Motherhood, Nature & Music
A while ago I wrote a post featuring Alice Herz-Sommer. I recently heard that Alice is still alive, (107 last birthday), still lives alone in her London flat and continues to practise piano for two and a half hours every day. There’s an advert for the power of music and application!
I wrote about this remarkable woman in a piece on change, how people adapt and survive. Alice, a Jew, had survived the concentration camps but more than that had established a remarkable career as a concert pianist and shown no trace of bitterness at all. No hate. “Everything is a present“.
There have been many interviews with her and a best selling book; you can see a BBC one here. If you have time, I recommend that you take a look for she is truly inspirational. If I am feeling a bit fed up about something inconsequential, I only have to think of her to find my mood changing. Her philosophy on life is truly humbling and wonderful.
Meaning of Life
Alice has her own take on spirituality or religion and she describes it thus:
- the love of a mother for her child
- the beauty and wonder of nature
- music.
We can’t all be mothers or musicians, but we can all appreciate the beauty of nature. Whether you are in the city or the countryside, take a look around you and wonder at nature. Lift your spirits and let an amazing woman inspire you today!
Alice’s biography, A Garden of Eden, is in all good libraries, bookshops and via Amazon
Music While You Work.
Turn on your radio and work better!
When I was a child I was often chastised for playing music while studying. My defence was always a plaintive ’It helps me work better’, and, I might have added, blocks out the noise of my two younger brothers!
It was with great pleasure that I later found out that there is scientific evidence to back up my claim of working better with music! (Although I am not sure if what I am about to tell you applies to the music of the 70s…..) However, I now use music regularly in my seminars, usually the music of Mozart, and here’s why.
George Lozanov
The first clinical evidence of the effect of Mozart’s music on the human body was noted by Dr George Lozanov, a Bulgarian medical researcher. He wrote:
“that a very specific form of music can induce a relaxed state in the body- but, with one very major difference. The music induced relaxation and, at the same time, left the mind alert and able to concentrate.”
Natural Rhythms
Subsequent research has shown that the natural rhythms of the body – breathing, heartbeats, and brain waves – tended to synchronise themselves to the underlying beat of the music. The results were amazing! Heartbeats slowed by an average of 5 beats per minute, blood pressure decreased and beta waves in the brain decreased.
All Music?
A wide range of music was tested but Lozanov’s results showed that music with a very slow, stately, restful rhythm of 60 beats per minute was best for inducing a heightened state of alert, focussed relaxation.
Subsequent studies have supported this original research and demonstrated the profound effect of Mozart’s music on creativity, learning and relaxation. For example, one study at the University of California found that students who listened to Mozart’s music for 10 minutes prior to an exam did better than those who hadn’t! Although maybe listening to any music would have had this effect!
Relaxation
If you want to try this out for yourself here are some suggestions, all written by Mozart:
Piano Concerto 27 in B flat major KV595, Larghetto
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra 21 in C major KV476, Andante
Divertimento 15 in B flat for two Horns and Strings KV287
Try it out and let me know if you experience the so called Mozart effect!
