Why the ‘sound of silence’ can enhance your wellness
Quiet wellness – immersing yourself in silence – while meditating, having a massage or doing yoga may help you get more from your experience and work wonders on your stress levels.
In this noisy world we live in, sound pollution can have negative impacts on our minds and bodies.
Studies show a noisy environment can cause disturbed sleep patterns, increased risk of cardiovascular issues and contribute to our stress.
According to some experts, it can also interrupt our wellness activities, meaning we might not be getting the best benefit possible from our meditation, massage or gym sessions.
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How quiet wellness can improve your wellbeing
When it comes to wellness activities, the quieter your surroundings, the better, says wellness coach and Fiona Redding.
“The mind is always listening,” Fiona, founder of The Happiness Hunter, says.
“If you hear something, your mind needs to process that information and figure out whether to respond.”
That means you’re on alert to the world outside, not totally present – which is the whole point of doing your meditation or other wellness activity you’ve chosen.
“So, a quieter and more relaxed environment calms our brain and helps to turn our awareness inward,” Fiona says.
However, the challenge in this busy and noisy world is finding silent space.
“You need to prepare your environment and remove distractions,” Fiona says.
“Pick a quiet room. Put your phone in another room,” she says.
“You can use noise-cancelling headphones or find a place to go that’s designed to be quieter, like a yoga or meditation studio.”
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Sounds to promote quiet wellness
Another approach to quiet wellness is to control the sounds in your environment.
Mark Bunn, a former AFL player and founder of Dharma Living, says noise is often out of our control, so we need to make it unobtrusive.
“Sound can either promote harmony, and mind and body integration, or it can disconnect,” Mark says.
“So basically, if the environment is discordant, like jackhammers building construction next door, you obviously want to minimise that disturbing sound.
“This is when you bring sounds into your environment to neutralise that disturbance.
“This can be soothing music, nature sounds – there are calming sounds like a trickling stream or stimulating sounds like a turbulent ocean.
Some environments are conducive to using white noise or pink noise that creates a buffer.”
Switch off your tunes
One of the biggest mistakes many people make is to have music blaring during workouts, according to Mark.
“When we talk of exercise, although the whole purpose is to integrate mind and body, our western approach to exercise is very much the opposite,” he says.
“You go to the gymnasium and there are TV screens, people get their headphones on, and there’s loud music going.
“This is actually disconnecting the mind from the body.
“Research shows music helps people to exercise at a higher intensity, which on the surface sounds like a positive thing.
“What it’s doing is actually pushing the body beyond its comfortable limit because we’re disconnecting the mind.”
Mark says music can be used as a motivator to get you up and going, but once you’re moving, turn it off.
“This will help you achieve that harmonising flow state,” he says.
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