In ancient Greece, Plato wrote that “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.”
Music is an ancient and powerful universal language. Hunters imitated the sound of animals from prehistoric times. Troops were rallied to battles to the beats of drums. Music is also one of the oldest healing and calming tools: from the lullabies that send children to sleep, to the sacred hymns in cathedrals and holy places uplifting the spirit of the worshippers.
Music activates both the left and right brain, maximizing learning and improving memory. It also has the power to improve mood, as it can help access a range of different emotions and feelings. Think of a time when a tune on the radio reminded you of happy memories and your favorite people. Music has the power to soothe or uplift you, reducing anxiety, as well as regulating blood pressure and heart rate. Finally, music has a profound impact in increasing pain tolerance in patients and speeding up their recovery times. It even seems to enhance infants’ growth rate in NICUs.
With all the evidence confirming the healing effects of music, how can we, as professionals, use the magic of music to navigate the work and life challenges?
1. Listen to Calming Music
Stress can be induced for many different reasons from worrying about meeting a deadline, to getting stuck in traffic, to being surrounded with clutter.
Calming music is a powerful and inexpensive tool to get your mind off stress and focus on the tasks and responsibilities at hand. Choose tunes and curated music that keep you awake, but won’t cause you to start moving and reacting to the beat or the lyrics.
If you can, enjoy an outside lunch with a nice view and your favorite calming music.
2. Let Your Body Move to the Music
Moving your body to music has many proven mental health benefits, from boosting self-esteem to enhancing cognitive processing.
This practice is very simple. You can make rhythmic movements part of your daily routine in the morning, or during your mid-day break: Put on your most favorite hits and dance away. Another option is to close your eyes, bend your knees gently and let your body feel loose like a stuffed toy. Then simply move in whatever your body feels like moving for a few minutes.
3. Do an Energy-Cleaning Practice to Music
If you have received a lot of negative energy from others in a meeting or during the day, this practice helps clear the toxic vibrations out of your body. Put on a healing tune like rhythmic drum, chanting, flutes, or nature sounds. Shake your arms and legs to the music. Circle your neck to one side and then to the other side, making half-circles with your head. This method is very helpful to move built-up tension out of your body, and end a stress cycle or a panic.
4. Learn to Play a Musical Instrument
Playing an instrument is one of the best ways to improve memory, enhance perseverance and coordination. But perhaps one of the most important benefits of learning to play music for a professional is the impact it has on refining time management and organizational skills.
If you can play an instrument, you have a great opportunity to express your artistic side, connect with others and distract yourself from any sources of stress and anxiety. If you don’t already play an instrument, it’s never to late to start. There are many resources available online that can give you a head-start.
5. Sing to Your Favorite Tune
Human voice was the first known source of music. It is believed that as soon as speech evolved, humans began augmenting words with tonal pitch and vocal tricks such as clicks, whistles and humming.
Singing is one of the coolest means of expression. It can be used as a vocal warm-up before public speaking to help calm your nerves and relax your jaw muscles. Research has also shown that singing can be good for your mental health. It has the capacity to lower stress, boost immunity and lung function and enhance memory and focus. Whether you are a shower singer, sing on stage, or hum to your favorite tunes on the way to work or while working, we can agree that singing does make you feel good.
6. Practice Humming Meditation
Humming meditation is a practice of conscious humming. This method extends exhalation, allowing the diaphragm to hug the vagus nerve, the main nerve of your parasympathetic nervous system. Humming meditation calms down the nervous system and sends the body to rest and relaxation.
Simply sit upright on the floor, on a chair or the edge of your bed, cross-legged or with your feet flat on the floor. Inhale deeply and exhale out a long and slow hum. Continue humming for a few minutes.
Music has such a profound impact on our emotions, feelings, and bodies. With the customized access and search capabilities of new technology and internet, we can focus our attention on music that already matches our specific mood and preferences to maximize the benefits.
Music is everywhere – it has become a fundamental part of our lives as much as the air we breathe or the food we consume.
Why not start with putting on your headphones, closing your eyes and listening to some soothing music.