More about: NAO

Singer and songwriter NAO is taking the helm of the new Music and Meditation Podcast on BBC Sounds. As a musician who is regularly capable of creating lush and warm soundscapes, she’s an obvious pick as a host. The episodes invite meditation experts for a chat and a guided meditation, while incorporating immersive, calming music into the mix.

As someone with a personal relationship with meditation, the podcast offered an excellent chance for NAO to spread the word on the positive impact it has had on her life. We spoke to NAO for a round of questions, to find out everything about the Music and Meditation podcast, and some of the self-healing topics it will cover.

GW: How did the idea for the podcast originally come about?

NAO: I was actually approached by the BBC about the Music and Meditation podcast. They hit me up and asked me if it would be something I’d be interested in doing, but it really sparked my interest because I’ve been meditating for about two years, and really got into it for the last ten months.

I wake up every morning, I meditate for 20 to 40 minutes, and it has given me so many benefits and rewards. So when they hit me up, it was the perfect timing. I was like, ‘do you guys know that I meditate?’ Haha! So it felt like the perfect thing to do because I believe in it so much and I’m willing to be in a position to share my experience.

The Music and Meditation podcast will cover a different theme every week, could you run through a few of the things you’ll be looking to focus on, and why you feel these are important?

I think one of my favourites is the body positivity episode. I had never thought about how you can use meditation, not just for mindfulness and connecting to yourself, but also to work through issues and traumas.

When I interviewed Megan Jayne Crabbe, who is a body positivity Instagram legend and author, we spoke about how we’re going to use meditation to unpick some of the messaging that we’ve got around our bodies, especially when it comes to diet culture and how our bodies should look. That is life changing!

We also cover anxiety, which I think a lot of people can resonate with and might definitely experience at some point in their life. We talk about loneliness as well, which is definitely a leftover effect from the pandemic, and we talk about heartbreak too, which is a favourite subject of mine - I love to write about it in my music, haha! So those are just a few of the themes we cover.

You’ve mentioned Megan Jayne Crabbe, who are some of the other guests who will be featured on the podcast that you are particularly excited about?

I really love my episode with Michael James Wong, he’s the first episode that you’ll listen to. He’s got a really beautiful voice, his meditations are like poetry. 

I also loved the episode that I did on heartbreak with Alex Elle, we got into some deep stuff there. I've been following her for years and she’s been a really important person for the mental health and wellbeing community, especially for people of colour. 

The podcast of course involves music a lot, how do you think music and meditation can complement one another?

I think that music helps me to block out the outside world. For me, it instantly tunes me into myself. Like, I can’t hear the sirens outside the window, you know, I can’t hear my boyfriend running up and down the stairs, haha! I think it’s the perfect way to block out the world and get into yourself.

Not only that, but music at certain frequencies just puts your body into a calm state, and then with a guided meditation on top, I feel like the two are perfect medicine together.

Can you tell me a little bit more about your personal journey with meditation and why it’s important to you?

I got into meditation mostly through word of mouth, through my friends talking about it. I was curious, so I started using apps like Headspace, and then Calm, which I think is a really incredible app. 

I was doing meditation on-and-off; in times of anxiety or high stress I would use it more, and then when I felt alright I would use it less. I was almost not giving credit to how important it was for helping with my anxiety.

Then, I got a condition called chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as M.E. Meditation has been a really important part of my recovery for that. I’ve gone from being bed bound, not really having the energy to get through the day; incorporating meditation has really helped to rewire my nervous system.

Seeing where I was, like, last September, to where I am now - I can get through a whole day looking after my daughter and not feel completely exhausted, I can wake up from an eight hour sleep and not feel like I’ve had two! Meditation has been a massive part of that, so now I do it every day. 

When I’m fully recovered, I will still do it, because of how beneficial it has been for me in this time.

Circling back a little to the music aspects of the podcast, what music choices might you go to for a place of calm in times of stress or difficulty?

One particular artist that I’ve been going to recently is Moses Sumney. His music for me feels really meditative. He can use his voice in a high range, but most of the time his music is just really still. It’s quite cinematic. For me, that’s my number one go-to, just to feel relaxed and chilled out.

Do you have a particular goal in mind for what the podcast will achieve? What would you like the podcast to offer to its listeners?

I hope that the podcast answers any questions for people that are curious about meditation but haven’t yet taken the dive. I try to explore not just meditation, but some of the fears and apprehension around meditation.

I hope to answer people’s fears and anxieties around meditation and just give them the space to give it a go! 

What I like about the podcast is the idea of an instant, go-to resource for mental wellbeing. Do you think the podcast format is useful in terms of accessibility?

I think the most important thing about the podcast that me and the producers addressed was that, above all, listeners have immediate access if they just want to do the meditations, they can dive into that straight away. On the BBC Sounds app, we have the meditations on their own, just ten minutes, in-and-out.

If you’re like ‘I’m getting really anxious today’, there’s the episode on anxiety, you can get straight into that. If you feel like ‘my heart is broken’, or, ‘I can’t even leave the house right now!’, just try ten minutes of meditation and see if you can put one foot outside the door. 

The Music and Meditation podcast is available now as a boxset on BBC Sounds and will broadcast weekly on Radio 3. 

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More about: NAO