Mindfulness and music share a quiet kinship: both ask us to slow down, to be present, and to listen deeply.
The right piece of music can be more than background sound—it can become a vessel for stillness, awareness, and a kind of meditative clarity. Across centuries and genres, composers have sought to create works that invite contemplation, from the serene medieval chants of Hildegard von Bingen to the crystalline minimalism of Arvo Pärt.
These pieces aren’t simply 'relaxing'; they create space for the mind to breathe, whether through sustained harmonies, slow-moving melodies, or luminous textures that seem to suspend time. In this list, we’ve gathered 11 exceptional works that can support mindfulness practice, deepen a moment of reflection, or simply provide a haven from the rush of everyday life. Put on headphones, close your eyes, and allow these sounds to open the door to stillness.
Best classical music for meditation and mindfulness
1. Arvo Pärt Spiegel im Spiegel (10")
Written for violin and piano (but often performed for cello and piano), this ten-minute piece from 1978 has become one of the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt's best-known works. It's composed using his signature tintinnabuli style, with a simple, beguiling melody unfolding over repeated triads. Slow and peaceful, it's an ideal piece for meditation. Its title means 'Mirror in the Mirror' - if that isn't a cue for reflection, we don't know what is...
2. Pauline Oliveros 'Suiren' (10")
The idea of 'deep listening' was, according to the American improviser and composer who came up with the term, 'listening in every possible way to everything possible to hear no matter what one is doing'. Pauline Oliveros also liked a pun: her Deep Listening album was recorded in a disused cistern four metres underground.
3. Hildegard von Bingen O Vis Aeternitatis (8")
Translating as 'O power within eternity', this is one of the responsories (basically call-and-response psalms) written by the great 12th-century German composer, poet and mystic Hildegard von Bingen. O vis aeternitatis unfolds in slow, luminous arcs, its chant melody floating freely without rhythmic constraint. The spaciousness invites deep, mindful listening, while the soaring lines seem to dissolve the boundary between earth and sky. Its timeless, unhurried beauty makes it a profoundly meditative experience, perfect for inward reflection.
4. Erik Satie 'Les Anges' (2")
The first of an early set of three songs published in 1887, Les Anges sets a poem by one of Erik Satie's friends, known as JP Contamine de Latour. The poem, set in a free-floating style, mentions 'angels hovering in the ether, floating lilies among the stars'.
5. John Luther Adams Songbirdsongs (38")
'These small songs are echoes of rare moments and places where the voices of birds have been clear and I have been quiet enough to hear,' says John Luther Adams. This environmental activist turned composer has brought the living world into the concert hall, and vice versa. If meditation is about paying attention to the world, these miniatures do just that.
6. John Cage Dream (5")
This misty piano piece by the great John Cage surrounds a dreamy melody in a soft cloud of resonance. This is created either by the sustaining pedal or holding on notes, as the performer wishes. It was written in 1948 for a work choreographed by Cage's partner, Merce Cunningham. We namechecked Cage and Cunningham as one of music's great romantic couples.
7. John Tavener Song for Athene (6")
Also known as 'Alleluia. May Flights of Angels Sing Thee to Thy Rest' features music by John Tavener and lyrics by an Orthodox nun, Mother Thekla. Sung a cappella, it's probably Tavener's most famous work, largely thanks to its performance at the funeral of Princess Diana.
The work's original dedicatee, however, was not Princess Di but Athene Hariades, a young half-Greek actress and family friend tragically killed in a cycling accident. Tavener, who said of Hariades that 'her beauty, both outward and inner, was reflected in her love of acting, poetry, music and of the Orthodox Church', composed this serene, meditative work after her funeral.
As well as incorporating works from the the Greek Orthodox funeral service, Tavener also incorporates words from Shakespeare's Hamlet, as he had heard Hariades reading Shakespeare in Westminster Abbey.
8. Debussy Images
Claude Debussy noted that he loved pictures almost as much as music, and much of his limpid, impressionistic music does convey, say, the play of light or water in the manner of his paintbrish-wielding compatriots Claude Monet, Edouard Manet and others. This is perhaps best heard in the six-movement suite Images, whose titles eloquently suggest the moods that the music conveys.
These range from evocations of reflections in water (‘Reflets dans l’eau’) to the sound of bells as heard through the trees (‘Cloches à travers les feuilles’). In terms of music for meditation and mindfulness, the abstract ‘Mouvement’ might do the job best, but in reality this is an exercise in calm and contemplation from beginning to end.
It's for music of such harmonic adventurousness and yet transcendental serenity that we named Debussy one of the greatest French composers, as well as one of the greatest composers of all time.
9. Beethoven 'Heiliger Dankgesang' (15"-20")
You might not be expecting Beethoven, whom so often we associate with music of struggle, energy, might and heroism, to crop up in a list of the best classical music for meditation and mindfulness. But there are many moments of great serenity, as well as of Titanic struggle or Promethean transformation, within the music of this great Romantic composer.
- 'Like nothing else in music': 20 Beethoven masterpieces you must hear
- Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony: four great recordings (and one to avoid)
One such is the slow movement of his String Quartet No. 15, Opus 132. Beethoven composed this (largely) tranquil movement after his recovery from a major illness of the intestine. At one time, this malady had looked to be fatal, so on his recovery he penned this hymn of thanks to God, which he called (deep breath) Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart.
Which translates (another deep breath) as 'Holy song of thanksgiving of a convalescent to the Deity', in the Lydian mode'. We're very glad you made a recovery, Ludwig - and that you left us music of such transcendent beauty as this.
10. Morton Feldman Rothko Chapel (30")
Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel (1971) mirrors the hushed, contemplative atmosphere of Mark Rothko’s paintings. Sparse percussion, gentle voices, and soft instrumental colours drift in suspended time, encouraging deep listening and mindfulness. Its slow-moving textures dissolve the boundaries between sound and silence, making it a profoundly meditative experience that invites stillness, introspection, and a heightened awareness of the present moment.
11. John Tavener The Protecting Veil (45")
We finish with John Tavener again, as he excels at this kind of luminous, meditative, deeply soothing music. The Protecting Veil (1987) is an expansive meditation for cello and strings, inspired by an Orthodox Marian feast. The cello’s long, singing lines seem to float timelessly, enveloped in luminous harmonies. Its slow unfolding and spiritual intensity encourage a deeply contemplative state, where each note feels like a prayer. A modern classic of sacred minimalism, it offers listeners a profound sense of peace and transcendence.
Pics: Getty Images
