What Is Nanomerism? A Path into Non-Dual Dynamism

I meditated on this name for a long time before I found it. It's what allowed me to define my music. But it's more than a genre, more than a style. It's a way of listening. (Ad break: you can listen to the new album "Nanomerism Non-Dual Dynamism" on your favorite platforms)

Nanomerism is a meditative listening practice. These days we're flooded with music, and because of that, almost no one takes the time to actually listen to it anymore. We take less and less time to learn it, too. And on the creation side, new technologies don't exactly promise a place for those who still want to write music "the old way."

But my idea is simple: music is meant to be listened to. And it goes further than it sounds. Being both a musician and a yogician, I've met so many people who listen with their minds, liking or disliking according to criteria, music critics, references, influencers, and so many things where we like or dislike before we've even heard a note. So many students, too, who practice their instrument with their minds, without taking any pleasure in it. And sometimes even musicians get in on it and mentalize the whole job.

But from where I stand, music doesn't stop at the ear. It reaches the cells, the musician's cells and the listener's cells. Our cells are alive, they respond, they emit. When you listen at that level, the music isn't over there anymore, on stage or in your headphones. It's happening inside you. And that's where music does something to us.

I've always thought that music only exists because it's listened to. The sound wave is physics, theory. Music, on the other hand, is a relationship. Without listening, there is no music!

The musician listens to it, the listener listens to it.

However, there aren't two musics, one played and one heard. There's a single event, and it happens through listening. The sound played is a stimulus. Music is what happens when that stimulus meets a body that receives it. One process, not two. And it isn't just one body: it's billions of cells that, inside that body, live this music.

What's more, you no longer know who is listening, or what is being listened to. The boundary between who emits and who perceives never settles. It never stops moving. (But I'm keeping this short, and I won't go into the details of whether it's the sound that's first perceived by the cell, or the cell that makes you perceive the sound. Smile.)

So, to keep it concise: it's the quality of the listening that defines what the music is. The same sound, listened to nanomeristically, isn't the same sound for two different people. The inner experience is never the same, and that, to me, is what's more missing today than ever. Even the same person, listening to the same piece twice in a row, can't have the same sensations if they listen with attention, with attention placed not on the music, but on what their cells emit and feel. It's not just a feeling, it's not just an emotion (our senses are limited), it's cellular: the number of cells involved makes it so there will always be a difference. That's when you start to truly be in connection with the music. All the listener's work is right there: learning to listen, learning to perceive. And I'm not even talking about the intensity and rhythm of the breathing, which play a part too, but that's for another day.

This is what I call Non-Dual Dynamism (non-dualité dynamique). A state, yes, but a state in constant renewal. A continuous process of mutual readjustment between sound and body. Each vibration changes the body's receptivity, which in turn reframes how the next vibration is perceived. Sound and body never stop responding to each other. Nothing settles. It is not a metaphysical transcendence, but a redefinition of the coordinates of listening.

Nanomerist music doesn't try to make you fall into the illusion of plenitude. It doesn't try to be beautiful and aseptic, calibrated. It isn't just background sound. It invites a reaction, a meditation, a taking stock of what we feel, without having to hold on to any of it. You observe what's happening. The experience is as it is, and it's perfect as it is.

In short, listening becomes an interactive cellular exploration, without going through the mind, without being inattentive. You listen, you feel, you observe.

I'm not saying it's easy. Just like a musician has to practice before they can play properly (no, really, I promise you), nanomerist listening is learned, or at least, it takes time. Actually, just by focusing on your breathing, you've already made a good start. Some listeners will interact with this invisible cellular world very easily; others less so. (Second ad break: if you'd like to know more, get in touch with us at DixMusique and DixYoga. We'll be happy to tell you more.)

My music is built on this principle. It guides the listener through their own listening. It could have tried to be as pretty as possible. It chose to try to be useful instead.

So lie down on the mat, or find yourself a good spot to sit comfortably, and happy listening.

About the author

Benoit Stasiaczyk is a composer and improviser, a music teacher and a certified Yoga Alliance yoga teacher. He is the founder of Nanomerism, a listening practice that makes Non-Dual Dynamism perceptible.