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There is something extraordinary about the power of the music festival community that reaches well beyond just music. From going to festivals and shows for ten years now, I’ve not only discovered new music year after year but have had remarkable experiences that shaped how I view the world. I’ve made lifelong friends and have been exposed to new ideas that allowed me to open my mind in ways I’ve never thought possible. Our community runs on a wavelength that tends to be overlooked by the rest of the world. Surrounded by war, hate, judgment, and conformity, festivals and shows act as a haven for the free spirit. A place where like-minded individuals come together, spreading love, peace, and individuality. A place that encourages conscious thinking and spirituality as much as it promotes music.

One of the best things I’ve taken away from the festival community is the practice of meditation. During a walk through the campgrounds of Okeechobee Music Festival, I stumbled upon Lsdream’s cosmic soundbath set, and it completely changed my life. I never thought about how powerful the act of just breathing and being actually is. That the act of doing nothing and allowing your thoughts to come and go has a profound effect on how you view the world. I left the soundbath set feeling not only refreshed but as if I had gone through some sort of transformation, and I wanted more. Meditation was something I never considered, and if it weren’t for music festivals, I would never have given it a chance.

Meditation teaches you to live in the moment. We spend most of our days either stuck in the past or worrying about the future. We rarely ever take the time just to be, and meditation allows you to do just that. After all, we love music festivals so much because they, too, embrace living in the moment. For those three or four days, nothing else matters. Not the past nor the future. Not your career, your classes, or the bills you have to pay.  What matters is dancing with your friends, basking in love, and enjoying the now. Ironically, Okeechobee’s theme is “Be here now.” I left the festival eager to learn more about meditation and ready to incorporate it into my own life.

Meditation not only helps you live in the now, but it actually changes the wiring of the brain. Studies have shown that meditation enlarges the prefrontal cortex, which is the part of the brain responsible for managing emotions, focusing your attention, decision making, and adjusting to complex behaviors. Meditation can help with depression, anxiety, and overall well being. There are also different kinds of meditation. There is mindfulness where the point is not to allow your thoughts to control your emotions. Just let your thoughts come and go. Then there is focused meditation, where you focus on a goal you want to achieve and tap into the frequency of the universe.

As I began to read and research meditation, I came across various practices that helped me make meditation a daily routine. From guided meditations to meditation music to mediation apps, here are some of my favorites that will help you find inner peace whether you’re a beginner or a meditation guru!

Guided Meditations

10 Minute Chakra Balance Guided Meditation

Great for beginners! Balance your chakra’s and promote positive energy with this 10 minute meditation.

10 Minute Manifestation Meditation

This powerful meditation will help you achieve your biggest goals through the law of attraction.

Spirit Guide Meditation Playlist

This playlist of guided meditations is designed to connect you with your spirit guide!

LIGHTCODE Guided Meditation Playlist

With this playlist Lsdream and his wife Sarah Hudson, guide you through numerous meditations with music provided by Lsdream’s ambient moniker LIGHTCODE!

Music for Meditation

Tipper’s Ambient CoSM Set

Tipper provides an ambient set perfect for meditation at the Alex Grey’s Chapel of Sacred Mirrors!

Charles the First Out of the Dark Mix

Charles the First performs a groovy downtempo set that’s perfect to vibe out and relax your mind.

LIGHTCODE & Lsdream Higher Conscious Set

Lsdream mixes a trippy downtempo set with excerpts of guidance from teachers like Alan Watts and Ram Das! Also check out Lsdream’s LIGHTCODE album!

Meditation Apps

Synctuition

Synctuition is a meditation app that is designed to sync you in to your intuition using gamma wave frequencies, binary beats, and 3d sounds!

Calm

Less intense than Synctuition but Calm offers great guided mediations, podcasts, and even sleep stories!

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Ultra Miami is set to be canceled yet again for concerns created by the coronavirus. Organizers of the festival are awaiting approval of the new dates from the city of Miami before releasing an official cancelation announcement.

This will be the second straight year Ultra has been forced to cancel due to the pandemic. Last year Ultra was canceled just a week before its opening day as it became the first major festival to close its doors due to the virus.

In a letter dated on January 21, 2021, Ultra’s general counsel attorney, Sandy York states that conditions that led city officials to cancel Ultra in 2020 remain in place for 2021. York also asks for approval to reschedule the festival.

As Ultra is always held in March, news of the cancellation in 2021 comes to no surprise as covid19 rates continue to climb throughout America. With the vaccine just now starting to circulate, there is not enough time for spring shows to safely occur, let alone major festivals.

Organizers hope to hold the festival in 2022 from March 25-27 at Bayfront Amphitheater.

Ultra is one of the world’s biggest electronic music festivals and showcases some of the best talent that dance music has to offer.

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According to Joe Berchtold, Live Nation is feeling extremely confident and optimistic about the state of live music. With reports of vaccine development, already underway Berchtold predicts live music will be back in full swing come 2021.

“We feel good right now. At this point, given the vaccine news, we start to see with much greater clarity what the path return to live is” Berchtold told CNBC on an interview earlier this week.

As the corona virus begins to spike once again in America, we see what a post covid music scene looks like as Asia and parts of Australia and New Zealand have already brought live music and festivals back to full capacity.

A sea of 10,000 fans at Ultra Taiwan. November 14, 2020

With a vaccine in place and readily available, the possibility of live music returning becomes greater and greater. With Live Nation festivals such as Bonnaroo already scheduled for the September, the return to normal seems to be right around the corner.

It is essential at this time to continue wearing masks and practice social distancing, and before we know it, we will be back in that crowd dancing and singing with our friends. We’ve made it eight months. We can make it a few more!