Was it all a dream? Did Sebastian Mullaert and Johanna Knutsson perform an all night long sleep concert inside a medieval church in Amsterdam? Is the recording getting released March 19th on World Sleep Day? What? This is an 8-hour long album release? Well.. YES! You aren't dreaming... or shall we say, not yet. Keep reading..
March 19th for World Sleep Day, Sebastian Mullaert and Johanna Knutsson invite you for a virtual collective dream experience. The 8hour ambient album will be premiering on YouTube Friday night 23h-07h CET. We hope you can tune in at the same time, and travel with the music through different states of consciousness.
Here follows a little guide for how we believe this journey is best experienced. Of course this is just a suggestion and feel free to adapt it to your own needs.
1. Make all your arrangements and preparations in good time before the streaming start.
2. You should not watch the stream on you tube but listen to it. It’s important that you only use the device to play the sound, turn the screen away so you can’t see it. If you are using your phone or tablet to listen make sure you have it in sleep mode (with wi fi on) and with all notifications turned off so you don’t get disturbed or distracted by the device during the sleep/dream journey.
3. Open Youtube and put in this link. If you prefer listening on another platform here is a smartlink with links to all streaming platforms.
4. Make sure that you are undisturbed during the entire 8 hours. If you live together with other people it’s recommended that you communicate this when them and let them know that it’s important for you that you are not disturbed. Same goes for online friends, if they are used to you always responding quickly they might be worried if they don’t hear from you.
5. Check the volume on your sound system. The idea is not to play this music loud but rather on a quiet low volume. We like to see the music and sounds as an extra dimension in your physical and psychological room. It should tickle you it should not smack you in the face.
6. Prepare your bed so you can lay down comfortable in the position that you prefer to fall asleep in. We suggest to lay down on your back in the so called Shavasana posture. It’s no problem if you move posture during the 8 hour journey.
7. Don’t eat directly before going to bed, it’s recommend to eat a couple of hours before going to bed, but you should not be hungry either.
8. Make all your toilet needs before going to bed.
9. Prepare a bottle of water and a couple of fruits, if you get thirsty or very hungry during the journey.
10. Make a cup of tea, bring it to where you’re going to listen. Drink it mindfully and put your intention towards the journey to come. Most of us have busy lives full of activities and plans, tell yourselves that it’s not time for that now. All these things will probably come and knock on your door in form of thoughts, feelings or even physical sensations. Don’t push them away but don’t invite them … now it’s time to just lay down, listen, and float in whatever experience that you might have. 11. If you have a mediation or mindfulness practice that you like and are used to you can do that exercise before the stream starts. It is also fine just to lay down and relax into your potion and your breathing, possibly do a body scan. There are many examples of this on the internet, here is one.
12. When listening to the music just let it be there, don’t try to feel it, don’t try to understand it, don’t try to compare it with other things … just allow your experience to float.
13. Don’t try to stay awake, don’t try to fall asleep. You can enter this sleep concert many times and will probably experience different things every time.
14. And a final little suggestion; don’t check your phone or write things down during these 8 hours.
15. Close your eyes.
16. Enjoy!
With love, Johanna & Sebastian
