by Bill Protzmann
There wasn’t a name for how music impacts us physiologically — actually minds us in a safe, effective, and useful way — so we gave it one: Music Self-Care.
Music Self-Care is the use of specific music — music that YOU love — to produce a desired emotional, mental, or even physical result. That result could be calming you after a stressful day, firing you up at a ball game, helping you focus or study to prepare for an exam, or transforming “negative” emotions into “positive” ones. Music in church can help you to feel reverent or peaceful, happy or connected.
Physiologically, human beings respond to sound without effort or thought. That is when we hear a sound, the vibrational energy of the sound is converted to electrical impulses by our ears, and those trigger the release all sorts of brain chemistry, neurotransmitters, and hormones…all of which makes us respond to what we heard. Our emotions or heart rate can change, just by listening. Two examples: an “adrenalin rush” can result from certain kinds of music; other kinds of music predictably lower blood pressure.
If you know that and then pay attention to how the music and sound around you makes you respond, you will have unlocked your own powerful skill to care for yourself using music: Music Self-Care.