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Showing posts with label Sooth The Spirit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sooth The Spirit. Show all posts

How Calming Ocean Sounds Alleviate Stress And Sooth The Spirit

By Linda Ruiz


In today's frenetic world, increasing numbers of people are looking for ways to add greater peace and tranquillity to their lives. One of the easiest ways they can do this is by listening to the sounds of nature on CD or mp3. Calming ocean sounds and other natural ambiance have a tremendously relaxing effect on the psyche and are ideal for those who are stressed and overloaded.

One common use for these recordings is as a background to practices like yoga and meditation. These activities are becoming massively popular as people are looking for ways to re-gain some peace of mind. Many people are also discovering how much nature's sounds can aid their practice.

With meditation for example, practitioners aim to train their minds such that there is a slowing down of thought and a reduction in 'mind chatter'. This can prove extremely difficult as the stresses of the day churn up one's emotions and mental space. Natural sounds help one to relax and thus reach a calm state of mind that much more easily.

It's a similar story with yoga. Stress and emotional anguish disrupt one's ability to focus and perform each pose to a high standard. Relaxed practitioners are able to have an experience that is significantly richer and deeper. Over the long-term, they are better able to reap lasting benefits in terms of skill, satisfaction and peace of mind.

These effects come as no surprise to scientists who have researched the effects of nature's sounds. Studies have shown that they can help people recover from stress more quickly and easily. Even the non-scientists among us know at an intuitive level that these sounds can have a calming, restorative effect. We all have a primal response to the natural environment, and it's effect on us can be profound.

This is perhaps seen most markedly in its effects on small children. There's something about the sounds of the natural world that connects with children at a very deep level. Babies can often be calmed beautifully by natural sounds when everything else has failed. A child put to bed in a room with birdsong or similar playing softly in the background will often drift off to sleep quickly and easily.

Many adults also make use of these sounds as an aid to sleep. They have discovered that having a recording of this kind playing in the background can be quite an effective 'tranquillizer'. Some also use them to create a more restful home environment. Sounds of summertime for example can help dispel the gloom for those living in colder climes and create a more cheerful atmosphere.

A tranquil environment can also be of tremendous help for students of all ages. When the time comes to concentrate, having nature's music playing in the background can be a boon to focus and clear thinking. Many studies have shown that a relaxed brain is far better primed to learn than one that is not. Relaxed, focused students learn more effectively, and are also able to retain what they learn better than those who are not.

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