In June 2019, at the University of Birmingham in England, psychologist Damian Cruse invited 27 young adults to come to the lab, on separate occasions, and listen to the same clips from an audiobook of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Sitting alone, each donned headphones and electrocardiogram (EKG) equipment while a voice with a British accent recounted tales of a mysterious monster taking down ships. When researchers later compared volunteers’ heart rates, a curious phenomenon emerged: The heart rates of nearly two-thirds of the participants rose and fell together as the story progressed.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9295793/
Resources – Research
Study : Humming (brahmari pranayama) Reduces Stress
Humming (simple Bhramari) can be an effective stress-buster based on the assessment of several HRV parameters during its practice and in comparison with other activities. A regular daily humming routine can help enhance the parasympathetic nervous system and slow down sympathetic activation.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10182780/
Study : Birdsongs Alleviate Anxiety
The present study provides evidence for the beneficial effects of birdsongs on mood (depression, anxiety) and paranoid symptoms, with the latter being shown for the first time.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-20841-0
Kumare, the True Story of a False Prophet
An amazing documentary about people who are so desperate to believe anything that they fall for a false guru. The producer, Vikram Gandhi, does an amazing job at highlighting fallacies common in yoga world. A must watch for anyone in the spirituality industry, most especially yoga practitioners.
https://tubitv.com/movies/57197/kumare
Nature’s Health Benefits
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29982151/
Conclusions: Greenspace exposure is associated with numerous health benefits in intervention and observational studies. These results are indicative of a beneficial influence of greenspace on a wide range of health outcomes. However several meta-analyses results are limited by poor study quality and high levels of heterogeneity. Green prescriptions involving greenspace use may have substantial benefits. Our findings should encourage practitioners and policymakers to give due regard to how they can create, maintain, and improve existing accessible greenspaces in deprived areas. Furthermore the development of strategies and interventions for the utilisation of such greenspaces by those who stand to benefit the most.
The Health Benefits of Natural Sounds
Scientific study exploring the benefits of natural sounds. It demonstrates an overall positive result for most people, both when hearing the sounds inside or outside. Some sounds worked better for soothing nerves, such as water.
The overall mean effect size for health and positive affect outcomes was 1.63 (95% CI = 0.09, 3.16), corresponding to a 184% overall improvement in groups exposed to natural sounds relative to comparison groups (Fig. 1). The large variance in effect sizes was due to one study with particularly large effect sizes (28). The overall mean effect size for stress and annoyance outcomes was −0.60 (95% CI = −0.97, −0.23), corresponding to a 28% overall decrease in groups exposed to natural sounds relative to comparisons (Fig. 1).
https://www.pnas.org/content/118/14/e2013097118/tab-article-info
Music Therapy for People with Autism
“The findings of this updated review provide evidence that music therapy may help children with ASD to improve their skills in primary outcome areas that constitute the core of the condition including social interaction, verbal communication, initiating behaviour, and social‐emotional reciprocity. Music therapy may also help to enhance non‐verbal communication skills within the therapy context. Furthermore, in secondary outcome areas, music therapy may contribute to increasing social adaptation skills in children with ASD and to promoting the quality of parent‐child relationships. ”
Research & Articles about Health and Nature
A recent article in the Wallstreet Journal about health and nature prompted me to collect the cited studies for easy reading.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-better-health-during-the-pandemic-is-two-hours-outdoors-the-new-10-000-steps-11613304002
“Effect of park prescriptions with and without group visits to parks on stress reduction in low-income parents: SHINE randomized trial.”
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0192921
“Clinic and park partnerships for childhood resilience: A prospective study of park prescriptions.”
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1353829218306609?via=ihub
“Therapeutic effect of forest bathing on human hypertension in the elderly.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22948092/
“Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31197192/
“A day trip to a forest park increases human natural killer activity and the expression of anti-cancer proteins in male subjects”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20487629/
Accepting Negative Emotions and Thoughts
Negative emotions are what they are, and if they can arise, they can also pass. Acceptance and healing from trauma takes genuine time.
It takes longer when acting with a ‘positivity’ only mindset that ignores the larger picture and refuses to look at what else is happening within. This kind of mindset ignores the larger picture, and while seemingly good, is really a self-defeating control and manipulation mechanism. Positivity only thinking are like blinders, bigger questions need bigger solutions that face reality, its challenges and questions.
A deeper understanding is more compassionate, rather than imposing an emotional and mental dictate upon people who are already traumatized.
Understanding oneself and being true goes the distance to quieting the mind and soul. Acceptance is one aspect to genuine healing. Its the culmination of an introspection and discovery process which takes time until a person is able to truly ‘accept.’
Science agrees.
“These results suggest that individuals who accept rather than judge their mental experiences may attain better psychological health, in part because acceptance helps them experience less negative emotion in response to stressors. ”
How the Stomach is Connected to the Brain and Thought
“The sympathetic nervous system generates the “fight or flight” response — an involuntary response that sends more blood flow rushing to the muscles and the release of hormones to boost awareness and heart rate. It also reduces blood flow for digestion during stressful or life-threatening situations.
On the other hand, the parasympathetic nervous system also produces involuntary signals that maintain regular bodily functions such as digestion, normal breathing and the routine heartbeat.
As the study now reveals, these two limbs of autonomic control over the stomach are influenced by distinct cortical networks.
When it comes to trusting your gut, it already is well-established that the stomach and gut send “ascending” signals to the brain in a way that influences brain function. It helps to explain how the microbiome impacts brain function.
But the study has found that the “central nervous system both influences and is influenced by the gastrointestinal system.”
What people haven’t understood to date, Dr. Strick said, is that the brain also has “descending influences on the stomach” with various parts of the brain involved in that signaling, including those areas that control movement and emotions. ”
Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni – Ancient Building that Resonates at 111 hz.
An ancient, underground temple in Malta resonates at 111 hz, known as a ‘holy frequency.’ This frequency is vibrates thru the entire structure, not just in one room. The Saflieni era builders practiced earth and nature oriented rituals in alignment with celestial cycles.
https://interestingengineering.com/temples-resonates-frequency-111-hz
Schumann Frequencies, Solfeggio Frequencies, Earth Frequencies, Binaural Beats, the Sounds of the Planets, and Their Musical Notes.
When musical notes become more than musical notes, a confusing topic can become even more bewildering. This is a summary of unusual phrases found in mystical music theories and explored by science.
Schumann Frequencies are the measurement of Earths electromagnetic field. This is 7.8 Hz, the note would be B
The rotation of Earth on its Axis is a different frequency, the note G. – “5.114 half-steps below the C that is 24 octaves below middle C.”
The Frequency of Planets as they Orbit the Sun.
The orbit of Earth around the Sun, Aldi Mundi, is a “C sharp” placed 33 octaves below middle C.
Mercury – “C sharp” Venus – “A”, Earth (C sharp ), Mars (D), Jupiter (F sharp), Saturn (D), Uranus (G sharp), Neptune (G sharp) and Pluto (C sharp)
Here is a frequency to note calculator : Musical Frequency-Note Calculator
Solfeggio Frequences refers to changing the pitch of scales to frequencies believed to be resonant with nature. Harmonizing with natural law is supposed to allow a person to heal and be supported by the natural order and cycles of life, akin to the support a gear gets from being part of a larger machine. Except in this case, its organic, intuitive, and brings a person deep peace. In theory, solfeggio frequencies originated in the ancient world and have been newly rediscovered.
396 Hz – Liberating Guilt and Fear
417 Hz – Undoing Situations and Facilitating Change
528 Hz – Transformation and Miracles (DNA Repair)
639 Hz – Connecting/Relationships
741 Hz – Expression/Solutions
852 Hz – Returning to Spiritual Order
BinAural Beats
Different frequencies (tones) are sent to the left and right audio channels. When the brain hears both frequencies, it hears one consistent, rhythmic frequency, known as a binaural beat(s). This is best experienced with headphones, yet can still be experienced with high fidelity audio.
Great Description of the Science behind Binaural Beats
How Sound Becomes Light
Simply multiple the frequency and sound vibration becomes light.
3-Hz Binaural Beats Effect on Delta Sleep
“These findings suggested that the 3-Hz binaural beat on a 250-Hz carrier tone can be used to modulate sleep stage by decreasing the latency to the N3 stage, extending the N3 duration, and reducing the N2 duration without sleep disturbance and sleep fragmentation, while increasing the quality of sleep in this study is also associated slow wave sleep in which is related to memory consolidation and other regulation of the body; and the 3-Hz binaural beat can enhance power of delta activity during sleep. ”
Vital Lung Capacity in Relation to Heart & Lung Health
“Vital capacity as a predictor of cardiovascular disease according to the Framingham study.” Source : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/000287038390532X
Another way of saying this is lung capacity, elasticity, and the ability to breath well has a direct influence on heart health.
What is vital capacity ?
Vital capacity (VC) is the maximum amount of air a person can expel from the lungs after a maximum inhalation. It is equal to the sum of inspiratory reserve volume, tidal volume, and expiratory reserve volume. It is approximately equal to Forced Vital Capacity (FVC).
Custom Tailored Music Demonstrated to Ease Tinnitus
Abstract : Maladaptive auditory cortex reorganization may contribute to the generation and maintenance of tinnitus. Because cortical organization can be modified by behavioral training, we attempted to reduce tinnitus loudness by exposing chronic tinnitus patients to self-chosen, enjoyable music, which was modified (“notched”) to contain no energy in the frequency range surrounding the individual tinnitus frequency. After 12 months of regular listening, the target patient group (n = 8) showed significantly reduced subjective tinnitus loudness and concomitantly exhibited reduced evoked activity in auditory cortex areas corresponding to the tinnitus frequency compared to patients who had received an analogous placebo notched music treatment (n = 8). These findings indicate that tinnitus loudness can be significantly diminished by an enjoyable, low-cost, custom-tailored notched music treatment, potentially via reversing maladaptive auditory cortex reorganization.
https://www.pnas.org/content/suppl/2009/12/18/0911268107.DCSupplemental
https://www.pnas.org/content/107/3/1207.abstract
Violinist Plays Violin During Her Own Brain Surgery
London (AFP) – A violinist helped surgeons avoid damage to her brain during surgery to remove a tumour by playing her instrument, the UK hospital where she underwent the innovative procedure said.
The Neurochemistry of Music
“Music is used to regulate mood and arousal in everyday
life and to promote physical and psychological health
and well-being in clinical settings. However, scientific
inquiry into the neurochemical effects of music is still
in its infancy. In this review, we evaluate the evidence
that music improves health and well-being through the
engagement of neurochemical systems for (i) reward,
motivation, and pleasure; (ii) stress and arousal;
(iii) immunity; and (iv) social affiliation. We discuss
the limitations of these studies and outline novel
approaches for integration of conceptual and technological advances from the fields of music cognition and
social neuroscience into studies of the neurochemistry
of music.”
https://daniellevitin.com/levitinlab/articles/2013-TICS_1180.pdf
80 Year Long Study Discovers Secrets to Longevity and Happiness
“Over the years, researchers have studied the participants’ health trajectories and their broader lives, including their triumphs and failures in careers and marriage, and the finding have produced startling lessons, and not only for the researchers.
“The surprising finding is that our relationships and how happy we are in our relationships has a powerful influence on our health,” said Robert Waldinger, director of the study, a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “Taking care of your body is important, but tending to your relationships is a form of self-care too. That, I think, is the revelation.”
Brain Connectivity and Human Response to Musical Aesthetics
In Summary, Musicians have more neurons in the emotional and social processing areas of their brains … music = emotional intelligence.
“Using a combination of survey data, behavioral and psychophysiological measures and diffusion tensor imaging, we found that white matter connectivity between sensory processing areas in the superior temporal gyrus and emotional and social processing areas in the insula and medial prefrontal cortex explains individual differences in reward sensitivity to music.
Our findings provide the first evidence for a neural basis of individual differences in sensory access to the reward system, and suggest that social–emotional communication through the auditory channel may offer an evolutionary basis for music making as an aesthetically rewarding function in humans.”
Source : https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/11/6/884/2223400
Christian Yoga Existed in Medieval Europe
Julian (or Juliana) of Norwich, also known as Dame Julian or Mother Julian (late 1342 – after 1416) was an English anchorite of the Middle Ages. She wrote the earliest surviving book in the English language to be written by a woman, Revelations of Divine Love.
She reached God through a form of body prayer through self-guided motion.
Body prayer had four poses, Await, Allow, Accept and Attend.
Await, is the first posture of receiving, held with cupped hands extended at the waist, palms up, to receive the presence of God.
Allow, is the second posture of opening, reaching up with the hands and extending through the arms.
Accept, the third posture, receives whatever comes in life, with hands cupped at the heart.
Attend, the final posture, extends the hands and opens the palms with willingness to receive and act on what has been revealed.
Sources :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_of_Norwich
Julian of Norwich: Armstrong, Karen, Visions Of God (1994) Bantam Books
Try Body Prayer yourself: Jewett, Ethan Alexander, The Body Prayer of Julian of Norwich, (2012)
Effects of Rosary Prayer and Mantra on the Heart
Objective
To test whether rhythmic formulas such as the rosary and yoga mantras can synchronise and reinforce inherent cardiovascular rhythms and modify baroreflex sensitivity.
Design
Comparison of effects of recitation of the Ave Maria (in Latin) or of a mantra, during spontaneous and metronome controlled breathing, on breathing rate and on spontaneous oscillations in RR interval, and on blood pressure and cerebral circulation.
Results
Both prayer and mantra caused striking, powerful, and synchronous increases in existing cardiovascular rhythms when recited six times a minute. Baroreflex sensitivity also increased significantly, from 9.5 (SD 4.6) to 11.5 (4.9) ms/mm Hg, P<0.05.
Conclusion
Rhythm formulas that involve breathing at six breaths per minute induce favourable psychological and possibly physiological effects.
What is already known on this topic
Reduced heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity are powerful and independent predictors of poor prognosis in heart disease
Slow breathing enhances heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity by synchronising inherent cardiovascular rhythms
What this study adds
Recitation of the rosary, and also of yoga mantras, slowed respiration to almost exactly 6/min, and enhanced heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity
The rosary might be viewed as a health practice as well as a religious practice."
Source : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC61046/
Musical Thanatology – Music for Transforming the Dying Experience
“During a music vigil, the music thanatologist offers music in a prescriptive way. With careful attention to the patient’s vital signs and physiological needs, he or she adjusts the elements of music — such as melody, phrasing and rhythm — to provide an individually-tailored response. The goal of a music vigil is to relieve suffering and to bring beauty and comfort to the dying process.”
Source : https://www.nextavenue.org/music-dying/
Source : https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/palliative-and-supportive-care/article/family-members-views-on-the-benefits-of-harp-music-vigils-for-terminallyill-or-dying-loved-ones/9DC5385B43774ADB21603CD789F2E0B1
Source : https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/104990910602300206
A Neuroscientist Explores the “Sanskrit Effect” – How Mantra Increases Cognitive Function
“We studied a group of verbal memory specialists to determine whether intensive oral text memory is associated with structural features of hippocampal and lateral-temporal regions implicated in language processing. Professional Vedic Sanskrit Pandits in India train from childhood for around 10years in an ancient, formalized tradition of oral Sanskrit text memorization and recitation, mastering the exact pronunciation and invariant content of multiple 40,000-100,000 word oral texts. We conducted structural analysis of gray matter density, cortical thickness, local gyrification, and white matter structure, relative to matched controls. We found massive gray matter density and cortical thickness increases in Pandit brains in language, memory and visual systems, including i) bilateral lateral temporal cortices and ii) the anterior cingulate cortex and the hippocampus, regions associated with long and short-term memory. Differences in hippocampal morphometry matched those previously documented for expert spatial navigators and individuals with good verbal working memory. The findings provide unique insight into the brain organization implementing formalized oral knowledge systems.”
Source : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26188261
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/a-neuroscientist-explores-the-sanskrit-effect/
Ostinatos, Early Western Repeated Rythmic Patterns
“Ostinato, (Italian: “obstinate”, )plural Ostinatos, or Ostinati, in music, short melodic phrase repeated throughout a composition, sometimes slightly varied or transposed to a different pitch. A rhythmic ostinato is a short, constantly repeated rhythmic pattern. Ostinatos appear in Western composition from the 13th century onward, as in the motet Emendemus in melius (Let Us Change for the Better) by Cristóbal de Morales (c. 1500–53) and in the Concerto, Opus 38 (first performed 1925), of Paul Hindemith. Use of an ostinato was particularly common in 16th-century dance pieces, notably in the bass line, where it is called a basso ostinato, or ground bass (q.v.). A single-pitch ostinato governs the “Scarbo” movement in Maurice Ravel’s piano work Gaspard de la nuit (1908).”
https://www.britannica.com/art/ostinato
Ostinao Midi Files – https://www.d.umn.edu/~jrubin1/JHR%20MIDI%20downloads.htm
Free Online Lamp Making Course
https://www.instructables.com/class/Lamps-Class/
Improvisational Music and Depression Study
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6489303/
“Improvisational music therapy is suitable for basically all client groups without the need for specific musical training, and can be successfully applied even when one’s ability for verbal expression is limited [13, 14]. Any adult with normally developed cognitive skills and abstract thinking is able to connect symbolic and experience-based mental contents to their musical expression in clinical improvisations. They are also able to verbalise, in other words to further process, their music-based experiences and to interpret these experiences in the light of their current life situation [15].”
“The special potential of music to facilitate the processing of complex negative emotions is supported by music psychology research. Music listening has been shown to induce complex emotional experiences [22, 23], and to support elaborate self-regulatory processing of sometimes difficult, personal emotional states in everyday life [24]. Furthermore, music is often characterised—somewhat paradoxically—by pleasurable experiences of difficult emotions, such as sadness [25]. It has been argued that the enjoyment of sadness in music is explained by the capacity of music to allow simultaneous absorption, yet dissociation, from the affective content [26, 27]. Music characteristically allows access to various degrees of emotional nuances and intensities with simultaneous self-reflection, detachment, and elaborative awareness of these emotional nuances [28], supporting both experience and conceptual awareness of feelings [29]. Overall, the findings support the idea that music holds special potential for the self-reflective processing of complex, difficult, and even painful emotions.”
Cardiac Coherence, Self-Regulation, and Well Being
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4179616/
“In this article we discuss the perspective that one’s ability to self-regulate the quality of feeling and emotion of one’s moment-to-moment experience is intimately tied to our physiology, and the reciprocal interactions among physiological, cognitive, and emotional systems. These interactions form the basis of information processing networks in which communication between systems occurs through the generation and transmission of rhythms and patterns of activity. Our discussion emphasizes the communication pathways between the heart and brain, as well as how these are related to cognitive and emotional function and self-regulatory capacity.”
Theories of Biological Immortality
“Biological Immortality”, is the phenomenon happens when a species reaches a state where it ceases to age, or no longer experiences a further loss of physiological function. Rose suggests humans also experience a biological immortality phase if they are able to live long enough. “You can die, but the idea here is that you are non-aging,” Rose said, “versus aging with a decline of survival likelihood under good conditions.”
https://www.kurzweilai.net/how-to-achieve-biological-immortality-naturally
https://www.kurzweilai.net/
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy organizes scholars from around the world in philosophy and related disciplines to create and maintain an up-to-date reference work.