Srinagar, Oct 09: German piano meditation expert Jannik Boger is set to bring his music-based approach to emotional wellbeing to Kashmir early next year, using improvised melodies to help people explore stress, fear and sadness.
Boger, founder of Flow Academy in Germany, believes music can create space for emotional expression and reflection, offering people an opportunity to pause amid the constant flow of thoughts and reconnect with their feelings.
“When I play, I don’t exactly have the idea what to play, but when I play, it comes from within,” Boger told Rising Kashmir in an online interview, describing how his piano sessions develop spontaneously, often beginning with melancholic tunes before moving through different emotional moods.
“I play some tunes which have the power to regulate the nervous system,” he said.
At Flow Academy, the approach centres on emotional regulation, helping people recognise and work through difficult feelings such as stress, fear and sadness. Rather than following a fixed musical composition, Boger allows the melodies to emerge in the moment, creating an experience shaped by the music and the listener’s response. He said that despite cultural differences between India and Germany, people in both countries experience similar emotional challenges.
“There are so many differences between people of India and Germany, like food and culture, but some mental health issues, like stress, seem quite similar. Sadness and fear are something similar,” he said.
Boger said he had observed that around 25 per cent of people attending his piano meditation sessions cried while listening. He views such responses as possible expressions of emotions that people may find difficult to articulate.
He compared the experience to someone remembering a deceased mother, with a melody bringing grief and memories to the surface.
However, crying is not in itself evidence of a therapeutic benefit, and individual responses to music vary. Music-based meditation may provide an opportunity for relaxation and reflection, but it should not be considered a replacement for professional mental healthcare. Boger said he was excited to visit Kashmir and give people an opportunity to experience piano meditation first-hand.
“I am excited to come to Kashmir early next year, where people can experience for themselves what piano meditation is. Let people of Kashmir feel the difference themselves, how it feels to be in a different state of consciousness, how soothing it is for the brain, which is always full of thoughts,” he said.
The proposed visit aims to introduce local audiences to his approach to music and emotional wellbeing, allowing participants to experience the sessions and reflect on their own responses. Details of the programme, including the venue and dates, are yet to be announced. The proposed visit is part of a broader effort to promote conversations around mental health through awareness events and workshops.
Mumbai-based Reetu Asrani is launching a series of mental health awareness programmes, beginning with an event featuring Boger.
“We are so eager to be in Kashmir. It will be a mega event,” Asrani told Rising Kashmir.
The initiative seeks to create opportunities for people to engage with different approaches to emotional wellbeing and mental health awareness.
For Boger, piano meditation offers a way to slow down, listen and make space for emotions that often remain unspoken. His planned visit will bring that approach to Kashmir, where audiences will have an opportunity to experience the sessions and explore the relationship between music, emotions and mental wellbeing.
