How listening to music can relieve stress

Music for stress relief

Music for stress relief

I’m a music junkie. I almost always have music playing in the house. I have a million different songs attached to a million different memories throughout the years. Some of my favorite music memories are when my kids and I used to have kitchen dance parties in the afternoons after school to music {cranked to 11}!

Oh, and I have OPINIONS about music too…but…that’s another topic for another day…and has NOTHING to do with mindfulness…haha!

Music can affect your mood. It can get you in the mood to dance; it can move you to tears, give you the chills, or calm your nerves. Let’s look at two different aspects of music: mindfulness of music, and music to relieve stress.

Mindfulness and Music:

Students often ask me if they can listen to music while meditating…and my answer is “it depends.”

Music can be incredibly distracting when you are meditating. If you intend to focus on your breath while meditating, then listening to music at the same time isn’t a great idea.

HOWEVER, I encourage you to practice a listening meditation where the music becomes your focus of awareness.

Try paying attention on purpose to the music:

• Notice the different instruments and their varied sounds.

• Notice the rhythm, the harmony…

• Notice the way the music makes you feel. Experiment with different types of music.

• Are you able to feel any body-sensations (heart rate increase, sense of calm, sense of excitement)?

• If you are listening to a familiar song, do you notice anything new?

When practicing a music meditation, keep bringing your attention back to the music. If you find yourself taking a walk down memory lane, or noticing yourself tuning out, gently bring your awareness back to the music. The purpose of a music meditation is not to relax, even though it might bring you to a relaxed state (depending on what type of music you are listening to).

Let’s discover how music can help to relieve stress.

Music for Stress Relief:

Music can help reduce cortisol levels! You might know cortisol..it’s a primary stress hormone that’s great for helping you in an emergency situation but can wreak havoc on your body if you have it hanging around for long lengths of time.

A study was done in 2011 that showed that patients not only had lower amounts of cortisol but also required less sedative when they listened to music before and during surgery. I love it when something seemingly woo-woo is backed by a scientific study!

Another study had subjects either listen to relaxing music, listen to the sound of rippling water, or simply rest without listening to anything, and had these results:

“Our findings indicate that music listening impacted the psychobiological stress system. Listening to music prior to a standardized stressor predominantly affected the autonomic nervous system (in terms of a faster recovery), and to a lesser degree the endocrine and psychological stress response. These findings may help better understanding the beneficial effects of music on the human body.”

There are plenty more studies to discover, as well.

I recommend:

I recently discovered music created by Carl Bartlett Jr. Carl is an award-winning saxophonist. Carl's company, Serene New You, helps people to overcome their stress and anxiety and be in the present moment, via unique and restorative relaxation music featuring Carl on all saxophones and rain sticks. Let me tell you…it’s DEEPLY relaxing!

He has new music dropping on April 27th, 2021. If you want to get a 20% off the $15 price, sign up for my email list between now and the release date! I’ll be sending out an email letting you know how to get your coupon code.

If you want to listen to samples of Carl’s music, click HERE. He has a ton of testimonials too….you can watch them HERE.

Interested in learning about mindful meditation? Check out some of the services I provide!

From my home studio in Tampa Bay I offer yoga and meditation classes (both personal andfor the workplace), as well asmindfulness intensives.

If you’re not in the Tampa Bay area I have monthly online meditations available through Zoom.

Be sure to follow me @lotusheartmindfulness on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest for more mindfulness inspiration!