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'' In today’s stressful society, teachers need strategies to relax the mind and reconnect with their emotions. Celia’s Musical Therapy workshop provided a safe, inclusive environment for our staff to learn and practice a range of techniques to calm the mind. As a bonus, teachers felt confident that they could incorporate what they had learned into their classroom routines to enhance student wellness.''
Doug McNeill,
Principal, Sir Ernest MacMillan Senior Public School
MINDFULNESS AND MEDITATION TO BECOME PART OF THE CURRICULUM IN 370 SCHOOLS IN ENGLAND
BETTER SOCIETY, 2019, FINO MENEZES
MINDFULNESS TO BE TAUGHT IN 370 SCHOOLS IN ENGLAND
In 370 schools across England, children will be taught how to meditate, techniques for muscle relaxation, and breathing exercises for mindfulness. The program is being conducted under a mental health study that the British government is running up until 2021.
DEALING WITH NEW AND COMPLEX EMOTIONS CAN BE MITIGATED BY MEDITATION AND MINDFULNESS
When children act out by kicking and screaming, very often it is simply because they don’t understand what they are going through, and can’t find a better way to express their feelings. *
When they have a tantrum it is most likely because they are struggling to deal with new and complex emotions that they are feeling for the first time in their lives. Schools in England are beginning to address this issue with a new approach, and that is by teaching mindfulness and meditation in the classroom to improve students’ overall mental health. In 370 schools across England, children will be taught how to meditate, techniques for muscle relaxation and breathing exercises for mindfulness. The secondary school students will also learn about awareness and how to increase this in their everyday lives. This program is being conducted under a wider mental health study that the British government will be running until 2021.
Aside from the increasing number of young children that are showing signs of early onset depression and anxiety, National Health Service (NHS) reports have also indicated that 1-in-8 British children have mental disorders.
Despite these statistics, only 1 in every 5 children in the UK with mental issues are able to get access to the treatment they need.
But England isn’t the only country that has added mindfulness as a subject among schools. In 2016, a school in Baltimore decided to replace detention with an area where the children could go to practice some breathing and stretching exercises instead.
This is a way to keep the students calmer in order to increase their focus within the classroom. (See video below)
*Source: Unsplash/S&BVonlanthen
Erol Can (left), an anesthesiologist, and Bingür Sönmez, a cardiac surgeon play for a patient. (Photo by Matthew Brunwasser.)
Health & Medicine
IN TURKEY, SUFI MUSIC IS USED TO DECREASE PATIENT STRESS
The World, 2012
Matthew Brunwasser
The intensive care unit of Istanbul Memorial Hospital looks like any modern hospital anywhere. But it definitely doesn’t sound like one. Dr. Bingür Sönmez, a cardiac surgeon for more than 30 years, plays traditional Sufi songs on the ney flute for his patients. "What we are doing in intensive care, we are playing Sufi music to our patients to calm down, to make them feel much better,” he said.
Sufism is a mystic branch of Islam whose traditional music is popular among Turks. Sönmez said five centuries ago when Europeans were burning people alive for having mental illnesses, healers in the Ottoman Empire had a different approach. “In this country, in Ottoman Empire times, we used to treat psychiatric patients with music in hospitals, in local hospitals,” Sönmez said. “So what we are doing is the same.”
After a short performance for one patient, anesthesiologist Erol Can said the patient's heart rate decreased by 15 percent. According to Can, musical therapy has scientific backing. He says the hospital conducted a study of 22 patients and measured their stress levels on a scale of one to 10. Their stress went down from an average of seven to three after a 20-minute musical performance."What we are doing in intensive care, we are playing Sufi music to our patients to calm down, to make them feel much better,” he said. Sufism is a mystic branch of Islam whose traditional music is popular among Turks. Sönmez said five centuries ago when Europeans were burning people alive for having mental illnesses, healers in the Ottoman Empire had a different approach. “In this country, in Ottoman Empire times, we used to treat psychiatric patients with music in hospitals, in local hospitals,” Sönmez said. “So what we are doing is the same.”
After a short performance for one patient, anesthesiologist Erol Can said the patient's heart rate decreased by 15 percent. According to Can, musical therapy has scientific backing. He says the hospital conducted a study of 22 patients and measured their stress levels on a scale of one to 10. Their stress went down from an average of seven to three after a 20-minute musical performance. But while Janigro uses an iPod to provide music to patients in his study, Sönmez and Can play live music to mimic traditional therapy practices. The doctors use different makams, classical Turkish melodies, to treat specific conditions. “That makam makes you sleepy, it’s a real meditation music,” Sönmez said. “So it's good to listen to when you go to bed. If you listen to this makam when you are waking up in the morning, you won’t be able to get out of the bed.”
There are makams that can help with other conditions as well. One supposedly increases your appetite, another can help you lose weight. The music has significant health results, the doctors say. But while they sing the praises of music therapy, they stress it’s a compliment — not a replacement — for conventional medicine.
CAN SOUND FIGHT CANCER?
Composer Fabien Maman, also acupuncturist said: “Cancer cells cannot maintain their structure when specific sound wave frequencies attack the cytoplasmic and nuclear membranes. When the vibratory rate increases, the cells cannot adapt or stabilized themselves and die by disintegrating and exploding.''
It was a very powerful and healing session. When I first arrived I honestly felt tired, overwhelmed, and that life had put too much on my shoulders and I wouldn't be able to get through this difficult phase of my life. It seems as if I solve one problem only to have another that's bigger and harder to resolve. So I came to your healing group with the hope of getting some peace of mind. I left feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I felt invigorated and that I could conquer whatever life put in my path. But most of all I left feeling as if God, The Source, The Divine, Tao, and my guardian angel sisters were all with me. That they will always be here to guide me, watch over me, support me, and love me on my spiritual journey and this journey I'm on called LIFE. I can't put into words what this means to me, so I will just say Thank You, Thank You, Thank You. Vanessa
SOUND HEALING RESEARCH
According to a study published by the National Institute of Health, “Music effectively reduces anxiety for medical and surgical patients and often reduces surgical and chronic pain. Also providing music to caregivers may be a strategy to improve empathy, compassion, and care.” In other words, music is not only good for patients; it’s good for those who care for them.
A 2010 Finnish study observed that stroke patients who were given access to music as cognitive therapy had improved
recovery. Other research has shown that patients suffering from loss of speech due to brain injury or stroke regain it more quickly by learning to sing before trying to speak. The phenomenon of music facilitating healing in the brain after a stroke is called the “Kenny Rogers Effect.”
A study published in the Southern Medical Journal (2005) demonstrated the beneficial effects of music in hospital settings. Researchers reported that, “For children and adults, music effectively reduces anxiety and improves mood for medical and surgical patients, and for patients in intensive care units.” Researchers also noted that ambient music increased empathy in caregivers without interfering with the technical aspects of treatment.