Music and your Mental Health

I think that we are all specially connected to music and can find comfort in it. When we were carried in our mother’s womb we heard her heartbeat and have probably been innately affected by rhythm ever since.

Rhythm

When we tune in to sound or tap into a rhythm I think it can take us to a place of safety and healing where we can switch off from the stresses and strains of life outside. This is good to know as the factor of stress has been widely cited as influencing our mental health and even sometimes bringing on a crisis.

Soundtrack to our lives!

Music has such a presence. It can be like a soundtrack to our life. What would a film be like without its musical soundtrack? Some people work or study with music playing, some people find it helpful to walk through town with headphones on and some people turn to music to consciously relax and rest. I think that it can be a lovely idea to have a personal playlist or songbook of our favourite songs and pieces of music to reflect our different moods and states of mind. It is good to keep on working on this through good times and bad. It is a good thing to identify or search out the pieces of music or songs that make us happy, that help us when we feel sad, that we can relax into or concentrate with.

Your mental health

For help with mental health I think that it is nice to know that music is perfectly harmless and that it really doesn’t matter how long we listen for. As some addictions are very harmful or worrying it is good to know that here is one that can be indulged in to our heart’s content! And there’s always more music to explore. There is power in music. It can change the way we feel or think. It has been said that if we listen to a piece of music by Mozart for example that it can actually temporarily alter the functioning of the brain and boost the IQ. This is known as the Mozart Effect. And babies can be soothed and lulled to sleep by gentle strains of music. We, as living beings, are constantly vibrating in a subtle sense and so if we tune in to the vibration of a pure or uplifting piece of music it can change our own frequency!

Connection

If we are able to make music with an instrument or our voice it can be so beneficial to make use of this gift to help with our mental health. So many people have benefited from joining a choir, joining a drumming circle, singing in church, singing in the shower or learning to play an instrument. Or sometimes it is nice to sing along to a catchy song with somebody else. It can help us to connect. And deeper connection is great for mental health recovery. I really think that music is something we can always turn to in times of mental health difficulty or distress and be helped by. It is a friend. It can nurture us and help us and keep us broadening our horizons.