Breathing to music
Here are some musical ideas for parents and practitioners to help them gently practice breathing to music. This may help with regulating feelings, especially when they are difficult or overwhelming. It's very common to experience intense and sometimes distressing feelings when looking after little ones. When babies are crying and keep on crying, for example, research (and common sense!) shows that many parents will find this really challenging. And with traditional songs for baby sleeping (lullabies) being around since ancient times, it seems that music has been playing its part for centuries and centuries!!
We hope that parents might find having some music and breathing ideas helpful. Music helping to move or change the focus, or act as a comfort or distraction is important.
As always, please note that these are only suggestions based on the latest research - you will know what works best for you or not. Please just know that you are not alone and extra support for baby crying is HERE.
Breathing through crying
Your baby is crying and you can feel yourself getting stressed even triggered. Take some deep breaths in your own time and see if you can feel the breath going down into your tummy.
Play some music you love on your phone
Walk around with your baby, breathing along to the music.
If you need a break, put your baby down somewhere safe and walk away for a few minutes until you feel calmer.
The science-y blurb!
Breathing in our tummies along to some calm music can help our bodies settle down. It’s a similar type of breathing to when we’re asleep. Fast shallow breathing gets our bodies ready to fight or run – our survival mode. Not great if we are trying to be calm! Happy breathing!
Speigel im speigel
(Arvo Pärt, 1978)
This stunning piece for piano and cello is one of our founder's favourites. Debi listens and breathes. Sounds so simple yet it's a real challenge sometimes!!
The aim is to focus on our breathing to help us be in the moment and settle our thoughts. However, it's the music that really matters here!! See below for the research behind it.
The music always makes Debi cry but in a good way. Please go carefully and stop if it's not good for you. We are all very different.
Please click HERE!
The science-y blurb!
In 2018, a randomised controlled trial measured reduction in blood pressure (BP) for a group who practised breathing to music, and a group who just listened to the music. Both groups showed a significant reduction in both systolic and diastolic BP. However, it was the listening to music (in both groups) that was significant not the breathing. A very interesting finding.
Breathing playlist
(running time 15 mins and license-free)
Here's a 15-min playlist to play quietly in the background if you want to focus on your breathing. See how you go as music is very personal and you might have something you like better! It's the idea of breathing to music that matters. Just focusing in our breathing can help, or you might like some of the other ideas on this page, like TV or or 4-7-8 breathing.
The science-y blurb!
Breathing to support our mental wellbeing is an area receving lots of research attention. In 2023, Nature published a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials and found promising evidence that it helps. Please find the paper HERE
TV breathing!
Most people around the world have a TV. Apparently, there is 1 TV to every 4 humans (fun google fact!!)
With the TV off and playing some nice music you like, and us standing a few steps back, try using one finger to trace around the shape of the TV. Up a short side of the rectangle, along the long top, down the other short side and along the bottom. Go at your own pace and see if you can breathe in as you trace up the short side, hold your breath along the top, and breathe out down the other short side, and hold along the bottom edge. Over a few repeats, see if you can slow down a touch.
The science-y blurb!
Breathing is a popular approach to reducing stress although the research evidence is mixed on this. Recent research into Resonance Frequency Breathing (RFB), however, shows promise. The idea of RFB is to synchronise our respiration rate with our heart rate - this will be unique to everyone. Researchers found that 4-7 breaths per minute was average in a sample of health practitioners trying the method. Please go carefully with these (new) ideas but they might be helpful.
RFB research info can be found HERE
4-7-8 breathing
This idea helps us to focus on our breathing (often helpful in itself!) Pop on some music you love and notice your breaths in and out. Notice if they're slow or quick, smooth or jaggedy, shallow or deep - no judgement! When you're ready have a go at breathing in for 4, hold for 7, and breath out for 8 - the speed is totally flexible; bigger/smaller lungs, breathing challenges, asthma, etc. It's just a way to see if our breathing can slow a little and move towards our system feeling calmer.
The science-y blurb!
This kind of breathing can help us calm our sympathetic nervous system (the classic fight or flight reflex), and activate our parasympathetic system. Funny how all the ancient yogis practising pranayma (breathing) seemed to know all this before the scientists!!
Interesting articles HERE and HERE
Humming to music!
Humming along to music (or just humming to ourselves) is gaining lots of attention as a way to boost our wellbeing. Away from the hype, the research shows humming helps with breathing, lifts and regulates mood, and is linked to activating the vagal nerves (a key bit of our parasympathetic system).
The science-y blurb!
An amazing book sat on the FirstMusic bookshelf is called "The Singing Neanderthals" by Stephen Mithen. Who knew! And yes, maybe we need to get out more!! One amazing thing stood out when reading this fascinating stuff. When a group of our human ancestors went food-gathering, they hummed to signal to each other that they were close and safe. If a threat came, the individual stopped humming and was silent. How amazing that they can work out all this from fossils aged some 430,000 years! Happy humming everyone!
A really interesting article can be found HERE
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