House of LF presents – An Interview with MEYA founder Raffaele Ricci
Taking care of yourself and your body is crucial
What is stress awareness month
Stress Awareness Month is held every April to increase public awareness about both the causes of our modern stress epidemic and finding healthy ways to deal with these situations.
What can we do to manage stress
There are many tools we can use we manage stressful situations but taking care of yourself and your body is crucial. Eat healthy balanced meals, exercise regularly, get plenty of sleep, and give yourself a break if you feel stressed out. Techniques such as mediation and breathwork can help quiet the mind and bring us to the present moment. Meditation lowers the stress hormone cortisol, helps us sleep better, and rewires the brain with a host of positive emotional qualities. Music is also a reliable source of transformational experience for many, and we are attracted to music for the same reasons that meditators meditate. Music and meditation both allow a fuller and richer experience of our emotions and offer us an opportunity to inhabit the present moment more fully and meaningfully.
So, how can music specifically help reduce stress
In every culture, music has always been a tool to unite, inspire heal and elevate. Music in fact can be so much more than a form of entertainment or expression of the artist’s emotions or ideas about society. The emerging industry of music for wellbeing is rapidly changing the way we use music. Less about genre and more about mood and functionality. Music forces us to take a present-centred perspective on reality in order to engage with it. Whether it’s Debussy or deep house, to perceive a musical piece we have to follow each beat or note as it happens in real-time. This sense of being present feels good; not being present can even make us unhappy. One of the reasons we love music so much is that we can forget our troubles and just be. Immersed in sound and devoid of the usual angst of life, we perceive our world from a hyper-present flow state. Sound has the capacity to shift neurochemistry and neurobiology in a profound and unprecedented way, becoming a therapeutic and functional tool to get better sleep, relax, be more motivated and much more.
What are the benefits of music on the brain
Music helps relaxation by synchronizing our brain to our body, facilitating the release of oxytocin and dopamine, which is one of the happiness neurochemicals. It’s well known for being the brain’s “reward” drug of choice for encouraging actions that are good for reproduction and survival. Many studies have confirmed the benefits that music can provide to our general well-being. According to a recent 2021 research (2021 study) listening to music, reduced the level of cortisol, the stress hormone. Music also has a significant benefit in preventing burnout in stressful work environments. A 6-week study showed that listening to music for 30 minutes each day for a month decreases stress levels and prevents emotional exhaustion. A survey conducted in 2018 showed how music can also help you relax and stabilize sleep patterns. Listening to music activates the Default Mode Network in the brain increasing the neural connectivity patterns. This in turn helps draw a new form of attention and introspection, positively activating the mind.
How can we use music as an effective mental health tool
In the last few years, we have witnessed a surge in sound healing practices. Gong Bath, Singing Bowls, sound healing sessions are becoming very popular. And more and more these ancient practices are combined with modern technologies. For example, binaural Beats, a technology that by entrainment helps brainwaves to reach a relaxing or meditative state, are used to help focus at work or while studying or relaxing. Rhythmic entrainment is used in clubs and festivals by DJs to create a journey on the dance floor and is also used more often to reach a state of flow in meditation or while performing a task. Attempting to meditate in a nightclub may not be high on the list of recommended practices for monks and yogis, but maybe it should be: When you’re fully lost in music, you’re getting a taste of nirvana without any of the rigorous training. MEYA harnesses and infuses specific sound frequencies and rhythmic arrangements in its meditation practices in order to trigger the same peak moments top artists are renowned for. MEYA Music is recorded at 432hz and other healing frequencies, to induce relaxation and stimulate a feeling of harmony, improving sleep quality, mood, mental alertness, and memory, whilst reducing stress, anxiety and blood pressure. We capitalise on these benefits and leverage them to your advantage, merging them with multi-level brainwave entrainment to lure you into a deeply meditative state of immersion & self-connection.
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