you drifting off into nostalgic bliss.

Original music from composer Eduardo Rivera.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.

Music adapted from Isabel Allende's Meditative Story, "From great loss, a great freedom."

A quiet stirring of high strings is followed by an exhale of bass and cello. The grounding chords of a piano then lead to reverberant synth drones, like a sifting up of anything we've been carrying, followed by the assurance that we can put it all down ... let it all go. A soulful viola duet begins, a bittersweet melody, ascending and taking the weight from our shoulders. It's a haunting, rising conversation, both longing, and accepting, opening our hearts, making space for any feelings that arise. Next, a shimmering wash of drones and strings sets a new tone, a new space, acknowledging we can release what just was, until the duet begins again.

Original music from composer Ryan Holladay.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.

Today's Sleep Song is an invitation to explore stillness. Picture yourself standing in a body of water and not wanting to create any ripples, gently centered, quiet, and surrounded by the seductive lulling of piano, synth, and delicate cymbal. Composer Eduardo Rivera shares, "I'm keenly aware that I rush too much. This song will hopefully serve as a gentle reminder to slow down. Breathe. Listen. Connect. Disconnect."

Original music from composer Eduardo Rivera.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.