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Creating music is one thing, but creating music to move the world is another. Dilpreet Bhatia, the founder of Meditative Mind, is sharing researched and professionally crafted music and mantras to deepen mindfulness practices and ultimately make the world a better place.
Meditation is an age-old practice for achieving an altered state of consciousness, and while it has spiritual roots, it has become a mindful technique to ground a person in the present. According to UCLA research, meditation can assist with longevity, depression, chronic pain, and anxiety. It has become one of the most popular stress management techniques. It can result in a calmer mind and body, and it can assist with building resilience.
It has also been found that combining music and chanting with meditation can deepen the positive effects of this practice.
Creating music to accompany meditation is an art that not many get right. While there are a plethora of apps, websites and songs to stream, not many people create music that is specifically geared to the needs of meditators and crafted to be aesthetically beautiful and serene.
Meditative Mind, with meditation music created and composed by Dilpreet Bhatia, is an app, website and YouTube channel that offers spectacular accompaniments for all forms of meditation, and, healing and sleep. Bhatia was born in India and recently relocated to Australia. An accomplished musician, he created Meditative Mind to cater for meditators who want musical accompaniment that is designed for specific needs and composed to the highest standards.
From the age of five, music had piqued Bhatia’s interest. Even though he had no formal training as a child, his music teachers at school encouraged him to excel. He never thought of being a professional musician, so he went to college to pursue a career in finance. After he started working he realised music was his passion and needed to be a larger part of his life. “I was still very involved in music until I got into a job. It was then that I felt I needed to get back into music. That’s when I really started. I knew I had to do it but didn’t know how I would make money out of it or where I needed to go. But I knew this is what I wanted to do,” he explains.
He started doing open mics and realised he needed to pursue more formal training if he was going to be successful in his newly-chosen career. He began training under his guru, Sumitra Guha, an Indian classical vocalist, known for her expertise in the Carnatic and Hindustani schools of classical music. “She was honored with Padma Shri, the highest civilian award you can get in India. She took me on as her disciple and I started my formal education. I was learning side by side with her and honing my skills as a classical guitarist.”
Bhatia also worked with classical guitar teacher, Gussy Rikh. He immediately recognized Bhatia’s talent and encouraged him to pursue commercial endeavours. “He started introducing me to people who were in the music industry, making music in Bollywood. I started going out there, meeting them and working with them,” he says. He went on to release an album that was the fourth highest-selling album of the year in the country before moving to Bombay, the music capital of India.
While working on his music on the side, he started working in the financial sector. In 2009, Meditative Mind was born. “I was learning more about chakras, and how music, Indian classical scales (raagas), seed mantras and chakras are all connected together. So I thought, why not share the ambient music I’m creating?” he says, reminiscing. It was a labour of love, hosted on YouTube, with no way to monetize it. But the seed was planted and the start of his musical dream coming to fruition was born.
Eventually, Bhatia left his full-time employment and decided to focus on his music and take it seriously. “I decided that every day I had to create a track. I had to give it my everything. So I did that and people started to take notice. I started studying other YouTubers and seeing how they were doing things. Each day I composed and recorded a single mantra and after six months, it picked up momentum,” he says.
In 2014, Bhatia was selected as Grand Prize winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in the World Music category. The international contest was started in 1997 to allow songwriters to express themselves, gain recognition, and get their music heard. “I submitted a song I had made and I was not expecting anything. I was told I was shortlisted in the World Music category and then told I had won the award. I was excited. It came with great publicity and PR, and magazines were contacting me to interview me,” he says with a smile.
Even though Bhatia composes extraordinary music to accompany meditation, he is humble when asked about his meditation practice. “It’s nothing unique,” he says. “Music is meditation. I meditate on the low notes and see how deep I can go. Guru Ji told me that when you focus more on how deep you can go in the morning, you can reach higher notes more easily in the evening. There is no technique. It is all universal.”
The music he creates for Meditative Mind is uniquely crafted and very focused in its direction. “I create 100 percent of the music in my studio and proper research is always done when producing the music. Each note is selected to go with a specific chakra and each frequency is tested before we create the music,” explains Bhatia. The way he researches and grounds his music in meditation traditions is what sets him apart from other apps and channels that assist with mindfulness practices.
Bhatia is making the world a better place with his music. Speaking to him, his passion for music and his desire to create a calmer, more focused world is evident. “It’s all about the music that I make. If I can transfer the energy that I’m making in music to those who are listening to it then it is worth it. And I also want to make myself a little better in the process.”
You can download the Meditative Mind app on iTunes or from the Play Store, or go to the website to find out more.
Media Contact:
Clive Vanderwagen, Writer
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