Can Music Save Lives
[Music]
hi
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
me
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
search
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