30 days of apps: Day 20

Day 20:  Sound Brush

Description:

Sound Brush is a unique app in which you can paint a picture and music will sound.  The music is very soothing and relaxing when you paint.  This app is 1.99.

MT Applications:

1.  Relaxation
2.  Fine Motor Skills
3.  Color Identification
4.  Emotional Expression

Here is a video explaining more about its capabilities:

 

Flight of Fright - How I learned to relax

I hope everybody is having a marvelous holiday.  Tomorrow is the day of giving thanks and eating lots and lots of food.  I am spending my holiday in Nashville with my husband, mother, sister, and brother-in-law.  Here are some pictures from our day today.  I am definitely having a great time.  It is so awesome to relax and enjoy doing absolutely nothing!  A couple of days ago, we flew here from Texas on a tiny express jet through continental airlines.  Did I mention that I hate flying?  Well of course I had that same anxious feeling I always get when I am on a plane.  For some reason I don't trust things that are in the air with nothing below but the sky and the clouds.  Every time that jet would hit any sort of bump, I would start to panic.  I know, I know I am little overly nervous.  But I just can't seem to get over this fear.  I remembered that I had my iPad in my purse and grabbed it during the flight.  I thought, "Since I use relaxation techniques with my clients, why not try them on myself?"  I guess I never thought about actually using music therapy with myself before because I am so used to giving it to others.  My heart was racing and my stomach was way above the plane.  If we dipped one little bit, there went my calmness.  So I turned on some relaxation music and closed my eyes to avoid the night fog outside the window.  After a couple minutes, my hand loosened it's grip on my poor husband's hand.  I started feeling my heartbeat slow down to the beat of the music and I kept my eyes closed.  When there was slight turbulence, I still felt nervous but did not squeeze his hand.  The music really did help my anxiety level and gave a little bit of peace until it was closer to landing time.  The moral of this story is that we as music therapy students, interns, and therapists need to take care of our mind and body just as much as we aim to take care of our clients.  We can reap the tremendous benefits of music just like anyone else.  I will definitely take along my music and headphones for the next trip....which is on Sunday again.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

All you need is...Relaxation

Relax.  How do you do that?  People are constantly using this word.  "Just relax, everything is under control", "I need to relax", or "When I get home I am going to sit down and relax."  We use this term so lightly.  But what does it really mean to relax?

According to Dictionary.com, the word relaxation means: abatement or relief from bodily or mental work, effort, or application.  I don't know about you, but this is pretty hard for me to do.  Even when I get home from a long day of working with clients, I still feel like I have so much to do.  Even when I am "relaxing" I am either writing a new song, blog, creating a plan for the next week, making sure I get dinner on the table for my husband and I, catching up on phone calls, and helping my husband study for nursing school.  This doesn't sound like a state of relief from bodily or mental work.

Research proves that music can help a person to achieve a state of relaxation.  There is something called the iso-principle in which a person mental tempo can match music's tempo.  Their mental tempo could be angry, stressed, hyper, etc.  Music that relates to the tempo can be played to match.  After this state is reached, a calmer form of music can slowly be introduced until the person's state of mind matches that of the music.  So relaxation means to totally relax your body AND mind.

I decided to adapt the song "Beautiful Dreamer" to introduce guided imagery into singing rather than speaking.  Many times guided imagery can be read as a script over relaxation music to channel the client into a positive visual world in their mind.  This technique definitely works and I have used it many times.  Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) is the technique used by trained professionals to "create an environment in which one can experience personal insights that provide answers and guidance for important life issues."  Now, I wanted to add singing instead of speaking to add an even more musical and relaxing element.  This song can be great within a music therapy session, or for your own personal well-being.  It is very important for people to take care of both their mind and body.

Check out the song below.  If you purchase the "A Beautiful Vision" on the Relaxation album, you will receive a free special bonus track of the song's instrumental accompaniment with no vocals.