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Transcript

Sing! It's Therapeutic · WholeHeart Conversations

• 0:00
  Constance Lavonice: Have you ever noticed how you feel when you sing or when you hum or even listen to a song that connects with you?
• 0:09
  Constance Lavonice: Songs evoke feelings of joy.
• 0:13
  Constance Lavonice: Singing soothes the mind.
• 0:17
  Constance Lavonice: Their lyrics evoke emotions.
• 0:20
  Constance Lavonice: Singing allows us to express and process emotions.
• 0:27
  Constance Lavonice: Singing is therapeutic.
• 0:30
  Constance Lavonice: If you feel anxious, depressed, fearful, or on the edge, singing has the ability to penetrate the spirit, soul, and body.
• 0:48
  Constance Lavonice: Welcome to Whole Heart Conversations.
• 0:50
  Constance Lavonice: And this is a podcast for women discussing biblical faith, mental health, and whole heart, spirit, soul, and body resilience.
• 1:02
  Constance Lavonice: I'm your host, Constance Lavonice.
• 1:06
  Constance Lavonice: We sing to celebrate when we're happy, sad, burdened, at weddings, games, funerals.
• 1:17
  Constance Lavonice: Singing helps us process grief.
• 1:22
  Constance Lavonice: Singing is therapeutic.
• 1:25
  Constance Lavonice: And if you need any type of emotional, mental or physical healing or release, sing.
• 1:36
  Constance Lavonice: The first reason is singing penetrates the spirit, it helps us connect with God in the form of worship and praise.
• 1:52
  Constance Lavonice: God inhabits the praises of his people.
• 1:56
  Constance Lavonice: That's in Psalms 22:3.
• 2:00
  Constance Lavonice: The Bible exhorts us to praise and worship God, the enslaved people of African descent in the United States of America, saying spirituals from their souls that inspired them through the trauma and the burdens they carried, with messages of hope and a future salvation, with songs like Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, Wade in the Water, and Nobody Knows the Troubles I've seen.
• 2:32
  Constance Lavonice: Singing was central in the civil rights movement as people, black and white, united in hope, inspiration, and resilience, lifted up their voices and sang.
• 2:49
  Constance Lavonice: In Psalm 67, the nations were exhorted to praise God.
• 2:58
  Constance Lavonice: Psalms ninety eight, come, let's sing for joy to the Lord.
• 3:04
  Constance Lavonice: Let's shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
• 3:09
  Constance Lavonice: Psalms ninety-six, sing to the Lord a new song.
• 3:14
  Constance Lavonice: Sing to the Lord all the earth.
• 3:17
  Constance Lavonice: Sing to the Lord, bless his name, proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day.
• 3:25
  Constance Lavonice: We're exhorted to praise God.
• 3:28
  Constance Lavonice: Praise God for his goodness, Psalm 92, his righteousness in Psalms 98.
• 3:38
  Constance Lavonice: Praise God for his faithfulness, Psalms 99, his mercy, Psalms 103.
• 3:46
  Constance Lavonice: Praise the Lord's wonderful works, Psalms 135.
• 3:52
  Constance Lavonice: And if you can't sing, make a joyful noise to the Lord.
• 3:59
  Constance Lavonice: Psalm 100, verse 1.
• 4:03
  Constance Lavonice: Secondly, singing penetrates our soul, our mind, will, and emotions.
• 4:13
  Constance Lavonice: Songs and singing provide an emotional release.
• 4:18
  Constance Lavonice: Songs help us to identify, express, and process our emotions.
• 4:25
  Constance Lavonice: Sometimes emotions that we're unable to identify until we hear a song.
• 4:33
  Constance Lavonice: And when we sing the song, it acts as a release.
• 4:39
  Constance Lavonice: Songs have the ability to bring us to tears, which releases the stress hormone cortisol.
• 4:46
  Constance Lavonice: People tend to remember songs that they've played over and over again during the lows and high moments of their lives.
• 4:58
  Constance Lavonice: Just think about the person listening to a love song.
• 5:04
  Constance Lavonice: And if you listen carefully, it's expressing a sentiment that they're feeling at the time.
• 5:13
  Constance Lavonice: Thirdly, singing calms the body and stimulates a relaxation response through the vagus nerve.
• 5:27
  Constance Lavonice: The vagus nerve is spelt with V A G-U-S.
• 5:34
  Constance Lavonice: Sounds like vegas as in Las Vegas, the vagus nerve.
• 5:42
  Constance Lavonice: And the vagus nerve is one of the longest nerves in the body.
• 5:47
  Constance Lavonice: It sends messages to and from the brain.
• 5:52
  Constance Lavonice: The vagus nerve runs from the base of the brain, the brainstem, all the way down to our abdomen.
• 6:02
  Constance Lavonice: And it branches out along the way to almost every major organ in our bodies.
• 6:10
  Constance Lavonice: What's important about it is it regulates the parasympathetic nervous system, what we call the rest and digest function, which is the opposite of the stress response, the fight or flight response.
• 6:33
  Constance Lavonice: The vagus nerve begins to shut it down when it's stimulated.
• 6:43
  Constance Lavonice: And because the vocal cords and the back of the throat are connected to the vagus nerve, singing or even humming activates it and triggers a relaxation response, which reduces anxiety, fear, and hypervigilance.
• 7:07
  Constance Lavonice: The more you sing or hum, the more relaxation or healing you will experience.
• 7:16
  Constance Lavonice: So if you're nervous, sing a song.
• 7:20
  Constance Lavonice: If you're afraid, sing a song, hum in the face of that fear.
• 7:27
  Constance Lavonice: If you're depressed, sing a song, anxious, sing a song, joyful, sing a song.
• 7:37
  Constance Lavonice: And if you need emotional, spiritual, or physical release, sing a song.
• 7:46
  Constance Lavonice: And if you're still listening, subscribe and share this episode with a friend so more women will know about whole heart conversations.
• 7:56
  Constance Lavonice: And Father God, I pray for each person listening that you would give them a song in their heart today that will uplift them and provide your peace that surpasses all understanding in their spirit, soul, and body.
• 8:18
  Constance Lavonice: Amen.