As we travel down the yellow brick road,  music provides us with our sound track…it is often the intangible woven into rhythm, lyric, melody, harmony…it has been called the universal language…connecting peoples…it is the fortifier as we traverse the bumps in the road…it is an element of play that allows us to engage our full selves. Listening to music is good for us.

Scarecrow: I haven’t got a brain…only straw
Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven’t got a brain?
Scarecrow: I don’t know…
But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking…don’t they?
Dorothy: Yes, I guess you’re right.

Listening to music helps the brain. As we listen, the mental chatter quiets…finally.

Depending on the tempo of music, brain waves sync with a strong beat.
Faster beats induce sharper concentration, focus and alertness, while slower beats induce a calm meditative state.
It has been dicovered that through listening to music and the resultant changes in brainwave activity, the brain is able to shift brainwave activity faster and more easily on its own.
Therefore, listening to music has lasting positive effects on our state of mind, our thinking, and our moods- even after the music has stopped.

(http://stress.about.com/od/tensiontamers/a/music_therapy.htm)

Dorothy: Did you say something?
Tin Woodsman: Oil Can!
Dorothy: He said Oil can.
Tin Woodsman: Me - e, m  -  e-,  My-  mmm-my,  my, my, my goodness.  I can talk again!
Dorothy: Well, you’re perfect now.
Tin Woodsman: Perfect? Oh- bang on my chest if you think I’m perfect.
Go ahead- bang on it! It’s empty. The tinsmith forgot to give me a heart. All hollow.

Listening to music is also beneficial to the heart.
A healthy heart is important as we navigate through life’s challenges
and open to joyful experience.
Our heart is the center through which our blood, our physical life force, flows.
While listening to our favorite music, the blood vessels dilate,  allowing for more blood flow.
This in turn brings oxygen and nutrients to the whole body.

“A study of 10 healthy adults in their mid-thirties showed that their
blood flowed 26 percent more easily when they were listening to music they defined as joyful,
an increase in blood flow similar to aerobic activity.”

(http://www.everydayhealth.com/womens-health/benefits-of-music-therapy.aspx)

Dr. Miller, research cardiologist form the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, released findings (at the American Heart Association’s annual scientific sessions) of a recent study testing the effects of listening to music on the cardiovascular system.
“The inner lining of the blood vessel relaxed, opened up,
and produced chemicals that are protective to the heart…
Music may be one of the best de-stressors-either by playing or listening to music.”

(http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/11/music.heart/index.html)

(http://www.umm.edu/news/releases/music-cardiovascular.htm)

Dorothy: My goodness, what a fuss you’re making! Well, naturally, when you go around picking on others weaker than you are. Why, you’re nothing but a great big coward!
Cowardly Lion: (crying) You’re right,  I am a coward! I haven’t any courage at all. I even scare myself. (sobs)
Cowardly Lion: Look at the circles under my eyes. I haven’t slept in weeks.
Tin Woodsman: Why don’t you try counting sheep?
Cowardly Lion: That doesn’t do any good.  I’m afraid of them. (sobs loud)
Scarecrow: Ah,  that’s too bad.

We are all familiar with stress and its effects…
it can wreak havoc on our nervous system, our nerves, as it can cause difficulties in concentration, sleeplessness, and a feeling of tension, where fear pervades our consciousness.
Relaxation is the key to alleviating the effects of stress and coming to a place of strength.

Music is known to alleviate stress,  as it calms the mind.
More serotonin, what some refer to as the “hormone of happiness,” is produced.

“The most surprising finding is that for relaxation, the genre of music is of little importance.
What makes a huge difference is whether you are listening to live music or not.
Live music makes us relaxed no matter the genre.”

(http://www.e-zine.com)

“‘What people say soothes them, soothes them, even if it’s heavy metal,’
says music therapist Joanne Loewy,  DA,  director of the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Beth Israel Center in New York City.
‘The most important aspect is how it is incorporated in your life.’”

(http://www.everydayhealth.com/womens-health/benefits-of-music-therapy.aspx)

Do what feels good…follow the sound track,  and listen to your favorite music-
Live - if you can.
Allow your mind to relax,  heart to sing,  body to move,  and spirit to fly…

“Singing and dancing, man expresses himself as a member of a higher unity.
He has forgotten how to walk and talk and is on the verge of flying up into the air as he dances. The enchantment speaks out in his gestures.
Just as the animals speak and the earth gives milk and honey,  so now something super natural echoes out of him. He feels himself a God.
He now moves in a lofty ecstasy, as he saw the Gods move in his dream.
The man is no longer an artist.   He has become a work of art.”

~Friedrich Nietzsche