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.

Like a fuzzy shag carpet metronome, this Sleep Song begins with the metered pads of a synth rippling out, and reverberating to the edge of awareness. A reassuring celeste seems to voice that it's truly okay to let the day drift away, to let its joyful voice take you. Falling further in, the sounds move apart, separating from one another, and sliding out of sync. But the charming tintinnabulation of the celeste catches everything, gathering discord into slow drifts of assurance, encouraging a transition to deep rest.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.

Can you zoom in and notice the fine sounds of finger pads pressing keys, the piano's felted hammers making contact? Today's Sleep Song is an invitation to play with perspective. Written during a California rainstorm, it's a cozy blanket of comfort and hope for moments when the world is topsy-turvy. Kick drums, ride cymbal, and synth drones knit the piano's contemplative musings into a window-box scene, peering through glassy panes streaked with raindrops. Take refuge here as long as you need.Original music from 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.

Like the chime of Dickensian church bells, or the twinkling of a star high in the heavens, piercing the night sky, this Sleep Song opens with a sonic beacon. Synth pads sparkle and ignite, like dancing satellites, passing comets, and every point of light across the darkest night. The steady, shiny pulses radiate effervescently, lifting hearts, and calming neural networks, with the assurance that we will always find our way.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.

For this week's Sleep Song, composer Eduardo Rivera experiments with generative synthesis, a concept in which digital sounds influence each other with very little human interaction. Chords swell and fall as they ride the wave of preceding notes, creating a surreal and dreamy Viva Magenta swirl of calming tones, like the marbling, iridescent trails of oil in rain puddles, with cymbal, kick drum, and piano laid out to complement this improvisational unfolding.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.

When you’re too sleepy to turn the record over on the turntable, new melodies start to emerge from beyond the crackle of the vinyl. As the record spins slowly, it opens a doorway to a soft and nostalgic standup piano. Falling farther into the piano’s chords, we’re led to a cascading sheet of tones, fields of evening cricket call, a calming open drone … all in turn giving rise to muted mellow notes like a lullaby out of time.Original music from composers Ryan Holladay and 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.

Composer Eduardo Rivera tells us that he recorded this week's Sleep Song by time-stretching a ten-minute piano piece, leaving behind an overlay, like vellum gently settled over sepia-toned photos, or forgotten images on film reels suddenly brought to life again by projector light. The sound of the piano pedal, the sounds of the hammers hitting the strings, notes, air, everything is pulled out of time. Bells. cello, and chamber strings complement, creating a sense of hopeful remembering our sweetest memories can yield.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.

Warm, inviting tones, and the call of a piano's voice, announce it's time for tranquility and rejuvenation. Guided by light synth breezes and Una Corda, the sound of single string piano drenches the scene in a sea of cascading petals. The sound bath then dissolves into extended drones, collecting the day's fragments into unity, reverberating chords gathering our attention into a single soft focus.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.

In today's Sleep Song, composer Eduardo Rivera follows the path of least intrusion, creating a synth sanctuary for weary bodies and minds. The Yamaha DX7 (an instrument made famous in the ’80s by the Talking Heads, Brian Eno, Level 42, Supertramp) takes center stage with its distinct tone, created by its unique frequency modulation synthesis. Attune your ear to the higher melodies, and you may notice a more glassy sound this kind of coalescence creates. Or … just float on the rolling current of tranquil vibes.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.

This week's Sleep Song finds composer Eduardo Rivera going back to basics with his beloved old acoustic guitar. Says Eduardo, "I bought this guitar in 2009 for $200. I never meant to keep it for as long as I have. By all means, it's lived longer than it really should have. It's been on tour with me all over the U.S., all over Europe, I ran over part of it with a van accidentally, it's been stolen and later recovered at a pawn shop." In keeping with the theme of his well-worn guitar, this Sleep Song has a lo-fi quality, a transparency that says: everything is okay just as it is, our stories can come with us, the rough-and-tumble times as well as the triumphs, all blending together into a sweet, sweet song. As our composer says: "Sometimes it's nice to hear the imperfections. There's something comforting about it. Like hearing a story from a grandparent and appreciating their time-worn wisdom."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.

In a long hallway, curious echoing sounds leak through the walls; a piano's chords ground our footfall, assuring us we are not alone. Rainforest and jungle sounds manipulated into white noise pads call out from the periphery, until gentle cello takes us by the hand, leading us through the wilds beyond our seeing. Woodwinds and skipping synth say, "nothing is quite what it seems." We are in worlds within worlds, layer upon layer peeking through. A wash of reverb and keyboard melt the walls, the noise outside quickly hushed. A cradling bed of synth shines through, resetting the landscape, revealing the possibilities of this other world.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.