Deep Listening
DEEP LISTENING
A model for reducing stress and enhancing our enjoyment in all aspects of life using our natural sense of hearing.
Sometimes, there seems to be no escape from the ongoing stress and chaos of modern life. Work, children, money, relatives and even loneliness contribute to a sense of overwhelm. Through all this we quite often find our thinking brain is running a continuous script of disaster and fear. These days many people turn to physical exercise or spiritual practice to help and to find the odd moment of peace in all this turmoil. Although, finding time and space for any relief is difficult and many people don`t feel comfortable in a gym.
There is a way of using one of the most powerful and natural tools available to us in order to calm our mind and escape the anxieties of modern life. Sound is all around us and we are taught that peace is achieved through silence. However, there is never true silence in our environment and listening to the world in all it`s noisy glory is a way of actually finding peace in terms of our acceptance of the moment in a meditative and mindful practice. Can we use sound to help with stress and enhance all our listening experiences, including music and communication with others?
Ancient and Modern
In the womb, our sense of hearing is fully developed by about 20 weeks. We respond to sound, including speech and music (so be careful what you say whilst expecting!) and can learn about patterns of sound. Our unborn environment is dominated by our mother`s heartbeat and breathing patterns. Even in adult-hood, we find slow repetitive beats and waves of sound to be comforting. It is widely thought that hearing is the last sense to go when dying, so hearing the world is pretty important to us.
Don`t make the mistake of believing that being immersed in a world of sound is a modern experience. In a time before the combustion engine we were still surrounded by the sounds of people, weather and the industrious noises of agriculture and building. In fact, in early times we relied on sound to a greater degree, for life itself, as a rustle in the bushes could be predator or prey! Nowadays we have learned to filter our awareness of sound in order not to feel overwhelmed. OK, a good practice in a way but it also involves being judgemental about what we hear. A bit like throwing the baby out with the bathwater, we do lose a lot of deep and meaningful experience of life by trying not to hear things.
Hear the world, heal the self.
Deep listening is one key to help with anxiety and also a way of enhancing our enjoyment of music and increasing our skills in communication. It is well documented that prolonged exposure to natural stress hormones has a derogatory effect on our wellbeing as well as a very real effect on our physical health. In reducing stress we help to reduce the physical and mental damage which can result from our reactions to life. If music is something we enjoy as an individual these practices help to submerse ourselves deeper in the experience too, another way of stepping off the roundabout for a bit.
Learn about `Deep Listening at one of our workshops - coming soon
A model for reducing stress and enhancing our enjoyment in all aspects of life using our natural sense of hearing.
Sometimes, there seems to be no escape from the ongoing stress and chaos of modern life. Work, children, money, relatives and even loneliness contribute to a sense of overwhelm. Through all this we quite often find our thinking brain is running a continuous script of disaster and fear. These days many people turn to physical exercise or spiritual practice to help and to find the odd moment of peace in all this turmoil. Although, finding time and space for any relief is difficult and many people don`t feel comfortable in a gym.
There is a way of using one of the most powerful and natural tools available to us in order to calm our mind and escape the anxieties of modern life. Sound is all around us and we are taught that peace is achieved through silence. However, there is never true silence in our environment and listening to the world in all it`s noisy glory is a way of actually finding peace in terms of our acceptance of the moment in a meditative and mindful practice. Can we use sound to help with stress and enhance all our listening experiences, including music and communication with others?
Ancient and Modern
In the womb, our sense of hearing is fully developed by about 20 weeks. We respond to sound, including speech and music (so be careful what you say whilst expecting!) and can learn about patterns of sound. Our unborn environment is dominated by our mother`s heartbeat and breathing patterns. Even in adult-hood, we find slow repetitive beats and waves of sound to be comforting. It is widely thought that hearing is the last sense to go when dying, so hearing the world is pretty important to us.
Don`t make the mistake of believing that being immersed in a world of sound is a modern experience. In a time before the combustion engine we were still surrounded by the sounds of people, weather and the industrious noises of agriculture and building. In fact, in early times we relied on sound to a greater degree, for life itself, as a rustle in the bushes could be predator or prey! Nowadays we have learned to filter our awareness of sound in order not to feel overwhelmed. OK, a good practice in a way but it also involves being judgemental about what we hear. A bit like throwing the baby out with the bathwater, we do lose a lot of deep and meaningful experience of life by trying not to hear things.
Hear the world, heal the self.
Deep listening is one key to help with anxiety and also a way of enhancing our enjoyment of music and increasing our skills in communication. It is well documented that prolonged exposure to natural stress hormones has a derogatory effect on our wellbeing as well as a very real effect on our physical health. In reducing stress we help to reduce the physical and mental damage which can result from our reactions to life. If music is something we enjoy as an individual these practices help to submerse ourselves deeper in the experience too, another way of stepping off the roundabout for a bit.
Learn about `Deep Listening at one of our workshops - coming soon