Music listening

We are a sleep deprived society. Research outlines the cost of inadequate sleep to our mental and physical health, our immune functioning and the cost to workplaces. The recommendations for a good sleep routine are well documented.  However the benefits of music listening for improved physiological relaxation and sleep are less known. Find out how music listening may be your ticket to a better night’s sleep.

Creating playlists for fun, to exercise and support us through hard times has always been a great thing to do. You might not think about it much, but your music playlist impacts your mood, your thoughts and your body. And if you're having a hard time, it's worth noticing if the music you listen to is helping.... or not.

It’s a big claim, but think about all the times of need you have turned to music ... in times of heartbreak, teenage angst, weddings, funerals, setting the scene for a party (at the beginning and at the end of the night), for graduations, for religious services, and on and on.

World Kindness Day has been celebrated on 13 November since the late 90s. With so much distress in the world right now, we all need a little kindness now more than ever. This playlist has been created by many different health professionals from a range of medical, allied health and community service backgrounds. The intention is to find support for ourselves and others, particularly within our overstretched healthcare systems around the country. Here's to creating kinder workplaces for workers and better outcomes for people accessing healthcare services.

More and more it seems to me that connection is the key to creating a world of kindness, compassion and positive change. In an increasingly disconnected world, it can be really hard to stay connected, particularly when times are tough. Since the beginning of humanity we have turned to music and art to comfort, soothe, mourn, unite and celebrate. For those days when feeling seen, heard and understood by others feel far away, music and art help us to connect to ourselves, to human experience, and to the world around us.

Healthcare workers are passionate, caring folk. With a diminished workforce worldwide, overloaded systems and reduced resources, it is no wonder we are all feeling stretched and compromised in the face of the ensuing moral distress. It is important to address the wider systemic issues but we also need to do small things to care for ourselves and each other day to day. One solution? A feel-good music playlist - have a listen and share with anyone who may need a boost!

With Mother's Day coming up this weekend, I'm thinking about the importance of comfort. What are the songs or music that you turn to when you need some comfort? When I asked people in my community this question, they generously shared their favourites. I have compiled these into two lists: one for songs and another for music. Music is a very personal thing - I hope these songs and music will invite you to listen and be comforted, or if these pieces are not for you, to create you own comfort playlist.

The bulk of healthcare, education and the care and support sector is comprised of women. Despite the providing the backbone and sustenance of our society, these areas remain under-resourced and under enormous strain. In recent discussions in our Creative Embodied Supervision Groups here at Tempo, discussions have explored the frustrations of working within a patriarchal system: as women, how do we stand up for ourselves? how do we unlearn internalised misogyny? how do we back ourselves? There are many paths to these answers. These songs are offered in support of this quest - thank you to these strong songwriters and performers for your support and inspiration.

Art and music have whispered, wailed and shaken into us the secrets of what it is to be human ever since we have had the ability to create as a species. In today’s busy world, too many of us are turning away from connecting with ourselves at alarming rates. In the process we are losing connection with our essence: our tender core that is numbed from hurt, exhaustion and pain. How can artistry sing us back into connection with our true selves? What can music and art show us about sitting with numinosity to find presence and wellbeing?

It is well documented that recovery from post-traumatic stress requires a multi-modal, body-based approach. Guided imagery and music GIM) is a creative, internal and experiential approach to therapy that enables participants to access aspects of experience and memory that are beyond conscious awareness and talking. With its origins in depth psychotherapy, a growing research base and its close associations with other internal and experiential therapies such as Internal Family Systems Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) and psychedelic therapy, GIM has much to offer.

Polyvagal theory helps us to understand that we can be creative and and precise in our self supports. We have a whole smorgasbord of ways in which we can connect in, connect with others and connect with the world around us. We already know this, but in our busy-ness, we can forget. This is your invitation to look through and choose your own adventure of nervous system supports. Have a look at this infographic with a sense curiosity and of exploration. How might you bring yourself into greater connection with your world today?

Nonspeaking approaches in counselling or supporting others can move us beyond the thinking, talking, logical world of the cortex, and into the subcortical realm of implicit experience, feelings, movement and the senses: into the unconscious experience that informs 80% of our existence. How can we find ways to connect with these parts of ourselves? What are the benefits of doing so? This blog explores these questions and why approaches beyond words are an essential part of any health or education professional's toolkit.

Netflix's award winning TV show 'Stranger Things' highlights the power of music to calm, connect loved ones, reconnect with ourselves, forge new identities, distract monsters, and even save lives. But how much of this is true? What powers does music really have? What does science tell us about the power of music? And how does music help the characters in 'Stranger Things'? Buckle in to hear what we know about the power of music from an Australian Registered Music Therapist's perspective.

In these uncertain times, it is easy to get caught up in the heavy waves of helplessness that come with a world facing a pandemic, war, climate change and the ensuing tsunami of mental ill-health. Connecting with presence and hope through music, imagery and poetry can help us to open to a sense of possibility and connection with ourselves, others and the world around us.

We don’t leave ourselves behind when we go to work, we take our whole selves in. Some days it is easy to keep ourselves separate. But when we are tired, have a special connection to a client or patient, have difficulties of our own, or are touched by the moment, it is not always possible, or appropriate, to maintain a separation. We feel their joy and we feel their pain. And sometimes it touches ours.