Savasana Yoga Music: Healing Guitar for Massage, Sleep & Yoga Nidra - Releasing October 14, 2016
With this, his eighth solo album, Stevin McNamara continues his musical journey, inspired by the classicalmusic of North India and the ancient sound traditions of the Vedic yogis.
The full program of twenty musical pieces is over two hours long and is selected from Stevin’s favoritecompositions from the last 15 years, along with several unreleased compositions, presented in a new and uniqueform, and accompanied by beautiful, healing beds of sound created by renowned sound healer and master drummer Christo Pellani.
This organic music takes us into peaceful and relaxing spaces - a musical bridge into the dream state andbeyond, leaving us with the feeling of rest in nature and connecting us to a higher state of awareness. Thecombination of all-natural, acoustic and non-computerized sound creates a fresh and deep musical landscape forrelaxation, savasana, yoga nidra, meditation, contemplation, restful sleep and more.
Most pieces are based on traditional Indian ragas (“that which colors the mind") in the Alap style – wheremelody is explored without rhythm, although some have a natural rhythm — but they are performed in a way thatis easily accessed by the western ear.
The powerful melodic passages create a focus for the attention, soothing and relaxing for body and mind,centering the emotions. The melodic structures in each raga have been passed down through the ages and areintended, when played correctly, to manifest or invoke specific emotional states and feelings such as love,devotion, longing, peace, joy, separation, et al.
These raga-based melodies on guitar, sitar and dilruba are accompanied by various drones and such healinginstruments as Tibetan bowls, bells and gongs, tubes and real nature sounds — which have been shown by theirpure tonal attributes and primordial nature to induce the listener into higher brainwave states, e.g., alphaand theta. This unique combination of acoustic musical instruments and healing pure tones are what form thebasis of this album.
All being said, no matter what musical background the listener comes from, this universal and accessible music should make one feel relaxed and refreshed — just by listening and immersion, even if not used for any particular formal practice or purpose.