Can Music Save Lives

[Music]

my name is ariana in 2016 i started my

first business with a friend

an events company that combined live

music with wellness

i was fascinated with creating

experiences

that immerse the senses whilst improving

people’s well-being

however two years into running my first

business something happened that shook

one of my younger brothers best friends

committed suicide when he was 15 years

old

then two friends brothers also committed

suicide

all of this happened within the space of

six months

during this strange time i contemplated

a lot

i looked around at the work i was doing

in the world of wellness

a world that has mental health and

mindfulness tools

coming out of its ears only to painfully

realize

that 90 of people who had access to

these tools

are not the people who need it most

men have alarmingly higher suicide rates

compared with women

in the united states the uk and canada

men have a suicide rate of 3

to 7.5 times that of women

simultaneously as i observed we live in

a society where mind management tools

such as

therapy counselling and mindfulness

are available but culturally do not

resonate with millions of people

especially

young men something isn’t adding up

i became obsessed with figuring this out

which has led me to do the work i’m

doing

now work which i truly believe can make

an impact in society

i believe that music combined with

mindful practices

can save lives during the following

few minutes i have with you i’d like to

discuss three major realizations i’ve

made

in the last couple of years trying to

understand

and potentially help alleviate the male

suicide epidemic

they fall under these three categories

masculinity mindful practices

such as meditation mindfulness therapy

group experiences and more and then

thirdly the crux of this talk

music these three things might not seem

related but please do bear with me

so firstly i’m going to talk about the

concept of masculinity

many men are taught from a young age

that they should inhabit an identity

that only demonstrates traits of

socially perceived masculinity

otherwise one would not be considered a

man

now i believe that this audacious act of

oppression

forces many men to betray healthy

characteristics

of their own innate identity for fear of

judgment

unless we discuss and dismantle the

patriarchal structures that men

are normalized into and feel bound by

the same cycle will continue

a report by the samaritans listed

masculinity

as a contributing factor to male

suicides

this report explains that men are more

likely to respond to stress by taking

risks

such as alcohol or drug misuse and

have higher emotional illiteracy cases

men are also less likely to have a

positive view on therapy or counselling

only using the services at a point of

crisis

if at all social justice expert jonathan

higgins

explains that the root definition

of what it means to be a man or to

perform masculinity in america

continues to be grounded in oppression

marginalization and white supremacy

he adds that young cisgendered men

normalize

into ideas of masculinity from such an

early age that

they go on throughout life dismissing

other parts of themselves that make them

whole

identity traits labeled as feminine such

as caregiving kindness and emotional

availability

are rejected and even feared for fear of

condemnation by other men

higgins believes that damage is done to

young cisgendered men

whereby healthy traits of their identity

are stripped

before they have understood the

importance of occupying a whole spectrum

of personal characteristics

this correlation is supported by

the research by the samaritans which

states that

the influence of a historical culture of

masculinity

is one of the most dominant aspects of

the various complex factors

affecting male suicide rates

being groomed by society including

sometimes one’s own family

to only and always occupy society’s

perceived symbols of masculinity

has proven to be not only destructive to

others

through sexism racism and homophobia

but also deadly for those men themselves

in this same study by the samaritans

they state that

men are far more likely than women to

turn to music

or sports to relieve stress than speak

to others

so why don’t we work with this

information why don’t we

create mental health habits and

practices

that meet people where they are at

speaking of habits we all know now that

looking after our mind

is just as important as looking after

our body

we go to the gym not because we’re

injured but

to prevent future injuries

this is exactly what we all should be

doing with our minds

so next i’d like to talk about mindful

practices

the first thing to mention though is i

believe that the most

well-known mindful practices namely

mindfulness and meditation

are in fact deeply misunderstood

let’s take meditation for example the

word meditation

actually stems from meditatum a latin

term that means to ponder

i find it interesting because we

typically think meditating

is clearing the mind of all thoughts

when in fact

pondering isn’t really that at all

in india the birthplace of meditation

the practice

is vaguely referenced as the training of

the mind

and in china it roughly translates to

guarding the middle

guarding tranquility and embracing

simplicity

so as you can see the understanding of

mindful practices

are pretty ambiguous however what we do

know

is that it has most likely been around

since the beginning of human existence

fossil records suggest that anatomically

modern

homo sapiens split from the neanderthals

about 200 000 years ago around that same

time

early humans practice shamanistic

meditation rituals

to help heal the sick the psychologist

matt rosano

argues that the deep focus achieved

during these rituals strength strengthen

parts of the brain involved in memory

and recent brain research actually

supports this

rosano suggests that as neural areas of

attention grew stronger

the minds of subsequent generations but

became better equipped

to hold information and make the

connections necessary

in modern working memory so

as you can see mindful practices might

well have been the thing that helped

humans

become the intelligent species we are

today

these practices or rituals

are a part of being human songs in

unison

chanting prayer intention setting

focused movement focused stillness

all of these practices get us into a

state of calm

trance connectedness

all creative individuals practice forms

of mindful rituals

by getting into a state of flow

creativity itself

is a product of meditation these ways of

being are inside us by default and

they are so important to practice

otherwise we can risk

feeling disconnected unvalued and

unhappy

the sad thing is that now in modern

times

mindful practices such as mindfulness

and meditation

have been commodified and wrapped in a

culture that

excludes those who need it most

when you commodify something you do it

so that it sells

and in marketing psychology the

predominant consumer

is a 25 year old plus middle-class woman

because they’re most likely to be a wife

and a mother

making spending decisions for more than

just themselves

this is the demographic that the

wellness industry

including meditation and mindful

mindfulness has marketed that for

decades

so now we live in a reality where many

young people

especially young men but also many other

demographics

don’t even consider trying it because

they’ve never seen

anyone like them doing it

my team and i at spoke interviewed over

318 to 25

year old young men and over 90 percent

of them said that they didn’t believe

meditation is for them it’s so clear

that the representation of most mental

health management practices

are wrapped in a culture that simply

does not resonate

with those who identify more towards an

identity of masculinity

and the way to solve this problem is to

start innovating from the root

create new practices that do relate

working with people and mediums that

can connect finally let’s discuss

music what can i say we all love it

we all have our favorite genres and

artists it is what it is right

well maybe not i’ve always had a

suspicion that

there’s a lot more to music and sound

than we realize

years ago the european space mission

planck

picked up a sound that has been

traveling through the universe

since the beginning of time this sound

right here

an ancient celestial sound

13.8 billion years before our universe

existed

we were just a ball of hot plasma

electrons protons lights as the big bang

happened it was sound waves that

actually sculpted our galaxy formation

in simple terms music made us

fast forward billions of years the very

first humans would

mimic the galactic sounds heard in the

night sky

through their calls and then they’d use

these tones to tune

the first musical instruments

sound waves and frequencies are a part

of what it means to be alive

our brains are tuned to music far more

than we even realize

just think about how every culture and

tradition around the world

shows its identity through its music

it’s now been proven that functional

sound

so the careful utilization of the right

sounds and frequencies

can literally heal our minds and our

bodies

einstein once quoted future medicine

will be the medicine of frequencies and

i really do believe he was right

additionally it’s widely accepted that

musicians

are the most influential people for

young people today

but i think musicians have always been

the most influential people

think about it our stories have carried

on through songs

we always look to the artist to feel

resonance

and inspiration the irony is that

musicians today

face some of the worst mental health of

all professions

and are actively trying to make a change

so you can actually see this in the

sharp increase

in lyrics that reference mental health

in recent years

i believe that our society does not

harness or value

or maybe even understand the true power

of music and musicians

this belief in the power of music and

musicians is the central philosophy

at my organization spoke where we

harness it as a tool to influence better

mental health practice

for those who are left out of the

traditional wellness industry

the big question is can we go so far

as to design the way our culture

can evolve for optimal mental wellness

and i think we can my suggestion

is as follows i believe we can break

this culture of toxic masculinity down

at the root

by working with the gatekeepers of

culture

artists musicians revolutionaries

those who can touch the soul of humanity

through their work

and influence young people to feel open

and comfortable practicing emotional

support

then we need to help people find a

mindful practice

that actually resonates find their

rhythm

and ways to release emotion just like

the early humans our brains evolve

through mindful practices we release

emotion

by moving the body meditating expressing

ourselves

focused intention by combining music

with proven mindful practices then

leveraging off of influential music

culture we might be able to

shift into a culture that normalizes

these important practices for the next

generation of young people

especially young men our work at spoke

does exactly all of this we work with

the world’s

best musicians to innovate the sound

the culture and the overall practice of

mindfulness

we believe that this could have the

power to help

millions of people look after their

minds which in turn

can save lives and may even change the

world

i’m going to leave you with this

ask yourself what the music you listen

to does for you

how do different songs make you feel if

you haven’t yet create a playlist of

songs that

bring your heart rate down and into a

state of calm

or trance also now that you understand

mindfulness and meditation a little

better

please just try it just do a google

and keep trying different types until

you find

one that really resonates with you

you’re of course

also welcome to join us at spoke.world

and

try ours too last but not least

if you’re a young man yourself or if you

have a little brother

older brother cousins friends i

encourage

us all to leave the masculinity

stereotypes

and take notice of how much better it

feels to

just be you thank you

you