I was in the gym changing room when I took a moment to stop and listen to what was being played through the speakers; it was along the lines of “if you love me, come and get your fill”. Hmmmm… definitely not a love song by my standards, and certainly not what I would want to hear from someone I loved or who loved me. I’ve learned that love can only be something that truly comes from within me first, not from anyone else filling me up: believe me I’ve tried it, and looking outside myself for love simply doesn’t work.
Hearing this song made me stop, and think; what are we really listening to?
As I listened I felt in my body the hardness of the song; it actually hurt my body to hear the music. I could feel it in my chest, and the words became so clear, in the sense they were not loving at all, keeping us in the belief that love is something we find outside ourselves. Even the lyrics were not honoring of women or men at all.
I decided to conduct a little experiment: I chose to observe music for the week, just to feel what is really going on. Music is everywhere, 24 hours a day, non-stop: in the supermarket, clothes store, the gym or in the car whilst getting a lift to work, even the kids put their earphones in when moving from class to class at school. The more I observed and listened, the more I became aware of how music imposes on us and just how harming it can be without us even realising.
Sometimes I could feel like it was trying to hook me in – all the stories, emotions and need, other times it was more the actual tone of the voice or the sound of the instrument that actually hurt my body to hear; my chest would tighten, my head hurt, or I’d actually physically wince at the sound. I found when I listened to my body it spoke to me loud and clear.
Looking back I remember being little and reacting to music that didn’t feel right by hiding behind the couch when a certain person and song came on the TV, or shouting ‘stop’ at the radio in the car, and getting into trouble as my sister whacked on the brakes.
As I grew up I got totally sucked in by music that was being played, as long as it had a story of emotional woe I could relate to that kept me immersed in some sort of drama, for example – being sad, lonely or in the misery of a relationship breaking up, or if it had a good beat I could also dance to, I was totally gone.
But thank goodness, it is not like this anymore.
I have found that there is actually music out there that is clear, without one ounce of emotion or woe, which is made with love. It doesn’t hurt my body to listen to it, nor do I wince or get sucked in – it’s the complete opposite in fact. I feel me, I feel so much expansion, freedom and joy in my body, there’s not one ounce of tension or pain.
It’s music that allows my body the freedom to expand, and it calls me to connect more deeply within myself and all that I am – absolute love, joy, truth and so much more. The difference is it has not been made to self-promote or gain, but made with love for all of humanity to hear: it holds all others equally and allows people to feel the truth of who they really are with no imposition at all.
Inspired by Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon.
By Gyl Rae, 37, Scotland
Related Reading:
Serge Benhayon on the Energetic Science of Music
Music by GM Records
Music by Chris James
Music and Parenting
Words on Serge Benhayon 
Thank you Gyl holding everyone as an equal would definitely change the way we are currently existing and this would be a Loving way for us to express going forward from now.
Most music is invasive and unsettles our bodies without us realizing it. We say we like music but we are not discerning that it comes with an energy that actually poisons our bodies and can alter the way we think about ourselves, others and life.
Music is imposed upon us in far too many situations, what energy is that music coming with, and so what are the consequences of that on our bodies.
I wonder what it is about our society that feels we have to be entertained by music wherever we go? Or is there something more insidious happening that music is being used in a way to dull our bodies from sensing what’s really going on?
Great Question Mary, and could it be like subliminal messaging and that music holds us in Love or emotional turmoil?
Great point Elizabeth, when we go into reaction about anything then we’re drawing in and putting out exactly the same polluted energy as whatever it is we’re in reaction to. But we also have to be careful not to go into a ‘Zen-type-nothing-is-phasing-me’ type of energy because this comes from exactly the same energetic origin as reactions and abusive music. It’s very simple, the trick is to stay connected to the truth of who we are and steer a steady ship through whatever comes our way. Clean, clear and simple.
Well we’re either listening to something that has come directly from Heaven, which will act as an audible reminder of Heaven or we’re listening to something that has been constructed to throw us off Heaven’s scent. And the latter might sound blissful to our ears but will be felt as discordant by our bodies.
These days I really don’t like music that I can feel pounding on my chest. Namely because I have for a while now listened to music that doesn’t do that, even if I turn it up really loud in the car there’s no pounding. So if asked “what sort of music do you like?” I can say “Many genres as long as it feels ok”
The sound can be pleasing, just like the taste of cake – but the impact on the body can be crippling just like a slice of cake.
I would say that the majority of music out there in society imposes on us and we are so unaware of this until it is pointed out. Then we have a choice to continue to listen to it knowing it affects our behaviours and moods, or stop listening to it by finding music that is clear to listen to with no impositions. Such music does exist and the repertoire is diverse and increasing I’m glad to say.
What about the numerous times we are put on ‘call waiting’, when having to speak with various organisations whilst on the phone, the music imposes automatically, with no choice to wait in a silent mode.
Amazing how certain things become no longer acceptable when we allow the body to take the lead, while our head would gladly take every opportunity to ignore it and frolic being entertained by the poison.
Very true Fumiyo. I was unaware fo many years how some music felt on my body and would even indulge in sad music if I was feeling miserable myself. We have so much amazing music now to choose form – for all tastes – music that feeds us rather than dulls us and that supports rather than crushes.
It is only as we become more connected to our bodies, and more aware, that we start to become aware of how imposing and awful music can be on our bodies.
Recently I was walking along in a city and I heard someone playing the trumpet and I immediately felt the sadness and depression of the music. Is it possible we don’t discern the affect the music has on our physical bodies at all? The busker playing the trumpet energetically could be affecting everyone who hears it or walks past without realising the energy they were receiving was depressing. So imagine if you were feeling low surely that music could just make matters worse?
99% of all music imposes on us. It comes in loaded with emotion and laden with beliefs and like a big heavy hand seems to reach into our bodies and change the way that we feel. And it’s not as if it does this without our say so, it doesn’t, we actively invite it in by listening to it in the first place. Not only that but a lot of the time we really really want to listen to it because of how it makes us feel. And the interesting thing is that often music doesn’t even make us feel what we deem as ‘better’, it actually intensifies our sadness or our melancholy mood or even our angst. But the fact of the matter is, that if we were connected to who we are in truth then there’s no way that we would allow something (anything) to come into our bodies and change how we felt because we would protect how we felt at all costs.
So true Alexis. Listening to most musicians talk about their music they emphasise the emotionality of it and how important that is. They actually want people to feel what they felt whilst composing and or playing. No thankyou to that any more.
And it’s a big fat ‘no’ from me too Sue!
You’ve got me pondering on how many issues I have that stem from beliefs contained in song lyrics. One of the biggest ones is that love is outside of us and we need to be dependent on others for love – this is so untrue but I can see how it still operates within me. If we listen to songs over and over, which we do, it’s like a form of being programmed. When music is not from the purity of the soul energetically it is a form of pollution, no criticism intended I have really engaged with music a lot over my life and felt like I enjoyed it, but once I felt what it did to my body it was quite shocking – very harmful.
We are fed these false beliefs in some music, which all just add to the mess that the world is; no way is love something we get from outside ourselves, ”I’ve learned that love can only be something that truly comes from within me first, not from anyone else filling me up‘.
These days it is hard to go anywhere without music blaring from speakers – be this in the car, in the shopping centers, when you are put on hold on the phone etc. There is not enough appreciation of a quiet moment and we seem to have forgotten how to be in such a space without the constant stimulation.
I’ve noticed that too, it’s as if we can’t bear the space that silence offers to be with ourselves. Silence is a good stop moment to connect and feel.
Silence is golden – as the saying goes. But it seems we have to fill every moment with noise and busy-ness. No wonder we are all so exhausted – there are no stop moments in the day.
Yes, music is imposed on us in every situation, hairdressers, phone call waiting, shops, it is totally unacceptable, but when requested ‘no music’ when call waiting with the operator, it seems they have no choice than to let the music continue to blast out.
Sometimes there are some really catchy tunes we hear on the radio or in shopping centers. And I really hate it when something ‘catches’ and I find myself involuntarily humming this tune in my head. I so prefer music with out the hooks, music that lets you be.
Absolutely Gyl, music comes in two varieties that which is healing for our bodies and that which is part of our ills and issues we have around emotional hurts and all this is happening without most of us even caring.
I can’t remember why but this week I chose to click on some videos from a band l listened to 30 years ago, they once captured my teenage angst at a very unhappy time for me where I just wanted escape from my ‘boring’ life. Usually most music I hear is akin to a person whining for attention and I turn it off. The dance music I was addicted to now I can only listen to for a few minutes before I feel like I’m about to go back on the drugs. But these songs have become ear worms even days later. What happened here?
I ‘loved’ those songs, yes technically brilliant, before their time and all that but I feel I gave myself away to them, the anger and my rage at the world at the time. Did I feel I somehow owed them for expressing my alienation and not feeling so lonely at the time, that other people also felt this way? In the same way I turned to rave for connection, I also did the same with these bands and completely missed out on appreciating everyone who was in my life at the time. These songs did me no favours, they fuelled my teenage arrogance and separation. I can now feel this and it doesn’t feel great at all- great to start seeing through the lie.
Pop, Jazz, Rock R&B, Country and many others are all some flavour of music. They all have their own type of hooks. It is said the perfect Country Western song needs to contain; crying, dying, going somewhere and pickup trucks. All buttons that are pushed to keep you hooked. But there is music as you have said Gail that is not hooking that allows and supports our movements.
Growing up I used to find the best music to be nature sounds, the birds singing, the wind in the trees, the pitter patter of the rain drops. They made my body feel settled.
Beautiful. The best sort of music – the sounds of nature. On a recent early morning walk the joyfull bird song was music to my ears – so uplifting – despite the rain.
Spring is coming here soon, and the birds are starting to sing more, there is so much joy in their singing.
Music can be such a trap, to keep us stuck in our emotional stew, or, from Michael Benhayon, a stairway to Heaven.
‘I’ve learned that love can only be something that truly comes from within me first, not from anyone else filling me up’ If we want to be ‘filled up’ by another this is simply need not love. True love places no imposition on another or need of any kind.
One of my pet hates is that there seems to be music wherever we go, Restaurants, Service stations, Shops, too me it is an offence against our bodies. You cannot go even for a Pee in a service station in peace and quiet you are instead blasted by the most ghastly music. And the other day I was with colleagues at a restaurant and it was almost impossible to have a conversation because the music was so loud.I asked if it could possibly be turned down, it wasn’t but it was worth asking because then at least I have highlighted that the music was too loud. I feel if we just accept these things without asking for a change, nothing will change.
Why do we have music blasting forth everywhere we go …?
Gyl, this is a great question to ask; ‘what are we really listening to?’ I haven’t chosen to listen to emotional love songs for a long time, if I hear them on the radio in a shop or at a friends they feel highly emotional and dramatic and the words don’t feel at all true or supportive.
I hate the fact that wherever we go in the world there seems to be music waiting for us, music chosen by others with very little regard as to whether those coming into their shops, gyms, hotels etc, actually will enjoy it. I have often wondered how the workers in these establishments actually feel at the end of a day when the music has thumped away for hour after hour; they might think they like it, but I wonder if they asked their body, whether it would agree?
Many of us seem to hate that this imposing music is everywhere, and that we have no say as to whether it stays on or how loud it is. What is going on in the world, that we impose on people, when clearly it is against what many people want.
Thank you Gyl fo sharing your experience with music. You describe it so beautiful – music is everywhere and that is really something I do not like at all. If I enter a shop and the music is too loud or I do not like the music I leave. I have now found my shops for shopping where they play hardly music or where I can ask the owner to stop playing music whilst I am shopping.
And at Christmas it feels especially awful. Resturants too – the music is sometimes so loud its hard to hear my companions speak. I too have asked them to turn it off – or at least down, if there are others eating there.
‘The more I observed and listened, the more I became aware of how music imposes on us and just how harming it can be without us even realising.’ Yet, we are so invested in escaping into our music we do not recognise or observe this. I know that when I listen to music I either check out, harden my body, or get swayed emotionally… none of which supports me to remain steady in myself.
I used to be attached to music that was sad and depressive, it always filled me with longing for something, a better life even tho my life wasn’t bad… I walked around getting a kind of kick out of feeling miserable. Then one day I found myself going through CD after CD, putting each one on to play and then changing it almost immediately because it didn’t feel right, it was like scales fell from my ears and I could hear it for what it was. I could no longer bear to listen to it.
A great point Gyl, many songs are about love, a love lost and filled with emotion they try to hook us into it, and make love about something we get from another when love in its truth comes from within.
We can look to music as easily as we can look to food to make us feel better/at ease/less tense, but that ‘better’ is simply a means to not feel what we ourselves are not expressing – a ‘bottling up’ rather than the ease we think we are getting in return.
I agree Rosanna. Music, like food momentarily transports us away from ourselves and the tension that we’re feeling but it dumps us right back to where we were before, only this time round laden with the energy that we imbibed either from the music or the food.
Music is a fuel for a pattern of movement we have chosen. The music we chose is no coincidence and has a goal to fulfill.
I used to think that classical music was ‘purer’ in some way than pop music but it’s not the case. Classical music comes just as laden with emotions as any other music that’s out there. The emotion that comes through music comes from whoever it is that is either singing or playing the instrument and so it is not to do with how they are playing or singing but what they’ve got going on in their body. A person might be playing the violin softly but if they themselves are steeped in sadness then this is what gets communicated through the music and so this is what we, the listeners receive in our bodies.
I love what you share here Eduardo, so true, ‘Music is a fuel for a pattern of movement we have chosen.’
Music can be very intrusive on the body, you can feel it pull you further away from yourselves dulling what you feel and in general I have found I just check out while listening to it, however not all music is like that and we have to deeply discern for ourselves.
Listening to the difference between music that is full of emotion and music that is completely free of emotion there is no denying which one leaves you free of imposition and allows you the space to connect deeply with your own body, and free to feel what is true and what is not, rather than filling it with a toxicity that takes you away from knowing who you are.
I feel the same way about advertising. It is everywhere and wants to pull you into lots of different directions. I was travelling recently in Brisbane and at a train station they had put advertising television screens on the other side of the tracks and were pumping the sound across the platforms. It was invasive.
We need to discern the effect that music has on us because it does have an effect. Just like everything else in life it can be harming or healing.
When we listen to music that does not impose we do not get ‘lost’ in the music.
What are we really listening to? When I go to the dentist or other place where they have piped music or the radio on I ask for them to turn it off and its amazing how many people thank me afterwards – they had forgotten how enjoyable it is to have silence and how more supportive it can actually be too.
I used to get totally sucked in by emotional music to the point where I would feel depressed or low if I got too entrenched in the sadness. These days I have learnt my lesson and stay clear of such music because I know that it’s not there to leave us alone, it’s there to interfere with our natural rhythm.
I have always struggled with classical music and opera it has always sent me running in the opposite direction. It is revered by many as being the best echelons of music but to me it is full of emotions and I can feel my body and my heart get heavy and harden when I hear it. Music when clear has the power to heal but unless it is played by someone who is clear themselves their unresolved issues will come through the music.
The energy of the musician has an effect on the music that is being produced and played.
I recently went to a very small music festival – I used to love festivals and dancing into the wee hours. Here the music was just your general cover songs and nothing too crazy but I noticed the children were running around and being hyper and super excitable. I found the music, though the singer sang and played well, started to make me feel unsettled in my body. It wasn’t until a student of Universal Medicine started to play his songs that my body settled and loved dancing along.
Isn’t it funny how in the past there were a handful of singers well remembered – and today – we are bombarded with artists – all trying to make it – but all the lyrics are about drama or empowerment or love – and at the end of it – so much emotion comes through lyrics – we have not stopped to consider the effect this has on us – and how influenced we can be by these lyrics.
Indeed, music is everywhere and it’s very hard to get away from it. I wonder if it would ever be a criminal offence to play music in a public space without energetic integrity. Maybe one day. Meanwhile, it is our own responsibility/choice to stay tuned with the song of God.
I have become more aware of how music is used in movies/TV shows to manipulate people’s emotions and how easily it is to get sucked in. The more we become aware that everything has an energetic vibration the easier it is to see through things.
When I listen to music I often hear pervasive sadness or hurt or anger in the voices and even in the way the musical instruments are played and I prefer not to be enveloped in those emotions.
All those emotional hooks big and little in music pull us back into ups and downs in life, completely missing the joy of living from our inner hearts.
It is easy to see and feel how music is used to amplify certain emotions during films or movies, what if that is actually happening all the time to some degree, with all music.
I find music very often very seductive. How it is arranged and the beats and the voices that want to entangle you. It is like a hidden manipulation and energetic relief that pours into your body through the seductive flair our ears then tend to align to. What kind of energy do we let in, when we fall for the seduction?!
Music is there to evolve us and remind us of our essence – through the communication to our beingness and to our body. The music that is played in this world in contrast is there to distract, check out, excite, withdrawal, desire, hooks with emotions etc…Regarding the fact that everywhere this kind of music is played, you can imagine how much we are constantly manipulated by it.
Whenever I take a taxi I ask them to turn off the music, as I don´t like the constant sound and the music that is played on the radio. The last Taxi driver said to me, that he never had a passenger that wanted the music off. The opposite is the general. It is like no one can stand the stillness and the intimacy that occurs through that, so everyone wants the music to be played as a kind of intimacy wall. Very interesting.
Yes, a more common request is to turn the volume up!
The emotion in songs is very addictive and disturbing at the same time. When my girls were teenagers, I could see the change in them when they started to get into the emo music. People may think it is harmless but when I stopped to listen to it myself a lot of it felt really angry and depressive.
It is great to observe the effects of music on our bodies and how sensitive we are to this. Gyms are a sure place for us to listen to mainstream music that we do not realise is affecting us. If we can take a moment to listen to the lyrics, the tempo of the music and the way it is delivered to us, then we can discern if that music is truly supportive or not.
Music but also things like news reports have a huge energetic affect on people. I have often seen people go from feeling great in themselves to feeling awful though being affected by both.
What are we really listening to? Great question Gyl. It can feel like an assault walking into some shops and cafes where the music is blaring out. I love your experiment of observing music and feeling the effects, I find the more I am attuned to my body and it’s vibration it becomes very clear when a vibration is out of this rhythm. There is a lot being communicated through music which can emotionally ‘play us’ if we are not aware.
When we listen to music that does not impose on us it is so refreshing and very evolving.
Yes, we are surrounded by music everywhere we go, and they are not tunes or words that are supportive to us feeling vital and energised but rather fuel our emotions and moods.
“Hmmmm… definitely not a love song by my standards, and certainly not what I would want to hear from someone I loved or who loved me.” Very true Gyl, it is definitely also not what I would like to hear from my partner. It is showing how much we have let go the true meaning of the word love to allow this kind of expression to be out there.
We cannot enter a building these days without music playing, be that at the doctor’s office, the supermarket, the gym etc. What is it about silence that we seem to dread? Could it be that we fear having a moment to ourselves to feel how our lives actually are?
Maybe, though the sound of silence is the most glorious vibration to feel.
I love quiet, I love silence, yet so frequently we pay for certain services, like hairdressers, dentists, physios, gyms, etcetera, where we get bombarded by the imposition of music that many of us would definitely say ‘no’ to.
I like how you did an experiment to just be more observant of how you were with music in all areas of life, to observe and potentially be more aware of your relationship with it…
Music can be deeply imposing or allow us to be, and having felt both kinds I now know which is preferable (yes the later), but it’s taken time and awareness to feel this, as I’ve had to get honest with myself about how I can get hooked into music and lost within that, but I was choosing this as a way to continue to feel an emotion like anger or sadness but not truly address it or getting completely lost in dancing; once I say and observed this in myself, with honesty I was able to look at how I truly felt and what I was feeding and cut that and then I noticed the impact of the music and let that go too. Having now found music that just allows me to be, it’s now a joy to listen to music which allows me to simply be as I am, nothing added.
Such a great question to ask, and when we actually stop and feel it we realise we have been feeling it all along and just went along with the mood it put you into. So what really happens when we allow another source to enter us and to dominate what mood we are in. Yes, of course we have to let it in first, but if we haven’t chosen to say no to it then we haven’t really said yes to it but it comes in anyway. Music is everywhere, so is it not down to us first and foremost to discern what we say yes to and what we say no to, based on how it feels in the body?
Having been completely hooked by music that I played to increase my emotional distress especially when I was feeling low, I can say with absolute certainty that the music I listen to now has no hooks within the music. It leaves me completely detached and emotionally free.
I used to want music to take me away from the reality of life because I didn’t like what I saw around me. Music readily obliged. Much of the music I listened to I wanted a high from. I used to dance for hours non-stop without drugs because the music was enough to get that hit, that tiredness and adrenaline – and a lot of attention. Now with music like Glorious Music I listen and it supports me to be present with all that’s going on in the world. I don’t seek music to escape into a bubble.
A lot of the music created today is also deeply offensive, completely unnecessarily explicit, racist and often full of hate. If you were to speak some of the words to someone you’d be arrested for a hate crime, yet because it’s put to a background beat and labelled “music” – it’s ok.
Well said Meg. Most music I hear in the gym falls under this category and I must say it is very much felt in the atmosphere of the gym what the music is about.
True, I find also sometimes that as a women some music can make me feel very uncomfortable in the atmosphere it can create – especially the very derogative, disrespectful way women are talked about in many songs.
It’s true Gyl, music can be quite deceptive in the way it presses our emotional buttons and stimulates us.
I agree there is a distinct difference in music that supports and feels light with our body or that which feels heavy. Like food, it has many flavours, you want dulling, busy, stimulated, sad, you can get it. We need to be more discerning concerning what our ears and body feed on.
There is so much for us to realise, learn and accept of what precisely is delivered to us through music as you have wisely shared through your insightful observations. The quality in which it is delivered, the intention behind the artist and what we are seeking when we listen to music. Music is a healing art that has the potential to offer and support our evolution. When this modality is bastardised or corrupted for self-gain, it then only imposes to harm and keeps those who consume it trapped, caught up and stunted in emotional stimulation.
I had never stopped to consider what I was listening to until at a presentation with Serge Benhayon and he asked that exact question. Then as we discussed how the energy of the people that are involved making it and the emotions that write the lyrics all come together in a cocktail package for us to take in to our own bodies by absorbing it. It made so much sense because I could feel myself and my body change after listening to certain types of music. Such a great thing to see and feel for what it really is and the impact it can have on us. Everything either heals or harms us, so its up to us to discern what we let in.
The more I understand truth from my soul Elizabeth the more I see that the lyrics in music hold many falsities that can become beliefs, and that these beliefs actually promote a way of life that is in separation from the soul. One more obvious example is the emotional version of love in music and that it’s always from a special someone, never something we are – love being who we are in essence as souls.
I remember as a teenager being besotted by a certain singer, I bought all his records and later as a solo artist I purchased a long awaited for album after he had had a gap from making music. After ceremoniously creating some space to listen to all the new songs I was so disappointed, it was a very self pitying, self indulgent, emotional dump, and though I’m sure he felt it was part of his art to express what was going on for him all I could feel was how awful it felt! Let’s face it we don’t like this in conversations because we feel how draining and damaging it is for the receiver, but here it all was to be listened to repeatedly on a record – ouch!
Beautiful Gyl, just exactly what we need to hear about music, truth, reading and feeling the energy that comes through it. Sharing your sentence again as it shows us what is possible when music is played that comes from a fiery energy, that does not impose at all: ‘.. it holds all others equally and allows people to feel the truth of who they really are with no imposition at all.”
Music is much more harming than we would like to think, and we get very easily effected by it. To start to feel this is pretty huge and makes me appreciate the responsibility we have to not get caught in the music trap. I used to indulge in music a lot, but when I was presented with and understood the energy behind it, I was able to see the harm it can cause if any ounce of it is to draw people in.
The insidiousness of the energy that floats around us every day, be that from music, another person, our own desire to put ourselves down. The impact is constantly there. It takes a very astute person, one who is deeply connected to their essence to discern these energies and begin to know they are not coming from within us.
So much of the music played in shopping centres and elevators or cafes seemed to be about filling up a space as if to further disconnect us from the power in being fully present in the moment and feeling what is really going on.
People often do not feel comfortable to have space to just be, many people prefer music constantly in workplaces or home environments as well. I personally find the music in shops incredibly distracting and imposing, it feels very unnecessary to have it constantly blasting and usually at high volume.
Reading this article it makes sense to me now that I didn’t used to like music as a child. Even as an adult I tried like music but actually found most of it it felt awful in my body. When I came across Glorious music, which is music, made with love without the usual emotional hooks in it, it felt very gorgeous to listen to and my body loved it. I can listen to it over and over and enjoy it every time.
Gyl interesting exercise you did here, and my guess is that if other people connected to their bodies and did the same, that you would not be alone in the results. What was interesting is that this is just one area of our lives, where something can have an affect on us, what if we tuned into other areas? What would be the results? Generally speaking we live quite disconnected from our bodies (I know I did for many years) so I don’t think we are hearing these important messages from our bodies about how they are being affected by what goes on around us.
I have to say I just hate it when I am out either walking or driving my car and another car with that palpable duff duff music passes me – it honestly feels like the thump a sledge hammer is trying to force itself on my body. How can it be healthy, moreover, what is it doing to the bodies of those that choose to listen to it?
Most music produced is super imposing and aims to hook us into something, for example a certain emotion. This is very harming for the body as emotions are a poison in the body.
We are still a long way from admitting as a whole that to listen to music that does not come from the depth of the love that lives within us all, but instead comes from the ache of the separation to this love, we allow ourselves to be soaked in a poison we do not even know we are ingesting because we have been so hooked and hypnotised by its tune and thus the vibration it offers to not live the fullness of who we are and the responsibility that comes with this.
We are choosing at every turn to not connect to the truth of who we are and so it makes total sense that we choose music that not only has nothing to do with the truth of who we are but actively takes us away from the truth of who we all are. Perfect for all of us who have made our lives about avoiding the truth.
The more we live in tune with our body – the easier it is to stick to the song of God.
All hearts beat in tune to this song but we can at any stage override it with a human created beat that steers us well off course from this divine symphony.
True Liane – its a remix that’s not needed.
Ha, true but tell that to the human etheric spirit that willfully dances to its own self-created tune so as to deliberately drown out the song of God from which it has withdrawn away from.
Yes it’s like God is the DJ but the spirit has bought its own ghetto blaster along tuned to pirate radio. The result is a horrible mish mash of sounds but the spirit keeps insisting that it sounds ace.
Haha, exactly. In the world of energy all is vibration and thus the particular vibration that the self-seeking human etheric spirit seeks is music to its ears because it is not the vibration that is calling it back to Soul and asking it to evolve. It’s easy to ignore the song of God when you are hell bent on dancing to your own tune, no matter how ridiculous you may look.
Michael Benhayon and Chris James have inspired me to return to expressing through music by showing me there is a way to express without dumping on everyone around you.
I’ve always loved dancing my little derriere off. I used to listen to electronic dance music and go out clubbing till all hours, dancing the night and the early mornings away. I still love dancing and love electronic music, but I am more selective these days. I choose to listen to the electronic dance music created by Michael Benhayon cos I have felt the difference in my body.
Like you Gyl, when I used to go clubbing I was gone/taken out by the music, manipulated into peaks and troughs of the music. But when I listen to the music of Michael Benhayon and Glorious Music, I am still with me. And there is expansion in my body and i feel the steadiness of joy. Outwardly, I dont think you could visually tell the difference of my dancing as I still dance my derriere off, but energetically it is worlds apart. http://www.gmrecords.net/
Having seen a selfie-film of you dancing you derriere off I can without hesitation say the world is a better place for your true moves, unaffected by the impositions of music composed from need of recognition, catharisis, any agenda really. Keep on dancing Sarah ❤
Thank you Lucy, will do 🙂
Music is a movement and all movement is either in-step with God or out of step with God. Most music is out of step with God.
Has anybody ever felt like they wanted to cry, but it wasn’t coming out so they’d put a really sad song on? I used to do that when I was a child, I had this one particular song that I knew always got me teary and when I was feeling wimpy I would play it just because I wanted to be stuck in my misery. Remembering this makes me cringe, how horrible is this for us? Taking on the writer’s emotions and letting them run through us as if they’re helping us let go of something… what a lie.
I used to seek out music that I knew would take me away from feeling present in my body. The song ‘lost in music’ really describes it well! Now I don’t listen or want music to draw me away from feeling who I am into an emotion or a different state of being. It’s wonderful to listen to music that lets me be and feel inspired to be more present in the world no matter what is going on.
We all get so hooked by music, especially by a catchy tune and never consider the impact it may be having on us, except perhaps when it is blaring too loud in a shop or in a public place and we can feel the jarring! Sometimes I have felt that music compels me to delve into my emotions even if I have been feeling great before hand.
We can often feel that there is more behind the words that people are speaking so why would that not be the same with music? We can get very fooled by the nice tune and forget the energetic quality of what is being presented in a piece of music.
It certainly feels completely different when we listen to music that is non-imposing with any emotion, where you are left to feel and be with yourself and for it even to support you to connect deeper. Music on this level is deeply powerful and this is all I choose to listen to now. When I am around other music I can feel how much imposition it has and tension that it comes with.
It is a great point as many lyrics these days are literally offensive and abusive. It seems that we accept it as long as it has a good beat to dance on but do we consider what energy we allow in our bodies when we are dancing on music like that?
I was listening to a group of people in the marketplace play some music today and it felt not only offensive to the ears but to the whole body because the people performing did not in any way feel connected with themselves.
Music can very surprisingly be more felt in the body then enjoyed by the mind. For instance I have experienced that I suddenly noticed I have a tune in my mind from hearing it somewhere else before. I could clearly feel how much it was coming from my body, dictating the way my body moves. So it is not only when we hear the music ‘live’ so to say but it has a much deeper effect as it is also stored in the body in the configuration of its movements.
I know a young man who loves music because he admires the creativity of the people who have made it. He likes modern rap music, music that is all about beats, music that he and his friends can talk about. For them it is a point of connection and identity – the energetic factors of it are of no interest because there is too much at stake to lose should any one start to question the real affects of the music they are listening to.
I have found that much music has a forceful impact on me as the pain, hurt and neglect of the musicians comes through their songs and I rather not have that in my body.
We need to have a sense of what our body feels like when it is relaxed and at ease before we can tell if our body has changed from listening or hearing a piece of music. I am not sure we are offered that space so we have to actively choose to claim it back and nurture it so we can then tell when we are breathing the breath of a song or another person’s emotions.
It wasn’t until I re-learned how to relax my body and become re-aware of how I am affected by what is going on around me, before I could discern how music actually affected my physical body. Before then I would easily get sucked in by a catchy tune and enjoy switching off when listening to music, without realising the impact it was having.
Yes, music is a wonderful distraction but once I noticed as you did what music did to my body I became less interested and found it intrusive rather than enjoyable.
I find I am still learning! I am also learning the importance of clocking it and not feeling like I have to hide or run away when I hear music that I don’t like…yes the temptation was high 🙂
Sure Lucy, we can only truly discern when we are still and unaffected in the body, otherwise we are in the unrest of the movement music can bring to our bodies which determines how clear we can be in discernment.
Yes, we don’t know what we are configured to be unaware of and if we keep choosing that which maintains that configuration then we will never discern that which does not serve our body.
When the imprisonment is felt, it means that we have contracted our body and shut ourselves off from the truth and authority of knowing this truth. By observing the imprisonment and observe the openings where the contraction have come through, brings an more openness to our body and instant choice of choosing different. What I am learning is that our transparency makes way for all the creations (problems, hurts, emotions) to dissolve.
I used to use music to sooth my emotions, so if I felt sad, I might put on a happy song or if I want to wallow in my sadness I put on a sad song. It helped distract me from really feeling what was going on. Now, I don’t do this anymore because I have been more willing to feel what is going on and heal. No more escaping with music but more willingness to take responsibility for how I feel,
Music is like a drug, when I was a teenager I used to have headphones in non-stop – it was like they drip fed me life, I used music to get up, to adjust my mood, to relax, and it was a bit like I chose my drug based on what I needed or what I wanted to be – now instead I’m learning to be who I am and not use things externally (like music) to tell me who I am – music is definitely not as innocent as we think it is.
“The more I observed and listened, the more I became aware of how music imposes on us and just how harming it can be without us even realising.” What a valuable experiment! I find the same too, the more I listen to different types of music, the more I am able to discern what feels imposing on my body and how much it physically disturbs me, and music that doesn’t. There is a vast difference between music that is played and/or sung by someone who has no investment in what they are doing, with some one who has.
I always used music as a means of making me feel something – usually an emotion, so I didn’t have to feel empty inside. As I’ve become more present in myself I don’t need music to fill me up and can hear the hooks it tries to get people through. I’ve discovered music that isn’t hooking that confirms who I am and supports me to express who I am and the divinity that we are all a part of in a world that is currently invested in not supporting people.
We ‘love’ music but if it panders to our needs and desires it is not love. Music should never elevate a person or give them a high of any kind, if it does then the inevitable crash will always follow…but how often do we link the low that can occur sometime afterwards to the catchy tune we thought we liked?
Sound starts with a simple vibration. It would stand us well to discern the quality of that vibration well before we fall for a catchy tune.
Gyl, reading this reminds me of how sensitive to music I have always been, as a child I didn’t listen to music, i had no interest and I remember going to university and feeling very uncool for not liking any music and so to fit in I pretended there were some i liked, I realise now that the music felt awful in my body, having in last few years come across music by Chris James music and Miranda Benhayon I now love to listen to their music, there is no jarring in my body, it feels lovely and easy to listen to and I can listen to it over and over again, i feel inspired by this music.
This is such a great question to ask Gyl ” what are we listening to?” As a world wide society we need to ask ourselves what is the energy behind the lyrics and the beat? Why can we get hooked on certain music? and why do we allow ourselves to get emotionally stimulated?
And a biggy -why do we not recognise the harm that most music is bringing.
When we can see the world as a vast sea of energy then we can understand that all music delivers a vibration that will either cause a disturbance in the water we swim within or does not. The problem here being that many of us live in such a discordant way, we have unwittingly attuned ourselves to this discordance and so we don’t register that we are being energetically assaulted in this way.
Yes, our ‘normal’ can have become the discordance and using your illustration, we have got used to rough seas as calm seas. Starting conversations like this means we have an opportunity to step back and have a look at our normal just to check if we have got used to something we might otherwise not have chosen for ourselves or others.
Music is such an interesting medium, as out of our five most commonly known senses, it only involves our hearing. But once we can accept that we also have a sixth sense, which is our clairsentience, and the sense that we use to ‘feel’ what is going on around us we start to appreciate that music affects us in many more ways than we may have first realised. Due to the vibrational waves that music sends out, the effects of it can and do premeate through our bodies energetically, so depending how any piece of music is written or perfomed, it can do untold damage at this level. But equally when music is written with no investment whatsoever, it is completely unimposing to the listener and simply leaves them alone to be themselves.
It is amazing how we can fool ourselves into thinking we enjoy something that actually is harming us. Music and food are quite similar in that I do know and can feel the harm it is doing to me, but there’s this hooking energy that sticks and I often find it hard to let go of.
I agree Fumiyo, music and food are very similar in this sense. Although we could say that music can be far more toxic to ingest due to the fact we do not even think that we are ingesting it. At least with food, it is visible to the eye and we know what we are putting into our body but when it comes to music it seems we have not attuned our hearing to the same degree. For example, we know a sugary sweet or a burger is not so good for us even though we may still eat it anyway. But do we really understand that a particular song can have the same effect to our body and the being within it?
What we tend to forget is that music is an energetic vibration before it is anything else and even if we like the tune or the theme or words of a song we have to check how the music actually energetically feels in our bodies otherwise we may be getting more than we bargained for.
I have a love hate relationship with music. I kind of have to have mainstream music playing at my work and sometimes it drives me nuts and sometimes I must admit, I like to dance around and sing along. I know that most music is produced by people that are pretty emotionally damaged, in it for personal gain or simply lost, so energetically, it’s not that great to be soaking into your system but, yea, there is a but…. Isn’t everything in this world basically not that energetically great? I mean, I don’t mean to sound like a downer but the world is a pretty messed up place. It doesn’t mean we don’t buy clothes because they were made by a company that doesn’t have integrity. I mean really, how many of us know the detailed background of how our clothes were produced? Not to mention the food we buy from and what and who that supports? For me, it’s not about removing music or anything else for that matter from my life, but instead, about watching, feeling, observing, as you have in this blog and continuing to do this, with the intention that one day, we might be able to feel past a good tune or a designer label to the core of what is being offered and more interestingly, why it is being so readily offered and at what times?
All of the music you hear in the shops feels imposing, and at times I feel agitated by the effect the music is having on me and choose to walk out of the shop. It seems that a trendy shop has to have very loud trendy music, as they are marketing for a certain clientele, but I often wonder how the people working there get on every day with having to ignore the music.
““if you love me, come and get your fill”. Hmmmm… definitely not a love song by my standards, and certainly not what I would want to hear from someone I loved or who loved me.” There are so many songs that we are without our doing exposed to during the day and the snippet you give here shows the quality we are listening to. We have been allowing so much in our society under the banner of freedom of expression that nothing seems to stop us to becoming more vile and more vulgar in what we express and deem as normal.
It is interesting how we almost cannot go anywhere without there being music. It is there when we shop, when we go to the gym, when we visit the doctor, in fact there are so few places we go that there is not music. Given that then would it not be wise to investigate for ourselves how music is impacting our bodies?
Many lyrics of mainstream music are an absolute disgrace. If we take it beyond just the lyrics and feel the vibration of a lot of music, it does indeed hurt the body. And that is possibly more damaging than vulgar words.
I used to be so addicted to listening to music from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed, no wonder I was more emotional then and often felt exhausted. It became obvious to me the impact the type of music I listened too was having on me and how hooking and imposing it truly was.
One thing that I am aware of is when I am at work and if I am not completely on the ball and loose the connections with myself the music has a very strong impact in how I am feeling and ususally reacting to what is gong on. Music I find is really imposing and when you do get to experience not having that impact around you there is so much space and you feel free in what you are doing to be.
It is incredibly refreshing to hear and listen to music that actually supports and not depletes me. We do not realise the harm music has on our body until we begin a journey of self love.
I remember the lyrics from songs I heard decades ago. They will randomly pop into my head almost every day. This shows me how powerful music is, so I can understand how very important it is to discern what we choose to listen to.
I don’t like going into shops where the music is blaring and it feels like an assault when you walk in there. I find it hard to focus and notice that I feel irritated when I walk out.
Music can be so deeply imposing, and the crazy thing is that as a society we have not learnt to discern it, to feel it and to know its true message. Too eagerly we tend to override what our bodies are saying and listen to music that is actually harming us.
Our bodies are already so imposed on that it’s difficult for us to discern anything. We’ve squandered the quality of our energetic make up so badly that the natural barometers for energy that are bodies are, are severely compromised, which makes it difficult for us to discern what’s coming our way. Combine that with our determination to keep our heads deeply buried in the sand and you get what we currently have, which is a world that is very, very imposed up as well as imposing.
This a great question and at times we may not know but we are certainly feeling what it is. The more I have become aware of what I am feeling the more I have become more sensitive to what is being played around me.
I was at work yesterday for a conference which was actually really good as the people were great the unfortunate thing was they had really loud music playing which I find really imposing, music can really take us out, in the future just as we now know the harm of smoking so to will we know the harm which music can have.
We use love songs to fill ourselves in. The problem is that the songs we use to fill our emptiness are empty in the first place.
“If music be the food of love, play on” – Shakespeare.
But as you point out Gyl, music can also be a food that contains not an ounce of love and so it pays us well to discern at whose banquet do we sit and thus what will we be fed when we attune our senses to what is being delivered and the energy it is being delivered in – be that love or be it not.
This is an interesting point, as I can remember when I was younger my parents telling me to ‘turn the music down’ and they described it as ‘a terrible noise’. This in itself is really telling as on some level it obviously felt like an imposition to them, and I can too remember having a similar reaction when my children put on certain types of music. But any music that has been written from an emotional body rather than one that is fully in tune with its connection to love is going to have a detrimental energetic impact on our bodies, even if it sounds beautiful to our ears.
Ah yes, this was me also although to be fair I was listening to punk and heavy metal and the unruly teenager in me quite enjoyed the fact that my parents reacted to it. On the other end of the spectrum we also have the music that is pleasing to the ear but crafted from the deep pit of emotion we fall into when we do not live true to the love that we are, so even though the person may be singing about being in love, or it is a classical instrumental piece played by a renowned orchestra, it is still fed to us from the one and same spectrum of energy that gives us the punk and the heavy metal. The short of it is – music will either serve to help us reconnect to the great love that we are or, it will take us further away from it. As always, it is up to us to discern what we are being fed and the affect this is having on us no different to the foods we eat.
One day we will all know the harm that music can cause and the negative impact it can have on us, until then we need to put up with the incessant and imposing noise that can often be heard when out and about.
‘If music be the food of love…….’ as stated by Shakespeare then it would do us well to discern astutely as to the energetic quality we consume through such sound. Does it come from all the love we are and thus need nothing of us or, does it come from all that opposes this and thus hooks us in by way of needing us to react to it in a certain (emotional) way?
I was in a waiting room the other day with music playing. A few days later I found myself wanting to sing the song that had been playing and this showed me that music does impact us. It took a lot of staying very focused to get the song out of my head.
I know that one Elizabeth, also what I have noticed is that even if we are not paying that much attention to the song at the time, a couple of days later the words of the song will be there as if I knew them. This shows me that we don’t have to play a song over and over to get the words – they are there in our body whether we want them or not.
Music can affect us emotionally if the musicians are not energetically clear and if we are disconnected from ourselves. Having had a long break from listening to pop music, I noticed how easily it was to get emotionally caught up in it, once I noticed this and was less affected and chose to reconnect to myself.
Music is played everywhere, although are we aware of what we are listening to, or how the music affects us in different ways, our emotions go on a roller coaster ride depending what we listen to, and the emotional association we have with it, although it takes us away from who we naturally are, and the difference becomes obvious when you get to listen to music that doesn’t play with your emotions but leaves you to feel a greater connection within yourself.
Most of us will only understand the principle of that music imposes when we hear music that is not imposing and clear of such drive. Now it is not about singing nicely or well tuned – or having a happy day. It is about how one lives and the emotion he or she brings into her way of living and music instead. There is an integrity to music that we seemingly have lost, simply because we have no idea any more what true love is – being lived. So we must come back to connection first – from there our music will be whole differently.. Thank you Glorious Music for simply showing us the way forth in music, one of connection with yourself and the all (everybody). Holding sincerely the integrity of making music and everything that comes with that.
Thank you Gyl, it is our responsibility to constantly discern what it is that we are digesting and taking on in life, for there is no difference between a type food that we digest or music that we choose to listen to- as it is all the same for it can have detrimental effects on our health and well being or offer us an opportunity for expansion in our lives.
“I have found that there is actually music out there that is clear, without one ounce of emotion or woe, which is made with love” How wonderful it will be when everyone moves with the rhythm of this Glorious Music.
I had never really thought about the quality of what I used to listen to, so long as it sounded good that was fine. When Serge presented that the music carries the energy of the artist that performs and writes it this is what the song carries. Here I realised a lot if not all the music I was listening to me was absolute poison and was all really imposing. So cool to now not want or have any desire to listen to music that has this energy vibration.
How many love songs are about connecting to yourself, understanding your worth and having true loving relationships with humanity equally?
Recently I had the last appointment of the day to get my teeth cleaned. The normal music station was playing and I asked if we were the only ones in the clinic and we were. I asked if I could have the music turned off and the hygienist sighed with relief that she didn’t have to continue listening to it. Instead we got to talk, of course in between having my teeth cleaned, about how much she enjoyed her job and what she does which I could so feel because there was nothing in the way distracting us.
I remember being totally sucked in by music and being lost in the emotion of it, but these days I can feel the assault on the body of what the music is really doing to us. The sad thing is there are so many work places which play music either very loudly or quietly in the back ground, who believe that it is for the enjoyment of the customers without taking the staff into consideration.
As someone who used to be completely hooked into the saccharin sounds of most music, it’s been huge to listen again and feel the effects different songs have on my body. If you want to, you can start to see there is a whole other message being communicated, that goes way beyond what is said in mere words. What you share Gyl reminds me that this applies equally to every conversation and interaction we have in life – they all have a vibration that is harmonious or not.
Music is a medium that can induce massive emotional highs and lows and thus exert a very powerful and physical effect on our bodies.
I work in the retail industry and we are faced with listening to music for most of our days. What I really find interesting is when the music system goes down and we have silence for a certain amount of time, people notice and say wow its very calm and peaceful in here. People do notice how they feel about music and the energy, but we become so desensitised by activity and the intensity of music that is in most environments we are in, so when we have silence there is a gauge to feel the difference between the two. It’s the energy and the quality felt within the music that I love observing and seeing what is truly worth listening to and how my body feels in that moment, when the music is playing and is it playing me?
This is a great observation. There are so many things that constantly distract us and ask us to be in a certain way and we have made music to be a constant company wherever we are and go. As you ask “What are we Really Listening to?”, Are we choosing consciously the company we keep or do we simple let the music take over and let it dictate our every move?
“what are we really listening to?” Yes, such a great question and I agree, music is everywhere we go, sometimes even on a public toilet, there is no break. Often if I listen to the text I am amazed how disturbing it is, especially at the gym the lyrics can be very sexual or not literally but you can get the sense of it. So yes, are we aware of what we are listening to and how it is maybe making us move differently, feeling differently and thinking differently?
I’ve come to understand that much of the music I hear around me is an assault on the body and our senses, and it wants to drag us into the emotional vortex it’s promoting, and in doing so it diminishes us. We can see very clearly when someone is in misery and be clear about not engaging in that misery but put a tune to it, especially a catchy one, dress it up but the misery is still there and many of us can get hooked. Music can be poison and it’s pollution is insidious. To have music which just leaves you be, and confirms you in who you are is a revelation and it’s such a joy to feel and hear; it meets you without asking you to be anything other than who you are.
Music affects us in so many ways and it is very insidious. When we eat something that does not agree with us we feel sick and can vomit but when we “ingest” music that is full of emotion we do not see the harm it is doing for a long time.
Music can be addictive just like a drug, we can be become addicted to the stimulation of emotions which then impacts our quality of life. There is a stillness and harmony we all come from and most music acts as a vehicle to take us away from ourselves and what is actually true.
I just realised that they are no longer playing music in the. shop where I work 2 days a week. It’s so much easier to stay focussed without the music and it easier to hear and understand the customers.
I had a discussion about music last night and it was pointed out that today’s music is just more obvious in its disturbance on the body. I wondered if that is true, we had more melodic tunes in the past but was the music any less harming, or just easier on the ear. I am not sure, but I do know I find a lot of the music played now to be particularly abrasive on the body and asking for me to wish for it to be switched off.
Music can be such a subtle imposition that goes unnoticed. When I was younger depending on how I was feeling influenced the music I listened to – music became the channel I used to release pent up feelings. I realise now that all that music did was bury the feelings deeper and saturate the environment around me with damaging emotions that affected others. Glorious music gave me the opportunity to feel what clear, loving and truth – full music really felt like.
Lately I have been paying more attention to people’s speaking voices and am observing that a lot of people do not bring the fullness of who they are when they speak and this can be heard in the voice. This is the same in singing. When we do not let ourselves connect with who we are in truth then what we say/sing gets affected.
The music by Glorious Music Band is extraordinary, simply because it brings absolute joy = is harmless and carries no imposition to one’s heart, ears or any body part. This to me is absolute truth and all other music is simply a distraction and harm to one’s body, knowing and having very much experience in listening to music myself. Knowing this since I know Glorious Music by Michael Benhayon, I know that much of the music I had listened to and is on the current market – actually puts a lot of pressure and imposition on its listeners. That is what I observed and do not like.
It’s so interesting that generally in society we celebrate music that is emotional and cathartic. It took me some time to be able to feel for myself how damaging this is to us, but it makes so much sense when we think about it because if someone is being emotional towards us or around us, we feel it and it affects us in many ways – physically and mentally, so why should emotional music be any different?
I used to think the story of the Pied-Piper of Hameline was just a fairy tale, but that is exactly what is happening out there, every day. Music is being used to manipulate our behaviour and emotion.
It really is Fumiyo and what’s even more disturbing in a way is that this is widely known and yet accepted. There are whole books and marketing techniques on how to use music to manipulate our customers and yet collectively we don’t think it’s much of an issue if at all
To listen with my whole body is very revealing of just what I used to ‘enjoy’ listening to! I heard a song recently that used to be one I really liked but could feel now just how deadening it is energetically. I’m appreciating more just how much of an effect music can have on us – it can be like junk food or true nourishment!
‘If you love me come and get your fill… ‘ Sounds like an invitation to say ‘If you tell me you love me I’ll put out for you as much as you want me to’. Now that’s outright prostitution – but instead of cash the pay-off is emotional. Who’s filling who in that scenario?
It doesn’t take long to have music playing in the background for me to feel agitated and wanting to run from it, the other day I went into a shop and there were buskers playing outside The ladies inside the shop looked frazzled and I asked them how they were doing and told them the music was really imposing, they both agreed and were grateful that I had called it out, because the music had been ‘nice’ they felt they could not complain yet it was obviously affecting them. It seems in society we are to all too keen to override our real feelings when it comes to music.
Music can be very overwhelming and imposing on the body and I find it very interesting to constantly observe how it makes me feel. I have always been quite sensitive to music and its effect on my body, but having more awareness on my movements allows me to discern for myself the vibration and quality music is produced with.
One thing I have noticed also is how degraded lyrics have become. Back in the 50’s and 60’s for example music lyrics were much more respectful, often playful and innocent even if the concepts were not exactly the truth, perhaps they sang about emotional love and need instead of what true love is. Today lyrics are often sexualised and people have been degraded into body parts such as the song “My humps” which is a very different listen to “Pretty Woman”. It’s interesting to note the further drop into degradation of how we see ourselves and others in today’s lyrics, and that it’s accepted and celebrated. Abuse in any form in lyrics is apparently edgy and cool and not irresponsible and abhorrent.
More and more popular mainstream music is becoming so sexualised and removed from the realities of life, either totally heightened through emotion or a lifestyle to aspire to. When I hear the songs, everything about the music is designed to entice, to stick in your head and make you buy into the image they are selling.
Music, as with food and all known ‘substances’ in this world, carries a vibration that will either be in accordance with the love that we are or in discordance to this. Thus, every single thought, word, action, sound, belief etc. will carry within it the propensity to either heal or harm depending on the tune it sounds.
At work I enjoy the early mornings before the music comes on as it feels lovely, when the music comes on the feel of the restaurant completely changes. I have reacted in the past to the managers (or other people I am working/doing something with) insistence on playing music/the radio but today I stop and realised. I used to use music to not feel my body, I needed that imposing music so that I could close down from my ability to feel (clairsentience). This helps me understand those I work with more and that guy/lady on public transport with their headphones in and I can hear every beat from the other end of the carriage. Stopping to feel the quality of the music and accepting it as it is also feels more supportive then reacting and working in an environment with music pollution, something to explore while at work, Thank you Gyl.
Your sharing here reminds me of incidents from my own childhood Gyl. I particularly recall being invited with my family – when very young – to watch the local carnival from a friend of my mothers flat above the high street where we could get a better view. But when the marching bands came along I would cry and run away from the window. As I understand more about the energy of music I now realise this wasn’t just because of the volume but because of the ‘assault’ on my sensitivity generally. It was actually painful for me. Rather than embrace this sensitivity in our young we tend to toughen them up but to me this is a mistake because sensitivity is a gift and something to be cherished and nurtured not covered up. Our innate sensitivity allows us to feel so much and helps us to discern more of life than we can with just our external senses. I used to think being sensitive was a curse – but today, I know it is a blessing.
Very well said Gyl. There is a lot more to music than we realise. We take in energy through our ears just as we do through our mouths when we eat a plate of food. We discern what we eat but do we discern what we listen to?
It’s been a joy to listen to music that does not impose, or incite or dump emotions onto me. Thank you Glorious Music, Chris James and now others who recognise that there is a responsibility in making music that comes free and clear of emotions, leaving the listener be so they can go through their own process of healing.
Some restaurants and shops have the music so loud these days that you have to shout to be heard. It makes no sense to go for a meal and then have to shout over the music – what ever happened to talking to each other and having an actual conversation. It feels abusive to the staff and the customers, and often when speaking to family members who work in hospitality, they say they have to block the music out and that the tunes get stuck in their heads, and this is all to create an atmosphere.
As if the imposition of phones and tablets at dinner tables wasn’t enough, there is also loud music to drown out connection between people. When did talking and listening to one another or simply being together become so uncool?
Just like the food we eat… we ingest all the ingredients that are in music. From the daily living of the performer, the quality of the lyrics, and the energy the instruments are played in.
This is very true Jenny – we live in a sea of energy and if we do not discern the quality of the water in which we swim, we risk going under with great lungfulls of pollution, none the wiser to the poisoning that has occurred.
It’s also interesting, once you start observing the effects that music has on our bodies, just how many different situations music is added to – gyms, shops, social events, pubs, bars and of course being able to listen to music on the go in our cars and on mp3 players and phones.
It was not until I read this blog that I realised how much music can impact on your day and the way we interact with others. For years I have watched how colleagues would sing a tune at work from their favourite artist, often mimicking the anger or emotionally words and carry this tune with them all day with comments like… “I can’t seem to get the song out of my head.”
It is actually extraordinary how often we are bombarded with music whether it be songs or jingles to distract or consume or attention… and as a result lose any form of presence in our bodies if we are not consciously choosing it. The fact we don’t have a choice about what and when music is imposed upon us is quite abusive. The only thing we can choose when avoidance is off the table is making sure we don’t get hooked, for within that there is great harm in the messages let alone the quality of what we are subliminally and energetically subjected to.
If we really focussed on the lyrics of main stream media and what is being communicated, I doubt we would actively say “Yes, I want to have that bombarding my ears and body” let alone allow our children to listen to it. But somehow we’ve disconnected from what music is communicated and it is simply what happens. Yet, even though we have disconnected, the body is still receiving it all.
If we could ‘see’ music we would see that the vast majority of it, no matter how pleasing it seems to the ears, is actually like a fine gas that seeps into our bodies and imposes onto us a certain way to move, albeit seemingly unbeknownst to us. This way to move is not in accordance with who we truly are because it is sounded in discordance to the tune of the Universal order we belong to and as such cripples the body and being within it. We can spend lifetimes incarcerated in this way. On the other hand true music inspires true movement – a way to move that is in complete congruence with the truth of who we are and thus the All that we belong to.
Well said Gyl, music is not innocent as everything is energy. We do not learnt to discern what it is our favoured tunes and genres of music come with, nor it’s real impact on our bodies. Only since attending Universal Medicine presentations and workshops have I developed my own ability to sense and discern what it is a piece of music is doing to me, and then to choose if I want that affect or not.
‘…holds all others equally and allows people to feel the truth of who they really are with no imposition at all.’
This is such a rarity. Music usually holds bucketfuls of emotion – anger, melancholy, excitement etc. I used to choose it to help make me feel a certain way so I wouldn’t have to feel what I didn’t want to. The trouble with this is I bury who I am and I don’t get to know or feel who I truly am.
Music was similar to food for me. When I was heavily partaking of something I could not even contemplate that it might not be supportive to my body since in that moment I did not know any different to compare to. But once I decided to test something if I avoided it for a while and then observed the impact, I was much more aware if it did not feel so great.
What I am learning is that I need to be very present when I listen to music because if I am not then very quickly I can absorb the emotions that are being evoked in the music, for example, I may be feeling great and then a certain song comes on and it totally disturbs me. All music carries an energetic vibration which we need to pay attention to.
Music is a quality well before it is a sound or lyrics…
Living with teenagers music is hot topic that can cause a lot of conflict in our house. Recently i was explaining that some of the rap music they were playing made me feel like there was no room to breath or think and that I didn’t like that feeling, I preferred music that gave me space and left me alone. It was an interesting conversation because they said that the reason I didn’t like rap wa the very reason they did. It was a great conversation as it confirmed for me just how powerful music can be.
Sometimes I can feel very strongly what the music is asking or tempting me to do. Without conscious awareness of this I would allow it straight in and allow myself to be influenced. With awareness it is possible to catch it and recognise the pull or the temptation which enables me to keep my power and not get affected.
I’ve found it revealing too to really feel from my whole body what a lot of music is communicating…
Putting a beat to abusive words does not constitute as music and yet we have allowed such a thing to not only exist but be celebrated.
Yes agree Kylie, even children as young as 5 are listening to music and singing along to lyrics that are very inappropriate and harming to their small bodies.
Music can in so many ways be an on-slaught on the body and our senses. Music impacts us on many levels and so it is important to discern what it is we are listening to and how this affects us. These days when I listen to a song I let myself be more aware of my body and where I can feel something ‘pushing on me’ – sometimes I feel a pressure on my throat, or an ache in my chest or a pressure on my heart…to me these are all signs that the music I am listening to is not allowing me to just be, but is imposing in some way. And this does not feel supportive to me. But I have come across music that does not do this, that simply allows me to be, and then there is music I have heard and felt, that not just allows me to be, but also allows me to grow. GM records with Michael Benhayon is one of those that I find quite supportive to listen to, and worth experimenting with.
This is a fascinating topic – in the last few weeks I keep getting old songs that I used to listen to playing in my head – and I haven’t heard them for over 5 years, and I’ve been wondering how a rhythm can stay in your body for so long. It’s almost like the song that get stuck in your head keeps you in that moment and pulls you back to the past rather than allowing you to focus on the present moment.
Great point Meg. The music comes with a form of movement that it asks of us. Such as an emotional love song such as the one Gal describes asks us to move in a way where there is a neediness for attention, recognition and/or ‘love’ from another person to fill us up. While the song may not stay in our heads the movements sure can become our way of life!
Yeah it’s almost spooky. Imagine if you listen to a song and it changes the way you move, just slightly, but you continue to move that way for the rest of your life, and so for the rest of your life you move in a way that is slightly different from who you naturally are. It’s an extreme example, but it’s possible and it shows that there’s nothing innocent about the music we choose to listen to, and how deeply something we think nothing of can influence our lives.
Music itself is a movement. Every-thing is movement, even a rock is movement and every-thing is either moving with God or clashing against Him. Most music is clashing against Him, even hymns, classical music and nursery rhymes. Sure they don’t sound as obviously harmful as aggressive songs that contain abusive language but buyer beware they are.
I work in hospitality and a lot of the time there is music playing. What I find really interesting is when clients come up, they walk in and say wow it is really peaceful here when there is no music. So we all do know and can feel when music is imposing and when we are given the space to just be and from what I am observing everyone loves it.
I would agree with them Natalie! I love the space that silence provides.
It is amazing how music can get in and you might not have heard a song for a really long time and then suddenly you notice that you are singing along or strumming along to a song and its like- where did that come from. It makes me realise that when we listen to music we are often taking more in.
We don’t consider music to be harming but nowadays when I enter some shops the music feels as abuse for my ears and therefore my whole body is affected. Thank God for music that is made from heaven, like Glorious Music and others.
Music has a definite affect on us. There are some songs from my youth that I couldn’t listen to and still don’t choose to. Also loud music with a certain beat would throw my heart beat out of rhythm therefore I had to lie down to restore it to its proper rhythm. This happened a lot when I was expected to attend year 12 formals and weddings or 21st birthday celebrations. There is a difference when I am in the presence of loud music played by esoteric students, it doesn’t happen all, I figure it is the energy that it is played in that makes the difference.
Me too Elizabeth, bringing awareness to what is happening is key and then the energy does not have an entry point. I find when I remain in connection to my body and my movements I am able to remain unaffected.
I was recently in a shopping complex and found the music not only loud but extremely imposing. I couldn’t stay in the shop for long. I love this conversation bringing more awareness to what we are ‘ingesting’ and absorbing through our choice of music. We don’t readily see music this way although our bodies are responding to the music… and are being configured if we are not aware of how energy and vibrations work. Some music is very manipulating and has a physiological impact on us and other music leaves you alone.
I had an interesting experience some time ago when visiting an elderly couple who were in their eighties when they decided to play a cd of old wartime dance songs that had recently been given to them. Before the music played the couple were sitting very quietly but as soon as the music started both their bodies started to to jump around and they came alive so to speak, just how powerful the memory of music is in our bodies was so evident.
Music has a way of creating a vibration that keeps us distracted from feeling our true nature or what is actually going on in our bodies. When we start to reconnect to our inner-most, so we can feel the music and not be distracted by the emotions that are normally there to hook us into the song, so I can feel how different music can be uplifting because it leaves you alone to feel your own connection. This type of self-caring relationship with music has developed over many years and a catchy tune still occasionally hooks me as a distraction and I now know I need to reconnect to my inner-most when I get distracted.
Songs and their lyrics are like subliminal messages that we willingly accept throughout our lives. We get very strong messages about love, relationships, commitment etc. and almost all of these messages tell us to look outside ourselves for answers or for someone to blame. We cannot underestimate the effect this has to undermine our knowing of how life and love can be.
There are some films and even TV adverts that I remember from decades ago because of the music. It has a very hooking power and can stir up many different emotions. I hardly listen to music these days because I don’t like the way a tune can get stuck in my head and seem like its on permanent replay.
What are we really listening to is an important question – music changes the way we move, our thoughts, how we feel – when you consider it like that it doesn’t sound so innocent, in fact, it sounds a lot like a drug!
True, when you consider that we are vibration beings, the quality of our vibration is going to be affected by the quality of the vibration the music is coming through. Are we as astute with what we allow through music and the absorption of this as we are with the foods we ingest?
Yeah when you put it like that it makes perfect sense – we know music is a vibration of energy and if we are all made of energy and vibration, then of course one vibration will be effected by another.
We let our kids listen to music, to sit there for hours engrossed in it, dancing to it, singing to it – totally enveloped in it – music that is written and performed by people whose lives are car crashes of abuse and abject lack of self-care. Would we approve of the same kinds of people as our children’s teachers or baby-sitters or guardians? I’m presuming the answer for most would be a no. Worth pondering?
You’re right that so many people (particularly young people) are constantly listening to music through headphones and speakers, and based on the emotional foundations of most music it’s interesting to consider how this constant pouring of fluctuating, intense emotions into someone’s ears might affect them.
I have been caught up in the music around me and then the mood that I walk away in is totally off and can feel really heavy. I am deeply grateful to be where I am now and claiming how and what I am feeling and discerning what is gong on around me. To be able to not react to the music but also not to let it in is an incredible place of knowing and responsibility.
In any aspect of life there are many ingredients and historically I have always honed in on the ingredient I have craved or needed, such as to be liked, or to be recognised and have ignored the myriad of other cues also coming through which was not to my liking, such as lack of equality in people or not being good enough….
Music is one of those areas that with its little jingles that please the ears, or through clever marketing images can easily hook. But you are right there are so many other subtle messages conveyed that can go under the radar but affect us none the less.
Music is often measured on merit by how much it moves us, how much we are affected by it but what if we considered that being left alone and not imposed upon by the music is the most healthy and the most beneficial for our being? What if this kind of music was actually inspiring? This seeming paradox is certainly true of the Glorious Music label and a few other artists that I have heard.
I still feel like a lot of us react to music, even without hearing it, it’s in the way we write about it. Could this be our reaction to how much we bought into it, fed it and championed it for all these years.
“what are we really listening to?” this question could be asked of many things, not just music, but when ourselves or someone speaks or asks a question – what are we really listening to, where does it come from, is there a need, a call for recognition or attention, is it genuine, open, honest – is it the person asking it or is it coming from an energy that is not loving, or is it in truth coming from their heart, from love? There is often another language being spoken if we stop and listen. We can hear people ask thing in questions or conversations that they are not doing so in an outwardly way. For example someone may ask how is your healthy eating going? When really they are saying they are struggling with what they are eating and not doing so well themselves. It is for us to learn to truly listen again from our hearts, not what we want to hear.
I stopped listening to the radio when driving a few years ago. occasionally I would turn it on to hear the latest songs, and there would be some I would like, or find catchy and then of course there would be the flash back songs, which was always fun as they took you back down memory lane. More recently I bought a new car, and have the luxury of the controls on the steering wheel. Enjoying the novelty factor, I have listened to the radio more than usual and have found myself constantly flicking through channels, which actually is exhausting, cause it’s like I’m searching for something on a treadmill. I’m also finding I have songs stuck in my head for days, and that’s very annoying. I’ve also noticed how quickly emotional songs take me out and really hook me into the drama of it all, especially if a song reminds me of a past experience. It’s amazing just how much we take on without even realising it.
I am so pleased you have written about this topic, I find that I am very sensitive to music, especially when shopping, because it is impossible to go ‘anywhere’ without music blaring in every shop. I find it incredibly imposing and after reading this can absolutely understand why.
I too, “got totally sucked in by music that was being played,” and the more emotional the better as there was always an unresolved issue that I was holding inside that would respond to the outpouring of emotions that had been conjured up by the musician. Now having come to understand the energy of music, energy that is often is very harming to us, I am very discerning as to what music I listen to and what I choose today is music that does not need emotions as its foundation. Unfortunately though the world is full of this emotionally based and imposing music and whether it be in the shopping mall, in the gym, or in the hair salon there always seems to be music pumping away – in today’s world it is very hard to find a space that is music free.
Music can be so harming and it is one of the things they will look back in the future and wonder what on earth we were doing to ourselves by indulging in so much harm.
Just today I complained at our local gym as the music I find far too loud and imposing, the guy I spoke to understood what I meant, many of the customers feel this too but go along with it as it looked upon now as normal.
It seems that when out shopping it’s hard these days to find a shop which does not play music of some description, and it makes me wonder how people can work with that level of noise all day.
Last year I was at an event with my partner where there was music played accompanied by clips / films made about people and the ocean – and the music didn’t bother me at all – why because I wasn’t reacting to it.
Thank you Ingrid, I can so relate to what you have expressed about music that ‘grates’. What you have written about music that ignites and allows the soul is very beautiful and true;
“It’s music that allows my body the freedom to expand, and it calls me to connect more deeply within myself and all that I am – absolute love, joy, truth and so much more”.
It’s not just music lyrics that can be quite shocking when you listen to them, but the accompanying videos nowadays can be violent, pornographic, offensive and extremely abusive. It’s interesting though that they are made like this, because whatever features on screen or through our headphones is what artists think people will buy, and what people want to see/hear… What are we putting out to get this fed back?
Significant observation Susie. Not only do we need to be astute and discern the type of energy we are receiving so we are not manipulated by it, but it is worthwhile asking the question how come we are in a situation where ‘market research’ results say that we want such manipulating and abusive products.
I remember a time when I reacted to almost everything in the world—I protected myself from everything that I felt was wrong in the world from music to food, from behaviors to communication, from clothes to skincare, you name it. I retreated and thought I would be safe, if I alienated myself from everything that did not feel natural or loving to me, until eventually I was not really living anymore, I was just running away from living. It is true that there is so much in the world that does not feel true, and I appreciate deeply my sensitivity in being aware of it every day, and yet there is so much to appreciate also for being here, to be able to trust every day the deepening of my own love, to know that this is already enough to see me through everything that life has prepared for me, and to be deep amongst the choices we have made collectively, to embrace and accept and understand why we make these choices and to feel and know we are connected in this together, but we are also equally the Sons of God too, it is so amazing to be alive and to hear and see everything, knowing what we feel is truth and simply expressing it.
Beautiful comment Adele, there is so much to appreciate and without our innate sensitivity we would not equally be able to feel the beauty, love and truth to the extent we do.
how often do we say we “love” something or think we are loving it but are not feeling full of love in our bodies?
Music is everywhere and doesn’t even get considered what actually it is bringing when being made or played. The emphasis on it being emotional and drawing on the musicians’ experience is what it is all based on. So when songs come up and we connect with them it is confirming the emotion within ourselves that is running us. So what’s the big deal with emotions? They leave you in a constant state of reaction and there is not inner peace or stillness going on, we are left with an emotion that is moulding who we are which is not actually who we are. So to have music there to confirm and ignite the emotions we have is just feeding this state of being.
The fact is we all know music is simply more than tones and harmonies being put together. Music has such a big impact on our daily lives. Even though many will discount the full impact music has on us, even in advertisement strategies music is used to enhance our mood to then buy more. Music can be used to romanticise a potential partner. Music has a far reaching effect and we would be unwise to not investigate its reach.
Listening to music that is not imposing or pulling you in is so refreshing, and quite rare these days. I remember many years ago when I would really get addicted to a certain song and want to hear it all of the time. Nowadays I am much more discerning of what type of music I listen to and feel how I feel when I listen to it.
Sometimes you find yourself with a tune stuck in your head going round and round.. and its like, How did this start? and Why wont it stop?… Just goes to show just how much music can be an imposition and energetically get under the skin.
I had an experience in the supermarket today where the music was not only quite painful to listen, it was impossible to get away from. It was hugely imposing, not just with the sound but the vibration of it which entered my body.
Beautiful Gyl, this is huge, we all can feel it, but most music imposes in such degree that it is super harmfull for our energetic beingness, and so can result in aches, pains and even illness and disease. As it makes sense. When we close our heart , even though the blood keeps flowing, the energy changes, and hence it can cause in such degree a quality change that our physical body can no longer handle. Of course this is with everything in life, just music can be used as an example because the energy in music is also either from a loving place or one of coldness(hence the imposition on our beingness, our nature: love).
I used to be ruled by my emotions. I did not really know how to deal with them and music ‘helped me’. So if I was angry, I would play an angry song and dance it off (which really is just flicking it off to to everyone else) or if I was sad, I would play a sad song, etc etc etc…
I am learning more and more to not live such an emotional life, where I am up and down and sideways some days. Then there is less need for this emotional music that hooks me in and puts me into a different state (away from me).
And the less emotional I am, the more steady I am and can ‘read’ what is going on around me and feel what is happening. And the less I want to listen to music that is loaded up with other people’s emotions.
People do know the power, and not power in it’s true sense of how music can affect us or hook us in. Otherwise we wouldn’t have emotional reality TV shows all based around finding the next so called big thing in music, bands or musical theatre – there is a hook there that we feed. It’s also in TV and films, people know how to use music in an emotional way – scary, dramatical or sad etc.
I have certainly become more aware of music over the last couple of years, where before i would just let whatever music is playing wash over me, now I find if I am in certain places like shops where ugly music is playing, I just leave. I can’t imagine working in an environment where there is such a disturbing noise surrounding you all day. But that is all for us to individually feel, and discern what the music we are listening to is offering us.
I can totally relate. When I’m at the gym there are tv screens and music playing. Nothing helps me getting more focused on what I’m actually doing. Crazy logic there.
Without having the awareness that everything is energy music can be seen as just another form of entertainment. Bring in the energetic factor and music can affect us like a poison. The difference being that it doesn’t appear as if we have consumed anything because it enters via a sound vibration.
So true Vicky, and why it serves us to be very astute as to what we choose to absorb and ‘attune’ ourselves to. We are vibration beings and the quality of our vibration is affected by our choices in every way.
“We are vibration beings”, I love this Victoria, it makes so much sense. In our purest form we are the living vibration of God and yet we live in a way and in a world where we are constantly bringing our vibration and the vibration of others down, which is why we’ve all lost sight of who we are, we no longer vibrate to the tune of God.
I was watching an animal program recently with two children. There was one particular part which was rather sad and as it unfolded this mournful music began; it felt like it was just there to magnify the sadness of what was happening. Suddenly the eight year old said ‘I wish that music would stop as it is making me sad’. I asked her if it was what was happening to the animals that was making her feel sad, or the music, and she replied without a moment’s hesitation ; ‘the music’. How telling it is that she could accept what was going on with the animals as just part of life, but could not accept the music that someone had composed simply to arise the viewers’ emotions.
Thank you for sharing this Ingrid. It shows how potentially harming music can be and how it is used to manipulate our feelings. It magnifies a natural situation into a drama and something sensational which is of course what, for the most part, sells. But why do we accept this? Why are we letting ourselves be controlled so mercilessly?
It’s great to be aware of what is going on around you, often in the background. Music is one of those background ones, you walk into the supermarket, shops, lifts, toilets and shopping centres and there is always music playing. Often the bigger places have their own music stations with their own advertising so they realise the impact this background music can have. If we get caught up in our day or in our thoughts then most of the time you wouldn’t know what you are listening to or what is playing in the background. It’s important for us all to breath deeply as we know but at times when I am racing around I’m not even breathing at all at some points. This is a meditation I use that supports me to be aware when things are getting racy or when I am feeling overwhelmed http://www.unimedliving.com/meditation/gentle-breath-meditation/the-gentle-breath-meditation-in-5-simple-steps.html
It is interesting what has been shared here Ray Karam on the way that music is pretty much on tap 24/7 in all aspects of our life. There is no place of service where music is not played or a TV screen is showing us constant images. How often we do enter a place and before long we are hooked into a familiar tune that is sold to help us relax yet is feeding us another level of distraction from the primary purpose of being there?
Yes and more and more music is everywhere, iphone, ipods as well as advertisements etc are giving us our fair share at every turn. What is the purpose of the music and why is it on at the time and place it is. More and more we can see music isn’t just some innocent background tune, it’s designed to do more than that. Most of the bigger companies are aware of what music is and does to a certain extent and know what to play at who and when. Shouldn’t this alone give us a clue as to what music does when we can exploit certain reactions or behaviours from people with the mere introduction of music. We can say ‘music to our ears’ but some of the tunes are talking to more than just our ears.
I used to listen to the radio most of the time when I would go about doing jobs around the house. I seemed to like the company and felt uncomfortable in the quietness. How this has all changed. I do not put the radio on now and I do not miss it one bit, in fact I love the quietness and how my body feels when there is no radio. There was a time when I would react to music being played but recently I noticed how I am gently letting go of this reaction having an understanding and acceptance that it is in our society today but will not always be as people become aware and realise the harm music has on our wellbeing.
Music is a strong force in life – from tribal song to pop culture – I agree Gyl, it’s everywhere. I feel the key to music is to observe and not absorb, such is life really, but music is a great learning tool to practice observation skills. Absorbing the music, the emotion and intention is like drinking poison, the body needs to deal with the effects of the energy and we are left without clear discernment as to what issue is ours of an others. i.e. the artist etc.
Music is a much bigger beast than I think some people realise. Energetic power plays between the lyrics, beat of the music and emotion in the songs can have a huge affect on our bodies. Learning about energetic responsibility and the quality in which we connect with ourselves opens us up to greater opportunities to learn how everything we do in life has a certain feel and it is very interesting to feel the difference between music made with this is mind. A great exploration for anyone to feel, see and move from music co-created in this way.
It is interesting to observe the effect music has on us. In my youth I was aligned to the music of different artists and would even dress and act like them. You can see the affect music has on us in shopping centers also as it is particularly designed for a purpose. For example in young peoples’ clothing stores the music is designed to drive the older people out and also to jangle the brain so as the customer makes purchases they may not have made if they were with themselves. I read an article about this written by a group of psychologists who design this kind of music. Frightening really because it is all a form of manipulation and control but the response to the article were more along the lines of “where can get this to improve my business . . . who do I need to speak to put this is place?”
I have noticed this loads, especially with lyrics of songs Some of the lyrics are shocking yet this is what we are listening to constantly and subliminally. When I was younger I didn’t care about lyrics in songs even though I could feel the affect that both music and lyrics had on my body energetically. It is like it literally took me over. Are we discerning of music or do we allow it to go right through us, which as someone else shared, affects the way we move in that we move to that instead of our own innate rhythm. We have so much to learn with regards to this, great that you started a discussion going with it.
You’ve posed an excellent question Gyl – what is the effect of the emotions and stories in songs or music, and could the quality of how the artist recorded the song also have an effect on the listener? Entertaining this as a possibility brings a whole new level of responsibility to music and how any artist or musician chooses to live.
“The more I observed and listened, the more I became aware of how music imposes on us and just how harming it can be without us even realising.” Most music manipulates us and our emotions – without us even realising it – otherwise why would restaurants, shops and advertisements use music so blatantly to sell their stuff?
I have walked into a shop and walked out again with my stride in a totally different rhythm. This is because I wasn’t connected to myself and allowed the beat of the music to then dictate the way I walked. Music is literally everywhere in our world and I imagine that most people are as undiscerning as I have been – so whose rhythm are we all moving to?
Wow Otto, yep, that is so true. How quickly our mood can change even ever so slightly just by hearing certain music. I mean, it makes sense…we can instantly feel down if we are spoken to in a less than loving manner, so it makes perfect sense that music can affect us too, only the sound covers up the energy it’s playing in so we are far less aware of it.
That’s the danger. Someone being abusive to you is easy to spot…someone being ‘nice’ to you is harder….and then…a sparkly, happy tune is much, much harder….yet all three examples could be coming at us with a very abusive energy. We have to be super discerning no matter how the energy is dressed up and delivered.
Music is such a potent hook on our emotions. I am a film-maker and have witnessed countless times how a scene in a film can be completely and unrecognisably changed depending on what music is played on the top of it. The images remain identical but the music changes everything, which tells me that music is a more powerful force at affecting us than any images that our eyes see. Yet I would wager that 99% of us have almost zero awareness of this and thus pay it no attention – which means that we are a wide open door to being manipulated by music.
Spot on Otto, I have been sucked into music many times, what I notice if I get lost in a song now is that it will send me off in a daydream, where I envisage myself in a heroic situation or something else glamorous, completely removed from reality. That is the power of music, and the manipulation we can yield to if we don’t pay attention to what is really going on when we hear a song.
The tell-tale sign for me is when that song plays again in my mind a few hours later. I can literally feel the pull, tug, tension as the song drags me away from my conscious presence. It’s a wrestling match (and one that I have lost many, many times). Even on this very superficial level the force of music can be felt, but what else is going on? It reminds me of the sea; the waves on the surface are only a small part of the picture of the force of the sea…the real danger is underneath, where we can’t see – in the currents and rip-tides.
I know that feeling well, one song pops into my head, then its replaced by another, pulling me away from my awareness of the world, into a vat of memories. And it is our awareness we should cherish, more than any tune that we might hook us in.
I so relate Otto and Stephen, music with a catchy line has also hooked me into the broken record recital in my head and all this does is distract me from being present with what I am doing. This is a dead giveaway that I need to reconnect to my inner-most and return to being consciously present.
And have you noticed that it may be that the songs that pop into your head and out of your mouth can be astute subconscious comments on what is happening to you … this can be EXTREMELY revealing IF you tune in to it …. I do recommend it .
Yes and yes to this. I have had songs from aeons ago pop into my head. Not induced by a nearby radio or anything like that. Seemingly out of the blue. As you say – not to be ignored as there is a very definite comment there as to what is going on.
It is Christmas at present and the Christmas music being played in the shops is definitely there to hook people in, to stir up memories and to get people in the mood to buy gifts. It is like a very imposing force coming at you as you enter the shops and it take a commitment to remain with yourself to not allow yourself to be imposed upon.
Kids were singing part of an old song from around the 70’s the other day, I sang a little bit and replied oh I used to dance to that a lot. Then driving home or at home I was thinking about the song, and suddenly went oh my god – that song is being sung / written about a prostitute. I did’t realise this until now – so just what energy had I been dancing, listening, singing to and letting in all these years? And what are these young kids saying they like when they say this is their favourite song. This is where I feel we need to educate people about the truth of energy in music, an how much it harms, and affects us and our body in many unseen ways.
Music carries the energetic imprint of the artist. With many indulging in the creations of life, sex drugs, rock and roll, that is what we get directly through the speakers.
It is fascinating, shocking and deeply inspiring when we get to ‘feel’ the quality or energy of music and not just hearing it with our ears but sensing it with the whole body. Feeling here means not emotions but truly feeling the effect on the body, as you say the either imposing effect or the sense of being left alone to be who I am and even being supported to explore and feel more of me, the essence within.
It is not just that music is ubiquitous… It is also extraordinarily addictive and reinforcing of countless paradigms of disconnection and separation that are manifesting all around us all the time
Indeed Katie, Most music is written from emotion, to gain some personal pleasure or reward, but not to serve people in supporting them to stay with themselves and to celebrate the beautiful beings we are.
In is interesting to look at why when you go shopping there is always music that changes with the seasons and any other reason of which we most of the time are not constantly aware of. For instance when I am writing this comment, Christmas is nearby and the shops and the shopping streets in the cities are filled with Christmas songs. Do we ever consider how this music affect us on an energetic level, how we are brought into a mood of cosiness, being together at Christmas dinner and such, whatever your association is? How free are we to live our lives if we are constantly influenced by the music that is on every corner of the street?
I had never considered that the music I chose to listen to came with an energy. Music still does, in that sense nothing has changed. But being aware of the music I choose to listen to, whether it is imposing of emotion or not, whether it is designed to just make money or hide in a toe tapping tune some really unsavoury lyrics. Music is known to be healing, but what is healing and what is not? and if music is not healing then it must be harming.
I agree Gyl “looking outside myself for love simply doesn’t work.” I’ve found I am needy and reactive when I expect love to come from outside of myself.
Most music is designed to affect us. The music blaring in retail shops is designed to manipulate us into buying (by scrabbling our brain) or if you are of an older generation and you happen to be in a shop aimed at a certain young age group with the music to suit it is designed to move you on as you may be ruining the ‘cool’ image of the shop and this certainly works on me!
This is a great exposure of the true impact of music upon us and how in general it is insidiously harmful.
When I was younger .. a teenager, I would literally have music in my head most of the day, especially in the morning getting ready for school. Yep I had the radio on but then I would have it in my mind constantly. At the time I was very aware of it but did not know how to stop it. I did not need a radio as had it going on inside my head like a radio!!!! Music is very imposing on us energetically and although on some level I knew this through what I experienced it was only until I met Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine where someone was actually speaking about music the way I had experienced it .. how if affects us energetically and imposes on us. What you share here was exactly the same for me as well ‘As I grew up I got totally sucked in by music that was being played, as long as it had a story of emotional woe I could relate to that kept me immersed in some sort of drama, for example – being sad, lonely or in the misery of a relationship breaking up, or if it had a good beat I could also dance to, I was totally gone.’ I tested this out the other day and turned the radio on in my car to see how music affected me now after no longer being emotional or absorbing things in the world like I used to do since learning the truth about energy and starting to live in a different and more loving way. I listened to a bit of a song and thought it was fine and then turned the radio off but, but no it kept on playing …. in my head. We have a lot to learn with regards to music and how imposing it is and the lasting affect it has on us.
In my observations of the popular music industry, it seems that an artist can get completely swept up by the media machine that keeps them performing and producing music. Perhaps this is driven by a need, or perhaps it is just so exciting that they lose perspective on what it is that brought them to love music in the first place. Whatever it is that happens, I wonder when will come the day in those radio and TV interviews when artists are sincerely asked if they are aware of what it is that they are actually saying with their words, with that rhythm, and if it is actually what they want to be expressing or if they are doing it for some other reason, like recognition or money. Because music is beautiful and we obviously love having it as a part of life, but there does come a point when the responsibility for the quality of what is produced and the affects that that has on those who hear it, has to be considered.
I remember when I was an adolescent how difficult i found the world around me and i escaped in to music, listening and playing. Little did I realise that this was just compounding my hurts. Alternatively it is also possible for great healing to take place through music. I have found the more recent workshops of Chris James especially powerful. The joy of allowing our own expression in these workshops is awesome and I love the harmonies that evolve in sound, in the body and in relationships.
Music is an amazing way for us to express ourselves to share with one another. Singing together is simply divine. There is something about the harmony that a group of people achieve when they all come together to sing, it can floor me. But what we sing matters. I’ve never been a big fan of opera. It has always felt too contrived and controlled. It does not feel like it is about people coming together, more likely developing voices that can impress and draw you into their skill, or trying to stand out from the crowd. Music has always struck me as something for us all to share with one another and experience being a part of, instead of feeling like a spectator on the outside.
This is a great question Gyl – the majority of music that’s compiled and promoted serves to rustle up our emotions, indulge in anger, sadness, victimhood etc. We have taken a precious medium bequeathed to us for expression and we’ve literally raped it. Most music is a parody of lyrical abuse, pleasant to the ear yet toxic to the body and the person listening.
Music envelops us everyday. Whether it be at the local shopping centre, on the radio, even at the gym and for most of my life I was consumed by music and the emotions that it evoked. What I love now is how our my connection to my body and the awareness gained from that allows me to feel and connect to what is true and what is not, in terms of energy and the responsibility within that. Awareness is a fundamental key to our choices and that is a beautiful quality to hold.
There are so many things going on around us each and every day that we have allowed ourselves to become numb to and music is a classic example. If we take the time to stop, listen and feel we begin to grow our awareness and gain an insight into what energy it comes with.
Gyl, music certainly has an impact on us and it seems to have more so of an effect on us if we are not letting ourselves be fully aware of it! I recall when I was growing up how much I preferred silence to music, be that in the car or on my walks etc – at times I tried to conform by putting on headphones and listening to music, but each time I would end up turning it all off and then feeling such relief when the music was turned off and I had the sound of silence to greet me. Now of course I understand this much more, for I know that music comes with an energy and more often than not, this energy is not one that supports and fosters a loving and caring relationship or connection with self, but instead seeks to fill a void with more emotions. There are of course certain musics that are free of this imposition, and some of these include Michael Benhayon’s music, and I have to say that I have also enjoyed the music played by Chris James. For the first time in my life I have felt that these musics were ones I could listen to without feeling interfered with afterwards, and I never felt the need to turn the music off or relieved to have turned the music off!
Music is something that we think we only hear with our ears, but I know now that when I feel music it affects my whole body and state of being. Some music I feel is abusive and actually hurts to listen to and some heals. I had a wonderful oppertunity recently to listen to a duet that was performed for about 300 people at a school concert, the music they performed was full of joy and had a clarity that is not often felt in other music. In this performance I felt the power of music as tears rolled down my cheeks and I felt the whole audience receive a blessing from this amazing music.
If you stop and listen to the lyrics of most main stream music it is quite shocking. It is even more shocking when you look at who is listening to the music. 7 year olds listening to women singing about being completely shattered and broken over a man – what are we teaching them?
There is no denying that music has a big effect on us. Somewhere in us, we all know it can either harm or heal but the problem is we don’t let ourselves be discerning enough to know what it is doing to us.
Thank you Gyl, I was just having a chat to a someone who described their time working in a record store as similar to working in a bottle shop. I have often found myself sucked in by music, using it to elevate my mood or drag me down further when I was sad. I was always on the hunt for the next new thing too and I would get sick of songs I liked very quickly. Glorious music on the other hand has been a completely different experience, to my amazement I never get tired of Glorious Music songs, even when I play them daily. This is amazing but makes sense in the context of this blog, I don’t need to escape these songs as they actually support me, in fact each time I listen to them they feel new as my understanding of them shifts as I live and learn.
I actually think music should be categorised along the same line as Cocaine or highly addictive drugs. If you check into a song just for a few seconds it can stay in your head playing over and over again for days, so the energy of that song continues to run through your body and influence your thoughts, your choices, your movements… There’s nothing innocent about music.
All I can say is that my body feels much more at ease with itself when I can recognise when a song is being presented with no self and full of love!
I love how it all brings it back to the quality in which everything is created and the responsibility we all play to move and express in a way that shares our innate essence. That is very cool.
I recently heard the words of a song that was extremely popular a few years ago and was truly shocked by what was being said. This is a song that would have been listened to, and sung by millions of people; and whilst the music was upbeat and ‘sweet’, the lyrics and the quality of the song most certainly was not. We cannot be fooled by the ‘packaging’ of the pill we are swallowing when it comes to music – it is a drug that influences us far greater than we are yet fully ready to admit.
Truly listening to the words and feeling how the music impacts the body is a real eye opener. I had a young person share with me that he realised that the music he was listening to was making him more depressed that he was. I too used to listen to music that heightened the emotion I was in my youth. Music is energy and its quality needs to be discerned before we accept it into our body.
What would be very refreshing would be to go into a major high street store and have silence from the speakers, other than maybe a necessary announcement from the staff. Every where we go we seem to be bombarded with pop music, and in the trendy clothes stores the music is so loud that I have walked out.
Music is a vibration that can be felt throughout our entire body, like any other sound and as a consequence it can be either harming or healing, we need to be very discerning with what we surround ourself with because many songs that harm always have a catchy little chorus and that’s how we get hooked in without even realising it.
The other day I went furniture shopping. Ready to take the elevator to bring my shopping cart to my car, I saw a picture of several employees working for this company. They were all smiling faces. And the smile was the first thing I saw. Then, I look back and check their eyes. It was quite interesting that the eyes did not transmit at all the same message of ‘happiness’ transmitted by the mouths. It was clear to me that the truth was not what appears to be but what was behind it if we dare to keep feeling. Same with music. Lyrics can be very engaging. Performances can be very spectacular. but there are some truths about it and about life that are waiting for us to discover them.
Without doubt much music of today provokes all sorts of emotional reactions and feeds the subsequent highs and lows of these reactions.
I watched a news item last night about a rock concert and saw the mass hysteria of the people there when this singer was playing his music. It really showed me how much certain music takes us out of our bodies , no different to many recreational drugs or the food we eat.
One of the things I find fascinating about music is that I can not listen to a song for weeks, months and suddenly I will find myself with it stuck in my head – when we listen to music is it possible we intake far more when we listen than we realise.
Great Question Rebecca, I have found that certain types of music make me feel pained within my body!
It is the true purpose of music to actually be able to feel who you truly are by the symphony of melody. It has nothing to do with entertainment or relief. Thank you Gyl Rae for shining the truth on what music actually is and how it is being ‘used’.
The emotion that comes from songs is so insidious in the way it affects us – I have, in the past, even chosen particular songs to make me feel a certain way!
I too was very sucked in by music during my younger years, using it as a distraction from what I was feeling most often. I had no awareness of what it was doing to me during that time, until starting to work with the Universal Medicine Therapies. Through these modalities I came to experience my body with a clarity that made things like music, stand out in their affect. I got to feel what being ‘imposed upon’ felt like, and how I would feel different after listening to some things. These days I enjoy the broad range of music available through Glorious Music and a few select others for it’s lack of imposition. I can enjoy, and stay feeling exactly the same, if not better.
It is so glorious to listen to music that expands and feels harmonious; a very stark contrast to music that ‘jars’ and emotionalises. We are blessed to have divine music as you so beautifully express Gyl;
“It’s music that allows my body the freedom to expand, and it calls me to connect more deeply within myself and all that I am – absolute love, joy, truth and so much more”.
‘It’s music that allows my body the freedom to expand, and it calls me to connect more deeply within myself and all that I am’ this is so beautiful and feels like the true purpose of music. I am so grateful that we now have music that has been written to support humanity which is available to us all whenever we choose.
Music seems to be becoming more and more all pervasive as if we are trying to avoid silence at all costs. When I go into an appointment and request that the music be turned off I am met with surprise. I can still be sucked in by the emotion of music but I am much more aware of when this is happening and also that it is my choice and I can choose not to be affected if I am somewhere where I am being assaulted by unwanted music.
Music gets away with a lot doesn’t it…?! When I hear some lyrics I wonder how it can get away with it, when it’s totally inappropriate in all measures. The problem when it’s raised is that it supposedly goes under the banner of art, and obviously art can be whatever because it’s art. Totally irresponsible if you ask me but that’s where we are in society. And to be honest I think we need the music we hear because it allows us to feel something else than we feel everyday, which in a sense makes it a form of medicine. I would suspect that that medicine has its side effects too as does all medication but I suspect we are yet to see any research on that, but who knows…
It is very revealing to listen to the words of songs as many are quite revolting and that is just the words. If you also connect to the energy of the song and the emotional state of the person who is singing it then you have to wonder why we like to contaminate our bodies with what is being expressed.
“I have found that there is actually music out there that is clear, without one ounce of emotion or woe, which is made with love” Thank you Gyl, it is actually rare to find music that is not imposing or emotionally stimulating. I can feel the effect of non loving music and see first hand its effects on those around me, music can influence in a very negative way. Personally I feel many music videos should be banned and especially have age limits on them. It is not about censorship but about protecting our children from these often pornographic, hooking, harmful lyrics and videos.
I used to listen to music all the time. These days I’m very select with my music as I began to realise how imposing it was. If you put on a song, the emotions coming through the music control the entire room. It takes quite an effort to shut it out and the control can be quite subtle if you are used to being surrounded by music. I am now much more discerning with music and choose to listen to music that is not imposing. My body can move freely with out the imposition of another emotions.
I have observed this with children. Music can really impact their behaviour. My son used to listen to music on his iPod and afterwards he was quite different. We used to speak about it and how the music was impacting him. One day I noticed it had been a while since he had listened to his iPod and now writing this I don’t even know where it is these days. I observed and then brought awareness to the issue and he then made his own choice. So often it is the awareness that is missing.
Music is a modern day drug that is legalised and free! May sound excessive to say this but the harming effects of listening to music that is not clear and is imposing is all too obvious.
We are so blessed to have music sent from heaven that offers us the truth of who we truly are. “The difference is it has not been made to self-promote or gain, but made with love for all of humanity to hear: it holds all others equally and allows people to feel the truth of who they really are with no imposition at all.”
How does working in an environment with music as well affect the well-being of the staff? which then has an impact on how those staff members interact with the customers or clients. From experience of working in one shop that only had a 1 hour on loop track the songs follow you outside of work and if going elsewhere and hearing that song anxieties were triggered. It has been interesting to feel over the last few months how my current workplace has switched from ‘pop music’ to ‘smooth jazz’ style songs. Both are stimulating but to different degrees whereby I would say the ‘smoother’ songs are far more insidious as they are softer than the buzziness that pop songs can incite. Could the responsibility towards workplace music be a factor in supporting staff well-being and customer service? I would say yes.
There is no doubt that music is all around us; I find particularly imposing in Shopping centres and Gyms. I am often put off frequenting these places because of the inappropriate and imposing music (and/or constant ‘chatter’ of a TV). Thank you Gyl for asking the question, what are we really listening to?
What music are we really listening to is a really great question! It’s time to start understanding that music is more than just a sound, it carries an energy that actually has an effect on us. I wonder if this was globally acknowledged we’d be way more discerning about the music, or energy we allowed into our bodies.
I was listening to the radio the other day and heard a song that was sung by a woman saying that if your man cheats on you the best thing to do is to go spend all his money. Not exactly top of the list of relationship advice, but the punchline to this was when the song was over the dj came on and said it was played at the request of a couple who were preparing for their wedding! It made me laugh, but this is an example of how often we do not listen to what music is actually saying or what the songs we listen to are about.
I cannot believe how easy it is to get pulled into a song which may be on the radio and the memories from my past that come up. The songs can create so much emotion and I have felt this permeating through my body. Music is everywhere so emotions are constantly being stirred up and this cannot be good for us. I love the sounds of silence and I can feel my body respond lovingly to this.
The craziest sight is someone studying in the library whilst listening to music on their headphones. I just have no idea how these people do it?! How they can even begin to concentrate. But that is only half the story…the real issue is what they are actually listening to and what that is doing to their bodies. Music has become such a omni-present force in our lives and yet I feel that so few have any true understanding of what it is actually doing to us. In years to come it will be understood more fully and we will see what poison we have been daily drinking.
Yes Gyl, Like you I have been exploring the wisdom presented by Serge Benhayon about what we receive into our bodies through our ears and eyes is first and foremost an energy that either harms or heals every bit as much if not more than the food we ingest. Since reclaiming this sensitivity I now can feel the effect in my body even before I hear the words. At the gym the music or perhaps best described as noise can be difficult to block out, but acknowledging the energy and choosing not to let it in has become another example confirming that honouring our feeling is the greatest empowerment we can offer ourselves.
The emotional drain that music can be is a long called for study that will eventually be part of the sciences we learn at school.
This experiment just goes to show how much there is to be aware of when we stop and observe what is going on around us.
Different music has different target groups but on a deeper level it can draw you in and feels awful. It leaves our bodies feeling, even if we don’t truly feel what is under the catchy tune. Since I have learned to feel more and become more of energy I have chosen to discern what I listen to and as a result destroyed a lot of the CD’s I once listened to because of the impact of the effect they had on my body.
This is a great topic about the ways we can be affected by music that comes with no integrity or love. It is no different to ingesting a food that is harmful to our bodies, they both will have a negative and imposing effect on our beings, I feel it is also an opportunity to appreciate the level of sensitivity and delicacy in our bodies and learn to trust what we feel around us.
I agree Gyl, music is everywhere and it can be harmful as it can affect us if we are not present in our bodies, having a deep connection with myself has allowed me to discern music that might be playing in the shops and read the hooking energy that comes with it so it no longer affects my body in any way.
We really take the impact music we listen to has on our bodies for granted. We grow up having no idea that taking on someone else’s hurt and making it our own is actually so harmful. It would seem extreme having this discussion with a die hard music fan of any genre, but it only requires a small amount of connection to ourselves before we can start to appreciate that when we listen to what is sold to us as a ‘love song’, we are actually listening and absorbing the neediness or sadness of the person singing it. It makes prefect sense when we consider all those songs that used to be our favourites growing up. They all had emotional hooks with which we could relate. I used to enjoy the misery I felt when listening to music in my teens. I’d wallow in it and convince myself life was so hard.
These days I much prefer the stillness of silence, but that does not mean I don’t enjoy an old fun flashback now and again, but I am conscious of how easy it is to lose myself in the music.
I can relate to wincing at music Gyl. We have music playing at work every day, and I find it very very hard to ignore. Particularly when it’s a shuffled list and among it there are angry or super depressed wallowy tunes from the 90’s. I too feel it in my body and it does in fact hurt, not to mention make it very difficult for me to concentrate because I find the noise so uncomfortable. I also find the noise draining.
I was in a big shopping centre for a few hours last week and I was also very struck by the words and energy of the so called music that was blaring from every shop and also throughout the centre itself. I remember one sentence which was “I will never love again” and many others promoting everything that is untrue and unloving in this world.
Some months ago I was in a situation where I heard a particular song that I quite enjoyed from many years ago being played, the reason I had liked it in the past was that it played to an emotional state within myself that I identified with. A certain very emotional phrase from the song kept playing in my mind, coming and going over several days and no matter what I did I was unable to stop it…..until I actually looked at the words and how they related to me and a certain situation I had been dealing with…it was in actual fact a message….. the words encapsulated how I had repeatedly seen my self, and dealt with certain circumstances most of my life……the message became so obvious that once I embraced it deeply within myself the song disappeared and has not returned.
Music of whatever description has become ubiquitous and its effects can be quite insidious, a bit like a stealth plane; before you know what’s happened, its hooks are already firmly in place.
This is not true of all music, for there is music out there that has been made with the upmost integrity, responsibility and care in place, which is clear and not harming, such as Glorious Music.
Music like anything can be harmful, it is the deep wisdom we hold and connection from our bodies that can share truth. When we listen to our bodies you can feel the difference in what feels true and what does not. We are our own barometer’s of truth that is simply amazing.
The difference – once you know it – is quite incredible.
It is important that we discern everything that is coming to us or is around us and make the effort to read what is really going on. Music is a classic example of how easy it can be to just allow something in or start singing to a catchy tune, but underneath it comes with extra hooks that load our body unnecessarily.
It does seem as though music is everywhere when we go out shopping and at times I feel relieved to be away from the imposition of the energy that comes through the music, but the tricky part is when an old song comes on which I have identified with in the past in an emotional way and it is easy to get caught up in it. It seems like it happens within a split second if I choose to engage with it and then the song is running through my head relentlessly.
Gyl you wrote: “The more I observed and listened, the more I became aware of how music imposes on us and just how harming it can be without us even realizing.” Since I am more aware about this imposing and harming effect of music I am a bit shocked that I was not aware of it before as there is hardly no place I can do my shopping without listening to music!
What I often consider now with music is the artist performing the song, is there a need for fulfilment through the music, is there a need to be seen and recognised as talented? Much like many sports performers, musical artists are often filling up an emptiness, a deep desire to be recognised and accepted as talented and worthy. Such a need makes the music harmful as it is imposing that emotion on those who choose to listen and take it in. I have learnt that performing music should be about providing quality sounds as energetic vibrations that don’t impose but instead are offered with no needs but for the people that are listening.
Thank you Gyl, thank God for Glorious Music for if this music was not produced I would not have been able to feel the difference between emotional play and non-emotional play. As you say, one of emotion imposes on you and so our bodies, and the one without has none. To feel and listen to the difference between for example Abba and Glorious music is profound as you can feel the difference instantly in your body when you listen to both. The integrity and love is felt in the music by Glorious music. Whilst the stimulating and empty feel in the music or Abba is palpable. We need to discover ourselves the difference – step one to experience that there is another way of producing music.
What we let in, will come out, will be expressed from us afterword. So I see it as a very important choice what I am listening to and how. Do I let the ‘message’ – the obvious one and the one between the lines – from a song come into my system, do I agree so to speak with what is offered to me, that it will set the tone for my next step, mute and expression. To listen and how to deal with what I am listen to is in fact a big responsibility.
When I hear music I often feel how imposing the music is – like it’s wanting a reaction from me whether it’s sympathy, to be moved emotionally, admiration etc. Music is often unavoidable so am practicing being aware and observing if I’ve reacted to it in some way.
What a great experiment Gyl. A great observational study! The true effect of music on our health and wellbeing. What’s interesting is that music is seen very much as a healing activity and something that is good for us. But what I have begun to understand is that often we don’t discern the quality of the music, for if we did we would feel the way in which a musician lived and how everything they live is expanded or should I say exploited in their music. I remember as a teenager turning into this unusual dressing adolescent based on the music I was listening to, to fit into a scene. Now that may be seen as ‘well that’s what teenagers do’, but why do we do it? This is where your observational study comes in Gyl to see what the influence of music really is.
It is interesting that there is so much music surrounding us everywhere we go, it is most unusual to enter a shop or cafe theses days without music being played either in the background or in some instances quite blatantly blasting out. I am sure the music is carefully chosen with possible subliminal suggestions to encourage our spending, so the energetic imposition is two fold. Talking to a young woman in a store about this just the other day she said she had no choice in the music and was not allowed to turn it off and so was being imposed upon all day without choice, the general public at least can walk away.
Music is all around us, 24/7. Music has a huge impact on how we think and behave in society, I am sure I read studies that have identified how people listening to aggressive music are more inclined to be aggressive themselves. From this simple experiment if rage can be transferred to another via music what other effects is music able to transfer to the listener.
“I was totally gone.” A very revealing expression that shows how we are not with ourselves when we are not aware of the effect most music can have on us. When we listen to music with our whole body rather than just in the mind we can feel whether it is imposing or if it just lets us be.
Twice last week I heard the F word repeated over and over again in a song whilst I was out in public, once at the gym and once in the supermarket!. Both times I complained and the music was taken off but hearing that word is actually physically offensive. Because when a person says that word, they are saying it as a means to release tension, then when we hear it, we get a smack of tension as well. We really are living a life of complete irresponsibility.
Music has always been a big part of my life, but I never paid attention to what it was doing to my body, only what it did to my emotions. This song made me feel happy, this one made me feel aggressive, this one made me feel sad, etc. That always seemed to be the point of music. Now when I listen to the various kinds of music that I used to I can feel so clearly what it is doing to my body, and through that I can feel what the person who wrote and performed the music was aiming for: the resolution of their issues. Probably not what they were thinking when they wrote it, but it is. Very clear to me when I let go of my own needs that I used to project onto music.
What an amazing project … to actually observe all the music that is in one’s aural environment ALL WEEK! And then if we add to that what the effect is of the music that we are observing … what an eye opener. Could it be that music is actually being used to manipulate us, and that we choose to allow this?
Music takes me away to another time, this is a comment I have made and many others have too, but why would be want to be transported to another time, isn’t the present a gift. I know now when I listen to music that transports me it is because it has an emotional hook and I get sucked into feeling a certain way. It makes sense that if we either absorb or observe life then music is no different, and to absorb music means we are absorbing all the energy and emotion of the artist, and given how so many of the celebrity artists live and the glamour of drugs and disregarding lifestyles, then what is music truly giving us?
I have found the same Gyl music is quite literally everywhere and some of the lyrics are pretty awful abusive and obscene. A few days ago I heard some music blasting from someones car, the lyrics were ‘don’t you wish your girlfriend was hot like me’. How abusive is this towards your girlfriend, it is shallow insensitive and can be quite harming. We do not need to compete with others based on looks or anything but rather we need to value each other for the love we are and we bring. By doing this all those messages we get whether it is from music, from adverts or anywhere else we have a counter for and can say no to them rather than letting them sit there with us.
“Music is everywhere, 24 hours a day, non-stop: in the supermarket, clothes store, the gym or in the car whilst getting a lift to work, even the kids put their earphones in when moving from class to class at school.” Makes you wonder what the real purpose is to the music we have in the world. Evolution or involution?
We can be so used to being detached from what we feel in our body that we don’t register the harm that comes with a lot of music. And it’s very common to dismiss the lyrics and not really clock what is being said, but even though we may not register it in our conscious awareness that harm still has an effect. It really is worth considering what exactly it is that we listen and sing along to…
We know how much effect heavy metal type music has on the body and ears as we feel it instantly, but I wonder how many people listen to the words of a song and really notice what is being said/sung. They are often denigrating, depressing or violent words which if we noted what they were and how they make us feel, we would never sing. We track back with foods when we are wondering what adversely or positively affected our body, eg diarrhoea or bloating , nausea etc. I feel we will begin to do the same with music as we do know underneath that it affects our moods and behaviours as Gyl has so well presented.
There is certainly a big difference in music that is made to communicate someone’s emotions and need (if not lust) for attention, and music that is made with love to communicate the truth of who we all are.
Gyl, I experienced the imposition on my body yesterday while at the Dentist having my teeth cleaned. The music coming through the ceiling speakers felt awful and bombarding on my senses… with what the songs were about, the lyrics and the emotional luring behind them. I asked if it was possible to have the music turned off, if it didn’t turn it off for every other room… as I was the only one left my amazing Dentist turned it off and I could feel she also appreciated working without it. She shared that most people ask for it to be turned up louder, and to also have the TV on to distract them from what is being done. There was a phenomenal difference without the music, I was left alone and able to feel my body and connect with the Dentist as well.
It is so lovely to be able to listen to music that heals and not harms. To be blasted with someone else’s music ,( neighbours or in a retail outlet) is often so painful I just leave the shop or at home block it out someway. Music has always had a powerful physical effect on me as well, bumping my heart out of rhythm at times in the past!.
I love that Roslyn “bumping my heart out of rhythm at times” I can attest to feeling that also and it’s not a great feeling!
Yes I too have felt the heart bumping out of rhythm Roslyn. I much prefer listening to Glorious Music these days which allows my heart to beat joyously without any imposition on my body.
I used to love the radio but now most often when I listen to the music I just can’t stand it and I think gosh, how did I ever listen to that noise that actually feels really yucky in my body. It’s a great marker to know that I’m not entertaining the same emotions that I used to. Music is a powerful tool and unimposing music is a joy to listen to.
This is a great subject to explore – the effect that music has over us. The story of the Pied-piper of Hamelin has always fascinated me – that music changing people’s behaviour. Sound is vibration, and what our human ears can hear is only a small part of it, and that doesn’t mean the rest is not there or not affecting us. Could it be possible that there is something else we are yet to audibly hear, but still affecting us and our thoughts and behaviour as a result of it?
Music is like a drug and it needs to be seen as such as the use of it by most these days is purely to numb and check out from the hardships of life. What would happen if we had one day or even a week of just silence, no music, we would then be able to see the extent to which we rely if not crave it in our lives and how we are truly using it.
What you share is so true Gyl. The emotional pulls and the ups and downs of much modern day music is both dramatic and imposing and does not lift you and leave you feeling light hearted, open or joyful which if we are really honest is what music should do. Great blog.
This morning I had this song in my head and I was like: huh, where is this coming from? Because I did not play it myself and I could not remember that I heard it somewhere else. It just shows me how music really can get hold of you, even if it is a song that you have not heard recently but maybe you listened to it some time ago. It just makes me become aware how music hooks you and tries to emotionally stay with you. But then of course this is my choice.
Music is full of hooks and catchy tunes to draw us in if we don’t stop to feel what is truly going on. Some music it is very obvious in how awful it feels in the body but then there is some that is just as damaging but is far more subtle and easy on the ear. Thank goodness there is an alternative around now that is healing and not harming.
Kevin I agree, I was listening to the radio the other day when a musician being interviewed about what makes a great piece of music, and he actually used the term hook, he said the most successfully pieces are the ones with the real hook. Unless we are really feeling what is going on we are already hooked and align to the energy of the song.
The fact that often the harm being done is not obvious, – and at times, is considered quite the opposite – points to the fact that we need to be discerning with everything that we listen to, and indeed, discerning applies to everything…. Not just music!
Yes Angela, when we connect with our bodies and listen to any thing from there, then it is super clear what is harming and what is healing.
Having always been sensitive to the strong beat of some music, I was not really surprised when Serge Benhayon showed us through example how music can effect us quite dramatically. I too love the beautiful music of Glorious Music and Sounds Wonderful.
“It’s music that allows my body the freedom to expand, and it calls me to connect more deeply within myself and all that I am – absolute love, joy, truth and so much more.” This is how I feel when I listen and sing along to the sounds of Glorious Music and Sounds Wonderful, true heavenly music indeed.
I need to write in appreciation of the music of Chris James, Jenny James, Michael Benhayon, Emmalee Benhayon, Miranda Benhayon, Curtis Benhayon and Serge Benhayon. Having music available that doesn’t seek to manipulate us, doesn’t want to dump anything on us or change us in any way is very special. That these people live in such an ethical way that does not lace the music they produce with any ill emotion is deeply worth appreciating. There are others in the esoteric family/student body who are also producing music and I appreciate you too and look forward to buying your CDs when they come out. To have choices of music that does not harm in any way is something many have not experienced. I have experienced this music and it is something I treasure.
I could so relate to this Gyl, drowning out my feelings by bombarding my body with emotion and drama filled music. There was music that would incite sadness, anger, neediness, excitement and much more, bottom line it was imposing and definitely did not allow me remain as I am. Like getting sucked into a movie, and then walking away having issues I previously didn’t have. I choose to listen to music now that holds a clear space for me to feel how I really am. Most the time it confirms or reminds me of how special and magnificent we all are.
I have always felt that harsh music harms but have only recently become aware of how my body feels around other types of music that is not true music. I find that my body would tense up and feel imposed upon.
As I have become more aware in my body I can feel the effects of much that is happening around me. Music is one of these mediums that has influenced me in the past and how I would choose to pick myself up or use to take myself into a place to express sadness anger etc. My increased awareness means I now stop and make a choice to stay with me and not allow myself to be manipulated by outside music. My days are now about choosing to experience the stillness within me and enjoy the silence around me – often an environment free of outside stimulation. What a difference it has made – thanks Serge Benhayon, Michael Benhayon and Universal Medicine for connecting me back to what is true.
Interesting how music has it’s fashion stages that come and go but are essentially just the same tunes being repeated over and over again just with an apparently new twist. But how much of this is driven by an industry that seeks to grow bigger and to make more money. When music actually has incredible power but, like religion, we see this power being bastardised and manipulated for the sake of a relatively few people who seem to be able to amass vast amounts of wealth and power by engaging in the practises of what modern music has become.
I have also found music that supports me without feeling imposed upon, it supports expression, physical joy and a deeper connection. This is true music and song, not that which influences us to be less than our true selves.
Music really does often impose, and it is every where, even a nature program nowadays has a sound track like an action movie. It brings drama, emotion and tension intentionally into our lives and it is created to have an effect on us, so do we observe it or do we absorb it, if we take it on, we harm ourselves and bring dis-ease into our bodies.
It is almost ridiculous that our bodies can have such a reaction to music and yet we are generally unaware of the tension it is creating. How gorgeous to find a gym that you can exercise in silence rather than be imposed upon and physically affected with whatever highly sexualised or depressing tunes are in the top 40 that week.
When you consider the power of subliminal messages when you’re not paying attention… you have to wonder how much harm is actually being done when we innocently walk down the aisles or are exposed to any kind of music in the background that repeat such false ideals and beliefs about love or the like…. Deeply imposing and yet prolific beyond belief…. as is the harm I’m sure.
So true Samantha, I hadn’t actually considered the massive impact from the subliminal messages we receive with music. Surely the effect of this must accumulate too.
What a joy it is to listen to music that expands our bodies and supports us to connect deeply with our innate wisdom.
Yes it is such a joy Shirl to be able to listen and feel how precious Glorious Music is and to not be imposed upon is a game changer for music today.
Music has an enormous influence on our daily lives, it constantly feeds us with the emotions we use to not feel what is going on in truth.
I remember getting into my car and being surprised at how loud the radio was when it came on automatically with the ignition. It is clear that the music that was playing numbed me to the volume I turned it up to previously and that much music does have this anaesthetising effect. Yet when I heard it now, it was painful, so I agree about this Gyl.
We have music from seemingly bad and aggressive music to well accepted music like western classic to emotional to spiritual – and I have found no true education around music before I got to know Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
In the new age scene there is a lot of music that claims to be “good” and healthy music. There is a whole science and industry around it. It is not easy to detect the evil in this music that infiltrates mind and body with blissful trance: numbness.
Are we not living the parody of the movie the Matrix? The movie had everyone plugged in thinking they were living in a real world… today its hard to find people that are not plugged in… to not be part of the real world!
Over the past several years I have come to discern what music I listen to. I can feel the effects that music has on me, that being if it allows me to connect more deeply to me or if it takes me on a journey to a place that is into an emotion or away from my body. I use to love going on this
journey away from me getting lost in emotions so as not to have to feel what was really going within, but since having rediscovered the loveliness of my own inner connection, it feels abusive to listen to any music that is anything less than love, music that doesn’t have an ounce of emotion but confirms the joy that I am.
I have found that hooking feeling with music when I hear an old song from my past being played and all the emotion that goes along with it. The only music I listen to these days is music that confirms who I am and the love and joy that I bring, that is uplifting and expanding, and a joy to sing along with.
I agree Jill- I can hear some music from the past in a shop and find myself hooked in and singing along. The emotional pull is so powerful. I no longer need this sort of music but now listen to music that does not impose on my body.
To make music without the need to “self promote or gain”. This is a rare quality and one that will not be found in very much of the music we hear. If music carries emotions in it then it stands to reason that the emotion will be transferred into us if we are open to receiving it. So a singer who has angst, sadness, anger or any other feelings is likely going to be projecting that through the song. This is not something I was willing to feel until recent years yet now it is obvious if I let myself feel it. This understanding gives a whole new level of responsibility to the music that is made and that we choose to listen to. I now actively seek out music to listen to that has been made emotion free and for the benefit of all, not for recognition, fame and gain.
You’re right Gyl, we can’t avoid music as it’s everywhere we go. I find shopping centres especially have a taste for playing all sorts of music, none of which is actually soothing for my body to experience. To make it worse, individual shops often also play their own music so there is the clash of being able to hear different music playing at the one time. It makes me just want to get done what needs to be done and then get out of there. Similar story with my local gym. I did actually ask for the music volume to be turned down but was told that wasn’t an option because it needed to be heard in each area of the gym so I have let my membership lapse because I found the environment just to jarring for me. There is clearly a lot more impact on our bodies from the energy of music than what most people realise.
Aside from being very centred in ourselves so that the music does not affect us so much It seems we put up with a lot of music without realising we have a choice. Often people tell me about the radio at the dentists or in the hospital that they find irritating, or even in the beauty parlour when having a massage or their nails done. We forget that we can ask for these radios to be turned off during our visit, and if we take our own choice of music that is sometimes very welcome too.
Yes, when we truly feel the music that is played all around we see that it is only trying to make us feel a certain way, selling to us that we are less. While the music you describe at the end is only confirming us all of the beauty we are.
This is so true, music ‘is’ everywhere, especially supermarkets and shopping centres. The music is so very imposing in some shops that you can’t even hear the person speaking with you, it is quite extraordinary. I have been able to feel the difference in music that is not imposing and most mainstream music. But when I am out and about and literally unable to get away from the noise of the music, I use this time to connect with myself more deeply, the music doesn’t feel as imposing when I make that choice.
The amount of music we listen to as a global race has exponentiated to enormous levels with million and millions of tracks available on iTunes alone! It feels almost like the emotions in it are almost like a drug and can affect our thinking and way of being in more ways than we realise. Particularly in the case of the song you referred to here Gyl, if we took that as an example and played it to many that we meet in our day, most would for sure view love in similar ways to the way it is portrayed in the song. It is for sure reinforcing to us when we listen to this each and every day the emotional ways of being that the artists and song writers are living. Is this not potentially making an ill way of living the acceptable norm?
You’re on the money there Joe. My son was singing the other day with his headphones on, he had a look of pure pain on his face. He enthusiastically put on Adeles latest song, which has gone totally ballistic around the world. My entire body was flooded from head to toe with emotion, every cell in my body was invaded and I felt squelchy. It struck me that the reason why it’s so popular is because people are desperate to feel something and so even if it’s someone else’s pain then that feels good.
Alexis emotion is a powerful drug, it gets us hooked, involves us, manipulates our feelings, tantalises us, teaches us and drains our energy. Music can take full advantage of us if we don’t discern the incoming energy.
I agree Merrilee, music like so many other distractions is just like a drug that we can loose ourselves with. I particularly feel the impact on my mood and body when music is playing in the shopping centre or hairdressers. There is no getting away from it, but being more aware of how it does affect and when I do change supports me to not get caught up in it.
What an amazing description Alexis which I can deeply relate to. By contrast listening to a track from one of Glorious Music’s albums which has no emotions, simply allows me to be me – all of me.
Most of the mainstream music we hear on the radio is just another form of medication that takes us away from what we should be feeling.
I recently went into a shop and the song that was playing really caught my attention and I could feel the pull to really go into the emotion of the song. It felt very invasive but enticed me all at the same time. I just chose to stay with me and breathe my breath and claimed my own rhythm while the song was playing. It was a very powerful choice to make and showed me how in the past I would never have made that loving choice to be present with myself and claim me in my own rhythm, but rather to be carried away from me in the music, and I would have said that was a great song, it really moved me.
Since I have been singing with Chris James I started to become aware of the effect music has on us. In some clothing shops I feel so bombarded by the music that I prefer not to go to them anymore. If I go to my dentist I always ask them to turn the music off in the waiting room and treatment room.
So true, music is every where and it does impose on us if we do not pay attention and ‘clock it’ so to speak. I liked the way you write about who it has ‘hook’ to get us involved in the drama, intent of the music, I can feel that it is an assault on my body, I recall hearing some rap music and classical music and feeling this, it doesn’t matter what style it is, the intention of how it was made is what matters, we can feel it if we wish to.
Hear hear to Michael Benhayon’s Glorious music being a heavenly expression here on earth as yes it confirms the love that we are and supports our body to re-connect to the qualities of God within.
“The more I observed and listened, the more I became aware of how music imposes on us and just how harming it can be without us even realising”.
I am one of those people who do not realise the imposition of music; I can walk through a shopping centre or be at the Gym and be quite oblivious to the music playing; that is unless it is very loud and obvious.
On rereading your blog I am committed (yet again) to being more aware of the impact of music, to really listen to the music and my body’s response.
Gyl, I have often experienced the rise of emotions in response to most everyday music. It has at times left me feeling empty and craving or angry and hard. I find it deeply provoking and question the energy of the artist I am absorbing, who are they and how are they choosing to live? What am I so openly letting in to alter my connection with myself and provoke so much emotion.
Glorious music however offers me a non imposing option. Within this music I feel the freedom to be myself and enjoy the healing lyrics and music of people that choose to deliver a quality that connects and keeps the line clear.
Gyl, I agree, I’m sure most people have no idea as to the effect music has on their body. Several people I know turn the radio on, because they don’t like the silence, they need a distraction to what the silence brings up for them.
What this says to me is the level of responsibility and accountability we all have – with everything – but in this particular discussion to music. It is all too easy to say the music is imposing as I have, but at the same time it would not be there unless we called for it. So at some point we have knowingly sold out to a form of music that keeps us entertained and in comfort.
So true Gyl, there would be no market for such music if people did not buy it, but as a society we need to start being honest and ask why so many are creating and feeding the demand for such music, some of which is really quite abusive with its tones, rhythm and lyrics.
Gyl, re-reading your blog this morning I allowed myself to feel into the parts where you are sharing your experience of music in all the different places you go, and what I felt in my body was heightened anxiety. The power of this music to impose, dictate and separate in huge. This has re-affirmed for me all that I have experienced in the past and how I value the beautiful clear music I currently play. Humanity is walking around in this heavy and imposing atmosphere, using this music for release and to change their state of being and not aware of the impact on their bodies. Connection to who we truly are is an amazing and beautiful way to feel and live in the body. If Humanity had the opportunity to connect with this then much of the music industry would be out of business. Thank you for bringing this forward to be exposed.
Music at the gym always feels so imposing. It is no accident that when we have the opportunity to connect deeply to our bodies through exercise we are either subjected to a bombardment of pumped up high tempo dance music or emotional “if you love me, come and get your fill” style music, often accompanied with the overly sexualised and gratuitous music videos portraying a particular body image as desirable by others. The personal fitness and gym industry is designed to keep us away from connecting to ourselves through the beauty of exercising gently and the music played in gyms is a huge part in this. It would be very interesting to observe differences in gym user’s behaviour if the music was changed to some gentle music which was not imposing and only asked people to remain in connection to themselves.
Yes Michael, that would be an interesting experiment.
Glorious Music is just that, a glorious celebration of love, joy, brotherhood and true purpose. No hooks, no imposition just the glory of pure heartfelt music.
Good question. Taking into account that music can change the way we feel makes you wonder what else might effect us on a daily base.
Music is so addictive and people love it because they say, they feel good when they listen to it. I can totally relate to that as in the past, I used to loose myself within music and really get drawn into the emotion of the song. Now it is so lovely to listen to Chris James or songs from Glorious Music where your left to just be you and there is no pull, just the pure enjoyment of truly healing music.
Anyone who has stood in the crowd at a large concert has felt the drums and bass vibrate through their body. It literally makes our cells shake and vibrate. So obvious that it affects us on a level we have not fully allowed ourselves to accept yet. How many times has a sad song made me cry? An angry song make me feel like punching my fist in the air, a party song make me go crazy on a dance floor. We are simply at the mercy of the vibration we choose to let enter us.
Yes Simon, which makes me recall many of my own music experiences and how it was so often a relief to turn off the music and have the silence, yet often and I observe this now a lot in others, silence can make us uncomfortable as it leaves us only with ourselves with no other distractions, and for a lot of people this is too much to bear.
I often shut down from music that I hear all around me. In Truth there’s hardly any music out there that is not manipulative. I find it hard to accept that everybody’s just ignoring the fact. Of course, no one is taught this, but still it is very very sad how we poison our bodies on a daily basis by allowing energy in that is the polar opposite of Love. Thank God for Glorious Music, Chris James and The Gentle Voices Germany. There might still be a few more out there, but from a very young age I feel children using music, cartoons, clips, etc. to numb themselves and check out.
As a child I moved around a lot and somewhere along the way I started to use songs as a reference point to remember which country I was in depending on the year a certain song was released and also it would remind me of how old I was at any given time.
Then as I got older I realised that the songs were attached to an emotional event in my life, say, a break up of a relationship, death of a loved one, that sort of thing. The songs could seem to transport me back in time and at the same time invoke a strong emotional response to hearing a song, even years later.
For many years of my life I didn’t see this as a problem, but in my thirties I did get a sense of how draining it was and stopped listening to certain types of music. So when Serge Benhayon presented how music can affect our well-being I was not surprised, but I would say that I didn’t realise to what extent.
Yes – there is music out there which is clear and lovely! Find here a few examples – free to listen to. Free Music via Unimed Living: unimedliving.com/music/free-music/free-music-to-enjoy.html
Music is probably more powerful and more influential than any of us had ever realised. It is used in movies to emotionally heighten the audiences reaction to what they are seeing, and it is used in advertising to manipulate the way we feel about a product and the way we feel about ourselves. What if that manipulation stays with us and affects us and changes the way we feel about ourselves so that it reinforces the idea that our value, our image lies outside of ourselves. If this is so then music can keep us from knowing how great we are. This is something we need to be aware of and feeling what energy/feeling comes with the music we listen to, is a worthwhile exercise. There is no need to fear what music brings, just a need to be aware of it so that we can decide how we feel and who we really are.
Well said Amanda Woodmansey. It just requires us to be more discerning and deepen our connection to our true selves.
The awareness of what we take in is the first step of expressing self-love.
I have seen how people have used music to cheer themselves up and how we also choose which music would further dampen moods; like when we are sad we listen to sad songs.
It’s amazing how much music is just about expressing emotions and magnifying that in the listener. Why do we want to sell or buy anger, sadness, hurt etc..?
Well said Fiona. Maybe the sale of some music instead of being allocated to types of music/music genres they should be categorised under the likes of anger, rage, sadness and frustration with the assurance to overwhelm you in that emotion.
Yes that would certainly be more honest! And might make us think twice about what we’re choosing!
Gyl I completely relate to what you are sharing about music being everywhere and the imposition of it. Like you, I find that it is easy for me to be affected by the music I hear or sing and I feel my body change with it. People sometimes listen to music for this very purpose. I know of people who will go to very particular types of music in response to feeling angry and different music again when they feel tired and exhausted or sad. This is because of the power of the music to affect and configure the body.
Like you, I have also discovered music that is unimposing in this way and it is a totally different experience to listen to it.
Thats awesome katemaroney1, though I wouldn’t say I was affected by it, more an observation and experiment of what’s really going on and what what my body felt when different music was played – you could say in the same manner as when we eat food – my body like this, my body doesn’t 🙂
I agree Gyl, we are feeling it, all of the time. I went through a phase of “trying not to be affected by music”. Well that didn’t work so well, “trying” being the giveaway. To a greater extent I now let myself feel it, rather than shrink away from its constant imposition. And I also let myself sense more deeply into what is behind it…the thing under the words, under the sounds, no matter how appealing they may be. An interesting exercise that exposes the façade that the nice sounds use to fool us – a thin veneer over a not so nice quality that worms its way in.
Ha ha Rachel – trying is always a dead giveaway. Anytime I’m trying I know it’s not me. It’s like my head is ‘trying’ to figure it out, whilst my body is like eh hello stop pretending you can’t feel this – it’s like walking around a room pretending you can’t see the massive big white dinosaur sitting in the middle of it. What I would also say is the same can be said for nice words, not to be fooled by what’s written but discern the energy.
Some great points here Gyl and Rachel. When we are with someone who uses all the right words yet underneath we can feel that there is something else going on (dishonest, sleazy etc), we can usually call it. However we don’t do this with music. Even songs that are are more innocent from the 50’s have a kind of agenda behind them, basically we can feel something different behind the mask of the words. We seem to have accepted music in any form of energy, without discernment.
When I was younger I would use music to express the ‘loaded’ emotions I was feeling. Looking back I am now realising the extent to which music manipulates and controls situations and what people are feeling. I agree katemaroney1- the power of music to effect and totally configure is very powerful.
Same here ch1956, music was everything to me as a child growing up and most of my life until I started to feel what was really going on and like you have stated, now I notice the manipulation and control of our emotions.
So true Gyl – only when we have learned to love ourselves, we are able to love others. The other way round it is impossible.
I have had similar experiences lately with music. I don’t normally listen to pop music but recently started going to a gym. The words give no clue to people about how to have a real, lasting and loving relationship. I can feel how the music wants to get in and change the way I feel. In the past I would have seen this as a positive, giving me an up or a lift to keep exercising but now it just feels imposing.
I agree Fiona. I am finding now that I feel the difference more deeply and the truth of what is truly going on, listening to ‘just’ any music as a pastime I can’t do. The stillness of nature, silence or the loving and clear lyrics offered by Glorious music is my choice. Thanks Gyl for creating more awareness of the music we are listening to everyday and the way it affects us.
Woah – that’s it Fiona – ‘I can feel how the music wants to get in and change the way I feel.’ Whether that be to energise, bring hope, happiness or sympathy – the music’s intent at times is to impose on who we naturally are… it’s so confusing and I’m having an identity crisis just thinking about it!
What this also raises for consideration is that in the instance where the music wants to ‘get in’, and is allowed or chosen by the person listening to it, how long does it stay, how do we clear it out, and what effect is it having while it’s in? In this regard, I am learning from my own experience that the imposing music that has hooked me in or that I have allowed in, often has far longer and more subtle effects than at the time I may have considered or would like to admit. It is certainly worth pondering what type of energy is coming through what we are listening to!
Gyl I recently bought myself a new car, which happens to have a radio, my three children have quickly navigated their way through the various stations and found KISS FM a UK radio Station playing drum and base, garage, house and trance to name a few. My kids have never been exposed to this kind of music before and I was astonished at how the music was received particularly by my 6yr old son. He began to move his body in a way I have never observed before – it was almost involuntary as if the energy was simply playing right through him. The music had a sexual energy to it and this is what I could read in his movements. Serge Benhayon has talked many times about the integrity of the musicians and how this plays out in the energetic quality of their music – I need no more proof than watching the body of my 6yr old son respond to the sexual undertones of this music. Rather than reacting and shutting it down, I see this is a great opportunity for my children and I, a platform from which we can discuss and share the fact of energy.
Thank you for sharing this lucindag. It is a clear example of what we already know but would prefer not to be true but great that you can begin a conversation from here and allow your children the opportunity to discern what is happening to them through listening to music and how different qualities affect us.
As an older reader, the type of music concentrated on here seems to be pop music. I can’t imagine relieving chronic pain listening to what passes for music nowadays, or even the rock and pop of my youth!
Years ago I was a keen skier. I loved the stillness on those rare days when there was not even the slightest breeze. The silence was always the most beautiful part of it. Even the shouts and laughter of enthusiastic skiers could not mar its depth. Then at some point speakers blaring music were put on the ski lift towers. The silence was shattered by a driving sound, poor quality and “tinny” to be sure, but even on the best of speakers this music was an assault on the body.
Why was this needed?
Was the silence too distressing for people? Did it allow their inner disquiet to bubble up?
I still love and appreciate silence, and deeply appreciate the musicians who provide us with the music that can be enjoyed with no assault at all.
You make a great point worth considering… for it does seem that silence is not an option and wherever you go there is music on in the background. Maybe in the silence people have to face themselves and what’s going on inside and so prefer to distract themselves at any cost… in this case, being with themselves.
Or in Silence they get to feel their Soul.
Silence is something that can be felt by every particle of our body.
And appreciated.
The other day I was listening to Michael Benhayon and Miranda Benhayon’s music in a car with a friend, but he didn’t like it because it was ‘too positive’ and preferred the ‘normal love songs’.
I know from my own experience the old love songs I used to listen to were very addictive and on occasions I would become quite melancholy without any real reason, other than the fact that I had listened to the music. So, it does make me wonder what the music is really doing to me, if it affects my moods and what else is going on?
It is very interesting to stop and feel the affects certain music can have on you. I remember once when this song came on and it took me into this huge wave of misery and sadness, like I could feel the sorrow of the whole world within the music. It really took me over for those few minutes and took me a while to recover from.
You make a good point here Julie, as how many people listen to emotional love songs filled with woe and misery, but don’t realise that their mood has changed after listening to it – I know I used to.
I also used to listen to opera, I hadn’t got a clue what they were singing about but I could feel the emotion and choose to stop listening because I could feel my mood had changed and I would feel depressed afterwards.
..there are many so called ‘love songs’ out there but if we stopped and felt what they were truly about they are anything but Love.
I had never really considered how music affected me until I experienced music that left me alone – to choose to reconnect, but did not impose in any way.
Thank you Gyl for sharing your experiment and experience of music. It is such a powerful medium that affects our whole body, that takes us away from ourselves to look for love somewhere out there. Thank heavens for Michael’s and Chris’s heavenly sounds that draw us back to ourselves and the love we truly are and come from.
“if you love me, come and get your fill”. If I really feel what it’s being ‘sung’ here, it is the total opposite of Love. It is arrogant, very dominant, controlling, etc. It feels like a song from a man to a woman. Very denigrating. There is a different way, there is different Music. Music that Honours, Music that is Respectful to both Men and Women, that is based on Full Equalness. That is Music how Music is meant to be. Inspiring, Opening, Healing, Truly Enjoying. From that music we’re not asked to be anything else but Ourselves. That is the Music that children are to be brought up with. That’s how they can learn from a very young age that there’s a difference between music from the Heart and music not from the Heart. Chris James, Glorious Music and The Gentle Voices are living lives based on Love and their music is just AMAZING! Check it out on http://www.unimedliving.com/music/free-music/free-music-to-enjoy.html. To me throwing away my whole catologue of cd’s and now building a new one, has been an enormous blessing for me. And a great gift to myself and my extended family.
So much music can be imposing and draw out emotions and issues, rather than letting us be and celebrating humanity. I can really feel the difference. When I listen to music that is not imposing I can feel that it “…allows my body the freedom to expand, and it calls me to connect more deeply within myself and all that I am.” It is one of the ways that I support myself every day, I listen, I sing, I move and I reconnect.
I used to own a large and diverse music collection covering a number of different genres. I was aware of how I would choose different types of music according to how I was feeling or wanted to feel, whether that was to pick me up and give me more energy, be an outlet for my frustration and build up of emotions or to sympathize with me in these. After some time it became clear that the music I listened to was actually preventing me from reaching the root of the reasons I was seeking it. I had listened to music then to help relieve or change the feelings I was having and yet it was exacerbating the need to seek an escape rather than the cause. When I stopped listening to such much music and allowed my self time to just be with me I started to discover the reasons for the discontent and was able to choose to address these.
I remember being in car when I was a kid or a teenager, as we put the radio on to listen to some music, I would feel quite sick, almost like vomiting; but at the time I thought it was me or the fact that I was in the car moving!
I have noticed that the more sensitive I become through not eating stimulating foods and healing my hurts, the more I feel the quality of music, it is amazing how I can now sense what I never took notice of before.
Gyl, thank you for highlighting the effect that music can have on our bodies. It is interesting to stop, listen and feel what happens for us when certain music is played; your experiment clearly shows the imposition and impact music can have.
Thank goodness for Glorious Music which is soulful, fiery and not imposing.
Music is used as a hook, distraction or numbing. A lot of the music out there does that with the lyrics, they are often written with so much emotion. As you listen to the songs you can feel the emotions imposing on you. When you are connected to your body and feel, it’s actually quite imposing. It is beautiful that there is music now being released out there which is not imposing.
Music that is composed by someone with no need to be recognised for what they’ve created, no need to hook the listener or catharsis their deepest woes is amazing to listen to. Michael Benhayon, of Glorious Music, is one such composer. I have found when listening to Michael’s music, that my body responds differently to each song. This is never to make me racy or indulge in emotion as most other music does but when listening to this music, I find it is easier to connect to my body and that my body will often come closer to stillness.
Truly amazing!
From very young I found music very imposing and was unable to sit and listen. There where very few songs that I could listen to, often songs that were gentle to hear and no really heavy music. Due to this I grew up with no understanding of music groups. When I started to work, people would ask me do you have this album. I felt stupid to say actually I have no albums, I don’t really listen to music and would look at me weirdly. One day I just went and brought a few albums with the help of my boyfriend so I did not feel left out. Now I understand why I was not attracted to music as I found it very imposing to my body and it hurt to listen to it.
Thanks Gyl, I can relate very much to what you’ve shared. I used to be heavily into music, not like some people who knew every band and album, but it was definitely my way of escaping the way I felt inside, and distracting myself from things that didn’t feel good in my life. As I learnt to deal with these things, my need for music dropped away and I found my level of discernment for what I would listen to changed enormously. Glorious Music now tops my list of favourites, being deeply inspiring and expansive to listen to. Chris James’ music has a similar effect, as do a number of musicians who are also beginning to produce music from the clarity of connection within themselves.
What a beautiful sharing and a message that needs to go out to all. Music is poison, most music that is played out there anyway and we never really ask ourselves what the quality is that is being played through the speakers. It is a horrible reality the fact that so many people choose to not be aware of just how harming and damaging it is.
Gyl thank you for pointing out what we so often take for granted, as the norm now. We are literally bombarded with music from every angle, all day and all night. It has become so prevalent that often we do not even realise it’s still playing around us. To have found music that is actually free from imposition is an incredible support and a joy too, for in this one can truly appreciate the talents, skills and expression of others around us too.
There is so much music out there I just can not listen to on the radio even adds on TV. They make me feel agitated and I just have to turn them off. Even if I am travelling in someone else’s car I have to ask if they mind if I turn it off.
There’s much being shared here Gyl. What I noticed through out your blog is the word body. You’ve made the body the marker of The Truth about music. That’s quite amazing and isn’t told or taught me when I was younger. Music has always been a huge part of my life. I loved singing along with music, dance to music, buy music, going to concerts, etc. As soon as I heard about the difference between music made from Love and all the other muscic (emotions), I decided to throw my whole catalogue away. And there’s no single ounce of regret. How freeing is it to dance and sing to music that actually opens up my heart, my chest and if I allow, my whole body. I’ve found the True Joy back. But as I was reading you’re blog I actually felt that music is no different than spoken words. Which means that if I don’t feel my heart expanding when expressing, I am actually not expressing from my heart, from my love. Big revelation. I knew that before, but didn’t really felt the bigness and importance of it. Thank you Gyl.
I was at a cancer sponsor event yesterday where the music was really loud. All songs were very emotional and I realized why we actually need this music, especially on events like these. As the music distracts us from what is truly going on and there to feel for us (more and more people getting cancer, what does this tell us), we use music as a distraction. Can you imagine what the event would be like if there had been no music?
Gyl I was totally hooked into listening to ‘uplifting dance music’. I was addicted to the buzz that I got from my nervous system when the music ‘went off’. I would select tracks that took a long time building and then enjoy the euphoric feeling of the track peeking. I didn’t consider or even truly feel the fact that my body was getting flooded with adrenaline. To me I felt great but when I consider now how it was for my nervous system I reckon it felt like it was in a stressful situation that just kept repeating ! It must have felt worn out after even half an hour in the car with me listening to dance music !
Your honest experience Alexis shows us that music is used like a drug, as your description of the high is just the same as what you get when on drugs. The music may not have to be digested and processed like drugs but the body still has to deal with the energetic poison. There is evidently a lot to learn about how music affects us. Thank you Serge Benhayon and Gyl here for starting the conversation.
Every time when I read this part “The more I observed and listened, the more I became aware of how music imposes on us and just how harming it can be without us even realising” I cannot stop to have the picture I regularly see on the streets with people wearing ear headphones listening to their music. It always feels to me that these people are like robots, getting the orders how to move and where to go through these earphones. I can see that there is a truth in it because I feel too that music has the ability of imposing on me if I am choosing to be unaware of this fact and am only looking for a form of relief or state of being that is related to the music listened to.
This is a really interesting comment Nico, that the music potentially influences the way we move, certain styles of music have their certain styles of movement through the beat, rhythm and melody, not to mention the emotions that we can connect to and allow to make us shut down. Does music order our movements in a certain way?
For me it works that way Lisa, music comes with a movement through its beats and rhythm and does influence the way we move, how we feel about ourselves and our emotions. Ever wondered why people favour specific styles of music? I can see for certain music styles from how they move and behave what music style they are favouring as there are typical moves related to typical styles of music.
Lisa absolutely… yes. I get caught occasionally when I hear an old song I can feel my body align to how it used to feel and even wants to move in the same old way. It’s like a bit of automatic programming pops back in. It’s interesting to feel and observe the change in me as it can so easily take over me.
I completely agree merrileepettinato. When a song comes on that I used to listen to in the past and it reminds me of a certain time in life, the consciousness of that time also wants to slip into my body, it feels pretty slippery…
“It’s music that allows my body the freedom to expand, and it calls me to connect more deeply within myself and all that I am – absolute love, joy, truth and so much more”
These words are so beautiful Gyl, thank you.
How important is it that we do not harm ourselves by listening to emotional pulling music; sometimes hard to avoid as music is everywhere!
My life used to be surrounded by music, a constant filler and background to almost everything I was doing. Serge Benhayon has been the only person who has presented to me that music has an affect on our body, no different to food, except that it enters by way of vibration. Given how much music dominates so many areas of life, that fact alone is huge.
Thanks for sharing your experiment Gyl. Music is everywhere and it definitely has an impact on us. We can get sucked into the emotion of a song and it can change the way we feel about ourselves or those around us. To me it often feels like the singer is dumping all their issues onto the listener – what a massive burden for us to take on as the listener!!
Rereading your blog was much fun- I do also enjoy Michael Benhayon’s music a lot- it is just there, doesn´t want anything and actually lifts me up with no imposing or anything. And most important it reminds me of the truth in life.
Thank you for sharing your experience with music Gyl. What really stood out for me was “The more I observed and listened, the more I became aware of how music imposes on us and just how harming it can be without us even realising.” I never made this connection myself but when Serge Benhayon presented it – it immediately made sense and now I only choose to listen to true music.
“As I listened I felt in my body the hardness of the song; it actually hurt my body to hear the music.” – I so relate to this when hearing music that is harsh in words and sound as well, And I feel such sadness when I see people, especially young people listen to music that speaks about hate and violence.
starting to feel the effect of music all around us is one of the most liberating experiences. Music surrounds us and is affecting us all the time… We may not know this but it is happening anyway, and this is part of the journey of reconnecting to ourselves being conscious, and present, being aware of the flow of energy all around us
your comment cjames2012 makes me remember that there is music in the rustling leaves in the wind, and in the stars moving around the galaxy, the birds outside, the droplets of water in the ocean or a stream, these are also music to my ears.
Absolutely Gyl, music inspired by the work of Serge Benhayon definitely has no hooks, emotional grabs or taking us out of ourselves, it simply leaves you alone to be yourself – connect deeper or dance to a rhythm that expands our body!
Most music is filled with words that if used in a general conversation would be heard as being abusive, depressing, sexual or aggressive. The music seems to mask the words and make it acceptable. I was listening to the radio the other day and I was shocked at what was being said. What was being said was basically: ‘I am going to rape you and if you don’t like it I will do it some more’. How has this been acceptable for a society? And being on the radio means that kids can hear it too. What example are we setting?
Susan you make such an important point. I agree whole heartedly with you that the often sexually explicit, sexist, violent and abusive language that can be heard in songs seems to be ok if it’s sung ! And as you so rightly point out it is the youth that are listening to it. How do these songs contribute to their view of the world ?
Thanks Alexis, I often wonder what are we setting up for the next generation to live in? And if we stop for a moment, is this what we truly want for our children?
It is akin to love-less propaganda slowly infiltrating if not bombarding it’s way in order to shape our views, behaviours and choices. Are we not saying yes to abuse the moment we say yes to music without Love?
Gyl, your blog came to mind this morning as I felt to enter a shop but the music was so imposing that I had to put my hand over my ears and then quickly left. As you say “Music is everywhere, 24 hours a day, non-stop”. How many shops and other businesses lose sales revenue by playing music that does not suit a certain percentage of their customers!
With what has been been shared and all the comments that have ensued, I would take this lived experience of people to be the truth, so if we can and allow ourselves to be enticed, controlled, emotionally and behaviourally manipulated by the energy that comes through music, what others things do we have so commonly around us 24/7 that we allow to affects us energetically in the same way?
Great question Gyl and love how you join the dots – everything is everything!
So true Gyl. When Serge Benhayon opened my ears to the energy that comes through music I began to be aware of how music felt in my body rather than just appealing to the taste buds in my ears. This growing awareness is attuning me to be more aware of the energy in all communication and expression be it music, the spoken or written word.
The music by Glorious Music and music by Chris James does exactly what you are saying Gyl. It allows our bodies to expand and connect at a deeper level so then we are able to feel how amazing we really are. Through Chris James’s workshops I have been able to feel and connect to the absolute love that I am. I have not experienced this with any other music before. Gentle breathing and stillness can still be maintained with this music where with other music my breath is quite fast and there is no way I can remain calm.
Anyone who has stood in a crowd at a large concert, has felt the sound and bass from a large PA vibrate through their body. This simple observation is enough for any one to understand the notion that Music is energy. Sound waves that pass through us and thus alter the state of our cells with a vibration. What comes with that vibration is not yet fully understood but it should be!
Yes simplesimon888 I agree, the resulting configuration in our body would be significantly altered by the sound waves passing through our cells … It changes the vibration and resonance which then determines the level of frequency we vibrate to. Most music is emotional and not evolutionary, so discerning the quality we allow to vibrate through our bodies is well worth a study as every particle in our body and beyond is being forced to vibrate and it’s not our natural frequency.
So true Simon, I hadn’t considered music to have this effect to alter our cells. This may help to explain why after going to a concert I have needed days for my body to recover from the event. This and the combination of being around drugs and alcohol feels now like a huge onslaught on the body.
Most music certainly does impose on us in a very harmful way and if we stop and feel we can palpably feel the imposition and harm.
I loved the way you conducted your experiment so that you could really feel the harm.
I must admit that sometimes I can be “seduced” by music, although much less of late.
There is a lot of emotion in songs that are mainstream, with many hooks. Blues or music that was woeful was a great support for me when I felt sad as it supported me in my misery. It really holds you in the emotion. Its such a powerful medium, but with catchy tunes they harm you, with out you knowing. Thank you Gyl
“I have found that there is actually music out there that is clear, without one ounce of emotion or woe, which is made with love. It doesn’t hurt my body to listen to it, nor do I wince or get sucked in – it’s the complete opposite in fact. I feel me, I feel so much expansion, freedom and joy in my body, there’s not one ounce of tension or pain” I too have found this Gyl. This music helps me to reconnect to myself. I then feel ready to be again.
Such great observation Gyl – this is a huge issue in society.
This emotional music with sexual, degrading and inappropriate lyrics targets our children younger and younger. It is well enmeshed in everyday life relentlessly so. It features on TV, advertisements and movies, is played in daycare centres, preschools, schools, shopping centres and homes. It has surpassed the school bell in the school playground and is usual in the class. My children come home from being at school and with friends singing such lyrics, often with no idea what they are actually singing, what the lyrics mean and without awareness that the music has already found its way in.
Yes my children too Deborah. Sometimes I am shocked by the lyrics my daughter comes home singing, then even more shocked when I look the up the song and really feel the energy its made in. So much of what we call music if truly felt is purely abusive.
Soul-less music is total and absolute abuse and far more than we care to realise.
As you all say everywhere we go music is playing. It’s not just the words but the continual boom, boom, boom coming out. The music played is so loud, and to be honest, would one call it music? Many companies that play so called music, should be reminded SILENCE IS GOLDEN.
Very true Mike Stevenson there is a lot of power in the silence.
Beautiful Mike and absolutely true Silence is Golden, that made we wonder in what world are we living, should we not enjoy music without being hooked in at every corner because it is imposed as you say from everywhere as if we cannot escape.
Music is used as a ‘hook’ – and a powerful one at that. Much research has gone into knowing what hooks us into buying more when we are in supermarkets, dress shops, restaurants and surprise, banks! I was in my bank just yesterday and whilst waiting for the teller, the music playing was jarring my whole body. Whilst the queue was quite long it was quite numbing to stand and have loud music with its insidious beat throbbing through my body. I actually left the bank and came back later when there was no queue to save the bombardment! What a joy it is to listen to music that doesn’t impose on one’s body or being – the sound is pure and the lyrics are truthful. I love this kind of music.
Where are we at as a race of Human Beings that we need to hook each other into buying goods that we don’t truly need and that we further dedicate resources to this end to ensure we are bombarded away from stillness and clarity, never discern and are distracted sufficiently, if not influenced well away from True reason and True choice?
Power-packed-full comment Deborah. Where are we at? “… to ensure we are bombarded away from stillness and clarity, never discern and are distracted sufficiently, if not influenced well away from True reason and True choice?”.
Great comment Deborah, where ARE we at that we can do this to each other? Everything seems to be geared to distract us from any connection to Self and, as you say, influence us well away from True reason and True choice.
And how extraordinary are we that we cannot be left alone for a single moment? It is very telling that we must be drowned in a sea of sound to keep us so far from clarity and stillness.
It is very telling of the incessant motion and bombardment we live in and with that we seldom stop to hear the silence. There is a lot of wisdom and clarity to be found in moments when we become still.
Interesting Ruth, music is now even played in banks, when i hear music in shops I often want to leave quickly as i feel the music is “jarring” just as you describe, it is imposing itself on me, I no longer want to listen to music that is giving that feeling and find most music projects an emotion that is held within the artist. Listening to music free of emotion is something I have found in Glorious Music and choose this as it feels much gentler on my body.
The hooks in music can definitely dictate and dominate your whole being, and take you off into another place emotionally. All of a sudden you are plummeted back into the past with events being played out in our minds eye… and it can be a roller coaster ride as even the body wants to join in and dance that old move again. All without your permission if you are not being discerning and choosing to allow the ‘ take over’. It’s so interesting to observe now that I have felt unimposing music in my body.
Gyl its quite fascinating just how we’ve accepted music and let it play out wherever we are not really paying attention to what the words are saying and how they actually make us feel. Apart from loud music in department stores it sort of is something that is there in the background everywhere. Yet as you say a song such as “if you love me, come and get your fill” is also the opposite to my understanding and experience of what love actually is. Therefore are we being sold a lie through music? If we consider that music is often carefully selected to encourage certain behaviours then perhaps we need to pay more attention. I’ve noticed in coffee shops music is designed to entice people into the array of cakes that accompany the latest “Venti Soya Latte Decafe Wet” that the patron may be purchasing and that’s just one example. Great area to observe.
Awesome comment David Nicholson I agree with you “.. its quite fascinating just how we’ve accepted music and let it play out wherever we are not really paying attention to what the words are saying and how they actually make us feel.” This observation to me, if I was looking at the science of people’s behaviors, people are listening to music to checkout – following the music track and taking themselves on a journey. This is what I do sometimes. I have listened to a lot of music and have felt music that does not impose. It is a celebration to feel music as it is.
It is really interesting to feel music with your whole body and not just the ears.
Reading your comment Carmel makes my whole body sing!
Carmel, I agree once you can feel music with your body you would probably not choose to listen to it. The body is a great barometer for listening to music.
The body is certainly a great barometer, I had an experience recently when I was walking in town and had to walk passed a busker playing guitar and singing a very emotional song. It brought up lots of old emotions in me and disturbed me so I walked passed rather quickly and pulled myself together! Oh, the power of music and how it can affect the body and bring back old memories that are best forgotten. That’s why I only listen to Chris James and Glorious Music as this does not impose on me or make me feel emotional, only joy-full.
Well said Anne, what you share is so true, music is not only the only thing we feel and the truth is our body is a great barometer for all that we feel.
Exactly Carmel, it’s like how we can approach food with how it tastes only and fail to consider our stomach after. Music is the same if we listen with our whole body how is it overall and then it’s not about being nice to our ears but how we feel and what we’re left with.
Great analogy Monica, it is eye opening to see some of the documentaries about musicians and how much they hated touring and how out of it they had to be to perform on stage. Finnish music fans who are left disappointed by a sub-par live performance can now get a refund, it’s reported. If the customer isn’t satisfied with the level of the performance ie the performer is sick or too out of it to deliver then they can get their money back. It seems to me that with this clause there is an acknowledgement that there is an issue, but we are seriously lacking in the depth and care of the conversation that needs to be had, what is going on that so many performers are struggling to deliver what the audience expect of them and what is our role as the audience?
Yes indeed Carmel, I remember as a child I was very aware of it.
Yes Carmel, through feeling music we can also feel the energy the song is written and played in.
Gyl, I too have been noticing how strange some of the music is that I hear just played willy nilly around the place. Some of it feels quite abusive – especially in the way women or relationships between men and women are sung about. Now this is not abuse in the sense that they are singing about being violent per se, but to me it feels like abuse as anything that is not completely loving to me feels like abuse. This may not be the same for everyone, but embracing and honouring my sensitivity (that I know is equally in all) I know is so important for my wellbeing. As such, I too choose to listen and move to music that does not have the imposition you speak of, but instead allows my body to express and confirm all the joy and love it naturally is.
I agree Amelia, the words in songs, supposedly about love are often about emotional need, sex, ownership, manipulation. Not love. And these words seep into the minds of those that hear them, confirming over and over again what they THINK love should be, building a wall of noise around the heart, which KNOWS what love is.
I feel these songs that are based on emotional need etc and the words behind them are giving us a false sense of what Love really is.
Great comment Vicky. This research has been around for a long time now and still we have done nothing about the music that is produced until now with Glorious Music.
I go to an all women’s gym, often there are not many women in the gym so I ask if we can turn the music right down or off, they do not mind and what I notice is that their bodies ease when the music is turned off. What I have also noticed over time is that often I come into the gym and the music is not playing at all.
Gyl another great little article which I have read for the second time. I go to the gym regularly and at this gym I get to choose the music that plays through the speakers through the whole gym. I play glorious music tracks and I feel how it lifts the whole place and everybody in it. I also clearly feel the difference when the music is changed back to the music that is on the laptop that belongs to the gym and if feels heavy and you can feel the emotional poison that is pumped out through the music.
For years and years I was truly sucked up and into the world of listening to music, it was a big part of what I did and how I dressed. At least I suppose the lyrics weren’t quite so bad with what I used to listen to, but it does all come with an energy that we are able to switch off to so we can supposedly enjoy it. I remember getting annoyed with my dad cringing and complaining about what I was listening to as if it was physically hurting him. I’m sorry dad I now know exactly what you mean when I turn on the radio and now feel what comes out to assault, not only my ears but my whole body.
I agree we are mostly not aware of how all surrounding music is in our lives and how much it dictates our state of being. It is as you say everywhere, wherever you go there is some kind of music playing, be it the radio or some CD and if it might not be just the stereo system you get it from TV, Computer, Phones, iPads and the likes, anything we turn on bombards us immediately and constantly with stimulation for our ears (and eyes). It is constant and hard to escape. We might label it as normal but we completely ignore the fact of how deep an impact it has on us. As you describe Gyl, music is always asking something of us, inciting some kind of emotion. It never leaves us just be, always luring us away from us, tantalising that some place else is better to be.
I have found music in the past as a way to distract from how I was feeling or fill up an empty place within me. Whilst it is uncomfortable to sit with silence and myself at times, I find more and more how music can be imposing or hooking up with my emotions.
I love what you share here and I absolutely agree; listening to the music by Glorious Music is just such a breath of fresh air! It emanates all the joy and love that we all equally are. Thank God there are now more and more true musicians coming to the fore, playing music from their hearts, and not trying to be ‘liked’ or popular or famous, but to bring what’s true.
So true, music can be imposing. I have listened to the dance music in the gym and it feels really aggressive, and there is so much sexual content it, definitely not about love. This is all easily seen and felt on the surface, but what you describe about feeling from your body rather than your head is so important.
I’ve recently purchased the Glorious Music new album and it has again been a reminder to me of the power of music. Fortunately there is music out there that isn’t imposing, such as what is offered from Glorious Music. When I listen to their music, I can feel my whole body opening up and an expansion. This music is indeed healing.
I agree Donna, not only is the music from Glorious music non imposing I can feel how healing it is. My body loves it.
Thanks Gyl for sharing your experiences with music. I agree with you, it is so important to check the energy of the music we are listening to. If we don’t, we can easily get sucked into the music and we have absorbed the energy.
Learning that love can only come from within every one of us, not from anyone else, is such a profound learning. Thanks for this great blog, Gyl. I used to use music as a way of deepening the emotion I was in at the time, whether it was high or low. As I was completely numb to the effects it was having I didn’t realise how damaging it could be. Since listening to music by Chris James and Glorious Music, I came to understand how imposing the vast majority of music is. The quality of the life of the musician and singer is paramount. As Einstein said, ‘everything is energy’ and this includes music.
Such a great reminder Sueq2012. Everything is Energy – absolutely everything. FACT
It really is amazing and very crippling that we as a humanity haven’t claimed back our energetic awareness. As we get fooled and lied to at every corner, but with energetic awareness this would not be so, as we could not ever be fooled again.
The music in the gym these days is shocking. If I close my eyes I could swear I am in a night club being asked to sex it up on the dance floor and hunt down hot chicks. I am there to exercise not get laid
Totally Dean, it’s crazy; what has become ‘normal’; nothing normal about this kind of music being blared out to us. I take my iphone with my Glorious Music albums on it, especially the dance albums, are perfect for the gym; so much more enjoyable.
This did make me laugh but maybe because it is sadly true. Music today is so over sexualised it’s almost uncomfortable to hear what you are forced to listen to let alone see the video that goes with it.
It’s amazing when we let ourselves feel music — that is really feel the quality of it, and not get lost in the pleasant sounds to the ear which is so easy to do. These days I let myself hear music with my whole body. Just like if someone around me has had a drink, or some kind of substance and is being ‘sucky’ which will make me feel uncomfortable, the same with music. It’s all about the quality – music that is clear of any imposing energy, anger, unresolved issues of the singer can be beautiful to hear and feel, whereas music vented in emotion can be draining and a whole lot more.
A little home story: Near my house there is a small park, which is nice for a little walk. In summertime there a quite a few music festivals with different kind of music. Especially for teenager and those in the twenties. Beside the fact the at these nights you cannot fall asleep easy, as the volume is very high – there is the fact that the day after the park looks like a waste dump. If you belief or not, the degree of pollution depends on the what kind of music is played. I had opportunity to observe this.
The more aggressive the music was, the more the teenagers drunk alcohol. The less responsible they acted and the more waste they threw into the nature. It is but an extreme example, but if music can influence your state of being, what music are you listening to? And even ‘soft’ music can be harming, depending on what is transported through it.
Great point Sonja, and sadly that’s classed as a good night out.
I was in the car listening to music today with my sons, it was an old familiar track and so I hummed along.. then I listened to the words. At the same time I had parked my car and in that stop I felt something different. The words were shocking. I had not realised how abusive the song was towards women. I was shocked that something like this could be allowed air time and people would actually sing along to it perhaps not realising what they were saying. If we took away the music and just read the words, would we still find it acceptable? Today I called it for what it was – abusive – something inside said ‘no more’ and I turned it off and told my sons why.
Awesome Susan to say no to abuse and how very cool to share with your sons.
” The more I observed and listened, the more I became aware of how music imposes on us and just how harming it can be without us even realising”This is so true Gyl and what i am finding also but this is also highlighted now I have found true music that allows a freedom of expansion and joy in my body instead of the imposition, crushing and emotional turmoil we are subjected to in life. It is only through finding the real truth, love and connection to our soul and heaven that comes with the music of Michael Benhayon and Glorious Music and that of Chris James and Sounds Wonderful that we are able to discern and feel for ourselves real music that heals and does not harm and impose us. Thank you Gyl for this great article bringing the truth of music so honestly.
Observing life in every moment will let us see what is truly going on. This will allow us to distinguish between true feelings and emotions – the first coming deep from within us, the latter just distracting us from what we know deep inside.
Very well said Michael. If we go with our emotions, we’ll go for the emotional music that will take us on a roller-coaster ride. But if we choose to feel, then we discern and choose to ‘let in’ music that isn’t laced with emotional energy we don’t want.
Realizing to what extent I had let music influence me and that instead of the soothing effect I thought I had always felt, in fact I had numbed or distracted myself with it in order to not see that it would have been time to take responsibility in my life instead of always blaming others.
I had an incredible experience yesterday in a shop. As I went in there were two lots of music playing, one in the main part of the shop and one booming in a new make up area. As I moved past this area I asked an assistant how do you find working near to the music, she shared she couldn’t hear it as she is deaf. I shared with her what I heard and with this she placed her hand on a shelf next to her and said yes I can feel it. – If we are no different to an object in space then what is the volume, energy and sound of music doing to every cell, bone, organ and tissue in our body?
Gyl I also remember well when I was younger when the boy I fancied did not fancy me then I used the right emotional music to confirm me in my emotional misery. Today I choose carefully which music to listen to especially Glorious Music, Music from Chris James, and other esoteric students. This music supports the connection I develop with myself.
I totally agree and what has happened is that I spend a lot more time now in silence – which is never really silent as, like now, I have the door open and I can hear the wind in the trees and the ticking of the clock behind me on the wall. I love more and more these times with very little interference or distraction.
The musicians that are playing the song can be felt in the music. What they bring is all their unresolved issues and hurts and that’s what we feel and hear. With Michael Benhayon’s music it is pure sound that touches the heart deeply. I find it hard now to listen to anything else. Thank you Gyl.
To me, ‘dead agenting’ sounds more like something out of a cheesy spy film or Get Smart. To accuse Universal Medicine of such a thing borders on the most idiotic and off the planet thing I have ever heard. Pure fantasy.
If there was any doubt in me before, your blog now rings so, so true after seeing some before and after pictures of some heavy metal musicians recently, before and after a gig. The ‘after’ photos were downright scary. From normal looking guys, they were totally transformed into what I can only describe as possessed. It was clear that an energy had taken over their bodies; the eyes were dark and absent and they all looked like axe-murderers. Very scary, particularly given that so many young people are wired to music these days, practically 24/7.
Back in 1969 Stevie, several bands would have regarded it as a compliment to be described as resembling ‘Axe Murderers’. It was a look that they would have tried hard to achieve in order to appeal to their increasingly blase and numbed-out fan base. I suspect the adage that ‘nothing succeeds like excess’ is just as relevant in 2015 as it was then. When I was a teenager, going through all that awkwardness, it was the negative and the nihilistic that seemed to appeal, along with a morbid fascination with all things anatomical, that was our riposte to the absurdly saccharin and sentimental fare our parents listened to. Looking back, it all looks rather pathetic now but I think that we really believed that we, (the youth) were in the vanguard of major change and music was our preferred medium of expression. That period of ‘morphing’ into adults is very difficult for us all and it’s been cynically exploited by the music industry who frequently seem to ply their trade in the most unsavoury and aggressive ways, with resulting casualties on both the producing and consuming sides of the fence.
Yes, music is ubiquitous now and played wherever and whenever, accompanying our every move, trying to stir emotions, suck us in, rev us up, anything will do really. Is it to stop us from recollecting ourselves, feeling what is really going on and how we are in fact living?
Gyl so, so true what you have shared. I have also joined a gym and have noticed how put-off I have been by the very loud music that is played constantly – even in the changing rooms. Not only is there music everywhere but also TV monitors displaying visuals – most of them displaying what feels like pornography and at the very least are inappropriate. Thank God for music like Sounds Wonderful and Glorious Music. So refreshing!
Music has two sides: the one that puts it together and the consumer-listener. If the music is driven by the emotions that govern the person putting it together, what it is offered is a lyric, a melody and an emotional package that the author graciously shares with the world. And, let’s be honest, this is what we buy. We buy that music that confirms us where we are at. And, we celebrate where we are even if it is swimming in total misery. The other possibility is of course, music that does confirm us but not emotionally. Music that confirms a beautiful quality in us and invites us to be more. We also swim here but, this time, in grace.
Thank you Gyl for sharing your brilliant observation of the insidious-ness the majority of music has on us and its effect on our bodies, more than we may perhaps realise. When hearing the difference in music that has none of the ‘hooking’ ways it can lure any or all within its audible range, its impossible not feel the energy music carries, whether it be imposing or not.
The thought that everything is energy seems quite a stretch for most and even when we start to consider it, it takes some time to understand the full meaning of that fact. Music is a great example as it has no hard matter to touch, sit or walk on. It obviously is ethereal, a vibration, a mood, invisible and tangible like all energy. Keeps only the question if we are willing to honestly feel and admit the effect it has on our bodies. If we do so as you wonderfully describe here, Gyl, the insights and understanding we can get is not limited to music but waking up to the absoluteness of the fact that everything is indeed energy, and not just as an abstract theory but an everyday tangible reality, and the absolute responsibility that comes with that knowing. So could it be that it is responsibility we are avoiding when using or allowing music to medicate us?
Going to festivals is becoming a new trend – whereas before they were for dedicated music lovers, now everyone is going for the experience – the fact that the music can have an almost drug like effect on people.
When going to the hygienist, doctor, dentist or having a manicure and at work I now ask for the radio or any less than harmonious music/sounds to be turned off and sometimes am met with approval and appreciation for doing so. I also sometimes ask for a CD of my own choice to be played and so far that has worked well.
elainearthey, like you I have also felt the imposition of music played in public places including shops and in some instances have had to make my escape very quickly as I became aware of the ill-effect the music was having on my body. In future I will follow your example and carry a CD so that I am prepared if there is ever an opportunity to have it played instead!
I feel what you have presented here about music is all too true. I also know those feelings in my body when I listen to the radio as opposed to listening to the music performed by Glorious Music and Chris James. It doesn’t leave those feelings in my body as you described.
Music seems to always come with an agenda, be that greed, hankering for fame or showing off.
Exactly Gabriele and when I watched a recent movie I could feel how the music wanted to hook you into the film, get you to forget everything but be on the edge of your seat. I reflected what the movie would be like without the music and the empty acting would have been self evident – yet through the music the director could get people caught up in the emotions they were trying to foster.
Yes I agree Gabriele and it seems also that people love to listen to Music especially when they are e.g. sad. Then they are looking for this type of music what makes them even more sad – I have to admit that I did the same before I was aware that music is also energy and it has an effect on my body.
The music industry is so glamourised that it screams ‘look at me’. This music does not serve or inspire us to be all that we are.
Absolutely Marcia and we don’t tend to realise just how much impact all that ‘look at me’ glamour has on us when the music is not made to truly serve all but the needs and desires of an individual or group.
Well said Josh – you can certainly feel the distinct difference between music made for one to be recognised and identified as opposed to music made with the true purpose of service and healing for all. One is for self and the other is for humanity. I know which one I would prefer to listen to!
Yes, absolutely: Music without imposition is the best. It is the best because this actually offers the opportunity to a person to be however you feel to be, without needing to depend your emotion on the music. It just leaves you free to be yourself. I know one band who I have experienced this with and that is Glorious Music – by Michael Benhayon and sung by Miranda Benhayon. Worth listening to every moment of the day!
We have been so conditioned and confirmed in the misery of (what is not) love by the music we have been hearing all our lives! I now think that having those kind of messages of the opposite to true love in the background of supermarkets, shopping centres, workplaces is a proper programming of humanity, a way to keep us all away from the truth that we might have felt at some point of what love really is. As you say, something that comes naturally from within to be expressed towards ourselves and others. It is such a bombardment or a subtle enticement that if you have not developed your own love, you can easily fall for. I too have found music that is clear, open, leaves you alone to feel the love that you are and does not give you all those awful ideals that say: I cannot live without you…but rather: it is a pleasure to be me and share my awesome self with you.
Listening to Glorious Music new album this morning I am blown away by the clarity and beauty in each song. Chris James and Glorious music are truly groundbreaking and original in that every part of their music is for humanity with a strong purpose of uniting and grounding more love on planet earth!
Having spent some time recently listening to a new album by Glorious Music it is incredibly clear that there are very few artists who write music in a way that supports, heals and nurtures you as a listener. Put on most CD’s and you are bombarded by those desperate for fame and fortune as well as the companies that pour vast sums into writing something that actually stops you from simply being you. Music I now know is a secret weapon disguised as entertainment. A simple example of this is the fact that with the large majority of music I used to listen to I would walk away re-configured to the song, not even stepping with my own step but with the one configured by the sounds I had just let carry me away. Scary when you consider nearly every person worldwide is affected by this.
I’m so with you on this David Nicholson. Music from Michael Benhayon and Chris James is incredible. The words, the sounds or instruments develop a true connection. I’ve found certain songs have been very relevant or captivating at times because that particular song is needed at that moment, its like my body is calling for the healing that comes from a certain song.
Why do we need music blaring out as we go on our merry way shopping.
When I was younger, we never had music ringing out as we shopped.
Silence is golden, you can be with your self in mind and body, not having ones brains blown out.
He He, I like what you say about one’s brains blown out. Mostly if one still had their brains, you would not think of buying anything in that store, so they have to make noise!
I have been a working musician for ten years and have stopped performing for the last 3 years. With this break of exposing myself to playing music recently I got my guitar out to share with some friends. What I found amazing is that when I started to play some of the old music I used to play in pubs to show off I lost my clarity. My eyes went glazed and staying in the now was not possible. I felt clearly how music affects the body just like drugs and alcohol can. It reminded me of when I had taken drugs and couldn’t get my clear head back. To feel that music can do this just as much as drugs. Wow.
There is such great responsibility in producing music.
What you share here Daniel Bennier is so interesting. That to you emotional music is no different to taking drugs, taking us away from ourselves, a way to get lost and disconnect and to cover up our woes. Yes indeed there is huge responsibility in producing music.
Daniel, that is so true. As I was a singer in bands for many many years, I lived from the emotions that the music brought me and therefore I brought those emotions to the public. I had to stop singing for some years and only now I can sing without the need of filling an emptiness.
It is interesting how we feel the need to have not just music but also all sorts of background noise on all the time. Could it be that we are seeking to be distracted from our own lives and what is going on in our own bodies.
I would agree Elizabeth, what I have also found it that I can listen to clear music but because of my intent behind my wanting to listen to it – it can be a distraction – as I am using it to not feel my body.
Yes I agree with Elizabeth’s comment. I can also use the radio for distraction – to avoid staying with me. Keeping busy ( and that can include listening to music or Radio 4 in UK) is a pattern, learned from childhood, that still grabs me – or rather – I still choose to allow in my life. When I notice this in myself it seems the whole world does this too.
So true Elizabeth, it seems that we fill our whole lives with many forms of distraction, music, TV, social media, gaming and do not consider what are we really listening and engaging with. Not only is it that we attempt to fill the emptiness we feel in life but all these things can come laced with energy and emotions of others.
Not different to foods we use music and other little things like ‘drugs’ that help us to comfort our life. Regulating and fine tuning our mood – self-medication. Interesting to sometimes hear people´s reactions to music that is not imposing, often they dislike it.
I wonder how long it is going to be until the fact that music is energy and music comes with all that the artist lives is just part of everyday life? This would turn the music industry upside down.
Good question Vicky. It brings up the subject of energetic responsibility which is very challenging and confronting.
What I remember in life, when I think things are bigger than me – is that is not true. Just being in my presence and power I know that I am more than the energy I feel in a room.
I cannot go into certain stores anymore, because the energy in that store is polluted by the music, so everyone and everything in it are being drawn into it. How can you really serve a customer with such loud music?
Also in the gym, I always ask them if they can put the music at a minimum level. Asking if the music can go off is answered with a look as if I were from the Stone Age………
‘Drown’ is a good word to describe the feeling when hearing this imposing music, there is no escaping, it’s like a big musical conspiracy to keep us away from ourselves.
And at the petrol pump!! I was totally dumb founded the first time that I experienced this. there was no escaping it, if you wanted fuel, you got music.
I know when I have gone into a shop which is playing really loud music, it feels like a pain inside my chest and I always wondered how the assistants put up with it all day, every day. What an imposition on their bodies and minds. The other type, the soft, lulling music also affects us, so we go into numbness, as people have said to me in the supermarket. They know it changes them and not in a nice way but it’s something people have come to accept.
Music coming from love and non-imposing is so much fun to hear and to move to – so different to the beats and rhythms I used to be drawn into, dancing all night on and off, like a drug where your body wants more. In my twenties I even became a dance teacher, so was exposed to this every day at work, thinking it was fantastic to express in this way.
When in a store with a blaring radio station being played through speakers… I asked myself a few times … how do the staff think while trying to work etc. with that level of interference at them all day? It was intense and at the same time unnecessary. I was really wondering why loud music gets chosen as a preferred accompaniment to many many activities. Is it to smother and drown out what we may be naturally feeling?
My understanding is that such music played distracts one from staying connected with oneself, being clear and able to discern what one really likes, particularly in clothes shops. The opposite of this, but has the same potential outcome, is the soft ‘comforting’ music, which lulls one into a false sense of security so one stops discerning.
Dear Jonathan, ‘ discernment’ is the key, as with all of life. It is for us to discern what we feel.
I agree Jonathan, the music in clothes shops is to entertain and distract the client. Many people buy clothes to make them feel better, to compensate the missing connection and “emptiness”. Music in clothes shops and often very loudly played is supporting this disconnection many people live with.
So true Jonathan – music is deliberately designed in many different ways to prevent you from connecting to yourself and making clear purchasing decisions. Makes you question the quality of the products for sale.
Loud music is a great numbing tool. If you don’t like being where you are or doing what you do, numbing looks quite attractive. It makes us tired quite quickly, so we then need to have sugar and caffeine but that may be a price worth paying.
Great point Christoph, I used loud music to numb myself as a teenager, I knew that was what I was doing, it was a deliberate choice to numb out the anguish I was feeling and the choices I was making at the time.
I have observed music being used to avoid feeling the energy in a room or to avoid having a conversation or feeling the tension, hurt or sadness.
I played in pubs for ten years Christoph and my ears where blown out every week end. At the time I didn’t see it as numbing out. It was just a part of my trade, the price I had to pay to be a working musician. Music was my friend, the one thing that was always there for me. What is interesting is that during my day job I found loud industry noise highly offensive but I was ok with going deaf from loud music. It is great to be now playing again completely differently and to only play to be audible and to not blast people away. I am also aware that it is not the music that will make me feel good. I have a responsibility to live so I can play music that supports myself and others.
I recall so much ‘teenager angst’ and playing the music so loud when the parents weren’t home (my poor neighbours) or on my head phones (on the record player – showing my age here!) when they were. I so wanted to shut out the world and numb the pain I was in. I am so glad that I am re-learning another way to be with the pain – to realise that it is not me and to call it out, examine it and let it go. No ear-splitting needed.
It is also the intensity of the music in many shops that I find most obvious, in many shops the music is so loud and imposing that I have just left, nowadays I will rarely enter a shop if the music is too loud. It does make me wonder why this is, I can’t see how this is appealing to any shoppers and it can’t be good for the health of the staff.
There has been research that provides evidence of the effect music is actually having on our young people. In a study that spanned a 12-month period, it was found that greater exposure to rap music videos was independently associated with a wide array of negative health outcomes (Wingood et al., 2003). Adolescents who had greater exposure to rap videos were 3 times more likely to hit a teacher; 2.5 times more likely to have been arrested; 2 times more likely to have multiple sexual partners; and over 1.5 times more likely to have acquired a new venereal disease or use drugs and alcohol within the 12-month period (Wingood et al., 2003). This is just rap music. And lets not think that the ‘softer’ styles of music such as classical, new age, ambient etc is any less harmful, considering that how the music artist lives is what is being consumed and absorbed by our ears.
Hello Vicky Geary, this is great research and that was back in 2003. Quite amazing statistics when you read them like that, thank you.
Hi Vicky, great expansion to this blog and a confirmation of what so many have shared. My feeling is we all know this in truth.
Vicky thank you for sharing these amazing statistics. It just shows that music can indeed harm us if it is not created with true quality and love for all.
Wow Vicky, amazing statistics clearly demonstrating the harming effects music can have on people sublimely.
Why have these statistics not been revealed more publicly?
Gosh, that is truly shocking Vicky and probably just the tip of the iceberg!
I agree Kate…and music is so normal and prolific in our societies. I hope to be around on the day that they can invent an experiment that can measure the amount of damage that imposing music is having on our own body’s cells.
This is shocking Vicky. Music is the unnoticed drug of our time that is consumed by everyone if we don’t discern. Recently I saw an article advising using music as a therapy treatment for cancer patients – what energy is behind this music I wonder? Harming or healing?
Vicky, this begs the question: what are the side effects of hard core Drum and Base, Euphoric Trance, Tribal House? The list goes-on.. I can give some pretty good anecdotal evidence and point researchers in the direction of some quality field testing sites – but my goodness, wouldn’t that burst a few bubbles and ruffle a few feathers if the findings were conclusive enough to be considered ’empirical’ or ‘scientific’. Regardless, we know music has an effect on us; whether this is healing or harming is the next level.
That’s right Oliver truth rocks the boat ! Reading this blog and comments is enough evidence. How long will it take for this to be public to All?
Thanks for sharing the stats Vicky. It is sad to watch young people when they hit their teens and get heavily into music and what it does to them.
These are shocking statistics Vicky, that should be more widely known. As Gyl shares, “The more I observed and listened, the more I became aware of how music imposes on us and just how harming it can be without us even realising.” Music is everywhere we go – are we absorbing its vibrations without discerning?
That is incredible research Vicky Geary, quite amazing to consider the social impact of listening to music. When I hear rap music it makes my body shudder, the anger and disturbance in the music is plain to hear, yet I would consider much other music to sound more subtle but also be harmful to our bodies. To read that the choices we make are affected by music makes me feel we should be a lot more discerning what we listen to and allow our children to be exposed to as well. I would love to see more research carried out on all forms of music to see what might be the outcomes of listening.
True Stephen, people find it easier to believe that music such as rap may affect us, and so are willing to do the research on that. I suspect that it will be long time before someone does research into the effects of classical music or soft ballads!.
These are quite frightening statistics, but not surprising. I sometimes hear music on the internet and the aggression felt from the song is enough to push you over. And what is consumed and absorbed by our ears is also being absorbed by our bodies as well, into little pockets that we are unaware of, until that energy is called upon, ready to come out when something triggers us.
Yes Jo the statistics really are quite frightening. What you have expressed about the energy being absorbed by our bodies, into little pockets that we are unaware of, and then called upon when something triggers us, is also very frightening. The energy and heaviness of the words and themes of much of the music being listened to, words that if you were to speak to another would be regarded as abusive, racist, misogynist, inciting rape and brutality, are being absorbed by our bodies and just waiting to be called upon when something triggers us, possibly rendering us susceptible to highly emotional and callous actions/reactions that are not truly ours…..now that is truly frightening.
So true Mary. Why is this not in the papers, and reaching everyone in the world. If a food or medication was found to have such detrimental affects on people it would be removed from the shelves!
Thank you for these facts, and I can totally relate to it. Everyone is affected by what is heard, because everything will be felt. And sound isn’t that innocent, it goes deep into our bodies.
Absolutely Benkt, be that from music, or through our spoken voice.
Great point Vicky this is astonishing the effects that it has on someone’s behaviours and as you say it is not just Rap music, it is any music that is loaded emotionally. I know when I can feel the music that it’s like this I feel uncomfortable and uneasy.
Wow. And these ‘statistics’ are not widely publicised in our press while violence amongst teenagers and substance abuse sky-rockets.
Yes Katerina, it makes sense then to have music that leaves you be. Music that supports you.
When you put it that way Vicky, its crazy that little to nothing is done. I expect that people only accept ‘research’ when they feel it will benefit their life, if not, then its just ignored.
Thank you Vicky for sharing this information; it actually makes total sense. I do feel the same way. For me, for example, listening to classical music, I could feel how I could start to feel heavy. I knew this music was not good for me, because that is not how I choose to feel.
Thank you for sharing this Vicky Geary. So does that actually proves us that a song is much more then: text and melody, that it is energy and is that it has a greater effect on people than we are currently aware of ?
Wow Vicky, those statistics really show the way in which music changes our bodies and thus causes different behaviour. Music is so widespread now that it is having an affect on millions of people, if we look at these statistics alone it is telling us that we clearly have an affect on another’s quality of being and behaviour through our expression of music and thus as music artists surely it is time to live in an accountable way where we take responsibility for the music we play.
Thanks for sharing this Vicky. The impact of music is clearly demonstrated in this research, and yes this is only one genre that has been looked at. It is true that when we listen to music we get all that comes with that music from the artist in the way they live their life and interact in the world. Artists do have a responsibility towards their listeners and what they are putting out into the world.
Mainstream and alternative music were once a part of my everyday diet along with the emotions that went with it. It is an absolute joy to now listen to the music of Michael Benhayon and Glorious Music, which doesn’t contain the emotional hooking. It supports my body in the same way as when I eat food according to my body’s needs.
I whole heartedly agree Brendan, it is not all bad so to speak about music. I have found Glorious Music an amazing way to support me to reconnect to my body, and celebrate big time who we truly are. There is a deep joy, grace and confirmation in this.
I was also at the gym yesterday and being blasted by the music that felt so imposing on my body, I often ask for the managers to turn off or turn it right down so I can work out in peace and stillness. The emotional hooks and energetic effects that some music has to offer is a huge study or science in itself. I remember back in my twenties and thirties how I would enjoin with the emotions and use music to feel the angst or indulge in emotions, which now definitely feels imposing.
i used to totally be taken out with music, when i was feeling sad, i’d bring out the melancholic power ballads, seeking, searching for love outside of me, thinking, hoping, like in the lyrics that some guy was going to make all my troubles go away and fill me up with love. It would also lift me up when i needed a pick me up. I now know how music can feel, not imposing, listening to music by Michael Benhayon and singing by Miranda Benhayon, so magical, so not trying to make you feel a certain way or hook you in. I know what i prefer to listen to these days.
It is so true Gyl what you share about the effects of music on us. Only today I heard a song playing in a shop and when the song finished, I could feel how the words were lingering around me and trying to get into my head every second. I had to remind myself to breathe my own breath and focus on my body to stop the words and music coming in. And even later that day, the same thing happened it was really quite persistent and felt, really invasive.
Recently, I started working in a bookshop and the music that was originally playing in the shop made me feel sick the first day. I could not focus and I felt like I was in a trance from the first few minutes of being in the shop.
I can relate to what you have shared Gyl, about the harmful effects of music when we allow our bodies to feel the truth of what we are listening to. And whether we are aware of what we feel, we are still feeling and receiving all of that which is harming, into the body.
Since having grand-children I am now so aware of the horrid nature of the words of some nursery rhymes – yet I used to sing them to my sons when they were babies and children without any awareness. Ouch. I now make up songs about my grand-children and sing spontaneously when I am with them. They love this!
What I have observed with music is that it can put me in touch with “a feeling” but it is not necessarily what I am feeling or needing to address in my body at that given moment. It is in fact a distraction for not feeling what is really going on. I can be brought to tears with emotion but it still isn’t creating a true connection with me and what needs to be dealt with. I know in the past I would choose a song for a good cry or to pep me up, but none of that brings the focus on where it needs to be which means things get buried or left undealt with.
What I have noticed is that the first few lines of a song can have me instantly thinking about a situation i.e an emotional break up of a relationship – transporting within seconds to the misery. It’s insidious.
So true. I have the same. It is like if someone has opened a drawer from the past and all the memories, emotions, persons etc. related to that situation pop up. Writing about it now, I realize that perhaps that is what the hidden or unconscious purpose of certain music is: to press the buttons of old stuff which still resides in the body, going straight to old hurts, unresolved issues, loveless moments and empty pockets with hidden needs. Only the music does not clear it at all. It just ignites and magnifies it.
Gyl Rae, you rock. You brought a subject to the surface that absolutely needs exploring. I can relate to your story for over 100%, its weird, but true. Everything you share is just exactly how I have been recently discovering how my relationship with music has been. The question I had asked myself: what have I been listening to, and how much has this harmed my body – believing that I was being filled, filled with ‘love’, well shocker- but none of the music that I have listened in the past too was healing- only deeply damaging/harming my body. I have chosen now to stop letting in this harm by feeling what this music is really doing and how I am free to choose to be free of that imposition that almost all music is bringing. It is just recently that I have found Glorious Music band by Michael Benhayon and Miranda Benhayon- that I felt not imposed upon and left alone, just being more aware of who I am and having this harmonious sound playing at the background. Now that is evolutionary and should be everywhere in the news! HOT HOT – music that comes from the soul and is absolute imposition-less. Just leaving you to feel everything you are. That would be the best commercial. Because true soulful music is the best music we can ever have. Lets stop looking – it is right in front of us.
Love is no imposition – therefore music that imposes is no love – therefore love is true music – therefore emotion, or imposition in music is not real music at all.
I work in a tertiary institution as a support person for students. On several occasions students have shared with me how their mood is affected by certain songs they listen to – eg one student shared that he had decided not to listen to certain music that he was attracted to when depressed because the music kept him in that space and he wanted to change that pattern of behaviour. It is certainly worthwhile to be discerning, and to teach our children to be so too.
That is amazing to hear hartanne60. A wonderful choice for the student… what an opportunity for deeper awareness to develop from making this choice.
The emotion of what can be felt in music which I have recently become more and more sensitive to has an enormous impact on how I feel if I listen to it. It makes sense though if you are drawing on your emotions to make a song every time that it gets played it will have that quality. To be able to listen to music without that being imposed on you is a completely different experiences.
I work with deeply abused and traumatised youth who listen and sing along to music that reflects the abuse, anger and desperation they feel or have experienced. It is as fascinating as it is disturbing to then watch as it triggers, perpetuates and promotes the harmful emotions that can then consume them as they express through this medium and live out the emotion. The damage of music cannot be ignored just because society happily boxes it under ‘normal’ and sweeps the harm under the carpet.
That actually raises an interesting point for me Shirley-Ann, I have found in the past if a neighbour was playing music I wouldn’t be able to sleep, yet if a grass trimmer, or someone was drilling or there were cars buzzing by outside, wouldn’t affect my ability to get to sleep. To me that shows that there is something in the energy of the music that my body finds disturbing, so it isn’t the decibel level but the content of the sound produced that I find affecting.
Yes Stephen, I’ve had the experience of a steady base beat keeping me awake in the wee hours and how irritating it is – the lawn mower however is indeed soothing by comparison.
We can hear awful lyrics, or perhaps even the harshness of certain music in our bodies – like something stabbing at our ears, or like one of the those crawly weird mechanical monsters from the Matrix (the movie) trying to wreak havoc in our heads – but what about the silky smooth Jazz or house music? I lived on a constant feeding from the feel-good overtones of house and trance music for years. The other day, I was in a gym where a new trance album was being played. It contributed to me feeling like I’d just been pushed off my bicycle. The seductive and smooth nature of the music to me is like slowly walking into a room you know you shouldn’t go into – but you resist only enough to make it look like you are actually resisting. When we recognise that we’ve allowed music to replace our own feelings like I once did, then it’s renouncing any semblance of letting music ‘take-over’ or take control. So, in determining what is a vibration worth listening to, or not, it may be the lyrics, it may be it’s seductive nature, or our ability to discern may simply need to improve – either way, I feel we can be more careful what we listen to, and more aware of the effect it has on our mood. If it’s changing it, either up or down, it’s equally been absorbed and harmful.
I love your analogy Shirley- Anne. For me the only thing worse than listening to a lawn mower would be listening to heavy metal. Actually there’s not really that much difference, they both sound just about the same.
The music industry hasn’t made us more musical or given us a more discerning ear, it’s robbed us of our money and taken away our ability to sing.
I thought of this blog and the amazing truths it presented for all when I was taking part in a school walking activity. In the background, to add to the atmosphere, was music playing. I noticed the impact and how the music felt as well as the words that were pouring from the songs. While young children were taking part in this charity raising activity words about women’s body parts in a demeaning way were being played at times in the background. Instantly I felt the subliminal messages that these children were receiving.
Hello johanna08smith, you can already tell we as people aren’t going to like the responsibility of what is being said here. I agree, we often just play music without really feeling what is going on. As you are bringing here it is important that we learn to look behind the sound and see what else is there. Thank you.
Thank you Gyl for sharing your experiment and observations of the damaging effects of so much music and how amazing it is that we now have music ‘made with love for all of humanity to hear’ which is such a gift. When I was younger I was very sucked in by the music I chose to listen to because of the emotional undertones but as I have got older I have listened to less and less music and as many others have shared I have often left shops etc because I couldn’t cope with the assault on my eardrums but now find that the more I am able to stay with me whatever music is playing the more I do not absorb the energy of whatever is being imposed on me.
Have you noticed how so many lyrics these days are about love lost, achievements ect. There is even a popular song out at the moment that is all about forgetting ones rhythm. So we’re getting these pretty impressionable messages at us each day – and as I become aware of that, I am also aware of how far it is from my truth – that music can be loving and supportive, and healing in itself.
As you so rightly observe, HVMorden, pop lyrics often seem to fall into the same old categories that they have always fallen into,….. love lost…..alone again….love regained…shedding tears….waiting for someone….etc,etc,
What about instrumental music? Are we just marvelling at the prodigious nature of the performer or is the composer conveying a hidden message in the harmonies and the chord sequences? I suppose it is all energy and so we must be picking up the imprint of it……..
Yesterday I was stuck on a road in the slowest traffic in history, I could have walked to my destination and back in the time it took me to drive. This didn’t bother me so much but there was a car in front blaring out the most obnoxious music which seemed to reverberate through my entire body and was like being assaulted by a large man with a bat. Thank God and Serge for the gentle breath which was enough to ward off a total beating.
That’s a very good point Jonathan – I suppose I see the emotion in instrumentals too – created for plays and ballet – where there is always an emotional story attached too. So some people can get even more caught up in the sad sound of a violin because they relate it to a tragic story. Wow, we really have manipulated sound hey.
Yeah it’s a bit scary when instead of just jiving along with a tune, you really start to listen to the lyrics and not only that but feel what’s underneath them! Some people say that it’s ‘just telling it like it is’, but there’s a more sinister side to it. If we keep on hearing about anger and sadness over lost love, failed achievement, lack of self-worth, etc, over and over and over, along with the emotions of the writer and musician and the sound itself entraining our minds, then our brains and nervous systems take this as the ‘new normal’. Sound has a big power over matter and can rearrange atoms, molecules and cells. So it’s not just telling it like it is – music is actually creating the way we are. Ouch!
I agree Dianne – there was one particular song writer who was very very good at writing lyrics about loss and sadness in regards to love. He was my ‘go to’ artists to comfort me when I was feeling down. This certainly has an impact on forming our ideals and belief on love – and also emphasises the importance of finding ‘the one’ to make everything OK. i love your build on sound re-arranging atoms, molecules and cells, that is something I didn’t even consider in the past – but so very important as that is who we truly are.
There is clearly a huge irony here diannetrussell! The very music that purports to calm and soothe us could very well be having the completely opposite effect upon us by virtue of its composer/performer’s state of mind/body/energy or mis-spent life!
Dianne, that is so cool to get an understanding from this point of view and a scientific truth. That is enormous what you have shared. Thank you.
There is one very famous and popular singer of the 60s or 70s who I found so depressing I could not listen. One friend got it right when he called it: ‘music to slash your wrists by’. I found this ‘joke’ very poignant – showing that for all that people might ‘love’ the music, the impact it can have on people’s emotions and subsequent actions can be terrible in a very real way.
The multitude of effects of music described in this blog are consistent with old predictions. Yesterday I was interested to read a comment about music in a 1934 esoteric book. It referred to the detrimental effect of the modern cacophany of music and machine sounds on the sensitive, subtle parts of the human body: “…the radio, bringing musical sounds into every home and into street life, are producing effects upon the bodies of men and upon all forms of life everywhere, which will become apparent only as time lapses.” Well plenty of time has elapsed, and in the 71 years (a whole lifetime) since that was written the extent of music permeating practically every moment of our lives has increased immensely. I’m not saying music is the only factor by any means, but look at how sick, crazy and out of control our society has become, and one has to wonder to what extent it’s due to those “effects upon the bodies of men”!
Interesting that it has only been with the increase in mass media in the last century that we have all been imposed on so much more with music etc in our daily lives.
That’s an interesting point Helen because before the twentieth century, a lot of music was made at home, or in communal halls, and was live and not recorded of course. So would that have been as imposing? I suppose the sheet music, if used, would have carried the emotional imprint of the composer would it not?
Looking back diannetrussell, I can recall hearing an expression when I was young which went along the lines of..”Music soothes the savage breast”….Perhaps it should be re-written with the benefit of current wisdom as a sort of warning, such as…..”Music of a certain variety, could awaken the dormant savage in every breast”.
Totally agree Jonathan – I have seen the savage beasts awoken! All it takes is to open one’s eyes and ears and watch what happens to people when they listen to music. You can observe normal people become emotional and out-of-control just by adding music – it’s like a chemical reaction of the two ingredients!
This is so interesting Dianne, it just confirms that the more we are in touch with our essence the more sensitive we become to the damaging effects of music produced with a hooking and imposing energy.
Only up until recently when I experience listening to Michael Benhayon and Miranda Benhayon did I understand the impact of the music that I had been listening to. The way they play and sing is so spacious and non-imposing that I feel amazing listening to them. But when I felt how it was listening to other music no matter what genre it made me feel heavy and tight. This music had all types of emotions which felt extremely imposing. It is so cool to be able to feel the difference and know the true quality behind each approach. I couldn’t deny what I felt.
There is a great deal of power in music, but unfortunately it is mostly used for self-gain. I have used it in this way too. The acceptance of the possibility that we live in a ‘pool’ of energy, as presented by Serge Benhayon, would pave the way for greater energetic responsibility in all the arts.
This is a very good point Jinya. I would like to see some sort of ‘energetic analysis’ of music, whether classical, rock or pop, so that a composition could carry a label, like a sort of health warning or those emission charts they give with new cars. I would be interested to see whether a Beethoven sonata would score more favourably than, say “Boom-bang-a-bang”, (Eurovision song from way back).
Such a great conversation Gyl and one that should be opened up to to all schools of thought. Music can be deeply harmful and imposing but somehow we have as a society let this slip through the net. This is why a blog such as this is so important to get the topic started.
Agree Samantha, it is important to start discussing the effect music can have on our bodies, which few understand. Until one stops and really feels, we are mostly unaware of how music imposes on us. I have often had to leave a shop as the music in the store felt too awful! As you say, “music can be deeply harmful and imposing but somehow we have as a society let this slip through the net”.
This is lovely Shirley-Ann. I can just imagine a sort of ‘Suburban Symphony’ , of assorted household and garden equipment, all mobilised in a counter-offensive against the original offending neighbour. It just demonstrates how one person’s music, is just another person’s noise. Noise of course being simply unwanted sound.
This is a great blog Gyl! Music of one sort or another does seem to have become a ‘Commodity’. From originally being an art form, it has become something that is just cynically used by utility companies to pacify angry telephone callers; A device to hypnotise us or just dull our critical senses so that we can be ‘softened up’ and our anger defused. This can of course backfire, when the highly distorted and eminently unsuitable ‘composition’ that they have chosen, merely enrages one exponentially, so that the call centres find they have to deal with some extremely aggressive callers, I imagine!
What a great awareness you have shared here Gyl, music does have such a deep impact upon us. I too have felt this effect as I am sure many have, it has not been since I began to listen to music that does not impose that I have begun to feel the true joy that music can offer us when the music is created in a way that does not impose. It actually allows me to feel me, to move and sing in a way where I can be me, not holding back and I love it!
Imagine if shopping centres stopped playing music for just one hour, would we all not know what to do with ourselves, would we talk louder or more, to fill the void of silence, or would we breathe a sigh of relief and think, Ah, a break at last, just what I needed. I know my body would be extremely grateful. Thank goodness I am learning to breath for me and don’t get caught up in all of that emotional blare.
We are bombarded by music everywhere in life and the true effect on us is little considered and known.Music either harms or heals and we need to be aware of this for our health and well being. The numbing of our senses and hence our ability to feel and discern the music and effects is also very serious. Thank you Gyl for this simple clear sharing of this so lovingly.
Our judgement of music can vary – we have music playing where I work and sometimes there are familiar tunes I recognise, but mostly they are modern pop songs – I can hear our parents speaking in despair about the music we played in the 60s and now I’m finding myself doing the same with this – to me a lot of it sounds screeching, and repetitive, and not at all adding to the place. It’s a real lesson in learning to stay with myself while it’s going on!
I was pondering on music today whilst singing in the shower : ) and felt also with music as well as understanding the energy of music and what it does and how it affects us; how far away we are from from living what we sing! Growing up I have heard loads of lyrics that include the word Soul or Love and it felt like the people singing the songs had a desperation of wanting to take us somewhere else with the words or trying to wake others up with the lyrics. But what is truly lived? We can write and sing about the Soul and Love but after singing the song go and live in complete disregard! So it is how we live that will make the change needed not what we sing.
You make some great points here Vicky! What are the true intentions of the singer/songwriter/performer? Is it just the rather cynical pursuit of wealth by singing about poverty and misery, or using various ‘sentimental themes’ that we recognise and love to wallow in? Or, is there a genuine attempt to broaden our musical horizons by offering us challenging counterpoint and difficult harmony? I suspect that it’s mostly the former, most of the time and when it is the latter, we are so numbed by being bludgeoned by the former that we simply don’t recognise it when confronted with it !!
Thank you Gyl for a very clear explanation of how music in general affects us. I too have been very hooked in to the emotional songs and great dance numbers up until we moved house. We put all our belongings into storage for 9 months and when we finally unpacked our music CDs and I played some favourites again, I realised that they made me feel very angry and hard, so they went in the bin! And now I too have found the music that allows me to simply celebrate me, celebrate my love and true love and my body opens up like a flower. This music is a clear demonstration of the huge responsibility musicians have in whether they choose to make a noise that harms or bring forth a sound that heals. Universal Medicine offers the tools to truly know the difference and the inspiration to make glorious music.
That’s interesting you say that rowenakstewart because I have also observed when one of my daughters was 4 years old she would want to listen to a certain rock song she liked but every time we put it on, half way through she would start to scream to tell us to turn it off. So, obviously there is something more going on, than just listening to music and believing it has no adverse effects on us.
Very interesting Julie, how your daughter at the age of 4 knew naturally that the music that was playing was upsetting her, whilst most of us, as adults, have lost this discernment and are often completely unaware of what can enters us through music.
This is most definitely and interesting one Gyl and as you say music is every where! I have experienced this also the two types of music that you talk about and the one that is made with pure love holding all equally does support me to feel expanded, spacious and not imposed on what so ever. It is like a breath of fresh air as opposed to breathing in a thick emotional fog.
Hello Gyl, music is an interesting one. I have noticed everyone plays music these days, in the supermarket, in malls, waiting rooms, elevators etc. Some bigger companies spend a lot of money on surveying what music to play at different times of the day and year. For me it shows that music can affect how you are and your mood. I don’t like music that stays in my head, almost playing constantly as a back ground music in my head. It’s like music can go that far into my body that it can reproduce itself over and over depending on how I am feeling. I am aware of music and when it’s being played around me, I know for me music has a quality and I feel the quality before ‘just listening’ to it and or singing it.
In the observing and listening it allows me to feel what is really occurring with music and how much it does impose and affect us.
I love glorious music by Michael and Miranda Benhayon and all the loving and fun tracks they do. The music isn’t hooking and doesn’t pull you to jump into your mind and check out or become emotional. It’s taken a long time to truly feel the harmful effects of music on my body but now it is very obvious and I don’t enjoy my old music choices like I used to. They leave me feeling drained and disconnected to my essence and no song is worth breaking that connection.
I find it helpful to talk to myself when I am surrounded by music that I can’t get away from. I say that I am noticing the music and that I can feel that it wants to pull me into emotion. Just this observation helps me to stay with myself and not take it on.
Rebecca, your comment offers a very easy and practicable means for dealing with situations, where we find ourselves being imposed upon by disharmonious music. It’s great that you shared this and is something I will bear in mind, thank you.
The way that music is omnipresent in our lives is so important, yet we tend to neglect to truly feel what music does to us.
Music certainly is everywhere and as others have mentioned it is a tricky subject as it evokes a lot of emotions and reactions. Very few are willing to accept that music has an impact on our body, but when we stop and feel it is as clear as day. Unfortunately so much of life seems to now be set to a soundtrack, and one that is emotional and stirring. For years I was aware of how certain music would make me wince and want to shut my ears, yet I never fully understood why until recently.
“So much of life seems to be set to a sound track”, interesting point Stephen G. I suppose we have film and T.V. to thank for that. I speak as someone who spent his entire working life putting pictures and music together as an editor. One cannot hide the fact that the object of the music is often to reinforce the emotional impact of the image. This can be very powerful, which is exactly why we should be concerned when pop videos use the technique to propagate their hateful or aggressive message!
I’ve listened to music purely from how it sounds, from how catchy the tune is or whether the tone of voice fitted what I personally liked versus now ‘hearing’ it with my whole body and what a difference it makes. It’s amazing to feel the effect of music in this way.
I tried to conform and be enthusiastic about music – it was such a big part of identity as a teenager – but it was always a struggle and I just thought I was uncool!
I came home to all that I felt and knew when I heard Serge Benhayon say, ‘Silence is the music of the Soul’.
‘Silence is the music of the Soul’ says it all Matilda. What a homecoming Matilda. Thank you.
Wow Matilda, I love that quote. It’s very powerful and confirming of all that we do feel that comes from the same source as that silence, but drown out by allowing all the white noise in! At least mostly now if I hear a radio on, I acknowledge what it feels like, and that seems to already have made the choice to not absorb it. Very simple really. Yet the true power is in that silence, which is there as a constant and so always there for us to return to. Very re-assuring.
matildaclark, thank you for just reminding me of the ‘Avante-Garde’ composer who wrote a piece called something like ‘2minutes 10’ seconds. What it actually was , was total silence for the stated period of time. Now he was obviously ahead of his time!
‘Silence is the music of the Soul’. I love this sentence and I have felt it so many times. Thank you.
Thank you Gyl, I was someone who checked out with mind numbing, emotional music all the time. My home is very quiet these days, I now love hearing more of the sounds of the birds, the wind outside, and the neighbourhood sounds.
Music has been a fascinating journey for me as I connect more and more with my true self.
As a teenager and early adult I remember hating the concept of loud disco’s or night clubs because you couldn’t communicate with anyone as the music was so imposing . Later on I did find a style of music I enjoyed but I remember how much it changed me and even defined me.
My CD collection sat there for a couple of years before I realised I was never playing anything anymore, it wasn’t a deliberate choice, I just stopped listening to them .
It’s amazing that before becoming more aware, thanks to Serge Benhayon, I would have felt ‘ affected’ by the energy of a song but never thought to consider ithat what I was listening to, was why I now felt ‘ out of sorts’ .
Great blog Gyl , thank you
Second blog I have read of yours today Gyl, it looks like you have yourself a knew fan. Music is a tricky subject and out of everything that I have spoken to people about over the years it seems to be the subject that seems to provoke either a protection or a defensive reaction. I find this interesting as it affects each individual very differently but it’s almost like people have an attitude that because it is ‘art’ ‘expression’ that it should not be messed with. It’s like having someone scream a swear word at the top of their lungs and hold it up as singing. I was at a restaurant in Byron Bay the other day and what was coming through the speakers was literally shouting and screaming at you with very heavy metal backing it, what was more shocking was that nobody seemed bothered by it or even noticed. I came to the conclusion that this was not representing that I was more sensitive or that it was not affecting others, in fact the opposite occurred to me. As I had clocked what was going on and in noticing mentioned it to those around me all of a sudden everybody was offended by the noise that was being blasted at us. Needless to say we ended up leaving without dining that night for many reasons. The point is when you smoke you can’t smell others second hand smoke as offensive, when you quit you can smell it a mile away. It seems like most of the world is still using music and therefore not being as objective with it as they would if they took a step out. Being a smoker might block out the stench but it doesn’t make it go away or affect you less it simply blinds you from recognising how damaging it is for your body.
I love what you say here Sararaynebaldwin “The point is when you smoke you can’t smell others second hand smoke as offensive, when you quit you can smell it a mile away.” So true, and the same with music, it wasn’t until I stopped listening to certain types of music (mostly music that made me sad) that I began to feel what it had done to me on a deeper level. I could feel how it had been keeping me in that sad place and confirming how sad and miserable I was. I recognise the ‘smell’ of that music a mile away now and simply choose not to engage with it.
I am glad you understood my smoking analogy. It’s difficult for most of us to even have a break from music to feel more deeply its possible effects. The idea that music is simply good for you no matter what the quality is what we are raised with. Food is good for us but that does not mean that all food is good for you. I stopped all sweet things for two weeks and couldn’t believe how sensitive I actually am to sugar now. The truth is I always was this sensitive but was just numb to this fact before.
Thank you for saying this Gyl, it so needed to be said – about how music hurts our body. In fact this needs to be taught in every school and educational institution and discussed amongst families and in work places. We should all be asked to feel into this, do your experiment. I’m more than certain that everyone will be amazed and how much we really feel, if we give ourselves the space and time to feel.
I wonder Danielle what would happen if we stopped playing all music for a week. I wonder how the world would react, as music can be used in the same way as chocolate, movies and alcohol.
Wow I never considered this. I agree people would really notice something missing as I feel music can be used for a distraction or a comfort when feeling lonely.
It is great to hear more on the truth about music. Music is used intensely almost everywhere a lot like food is – to alter moods and emotions and suppress what actually is there to feel though many may challenge this truth.
How music can really hook you, I experienced this yesterday. I was spending time with a dear friend of mine (5 yrs old) and she loves the movie Frozen. We like to sing together and she suggested a song from this movie, so we did. I took me some time to get the song out of my head afterwards. There is so much emotion in music and before I know it, I am hooked. Which means, I have left myself and this is exactly what 99% of the music does, it feeds us emotions and does not support us to remain with ourselves, in stillness and deep connection.
So true Mariette. I sometimes find I am singing the lines from an old song that has popped in from somewhere, with a very hooking tune that I used to ‘enjoy’ years ago. When this happens it is always a good indication for me to stop and feel what is really going on and why this has come into me. But the fact that some of these songs are from at least thirty to forty years ago is an indication of how strongly hooking music is and how it has been used to take us away from the truth of what we are feeling and our deeper connection to ourselves.
Hello josephinebe2012, how often does that happen, you are somewhere and a old song or line of a song just pops into your head. I remember this happening a lot and for me it was always linked to an emotion. If I was happy or sad for instance a certain flavour of song would come into my head. I use to just go along with the song without question but then I started to question, “Where does this come from?” With the support of Universal Medicine I have seen for myself that these moments aren’t just a coincidence or at times innocent, there is more to it than meets the eye. I have watched music around me, where it is played, when it’s played and the setting it’s played in. If you were to ask a big supermarket chain about music, they don’t just play any old thing. They are very deliberate in how and when they play different music to ‘bring’ different emotions out of the people shopping. They even have their own radio stations so they can control the whole scene. You can sit back and say, ‘ah it’s just music and I can listen to what ever I want’ or you can ask a question a bit deeper and possibly uncover more of what is happening around you. As always we all have the choice and I choose to see that I don’t want something else controlling how I am.
Yes Raymond, I am right with you on that, they are always linked to an emotion and I also choose not to be controlled by someone else trying to manipulate my behaviours. It always strikes me how when I am in a situation like now, where I am travelling: airports, lounges, hotels, planes etc how there is seldom a quiet moment, always some background ‘music’ insidiously carrying on. Why is it that we need to have constant stimulation like this, and can’t handle silence or the natural sounds of our activities? Or who is it that says we can’t, it’s like we either need to be artificially stimulated or sedated.
It most certainly is hooking as you say Mariette and a great example of how a song ‘sticks’ with you and you can’t get it out of your mind. The emotional roller coaster it can take you on is extreme. As you say it dis-connects you to your stillness and has the upper hand so to speak.
Great conversation and i have experienced this in my troubled teenage years, i would seek out the songs with the emotions that matched what i was in and it would magnify it. In these times where we have come to seek emotion because we have disconnected from ourselves we are easy targets for the music industry.
All my life I was so sold out to music, being born in the sixties with older brothers and sisters I would have been listening to it on a daily basis from the day I was born so I must have developed a way of not feeling how it felt. Now days I have started to drop my guard and am able to feel how certain types of music effect me and can now not believe I used to think I enjoyed it.
I can relate to this kevmchardy, as my family were big into the music from the sixties and partied a lot when I was younger and having the latest albums and the radio on constantly, was just part of growing up. Then I got older and started my own collection of vinyl records and then CDs and it’s only since I gained more awareness of how I felt after I listen to music, that I realised that there was more going on than just listening to a catchy tune.
There is a lot more to music energetically wise that is going on that we need to be aware of and really understand, thanks to Serge Benhayon who was the first to not only talk about this but know exactly what the energy was in order to present it.
That is it Julie and Kevin the awareness of what the music actually feels like and how you feel after listening to it is profound. I never would have thought that I would have been that sensitive to the energy that is being played but it really does hook you.
This is really interesting how we can be so impacted by music……it is everywhere. When I feel the impact sometimes in shopping centres and on the radio, it can be very imposing, this is an opportunity I take to really stay with myself. It does help to make that conscious decision, because we can’t not be around and in the world where music is so prevalent.
I agree raegankcairney, when I am in a shop, and the music is playing in the background, I make a mental note, that I do not like this music, and so when I leave the shop, it does not stay with me at all, because I made the conscious decision not to.
I have found the same Reagan, how music can be very imposing and bombarding. I was in a shop the other day, and when I stopped to listen to the music the words from the song being repeated continually were, ‘you know you want it’. It felt at the time like a way of getting people to buy what they were trying on, although of course the lyrics were probably originally written with other implications! If I find myself starting to react to music then starting to breath gently (as shown in the gentle breath meditation) is very supportive in immediately bringing me back and stopping any impact the music may be having.
I agree Raegan,I too find it is a great opportunity in keeping a level of presence in order to not be affected by loud, imposing music in places such as the gym or shops.
These songs that our kids are listening to are so insidious. They are all about getting off, looking good, trying to be something, devastation over ‘love’ lost, hating ex partners -the list could go on and on. They are listening to these songs and know them off by heart, and it gets in, the concepts are just normalised. I talk to my daughter about this all the time asking what this song is really singing about so she is not just mindlessly learning these words to a tune that are setting her up for normalising abuse later in life. Luckily I also have Glorious Music to put on in our house so she is also hearing songs that confirm her deep inner beauty, her connection with herself and the love that she (and everyone) so naturally is.
You are so right Kate, most words to songs are insidious and therefore harming. But what is worrying also, is that some music without words can be equally as insidious. I remember when I used to listen to some classical music and this especially used to bring up an emotional response in me. And drumming, that has also had an effect on me too, it is true, some music seems to “pull the heart strings”, but this does not apply to Glorious Music which just lets you be.
Kate what you’ve written is really revelatory. I know a certain amount of censorship is done re music – in particular the lyrics at some levels – so schools will ban songs with explicit sexual reference and swear words and videos that promote any obvious subjugation of women.
But, what about, as you say all the emotional manipulation, the disrespect of another or oneself that is normalised in what are accepted as just harmless pop songs? (And what is mainstream is normalised because these songs are given the go ahead to be played everywhere from doing the groceries to playing bowls.)
‘words to a tune that are setting her up for normalising abuse later in life.’ Would these tunes be played if the misinterpretation of what love is, and the damage that does, was known to be encouraged by playing them? Wouldn’t it be amazing if schools taught how these songs don’t promote self-love or honouring of another person either?
That’s such an interesting point Kate. How many of us have been ‘taken in’ by the most Banal of lyrics, I’m sure you can think of a few, hammered home by a catchy beat or tune that somehow gives them, (the lyrics), the green light. It’s almost as if the players can sing whatever they like, as long as it’s got a catchy rhythm, then that makes it all O.K.!
I’m sure nobody would buy the words if they were printed in a book for example. I remember a sixties ditty which went along the lines of……..”What do you get when you kiss a guy? You get enough germs to catch pneumonia, after you do, He’ll never phone Yer”……….. I can just imagine grown men agonising over a word to rhyme with pneumonia!
A great reminder Jonarthan to never fall in love with most music, yes, I can’t imagine many of the lyrics we find in music would win any literary prizes, and what seems most concerning is how so many lyrics seem to be both sexist and banal. Quite a talent to combine those two combinations so frequently. The type of music described in this article has a stranglehold on those who listen to it, it is like being repeatedly punched with some information that accepts many aspects of society that are not at all acceptable.
It is great to be equipping our children with an ability to observe music videos and song lyrics and see them for what they are – either that the songs are abusive or sexualising women. It gives them the confidence and self assurance to feel it for themselves and recognise that the music doesn’t celebrate them, but asks them to be or do something that is not who they really are.
This is absolutely spot-on Rebecca, once the children understand what the lyrics and music are REALLY saying, then they are not going to think of that music as quite so “cool”.
Exactly Jonathan, and it will still be hard because music as a culture is such a big pressure, but having that basis of knowing how disrespectful some of these songs can be, will allow children to discern for themselves what feels right to listen to or not.
Absolutely Rebecca and Jonathan and as you say Jonathan a bit further down, it is not about forbidding the music but about making children understand what the lyrics are about. When i was young i did not have a clue what i was listening to and singing along with, and even when i was older i did not think much of the lyrics. The consciousness that needs to be broken is the illusion that they are just harmless lyrics and not to be taken seriously.
I agree. I am sure it could almost be made into an exercise – ask the children to listen to the music and tell you how they now feel – do they feel sad, excited or a bit off? I have found it is feeling how a song can make me feel something that I don’t actually feel to be a really big step in cutting it out of my life.
So well said Rebecca, I remember hearing some lyrics to a song when I was younger by a very ‘cool’ band, years later realised it was about raping a woman and needless to say it wasn’t cool any longer in my eyes at all.
Exactly Natalie. Recently I realised a catchy song I had stuck in my head was actually demeaning women who didn’t fit a certain image type – making me feel insecure. Children are just as capable of feeling and understanding these things and deciding for themselves if music is for them or not.
And these songs really do confirm our true beauty and allow us to just be ourselves.
I agree it is shocking and some children don’t know what they are really singing they are just letting the tune run them. A while ago in a store there were two really young girls looking at make-up and singing the lyrics to the music playing in the store which was ‘she is up all night to get lucky’ really inappropriate and really sad to see.
“She is up all night to get lucky” , is precisely the sort of lyric that needs to be discussed and deconstructed by teachers at school, so that the ” Forbidden Fruit” aspect of it can be banished from young heads, and shown for what it truly is and is trying to do.
What’s lovely about having been a music junkie as well, is that when one says no to the buzz feeding them from say a great hands-in-the-air dance track, or a delightful sounding Sunday Session house tune – you actually say yes to more of yourself. So cliche sounding, yet, when you can live a whole day, then a week and soon enough a month, without any need for anything (music, special foods, people, recognition), no dance party, DJ’ing experience or funky track comes even close. I still love to dance, will always love music, but I dig myself more than any of that.
Oliver I LOVE your reply “I dig myself more than any of that.” so true – it made me smile – me too I dig myself more than any of that.
“The more I observed and listened, the more I became aware of how music imposes on us and just how harming it can be without us even realizing”. Gyl, once I started to observe and listen to music, I felt how imposing it can be. I have had to leave many shops the moment I enter as they play music that feels so imposing that I cannot stay in the vicinity. I can now feel how harming it was before I made the choice to continually feel from my body.
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences Gyl. Music was my number 1 drug a few short years ago. I was constantly going to see live bands, attending music festivals and adding to my enormous music collection (at great cost ). Music was a central part of my life.
Now the only music I truly enjoy listening to is the glorious music you describe. Nobody is more shocked by this turnaround than me but it does make absolute sense. Once I felt music that reflects nothing but love nothing else felt great in my body anymore.
It’s amazing how much people want to fill their lives up with any sort of loud sounds/music without stopping to notice how their bodies are feeling. It’s as if they are doing all they can to avoid the silence.
Music that is clear, without emotion and made with love, that would be glorious.
Yep, that sounds like Glorious Music to me Toni
Gyl I had an experience recently whilst walking through a shopping centre and out came all the late 80’s and early 90’s classic emotional love songs. It was so obvious how the music took me right back to the times when I would play these songs over and over to try and make me feel better from whatever drama was going on at the time. It’s like the music tried to re-awaked all the sadness, emotion and drama even though it was 15-20 years later. It’s made me reflect that the music did not actually help all those years ago but instead just intensified and made the dramas worse – perhaps instead of addressing how I felt I was when I first used the music I ended up living the drama of the singer.
I can relate to music hooking me in. I get a physical and mental reaction, and I find myself getting hardening in my body and become a little aggressive. It’s awful. Sometimes I can’t go into some shops I’d otherwise buy something, because of the music they play. But by listening to Glorious Music I feel Glorious. I sing along with Joy.
A brilliant article Gyl, asking a question that so needs to be asked. It is so true, that music is part of our lives as it is everywhere we go. And we need to become aware how much of an impact music can have on us. Music carries an immense power that can either heal or harm, and with that comes an immense responsibility that musicians also need to be aware of, respect and honor. I have come to learn and deeply appreciate that true music is not emotionally hooking or imposing what we should do or how we should be, or suggesting that we should disregard ourselves and our truth to be desired or ‘cool’… but rather true music invites us to return, confirm, feel and live the quality of who we truly are in essence, and inspires us to be more. Michael Benhayon, Glorious Music and Chris James have led the way in presenting what true music feels like when delivered with absolute love, grace and integrity; an expression and celebration of the love that we are through sound that is truly healing.
So much music these days – especially the stuff dripping out of the speakers in gyms – is about inciting some get up and go motivation. It’s all imposing and quite annoying and this is partly why I will not go to gyms and instead have a routine that I do at home. Music that truly motivates would remind us of our power, purpose and responsibility so that we connect to our innate ‘get up and go’.
Such an interesting, timely blog, Gyl. I have often found myself pondering the effects of today’s music on our being as I have a 15 year-old son who listens to main stream music. At times I have consciously listened to the lyrics of the songs he plays and have felt the harmful way they can affect me and my body. Allowing him to play his music in the house is a choice I have made and it certainly keeps me present and aware to keep simply observing what the lyrics are and what the words are and the way in which they are being used. From the time he was a newborn I raised him with mostly silence in the house and I feel this exposure to silence and the beauty of it have left an imprint with him where he does not have the incessant need for constant noise. He respects the fact that I still prefer silence and that when I say enough ‘noise’ I mean enough. I have found, as mentioned by others, that I have to draw the line at rap. Although I have noticed he mostly chooses to not listen to rap, every so often a rap song slips in and the impact on my body is immediate even when I feel I am completely present with myself. We have conversations around music sometimes and I have been able to share with him the impact music can have. I also feel, as mentioned by others that we cannot live wrapped up in cotton wool and that my son at this age has the desire to socialise with and relate to his peers and that music is just one of the many avenues to do so. I speak up when I feel a song goes too far and don’t hesitate to ask him to change the song or turn it off often without explaining why I am asking him to do so. He has the knowing and understands. I feel in this way he is learning to be in tune to what he is listening to and carrying the awareness of how it might be making him feel.
Music is a very powerful force, a vibration that is either harming or healing. A lot of people can say they like this type of music and don’t like another type of music but what are they listening with? Every cell of our body hears music, not just our ears. The sweetest most delicate music can be just as harmful as an offensive sounding rap/rock song. We most certainly need to talk more about the energy in music rather than the flavour we like/dislike. Blogs like this one is a great start!
“The sweetest most delicate music can be just as harmful as an offensive sounding rap/rock song.” I absolutely agree Suzanne, it most definitely about energy first and discernment.
A wake up call, yes – we are constantly hyper stimulated by music from every angle and what does this say about our discomfort with quiet? Serge Benhayon once said that ‘Silence is the music of the soul’ and I know that deeply so – we always have a choice – yes the music is around us intensely and invasively so, but not impactfully if we choose to develop a relationship with the inner stillness – a natural and inherent quality we all have. Actually what I have noticed then is that I can playfully observe the music in our world as an opportunity to practise refining my relationship with me – that ability to be in life but not tossed about by it.
It’s taken for granted that people need music to fill the gap while waiting ‘on hold’ or need it to get us ‘in the mood’ while shopping, or need soothing while in a ‘stressful’ or ‘boring’ environment. The other day while at the dentist, and having some work done they realised, just as the procedure was starting, there was no music. I said I was fine without and in fact preferred to not have music. I could feel how they felt a little bit uncomfortable with this and realised that they see providing soft or retro music as one way they were able to make the whole experience more pleasant for me. So at one level we know exactly the effects of music – that it can totally takes us away from ourselves to not feel what is really going on.
Hi rosannabianchini, I do the same thing, I ask them to turn the music off when I go to the dentist, and at times cheekily and playfully be honest as to why, I say it’s awful, no more, no less.
These are great examples rosannabiachini, how we use music to take the ‘edge off’, to not feel our natural rhythm.
Yes, It’s interesting that when we look at the way we use music in society, we see that it is specifically used for this purpose, to take the ‘edge off’ or ease a situation – it take us away from ourselves.
True. We can tend to feel that we are somehow not enough as we are and can rely on music to provide the mood or the feeling we want to feel.
Generally speaking, as a society we are becoming better educated about what we put in our bodies having either a healing or a harming effect on us. But we limit this to physical substances such as food and drugs and not for a moment stop to consider what we ingest through our ears and other senses. Thank you Gyl for providing the opportunity for such pause…
Wow Liane that is a good point here – what we ingest through our ears and other senses – that is worth to ponder on . . . Thank you Liane for that insight.
I often feel that music is there to stuff the air around us with so much noise that the sound of silence is totally obscured. Yet when we tune in to this silence we hear a symphony – Divine to its very core and deeply familiar.
This is so true Liane, in stillness there is a divine inner symphony playing…
This is a topic that needs talking about…the words, the drug, the depression, the violence, the sexualisation of women…all of it comes through the music we allow into our lives so unquestioningly.
Music really is everywhere we go, and it infiltrates all our lives, and yet we don’t question if it has an effect, what the sound waves are doing to our bodies, and if the extreme life styles of the musicians are impacting the quality of the sound we receive?
This is really important what you have shared here, in that when we listen to someone’s music we are not just getting that song they are singng but all they have lived, the sadness, depression, anger, drugs, lovelessness. It is exactly the same as when someone gets a tattoo they don’t just get the drawing they get what the tattooist lives CONSTANTLY! I didn’t know this or even think about it until Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine presented it once, and it makes perfect sense.. everything is energy. But what energy are we choosing?
I agree vickylcooke – it is often considered that the way we live has no affect on how we are, what we do and other people. And yet our every choice in every aspect of life has an effect, like dropping a stone in a pond, the ripples eventually touch every part of the pond.
I recently saw a video clip of a joyful toddler eagerly waiting to listen to a ‘happy occasion’ song with her mum. But as soon as the music started playing she burst out crying and after a while asked the mother to stop playing the music. She seemed very distraught, not quite in sync with celebrating a happy occasion – obviously picking up something else in the music that the adults were not tuning into!
Thank you Gyl for highlighting this very important topic – do we really know what we are listening to? The constant disturbance and distraction in today’s society has become so addictive that a lot of people get extremely nervous if they don’t have a constant source of noise. It’s the perfect set up to keep ourselves from feeling what is really going on in our own bodies as well as around us.
..”I’ve learned that love can only be something that truly comes from within me first, not from anyone else filling me up..” There is a ton of truth in this comment Gyl, my line to ponder for today..thank you.
I do find it so imposing with the amount of music that is everywhere these days, I have no idea how some people work in these situations.
You wrote: it is music that allows my body the freedom to expand. What a difference to what you write earlier in your blog. That made you contract. Interesting how you did your little experiment and found this out. It is quite big what you write and found out as music is everywhere. Even when we are not listening ourselves. When I am in the train lots of people are listening to music. What if we we were all listening to music where our bodies relax and expand? Wow!
Music most certainly carries an energy that can enter the body and change it’s natural rhythm. I can see this clearly and a good example is the difficulty of getting a child to bed after they have listened to their ipod!
Very true Ariana. With the momentum of that music stuck in our body, in what quality do we sleep in? Listening to something about rape or drugs and then hopping into bed mustn’t be the best way to get ready for bed!!
Thanks for this Gyl, children can often show us more truthfully what we have become numbed to or worse, hooked in to something, so that we don’t register the imposition or the harm it is actually doing to us.
This is such a great question to pose. I know I’ve been hooked by a catchy tune and then realised the words that were being sung and felt how awful it actually was! It’s easy to dismiss the impact and say it’s ‘just music’ but there is an effect and it’s either healing or harming.
Thank you Gyl for bringing such clarity and understanding on what true music is, music for the soul.
I have always felt the bombardment of music everywhere when out and about, from tv, radio, waiting on the phone, builders’ radios blasting out and much more and preferred a quiet space around me and with nature. Since hearing and thus knowing true music from Sounds Wonderful, Michael, Emily and Miranda Benhayon Universal Medicine students, and Chris and Jenny James, I can now feel the difference of sound that does not impose, is not full of emotions comes clearly from love and lets me simply be. This is beauty and a real gift for everyone hearing music from Heaven which we all know and are at one with. Very inspiring and beautiful, a real healing as true music can be. thank you Gyl for raising this so simply.
I must say that much of what I read here is a revelation to me especially the pieces concerning children, (which I have never had) and whose world I am thus not familiar with. How can it be that certain ’emotional vomit’, (see above, delightful phrase Susie!), is accessible to youngsters in pop music, but that same content would not be allowed in a child’s book for example? We become very active about drugs but it seems that the toxicity of certain ‘pop music’ seems to be slipping under our radar. I’m sure the insidious nature of its unwholesome message would not be quite so lost on our rulers if it was political!
Music really is everywhere, becoming a whole culture in and of itself. There is so much identification around music, and yet not once do we stop to consider how it effects – how does that sad song somehow make us more emotional. Why do people begin to subtly change when they listen to some kinds of music?
This is a massive subject Gyl! I’ve always been interested in all kinds of music and have always been aware of the effect that different chords and their combination in sequences has had on me. Putting lyrics aside, ( which often can’t be heard or understood anyway!), there is a lot going on with major and minor keys playing our feelings like a musical instrument. I’ve taken up the piano in retirement and I’m aware that sheet music comes with the composer’s energy attached. But if it’s me playing it with my energy, does that make it O.K.? I’m not sure about that one!
Gyl as well as music that is out and about I felt recently how the music on TV, in shows or in the movies has the same effect. Completely designed to draw you in and take you away with what is on the screen. In that way I can see the very purpose of what we now call entertainment is to be swept out and away from reality whether we want to be or not. I know before my mid twenties that was exactly what I wanted – a bad day at work then on the way home I would use the music to pick me up and take me away from reality. It’s quite incredible to now have music that is nurturing, caring and supportive of who I am – no pulling me to get caught up in dramas – yet it’s full of “rock and roll” great vocals, catchy tunes, amazing guitar, pianos, drums etc. in fact the music I now listen to is the most alive music I’ve ever heard.
It has been interesting for me to recenty understand that there is more that comes with music than the tune and the lyrics. The fact that everything is energy means that whatever is going on with the person(s) who produced the music will be carried over with the music, just like it would with a painting or any other creation. However it seems to have more impact since, as many have shared, the tune can hang around in our heads way after the moment we were actually exposed to the sound.
I feel to highlight and further confirm what many have shared through the comments and also in writing this blog, that there is a vast difference between feeling what music does to your body, being aware and observing (as was done in this experiment), to reacting, absorbing and allowing music to affect us.
Yes true Gyl, the awareness of how music can impact us is key, and as it is everywhere it is up to us to choose whether we allow it to affect us or not. I work in an environment with music playing a couple of days a week and when I stay present and don’t give over to it, it has no impact.
I agree Victoria, to be aware, stay present and not react allows the energy of the music to simply pass through, a bit like water off a duck’s back – rather than get to stuck in our bodies.
The idea of music as a mind propaganda tool is no doubt a difficult pill to swallow but it’s undeniably a factor in changing our emotional state from stillness to sadness, calmness to raciness in one beat, one chord, one semi-quaver. Music is insidious, there in the background of our everyday lives, blaring out lyrics and messages like an intravenal drip, topping us up with prevailing ideals and beliefs about what love should look like when true love is anything but. Sometimes I’ll leave a shop that otherwise would get my money simply because the music is so exhausting and bombastic to be around – and that’s without even concentrating on the lyrics. It literally does my head in. Retailers say ‘music sells’ but looking deeper and wider for a second, just what exactly are we buying?
Cathy in reading your comment “idea of music as a mind propaganda tool ” made me think of how it has been done as just that – throughout wars and in other such similar fashions. I recently watched a program on the killing fields in Cambodia, and they did just exactly that, they used the music as a means to torture people and also drown out the sound of them being killed, so no one would hear what was really going on there. I have no doubt they knew and could feel exactly what was happening though.
I completely agree, I am constantly walking out of shops, unable to put up with the glaringly loud music. And when I go into coffee shops with loud music that makes conversation impossible, it really makes me wonder how much we learn to tune it out. I know I can hear the beginning cords of a song and my mood and thoughts change – is music a subtle type of drug?
Music is like subliminal brain washing, it affects us deeply and has us alter our state of being according to the tone, volume, lyrics etc. It’s only now with the awareness of this and tuning in to the effect it has on my body do I look back and can clock a song that I heard many years ago that can still bring back a complete memory of where I was and also the responses I felt at the time even down to where I was when I heard it … so if all that is stored in my body and with my awareness of energy I realise the importance of choosing music that doesn’t impose. I felt back over the music I have heard from Chris James or Michael Benhayon and couldn’t recall where or when I first hear one of there songs. I wasn’t imposed upon and was only left with a deeper connection to me … no imposing.
Quite true merrileepettinato – most music is designed to alter our state of being, change our mood and make us feel a certain emotion.
Great comment merrileepettinato and so true!
‘Music is like subliminal brain washing, it affects us deeply and has us alter our state of being according to the tone, volume, lyrics etc’ and as you say, if all the memories are stored in our bodies, it feels to me that my filing system must be full of unwanted junk. Clearing out the clutter takes on a whole new meaning! Unimposing music is so much healthier for the body and the soul sings!
I recently went to a trendy clothes store on Oxford Street, London and the music was so loud that I had to come out, and I wondered how the staff who work there feel about having the music so loud or do they get used to it.
I wonder about this too Julie. In fact in most stores we get bombarded with piped music. No wonder so many people are exhausted.
I’ve noted this music in all sorts of places too, and for me having walked in to it I simply can’t wait to walk away from it sometimes. However, when it’s on in my workplace ..for hours at a time, I begin to feel that when I’m not staying connected and tuned in to my own body (continually holding me and expressing what is not me) I am already feeling hugely imposed on by it and my body can feel racy or heady. It’s an illusion for me however, to think that I need to get away to reconnect or come back to myself when I have learnt how simple it is to come back to my body in any situation – I simply have to choose it for myself.
Yes Julie I wondered as well and I knew that some get used to it and even more they love to work there.
Wow, it is deeply healing and very refreshing to read your account here Gyl of how music feels in your body. It would be a very different world if we all spoke with the honesty and innocence you do here.
Thank you Joshua. Honesty is a huge part of my life, I feel if we speak with honesty then we open up so many more doors to feeling and sharing – and the truth. Honesty is very refreshing, it also allows others to be honest. I am all for saying ‘ hey this is how I feel’ and not needing to be right, as I am always open to learning and evolving.
That is deeply inspiring glyrae, thank you. Sharing how you feel and not needing it to be right has always been a big one for me, but what I am learning is that there isn’t really a wrong, so what am I really worried about in giving my voice and expression a go in new situations and learning whatever is to learn from there.
To me it has become more obvious that harm that is found in a lot of music, particularly blatant and obvious are the mysogynist lyrics in a lot of rap music that can be felt strongly to be filled with an anger that cannot be healthy to listen to. Of course I now also feel the harm in a lot of music that would be considered less obvious where the aim seems to be to pitch your voice at the highest octave and hold the note as long as you can. Emotions that impose upon you and are far from harmonious.
I agree Stephen G. I personally find those angry ranting raps very repelling, and about as musical as listening to people having an argument. It seems to me, that in the past, music often used an attractive combination of lyrics and harmony to tell a story or express a feeling, and that with rap, this has been abandoned and replaced with just an angry and unmusical monologue; Thus transmitting a very heavy imposition of negative energy.
I used music as another way to not be in my body or feel what was going on in my life. Huge thanks to the Benhayon family for the musical compositions that allow me to sing and dance with joy, never losing the true me or imposing on another.
I agree Wendy, thank you to the Benhayon family and Glorious Music.
I have done this too Wendy, it’s interesting the force that music can have in overriding ones true awareness.
As reading your blog I remembered being a young child and how I dreaded when my hometown would host country music week. I used to feel sick walking down the street and the all the music lyrics were so sad. To not feel all this my body would have what felt like hunger pains and I would eat instead of feeling these intense feelings.
Yes country music has a lot to answer for!
I used to dread it too, especially long car trips with parents who liked such music. As a child I had no escape, but now I can choose what I listen to, and I can see that when I have no choice like in the supermarket I can choose to not allow it to overwhelm me. I question the lyrics rather than let them dominate.
That’s awesome Felicity
Hi Toni, I can relate to your comment about dreading your hometown hosting the country music week as I recall not that many years ago when we lived near the most easterly point that our home on top of the hill was the recipient of the booming and clashing overlapping of several bands playing in different tents all at once, with supersonic speakers from a park as they hosted Blues and Roots festival -the noise infiltrated every aspect of our surrounding environment and I can remember how my body used to shake uncontrollably, especially after bedtime – it was truly pain-full – and that was without understanding the lyrics that could not be distinguished. It would be an interesting scientific study to ascertain the level of harm and damage to the nervous system I feel at such times.
Serge Benhayon once presented that ‘The Soul enjoys silence’! I pondered on this for quite a while and then another cliché that came to me was ‘Silence is Golden’ – more ponderings – how could this be really true? Our lives are so filled with music/ songs – how could it be possible that music could be harming to the body? Thankfully I have found the answer now that my body has been exposed to both: silence (by choice) and music/songs that is ‘clear, without one ounce of emotion or woe, which is made with love’. Like you Gyl, it doesn’t hurt my body to listen to it, nor do I wince or get sucked in – it’s the complete opposite in fact, I feel me, I feel so much expansion, freedom and joy in my body, there’s not one ounce of tension or pain. Thank you Gyl for reminding me that the music I choose to listen to is a joy and a healing for our bodies.
I love silence ruthanderssen – in silence much more can be felt and heard.
So true gylrae – “in silence much more can be felt and heard”.
I love silence too gylrae for that same reason, so that whenever there is sound it is much easier to discern what it carries as the background ‘noise’ hasn’t masked it. This also can be felt in another’s spoken voice, such as in phone calls or general conversation. How often do we also have words someone has spoken to us go round and round in our heads?
I too love the sound of silence Gyl, it allows me the space to hear myself.
Very true Ruth. Silence is indeed Golden. I love spending time without music. I love the space this gives me to breathe and become still.
We have a choice to ‘numb’ out what happens around us – music being one example.
OR we can be aware of it, and register how it feels in our body.
That in itself is a huge step to understanding what our bodies love and contract from.
Music is everywhere, and sometimes we can’t turn it off – but being aware of it feels much more loving than just numbing it out.
We have a choice to move away from where the music is and create a more loving environment around us and others.
Well said Gyl, it is so true most music is imposing and emotionally designed to hook you in. The music by Glorious music and Chris James does not do this it just allows us to be free, to connect to our own magic inside rather then get enticed and blown off centre by some emotional pull.
Since feeling the different energy that music emits there is no way I would now play songs I used to. So much more will be revealed to us on the harmful effects of music as we open up our awareness to what is truly happening.
I experience music as a constant bombardment, not only for my ears but it has an effect on my whole body. The effect it has is huge. Not only the music but also the lyrics. It is a very powerful industry and it will take quite some time for us as a whole to choose to be aware and to say no to the absolute harm it does. We need more musicians like Michael Benhayon who makes music that is a healing for us all. And that is all there is it is either harming or healing.
Annelies the word bombardment is accurate. Yesterday I phoned my mobile phone company and felt assaulted by the music played when I was put on hold. It was emotional with lyrics designed to hook you you in. I felt nausea, turned down the volume, held my phone away from my ear. What is wrong with silence? Why can’t we be given a choice?
Oh yes Annelies I can relate to what you wrote in your command because I can feel the same. Because of that I often don’t like to go into a shop where they play music. I am now starting to look for shops without music – they are rare but they are still there. So it is good that I can choose where to buy my things.
What an amazing and inspiring bit of ‘research’ Gyl – to observe deeply the music around us, pretty much 24/7, and feel its impact. What you have written deepens my understanding of how immersed we are and how it takes commitment to be aware to see/hear things for what they actually are. Your article also stops me feeling scared of what is going on around us but inspired to be responsible for and caring towards myself so that I no longer let myself get adversely affected by the music over which I have no control. Thank you
That’s a good point Matilda – a lot of people look at something like the music industry, notice the corruption and abuse but are too ‘scared’ about how awful it is to do anything about it.. What we need to be doing is taking responsibility for things like this, and making a change, rather than sitting back and unwillingly ‘enjoy the ride’.
Love this, Susie, which reminds me that each and everyone of us has the power (in our responsibility) to call the changes. In a supply and demand society every ‘no thank you’ has an impact.
Hear hear Susie.
This is so true Susie and Matilda. I used to work in pupil referral units where it was cool to play and like the nastiest rap music going. The lines were drawn by the teachers but still lots was played. I used to ask to have it turned off and voice how it was sexist if it was sexist, and how I felt like I was being shouted at. I noticed how the students would be more aggressively outspoken after listening to it.
I wonder if some of them were secretly pleased that they weren’t allowed to play some of it because it was obvious their behaviour did get more intense and that was quite intimidating.
Thank you matildaclark, from my experience feeling scared of what is going on around us, has been from not wanting to actually feel it or thinking it is more than me. This is not true and so far from the truth, as I and we are grander than anything that is out there. When I choose to live from here and accept this – then things like music etc or any other stuff becomes an awareness of the truth and the mess the world is in, but it is not bigger than me, nor am I scared to go out there. It becomes like a grain of sand and I am the mountain.
Beautiful Gyl, this really puts the impact that music can have on me into perspective, it feels great to be aware that as you say ‘It becomes like a grain of sand and I am the mountain.’ I will remember this when I hear a song played that feels imposing and choose to not let it affect me.
gylrae what a beautiful comment. There are days I get worried about being affected by what’s out there but actually I can just be honest and aware and this in itself keeps me connected to me and feeling the truth that I am bigger than anything that comes my way which isn’t loving.
Awesome truth gylrae, such glorious power in your expression
Yes, we always have a choice and this is our responsibility. There is enormous power in saying ‘No’. The music industry has a lot to answer for yet so do the public as they (we) are the ones asking for it if we are not saying no to it.
I agree Matilda, the fact that it is outside our control can seem a little daunting, but by stopping and taking the time to feel how it affects you, you are effectively taking back control rather than ignoring it.
There are so many great comments shared concerning music and I agree that we are forced to listen to many different sounds and words as we shop. Adds and golden oldies in the Supermarket, perhaps it’s to keep us in the shops for longer but I must say it does the opposite for me at times! I couldn’t agree more that we need to be aware of what the lyrics are saying in music children are choosing to listen to, or at school where they have no say in music played at events in choirs etc. Many words and lyrics would go over the heads of little ones but still have an affect on their sensitive little beings. The responsibility lies with us the Adults to be the ones to speak out. Great topic Gyl.
So true Roslyn and in particular I resonated to what you said about children being affected by music. As you say, what choice do they have at school? When Chris James takes his sound workshops to schools, the children respond with a knowing and have great fun – we need more people with the understanding that Chris has, to take the music that does not harm not just to children but around the world!
Great point Roslyn. You are right in saying that kids don’t know the words but still get affected by the energy of the music. The crazy thing is . . . that the adults do know the words, yet somehow these words as extreme as they can be at times, still somehow are played around children.
I agree with what you are saying here Gyl but still find it difficult to totally renounce all my attachments to music, which just confirms how powerful music is and how harming it can be.
I love your honesty 1timrobinson.
I still find myself having ‘caught’ a song somewhere along the line during the day, whether that is from a shop, drifting over from a neighbour’s house or a snippet from a passing car and there I am, the record is going around in my head and I am engaging with the story being sung.
Since understanding the hooking and undermining nature of most mainstream music I catch this earlier and actively choose to stop the song in my head. I find that attention to this is an ongoing commitment and am supported by my experience of listening to Glorious Music and feeling the different impact it has in my body.
Thank you Gyl and Tim for offering the opportunity to expand this conversation.
Thank you Matilda, a timely reminder as I found myself today catching a song whilst I was out and about and bang, there I was back at the relevant life event and a whole load of interesting thoughts hooking me in. A great reminder of just how imposing music can be. Thank God for Glorious Music.
I can also get hooked by music, suddenly having this song in my head. With music everywhere around us, this can happen very easily. I love listening to Glorious Music though and sing along. These songs don’t hook me, change me or emotionally grab me. They lift me up, evolve me and ask me to be all of me. I sing them every day and this is pure joy.
This has happened to me loads of times all through my life and sometimes still does, only now with thanks to what Serge Benhayon presents I have a deeper understanding of what is truly going on here and instead of allowing it to take hold of me can choose it to stop.
It is true Matilda, there really is a difference in my body when listening to Glorious Music compared with other main stream songs.
Indeed Mariette, the songs from Glorious Music ‘lift me up, evolve me and ask me to be all of me.’ Wow now that’s what I want from a track, not something stuck in my head keeping me down and out.
Wow Matilda I agree I got also caught in songs sometimes. It happened if I am very busy or in a rush then the music increased my nervousness even more and this is when I got aware of what was happening. So it is good to be reminded of how music can effect our way of being.
So true Matilda. I know this one well. I too have caught myself, unawares, running a song around my head and getting hooked into the story. This is made so much more likely to happen when most environments are dominated by music. Songs we’ve related to in the past hook us to our earlier life/selves: relationships, feelings, places. And if inattentive, instantly transport us back there! As you say Matilda we need to pay closer attention to this.
We used to call this thing of ‘catching’ a song that we caught an ear worm…cause it would worm its way in, and then stick. Now practicing listening with the whole body, those ‘worms’ don’t get so near the ears, the hook in the music is felt before the ‘catch’. The moments that still ‘catch’ me out are in the supermarket – seems whenever I go near the frozen berries section old classic 80’s songs come on…a double whammy of familiarity and comfort for me.
Yes, this happens to me too and I feel it truly demonstrates the very hooking nature of most of the music out there. I also find in retail, it is misused and very imposing on people by playing music so loud you have to ‘fight’ to speak or be heard. I will often in shops walk out or request that the music be turned down. Most times, people are more than happy to oblige.
I have always struggled to listen to mainstream songs, but now I understand why, as I find them very imposing. Listening to glorious music is beautiful and non imposing.
Awesome matildaclark – the actively choosing is the thing that works for me too.
I can understand what you are sharing, it takes time to let go and it may not be what you choose. We can’t avoid such music , it’s everywhere, the thing I value the most is I know not to let it in completely like I used to. I know really know the difference between music that is for self gain, and music that is only for service to humanity. that is gold. I used to allow music to take me anywhere it wanted to go, now I call the shots.
I agree Felicity. I used to wallow in music, allowing it to take me wherever…….I now realise how imposing that was. The music by Michael Benhayon and Chris James however is truly glorious and non-imposing. Feeling the difference in my body has taken me a while to acknowledge, and now it is learning to hear music, which we can’t help but do out in society, but to not let it in.
Felicity, I think that you have identified a very important point here. Being able to distinguish between music for self-gain and music that is for service to humanity is key here.
yes it certainly is…. yet this is never even mentioned at school or anywhere else. Anything done for self gain is considered ok if it meets prevailing ideals. A system that never considers the underlying intent of all we do as key.
Hmmm agree Tim, it is a marker for us to see how deep our roots latch to being identified to music.
I can relate to what you are presenting Luke and having just experienced a moment with another where in a crisis the first reaction was to put music on I see how there are many ways we use music as a way to not feel the situation at hand.
Definitely. its like going to chocolate for comfort. Both are the same except music can be hidden more easily.
I must say Luke and Tim that certain music was the background score to my life while growing up, and I still can define a particular era or year by specific music.
Music is culture and music is identity. It is a huge subject and it effects us so deeply in our society. It dictates fashion trends, the way we talk and the way we celebrate.
Hi 1timrobinson, yes this is also one I have struggled with as music was a huge part of my life. I can feel the harm from the music that still drifts into my head and have found difficulty in renouncing it. It is so easy to get drawn into the memories of a song from a time in my life, and yet I can feel the adverse affect this has on my mood and my body. Such music makes me quite unstable. This emotion just doesn’t cut it as a way to live when the alternative is to feel joyful so I will continue to commit to cutting the distracting music chatter from my head whenever it comes in.
I’m with you there Stephen G. I have noticed though, that despite being heavily music-dependent when I was younger, I don’t listen quite so much these days. My records and cds get ‘aired’ once in a blue moon, rather like old photo albums.
Like you Stephen music used to be a big part of my life. Now I’m much less dependent on it and rarely play music at home, unless I am listening to music that is clear and unemotive. I love the quality of silence.
This is right 1timrobinson. My experience of certain music is that it can hook me in and make me do and feel things that aren’t me and totally take me away from myself. It can become a complete distraction and lead me to indulging in emotions. Music is like a drug, I am sure if they could bottle it, it would sell by the shed load.
Talking with a friend the other day who has a young son who is keen to share some of his favourite music with her, she said she is just listening to it, not getting too hung up on it, and just enjoying it for what it is (a lot of it is music she used to like). This strategy is working – she’s having an enjoyable time with her son, and not allowing the music to impact her. Sounds practical – and a good way to connect with him.
It is so easy to lose ourselves in music and get caught in the melody and the words and not realise what it is really doing to us. I can see now that I used to use music to listen to when I felt sad hoping it would help me, but all it did was keep me in the sadness. This is not the case with Glorious Music it releases me from the sadness or emotion that I had been feeling rather than keep me there. The more I listen to Glorious Music and Michael Benhayon the more I appreciate everything they bring, there is nothing to hook me in or bombard my senses, the music just let’s me be.
Gyl whilst in the hairdressers yesterday they had music playing and it would be so easy to get swept away in it, subtle music then romantic verses about losing love and finding love. The music itself was confirming that romantic drama and heart torn relationships are normal and ok. The more I became aware of the music the more I could see how the music didn’t let me sit and enjoy my own company in the chair but wanted me to become part of the song. Having made a choice to listen to music that leaves me to enjoy being with me when I got back in my car and the CD came on it I could really appreciate true and clear music and the blessing to no longer be addicted to the drama music as I was in the past.
In my experience of writing songs, I have focused on catchy lyrics and melodies that hook the listener. We’ve been brought up to believe this is a good thing and as a result every song in the charts are laden with hooks. It’s the musician’s need to be recognised being imposed upon the listener. If we look at this in terms of energy, we can feel the imposition and as listeners we have been happy to take part. This shows the present upside-downness of how music is used by most musicians.
Great comment Jinya. Hooking energy is what most music is all about. And I loved the hooks! I got caught up in the emotional drama of it all, and wanted to write similar emotional songs, I realise now in an attempt to fill my emptiness. Now, listening to Glorious Music albums, or those by Chris James, I know they do not impose on me or my body and love their clarity and inspiration they offer. Everything is a choice.
What a great article Gyl – thank you. I have always been sensitive to music and love how you have written here how it affects the body. Everything is energy so this means music is energy too. It helps me to remember this principle when I am listening to songs for then I can discern the energy in which they are made and feel for myself if the music is supporting me to know and feel who I am or keeping me lost in who I am not.
With new awareness and the ability to listen with new ears to mainstream music, it is quite shocking to me how imposing and tiresome the lyrics really are. It is just so indulgent what people do with this mode of expression. It makes so much sense now, how I was kept in an emotional sludge pond listening to some music on high rotation when feeling blue in the past. Thanks Gyl for writing this article to confirm the possibility of a different way.
Absolutely Jennifer – listening to music with ‘new ears’ brings clarity to just how abusive and imposing a lot of the lyrics are! And songs do indeed have a way of hooking us in and trapping us in a certain emotion.
Thank you Gyl! I have always struggled with music all my life and always preferred to listen to the sounds of nature, or just the silence when it was there. Growing up as a teenager, I did listen to some music but it was more out of peer pressure to make sure I knew what my friends were on about and to ‘fit in’ to a degree at school. Then when I learned to drive a car, I loved just driving for the joy of being there without any music, which many others found odd when they caught a ride with me: ‘how can you sit in silence and not listen to something, at least the radio on?’ – a common comment I used to get. I never did realise until more recently, that music actually can come with energy and emotions laced into it and this can ‘seep’ into us and affect us on many levels! Pretty cool to be aware of that now though!
The topic of music is a big one, I work in a childcare centre and the kids in my room (toddlers, so 18mths to 2 ½ years old) love the latest music and nursery rhymes. So I am reminded re-reading this blog that, it may not be my choice as to what is played by other Educators and what the children want (their interests) but it’s for me to hold myself within the music when I am interacting with them that will be of value. Oh, and when I get the chance, I put some chris james music on, and interestingly when I did recently, one of the Educators started singing the song even though she had never heard it before.
It is such a treasure to hear music without emotion that just lets you be, it does not want to change you.
Music is everywhere, all the time. I was working in a club this week, when the staff arrived the music was put on, very loud, through out the whole place. My focus went from just being with me to listening to the overbearing music. It showed me how powerful that music is and how easily I am drawn to it, with songs getting stuck in my consciousness, replaying later when I am far away in the silence I so value. On this occasion, they were kind enough to turn it off when I asked, there are other occasions when it isn’t turned off and mostly I can override it and just be focused on how I am and what I am doing.
As Gyl wrote, there is music that supports us, isn’t overbearing, intrusive, emotional, sexual, etc. Michael Benhayon makes such music – Glorious Music, I love it when his songs are floating around in my consciousness.
Awesome blog Gyl. I was hooked on dance and popular music. I used to prefer playing music instead of having silence. I recently realized I have used music as a form of distraction and escape. When I listen to music that is clear, not produced to entice me or arouse any emotion, I am able to appreciate the joy in true music and it reflects back to me to feel the joy in me too.
Some time ago now I got to see the affects of music first hand on a group of teenagers. I was working with a group of teenagers delivering a training program at a public college. There was usually no music in the room during lessons but on this day they asked to listen to some music to help them with some ideas for an activity. The group up until this point were quite settled and focused on their work. They watched and listened to some tracks online and what came next showed me the real affects of music. This group of young girls literally went beserk. They watched less than 10 minutes of music and it completely changed them. Their behavior became extreme and we literally lost them for the afternoon. I justified allowing them to listen to music thinking that they listen to music all the time, therefore what can this do. Well this was quickly answered. This group of girls had become so used to a steadiness and calmness in this class that the disturbing affect of music could not be missed. I learnt a very good lesson that day and it confirmed to me, without any doubt, that music can have very harmful affects on us.
I remember hearing many years ago Vicky, that when the film ‘Rock around the clock’ was first shown in America, the teenage audience went berserk and trashed the cinema. Clearly the ‘music’ was having a profound effect on them, accessing all kinds of buried aggression and bringing it to the surface. Now, when you hear that same song it seems fairly innocuous, I wonder why that is?
In the past when I heard death metal/emo music I would feel very disturbed and angry and knew that the music was affecting me and my mood.
The same with opera I would feel very emotional even though I couldn’t understand what was being said, but it was drama filled and that felt disturbing and my mood would change.
The new age music which sounds lovely, I found that I would check out from life and not want to be with people – I would think ‘I would want to be alone with my serenity’.
Pop and classical had other effects on me and over the years it has made me feel that there is more going on than just listening to the most popular song at that moment.
“I found when I listened to my body it spoke to me loud and clear.” How often do we stop and truly listen to our bodies? We think ‘normal life’ just happens to us with all its accoutrements. Pausing and taking a moment to be with myself before acting has made a huge difference to my life.
I have witnessed in myself in times gone by and more recently in young people today, a reaching for music to get some relief from the day-to-day living. Yet what is really playing out is a deepening into territory unknown. Lyrics whilst heard, are often not understood by adults let alone impressionable young people – it seems that music and artists get free rein to produce whatever comes into their heads with any connotation they feel, as long as it brings in money and fame.
I agree Lee. It is pretty warped the way the music industry is running. Using any forms of advertising to lure people in. The lyrics, video clips, posters album covers and other marketable items are extremely sensationalised and sexualised.
Gyl, re-reading your post I reflected on how many pop songs, ‘love’ songs are out there constantly being played with that central message — ‘Fill me up please’! Songs calling on a demand and need to have the love we desperately seek be ‘filled’ from someone or something, and of course that can never happen because love can never come from outside of us. The music industry of today is built on and feeds a huge illness and lie that pervades our world — it keeps us in this want and need and erroneous idea that love, happiness and all the beauty that we seek is to be grabbed from another. The music industry of today feeds a huge irresponsibility.
Awesome comment Katerina. I agree it is very irresponsible and damaging industry. What is so awesome is that we can choose to not buy into it, take responsibility and stand up to this constant feed of illusion. I have been truly inspired and empowered to choose a loving way to live. I can choose what I want to align to, the illusion or the truth. This is available to all of us and it is extremely powerful when we allow ourselves to connection to what we feel is love and truth.
Very good point Katerina! Is the pop music industry of today no different from a drug dealer or supplier, profiting from an almost universal addiction?
Since reading this blog the first time, I have become even more aware of the music all around me when I am not at home! It’s invasive and imposing and I ask to have it turned down when I can. It feels to me that listening to music can be an addiction and, without discerning, we start off with thinking it is a peer experience so has to be tried (cigarettes for example) and then before we know it we are looking for more of it and missing it when it is not present. It is insidious and keeps us from connecting to our own feelings and choices because we are forever living in and by the seduction and subtle demands and commands of the music. Some of the lyrics in today’s modern music incite hatred, revenge, sexual exploitation. How can this support anyone?
Thank you for your awesome blog Gyl. I relate to every word you say about music. It has such a powerful effect on the body, which registers every shade and nuance of what is being directed through the performance. I will no longer allow myself to be sucked into attractive, seductive music just to indulge, but keep staying the observer with it. Thank heavens for those musicians who have chosen to live life truly lovingly and who have eliminated the hooks, seductions, and false rhythms. It is such a blessing to hear.
Gyl, I loved your blog – many years ago I would play music from the minute I got up for most of the day, I used it to numb myself and for an emotional fix. The music I played affected my moods dramatically – usually feeling melancholic and sad…. and I was addicted to that – how crazy. I am glad to say I no longer use music to escape, listening to Glorious Music and Chris James has never made me feel emotional or moody – in fact the music is so loving and it truly supports me to be all of me.
It is such an amazing opportunity to listen to Glorious Music with Michael Benhayon. His music lets me feel in connection with my self and it does not want anything from me like every other music does except Chris James’s music, he makes the same quality music. I can really feel the difference in my body. The joy I feel in my body when I hear it is nothing I have experienced with any other music.
Recently two young men walked past myself and my family as we were heading home. They were listening to a song on their phone which had some very aggressive lyrics to it. I could see how the way these young men walked, the way they interacted with each other and with us, was influenced by this music. It was like an identity was put on because of the music but it didn’t actually have any relevance to walking through a sleepy country town, past a family, it was out of place. I could also see that these young men were actually very sweet, but this new identity was a way to define themselves away from that sweetness, perhaps as a protection.
This has reminded me Shami, of the behaviour of certain people who drive slowly with the windows down and play extremely loud aggressive rap-type music. It is so imposing and in your face, that it hits you like a slap as if it is some deliberate form of attack. I have never understood the motives for this type of behaviour. Is the perpetrator saying, ‘This is where I’m at and if you don’t like it that’s your problem’, or are they so adoring of their music that they simply wish to share it with all and sundry in the only way they know how?
Gyl as someone that would turn to music to change the way I felt, it would seem obvious that I would connect the fact that music does far more to me than simply entertain. Yet I would see music only for what it gave me that I wanted, and not what else I received as a result. When I now hear music I can feel how it tries to entice me in – and that was what I very much wanted – music to take me away from the pain I felt. Yet what I hadn’t counted on was that the food I then ate, the way I spoke to people, the work I did, the choice of where to go on holiday, what I would do at the weekend and what clothes I would wear was all altered by the music that I had consumed. At first I thought that this was too extreme yet as I have experienced over recent years if I get seduced by a song then from that point on I am not actually living me but instead living the song. It makes me consider – how much of my life has actually been lived as me?
“I would see music only for what it gave me that I wanted, and not what else I received as a result.” Me too, David. Scary to think back to those times of absorbing so much more than what’s audible in the music. I guess we should have been alerted by the way the songs got stuck in our heads – the same energy configuration reverberating in our bodies, willingly or no.
About a year ago, my then 7 year old daughter came home from school singing the lyrics to a song, which included the words I’m sexy’. It seems primary school plays the so called ‘pop’ music without any discerning at all. This was a very popular song and the video was very sexualised. No wonder there is a problem in schools with kids having to engage in sexual activities to be accepted when adults allow a whole school to be exposed and imprinted with the energy of this music. The tune was so catchy I heard other girls at the school singing it.
This is so true Matthew the music, whilst attractive in sound, carries such false ways of being written into the fabric of the song. This is what hooks us in and without knowing we start to live.
“Music made with love” now that’s music to my ears/body. Thank you Gyl.
The lyrics of a song /hymn that my daughter came home singing from a religious school were all about what sinners we all are and how we are not worthy. The music behind it was supposed to be quite upbeat and happy so the meaning of the words was somehow meant to be disguised or something but what is the impact that has on a child?
I’ve heard other parents raise this issue, particularly where schools claim to be non-imposing in terms of religious education. A sneaky way to shoe-horn an agenda in! And in the production of this type of music there’s a definite awareness at work: the power of the catchy pop song meets subliminal advertising message, the selling of something.
When I was a teenager I loved listening to certain songs when my “heart was broken”, really sad blues songs, so that my sadness would be confirmed, enhanced and I could cry and cry. How I loved to suffer, and therefore avoid to look at the deeper issues of my feelings of loneliness and hurt.
These days there is this style of music called “trance”, and it does exactly that. I was easily hooked into that for a while, but since I am more connected to my inner-most essence, I can feel so clearly what that music wants to do to my body and my state of mind and it feels awful, I don’t want that.
The awareness of what we are listening to and its effects have become obvious to me from the learnings with Serge Benhayon presentations and that of Universal Medicine. The harming that occurs is everywhere to feel and this can be really seen and felt now in contrast to the real loving healing music out there from Michael Benhayon and Glorious Music that is so true to the body and allows one to just be.
Gyl, the observation you make about the music you heard, that ‘even the lyrics were not honoring of women or men at all’ is sadly true of most music today. It seems that the more extreme the lyrics the more popular the song. The question is, why has society allowed this situation where even young children listen to music which is not only dis-honouring to both men and women, but where the lyrics would not be tolerated were they spoken in general conversation?
Great point Anne. I heard/saw a ‘song’ at the gym the other day which seemed to be all about how much the group (all young women) loved going out drinking, clearly exhorting others to do the same. Now, if someone made a spoken advertisement of the same message, or went to a school to deliver the same sentiment in a speech, there’d be an uproar. So it seems there is a part of music that is all about how messages are distributed – how it is a channel for communicating ideas. Somehow, the fact the message is set to music (and often pictures) masks or at least obscures what is really being presented… You can see this in clips where the message or particular words are strongly sexual or abusive – much is suggested by the music itself, or visual cues from the performers or imagery used. What is presented visually or musically can often be a sleight of hand to distract us from what is really being said.
This is a great point Anne, ‘even young children listen to music which is not only dis-honouring to both men and women, but where the lyrics would not be tolerated were they spoken in general conversation?’ It is somehow seemed as acceptable if it’s in a song and there is music with it to say whatever you like, swearing and sexual language seems to be accepted and this does indeed reach young children, my 4 year old has come home from pre-school singing ‘hey baby’ and other such things. I have noticed in supermarkets and leisure centres these songs and videos are sometimes played and he stands and watches.
I agree Anne, and often share this in class. I can be the most unpopular teacher at times, as I don’t allow kids to listen to music in class – if they want to listen to it in their own time, than that is their choice. I also observed this at a kids dance show, from toddlers up to early teens – the music that were dancing as was highly sexual as were some of the moves. The sad thing, and very real ( no blame or judgement here) that this was accepted as the norm and seeing the kids on stage dancing surpassed for many the music and the moves they were dancing to.
Thanks for sharing your observation Gyl. I can feel that the person singing the song you were listening to has no true understanding or experience of love and therefore cannot truly share this through singing. It is indeed beautiful to hear music that does not leave you feeling drained or emotional.
As others have presented here I can feel the importance of not laying blame towards, or being a victim to, music or other imposing energies. I know how easy this can be for me to do, without taking responsibility for the choices I have made to allow something to affect or alter my state of being – noting that sometimes/often I have already made choices to be disconnected well before I have allowed the annoying chorus line or repeated lyrics and tone to enter and bother me. I can see now how I do have a choice to simply nominate what is not true without reacting.
These blogs and responses also call me to ponder that if I am allowing musical lyrics and jingles to so readily affect me, just what else I am allowing into my body that may be less obvious than a catchy tune? And how deeply self-loving it would be to commit to a consistent connection with myself with an openness to feel and observe everything without reacting by numbing, distracting or withdrawing to bunker down and ‘protect’ myself.
This writing also prompts a greater responsibility for the tone of my own expression, and the impact this has for all who I live and interact with. Thank you.
Awesome, Susan. What else do we let in? And let out, via the sounds we produce? In the letting in, I would nominate beliefs and ideals that are not my own; re the tone of my expression – yes, I too can be harsh and unloving. We are all responsible for all we do!
I love the way you chose to evaluate what was really going on with the music you were hearing by listening to your body, feeling how your body changed when listening to the music. Our bodies don’t lie. They speak to us all the time, if only we would listen.
Gyl I can really relate to what you share here, about the adverse effects that most music has on our bodies. Recently I went for a swim at my local gym only to be greeted by very loud music blaring in the pool area. When I started to swim I could feel very clearly the effects of this on my body as my stroke was very uncoordinated, plus I found it difficult to concentrate.
What you have written Gyl is music to my ears…(and body) . Music really does assault the body, even the ones that feel quite innocent and have a melodic tune. The more I become aware of this the more I can feel they are not so innocent.
I agree Alison, feeling the music assaulting my body. It can feel like something is trying to get in and disturb me.
I love your experiment, Gyl! I too have noticed how imposing music is, and how present in our lives. Our gym, which plays very loud and often grating dance music, recently started offering a select-your-own option, as in a ‘jukebox’ system where patrons can select songs which are then broadcast across the system for all to hear. I tried plugging a few 80s tunes I used to like in, thinking at least these would be less of an assault. But unfortunately they were, in a way, more of an assault – it was as if the familiar sounds were reactivated and then became lodged in my mind for the next few days. Better to hear the music I don’t like – at least it stays out of my head!
Great blog Gyl. I had an experience with a teacher putting on the radio in class the other day, I had to be super still to not allow the energy in. I found it highly distracting and was amazed that most of the adults in the class wanted it turned up even louder. It’s definitely so awesome that we have Glorious Music and others that resonate to the beat of our own hearts instead of some music that disrupts our natural rhythm.
That’s so true Rosanna, listening to music that is written and sung with love and deep consideration for the listeners, is so lovely to feel in your body, and it basically supports you to go deeper with yourself.
Beautiful Gyl. This is so true. The music out there is coming from all angles. My local supermarket has music so loud that I can hardy focus on what I am looking for. I find when I look around the teenagers all have the earphones in the majority of the time.
So true Gyl! These days I can feel completely whacked by music. I hardly ever listen to the radio these days but when I do, it’s usually because I might be working on my own and am feeling a bit lonely, and boy oh boy does the music always ensure that I will dip a little further into any sadness that may have been there. Being sad is no bad thing but I notice music allows me to further indulge in the ‘pain’ through the lyrics and the pain of someone elses story, rather than allow me to be responsible for my own sadness and just sit and feel it, and often when I am able to accept it for what it is, it clears, but I can’t do this while listening to the drama in the songs.
Music that doesn’t feel true does not allow me to be or feel expanded – I actually cringe when I hear or feel it. I totally don’t like it to be around me in my car or home. When I am in public I bring focus to my presence and beauty and don’t get drawn into the emotional pull of the music in shopping centres, surgeries etc. Me feeling my inner beauty and connection exposes whether the music is empty or full of love.
I know what you mean about music and I actually never really liked it – apart from Abba – they had me hooked! But growing up I really only went along with music as it was cool. I never listened to it on my own apart from a few that appealed to my emotions, broken heart. Nowadays I could listen to Glorious Music’s songs all day long, I don’t and only tend to in the car but I absolutely love the music and it has nothing to do with the lyrics and definitely not to do with being cool, it’s to do with how I feel when I listen to it, my whole body loves the sound and it makes me feel open.
I was just thinking of my own early love of ABBA – I was hooked too. Now, to many, ABBA would be quite a tame offering, but I have to question why anyone would want to produce music that was in any way designed to hook people in – and ABBA are acknowledged masters of the catchy, emotive pop song. Certainly a catchy tune is what sells, so I assume a desire for fame and fortune motivated much of their career. In later years I became aware, as their lives imploded, that all was not rosy behind the scenes of the band – at least one of the ABBA women has spoken publicly about this. So again we have the question of the integrity of the music-maker. Exactly how ‘whole’-some are they? I would ask the same question of the Beatles, adored by legions of fans world-wide and considered masters of their genre.
Hi Gyl
I agree that we need to have a sensible discussion about the actual energetic effects of music but I feel that there is the danger of becoming a ‘victim’ of music as well. As you have described, very poorly made music (in all ways, least of all technical) is impossible to escape from in today’s age but how are we to be with that? If it is hurting our bodies in the ways described here it feels like we may be in reaction to what is there rather than fully feeling it. Life is an energetic soup, full of so much baggage that is constantly being recycled and re-used through many mediums advertising, politics, film, TV and music as well. It is through knowing ourselves deeply for our own quality that we can discern what is out there and from there we can choose with eyes and ears wide open what we will allow to effect us and what we can simply observe.
Beautifully expressed Rebecca.
Very well said Rebecca. Yes music can be harmful, but as it is everywhere what can we do about that? We can’t wrap ourselves up in cotton wool! It is true what you say, that we can choose what we allow to affect us by being aware and simply observing. The music is not more powerful than us.
Absolutely Rebecca and thank you Gyl for a gorgeous blog opening up the topic.
That’s so true Rebecca. We cannot wrap ourselves up in cotton wool, or live with earplugs in. Doctor’s waiting rooms, airplanes, phone menus, shopping malls, neighbour’s stereos, buses, trains, websites…. our movement through life is utterly saturated with the music that others have chosen for us to hear whether we want it or no. Perhaps this is why so many of us like to ‘escape’ to the serenity of nature where the only ‘music’ is the divine harmony of birds, waves and the wind in the trees? However we live in modern life, and so yes, we must learn to not absorb or be affected by what is being impinged upon us by ubiquitous music, as well as the equally-ubiquitous and unchosen visual images. And even the vapours and smokes from publicly-consumed alcohol and other drugs, wafting through the spaces we must walk through. Being fully ourselves in our love, those things need not perturb our still waters.
I’ve recently decided to experiment and see what music is playing these days – to really be aware of what is playing and to check I haven’t been just ‘shutting down’ what is there…I am quite shocked at some of the lyrics – especially considering how young some of the listeners are – and noted just how much reaction is actually felt in my body – even to songs I once used to feel I really liked. As you’ve mentioned Dianne, there is a cacophony of sound all around us – if I am present and connected to my inner self, the sounds and songs – and images all around do not affect me, though I will be aware of them. I feel it is important to be consciously aware of what is being played, without being affected by it, in order to step up and call out what needs to stop – such as those explicit lyrics in songs that will be heard by children, and the videos that accompany them. If we simply ‘tune them out’ we effectively say it is ok to have them playing…
You’re right janeneclemence. We do need some awareness of what is being presented. The thing is, not enough of us are saying ‘no’ to it. There’s more focus on classifying movies and games for suitability – though when you think about it, music should be assessed too. Is music just too large an arena to take on and that’s why no one does? Large as in voluminous and as in powerful industry-wise? Furthermore, if you consider that the first rule of thumb when it comes to freedom of expression is ‘first do no harm’, well music certainly needs to be considered in this light.
Victoria it would be a huge (and healing) shift when the music industry, or any other for that matter, start to put out a song or product based on not harming or imposing on another.
Reading this blog and some comments I think between us we are really onto something. Whenever I hear something now I try to nominate what it is about. E.g. that’s a “wow is me” song or that’s a melodrama, or that whole song is a reaction etc. It’s not about pigeon holing, but hearing it for what it is. This also it helps me understand how the music is affecting those around me.
Good point, Janene, we have no idea who else is hearing them, and it’s not OK to validate them by omitting to act, especially when they have dreadful lyrics that anyone can agree are harmful to children.
Absolutely Dianne – it is very likely that these lyrics and songs will meet the ears of children, so why on earth is it in any way acceptable to make so many of them about sex, abuse, drugs and other emotional vomit (dare I say).
Yes Susie, we are bombarded by so much stimulation and music in all the various media and public situations that we move through in life, but we seem to have become desensitised to the content and the quality of that music.
Hi Susie, it’s interesting that you use the term “dare I say” in brackets, when calling out the “sex, abuse, drugs and other emotional vomit” themes of much of modern music. It would be great if more people ‘dared say’, naming it for what it is. But your daring and your brackets also reveal that we have been ‘silenced’ by a society that considers it’s not OK to speak up against any medium of expression that is ‘vomiting toxic emotion’ be it via music, dance, film, art, poetry, blogging, or whatever. Part of the myth of freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Since when does freedom include the right to harm others? Of course that raises the tricky issue of ‘what is harm?’ Society in general has not yet recognized the deep harm that comes from emotional expression, whether in the body of the expresser or those who are receiving it. Funny as it sounds, a team of scientists recently collected armpit sweat from terrified sky-divers, and exposed groups of people to smell it in the laboratory under controlled conditions. Result: everyone smelling the ‘fear sweat’ quickly showed the signs and symptoms of distress, showing that emotions are basically contagious. Although this study only looked at pheromones in sweat, it won’t be long I hope before the emotional signals that come through energy, like sound, are tested in similar fashion. Energy is even quicker and more wide-ranging than sweat molecules, affecting vastly more people, so it’s imperative that we do that research, and soon, if the bulk of humanity is to understand what we are doing to ourselves through emotional expression.
I love the calling out of ‘Dare I say’ Diane. Yesterday I had this experience and did I dare to call it out? Nope, I got on with my day and forgot about it…until now. The back ground is…shopping in a very large variety chain store the music playing had words similar to “when I look into your eyes I see porn”. I struggled to determine if the intention of the lyrics was to give this a tick or thumbs down. The truth is though that anything with these words and energy isn’t appropriate. I will dare to call it out- thank you.
‘Dare I say’ is a very relevant phrase on this thread because this is what we need to ask ourselves. Do I dare to express what I feel when I feel it, as a reflection back to humanity that certain things are simply unacceptable?
Wow! Dianne – I so enjoyed reading your comment above -“armpit sweat” and what the scientists discovered. Yes, I agree, if they can do that, it is certainly time to research the effect of the myriad of high decibel, harsh and debatable ‘music’ energy that is inflicted on folk out shopping in the various stores at the very least, let alone the folk who cannot get away from it because of the fact that they are in charge of the store. I questioned certain harsh music one day, and it was explained to me that all stores of a various chain all are given a UB stick with a set of songs for each of their stores so people will recognize that they are ‘in that specific store’ and there is no other choice but to play the set string of ‘music’ chosen by their head office. Would that be control I wonder.
You have just reminded me Dianne of a far less scientific but nevertheless relevant experiment in the contagious power of emotional energy, (with perhaps just a few pheromones helping out as well), in the early days of the Beatles during their various tours. Thousands and thousands of hysterical young girls, often starting to scream before a note was even played or a word of lyrics sung!!
This is brilliant, Dianne, to continue this conversation, understanding the impact we all have on one another as we go about our daily business (hooked by music, carrying emotions, not speaking up about what we know is not OK) thank you.
Wow, that’s really interesting about the sweat and how other people reacted to it!
True Susie, and why would we want to treat ourselves any differently to children? We are all super sensitive and we all get affected.
Well said, Janene. When I listen to the words of songs in the charts these days (and the videos are worse), there is little to no sense of anyone taking responsibility for what they are producing and who it’s spectators are going to be. It’s mainly about sex, often with a twist of some sort, and objectifying women at every turn. What on earth are young people to make of all of this? Where is the inspiration in song writing these days?
Spot-on Dianne! What puzzles me is why it is assumed that we can not take silence or that somehow each pause has to be ‘filled up’ and not just left as a pause? On the telephone for example, the quality of delivery of the ‘music’ is often so poor that it gives a terrible impression of the company who have employed it. You mention ‘passive’ smoking in shared spaces, well this seems to me to be a case of ‘passive listening’.
I could not agree more Jonathan – the way companies are forcing clients/customers to listen to random music, feels like being hijacked, because you have no choice but to wait in line if you want to get through on the phone.
Dianne I really felt the still-ness in your above comment and reminded me that if we are “Being fully ourselves in our love, those things need not perturb our still waters” is so true, and I am feeling the revelation of seeing that a reactive behaviour, such as ‘holding your breath’ while displaying or not, a disapproving facial expression when having to walk through the arena of a person choosing to smoke etc., or apologizing and leaving a shop because of the harsh music is actually displaying the fact that one has chosen to allow that specific issue to be absorbed into the body and not simply allowed it to be, and to observe. Thank you.
A really important point Rebecca. Giving our power away, be it to music or to people does not serve anyone.
I agree Rebecca, music is everywhere and it is for us to be aware of how it affects us and to choose how to change our reactions. So many of us go to music for solace, as an escape, as a way to hide feeling what is truly going on, or a stimulation to bring us out of a low mood. This shows how emotionally charged music is and how we can be entrapped and controlled by it. It manipulates us, this is its intention. But it is there for us to recognise how easily we can fall for that and learn not to be influenced, and so develop a freedom to make our own choices of response in that.
I completely agree Rebecca Baldwin. We are constantly bombarded with all sorts of sounds and images and it is a matter of not reacting to them but to deeply know ourselves so we can feel what is true and what is not.
So true Rebecca. We can choose what we let affect us by reacting to it or by taking it on. It is interesting to feel the energy and often the emptiness of music but to leave it out there, outside of our bodies, rather than take it on and be affected by it.
Agreed Rebecca, it comes down to what we choose to allow in – or not! I don’t particularly gel with the music that plays at the gym, but I don’t let it stop me going there and I don’t feel compromised because of it.
Hi Vitoria neither do I – I still go to the gym and do my thing.
Hi Rebecca, thanks for sharing, though this was a simple, playful and light experiment observing how music and tone affects the body. I agree, as with many others – reacting to music only absorbs it and affects us more, whereas just being aware and observing, even nominating what we feel, helps to support us to not take on stuff.
There is much to consider when we understand the energy music comes with. It is obvious to taste the difference in food that has been prepared and cooked with care to that which has not, same too with the delivery of music, yet without awareness can be allowed to seep in unnoticed.
Well said Giselle. On face level we can say the words are so inappropriate for young children/people who then idolise this music and these pop-stars; we can say that the moves that accompany these songs are not moves we want a young child to be doing; and we can also say that these songs carry the quality, energy and everyday living of the singer and producers of the music etc. If we just looked at a person’s everyday living and then judged their music on that quality – many of those in the industry today would not be there. It is so important for us all to discern what we are listening to and allowing into our bodies.
This is so true Johanna, ‘If we just looked at a person’s everyday living and then judged their music on that quality – many of those in the industry today would not be there’, it is commonplace in the industry for musicians to be using drugs, alcohol, smoking and often living in a very disregarding way, it’s almost the accepted way for a musician to live, and it is this energy that is coming through the music. So I absolutely agree that ‘It is so important for us all to discern what we are listening to and allowing into our bodies.’
So true Johanna08smith. The industry has a lot to answer for but who make up that industry? Every single one of us has a part to play in what we put ‘out there’ (energetically speaking). Music is but one massive genre that holds great responsibility in what it is we choose to live in.
Nice parallel Giselle. Though it is exactly like our first cigarette or mouthful of alcohol – most of us hate it yet we override it because we want to be cool. Perhaps music is the same… or can be. The thing is, music can come in a number of guises – some of it is easy to dismiss because of the way it sounds to us (for many, dance music and heavy metal, etc would fall into this category); others we might not like much per se but find it ‘harmless’ because it sounds far less innocuous (classical, easy-listening, new age, etc). But each is as potentially insidious as the other. It comes down to who is behind it and what their intent might be – how do they live, and are they trying to ‘sell’ us something?
Music can be a very healing tool when it is composed and delivered in an unemotional way. Then my body feels joyful and light hearing it.
Me too. I particularly love ‘Commander of Light’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2DL0xsMX4U
I LOVE this song and video, so much joy.
Yes, it is so playful and joyful, I love it too.
I find this too Kerstin. Glorious Music and Chris James music does just this, a totally different experience.
A song came on to the radio the other day and I ‘thought’ I would hear it out to see what I felt. It certainly had a catchy tune and chorus. Three days later it appears going round my head…seemingly out of the blue, as I hadn’t thought about since the actual time I heard it. It’s amazing how it gets in and now has me really pondering what does it do energetically so it can be running in our heads with absolutely no conscious choice on our part, except to listen in the first place? I’ve realized it’s not an innocent, isolated, one-off ‘it will be ok and won’t do any harm’ choice. It matters what we choose to do, it all has a cause and effect.
Sandra, this is a great point, I have never made the connection that when we listen to a catchy tune, we are letting the song (and the energy) in. It has not happened for a while but in the past I can recall a song literally driving me mad with the repetition. How can this not be harmful?
Music is also becoming more and more pornographic, within the lyrics but mainly the video clips that accompany the songs. It’s sad when you see children trying to emulate their musical idols.
This is true Tony, Kids not only try to emulate their music idols because they are popular, but when they sing the lyrics, the kids don’t even know what they are singing. I get shocked at times when I hear such words come out of the mouths of young innocent children. It really is crazy.
When I see the music videos at the gym, I mostly see gyrating, writhing, pouting women and surly, sun-glassed men. What a sad and sorry sight for anyone, let alone children. Thinking back to my youth, I know how influenced I was by the latest hits. I count myself lucky in that back then (the 70s and 80s) music was, relatively speaking, far more innocent – I had a look at some clips the other day. It’s true every generation thinks things were ‘better’ in the past when they consider the present, but there is a truth in this – music has sexualised to such extremes it’s pretty much porn with a tune… let alone what it says about gender stereotyping.
“Porn with a tune”, that is a great description of a lot of the music that is on the market these days and sometimes I would find it hard to call it a tune. Many of the pop stars today have little musical talent but how they become popular is because they sell themselves through the music. The sexier, more revealing, more boundary pushing, the higher the accolades.
So true Victoria much music these days is just glorified sexualisation. It’s very sad to think that children try to emulate these celebrities and they don’t really understand what the songs are actually about. Music can really suck you in from so many angles.
I couldn’t agree more Victoria! The other important thing to question is exactly what are we absorbing when we listen to, and watch music without discernment and awareness. Can it really be considered harmless or fun, or must we really start to consider the harm that is being done, which often extends well beyond the time we are actually listening to the music itself. In other words, how much stays in our body that we are not consciously aware of, and how does this affect us in our everyday choices…?
Thank you Tony, Johanna and Victoria, is it any wonder that the youth of today are caught up in the same energy or worse than was in Pompeii!
Victoria this is so true – a lot of the lyrics are extremely sexualised, brutal and straight forward encouraging misogyny. It is sadly a picture of the society we have created – no wonder anxiousness is on the rise along with countless other dis-eases.
I feel how awful it is that music is becoming more pornographic in the lyrics and videos. Children do emulate their idols and I would say the vast majority are getting a warped idea of love as a result.
Absolutely rachelmurtagh1, for a long time, music has been used to express emotions and a distorted kind of love that has nothing to do with true love and I know I have fallen for emotional songs big time. It is time to realise that music as we know it is completely energetically imposing on the body and that it is bad medicine.
I agree rachelmurtagh1, I hear young children singing along with songs without having any idea what it is that they are actually saying, and they are influenced by a seemingly happy tune. And videos are shown the whole day through and seen by young children who than believe that this is normal.
Very true Tony – lyrics from songs are becoming more and more focused on sex, drugs, alcohol etc., and some music videos are purely soft pornography.
The language that is acceptable in some music is so crude and as you say the videos that accompany them are often pornographic. As far as I’m aware there is no age censoring with music and music videos yet I feel these can be more shocking than films.
Even if there was censoring it would be easy to gain access to what you want through the various forms of modern technology.
Gyl, you say a great deal in this blog about the effect music can have upon us, and I agree wholeheartedly. I’ve found that as I’ve come to honour just what I may be feeling in a certain lyric, chord and/or musical structure, that there is just so much to see in regards to what’s going on in the music we listen to. It can affect us on very deep levels, and this is a topic that has barely been touched upon to date – and well deserves to be touched upon.
Could music be making us unhealthy and negatively affecting our moods and mental state? I say, absolutely ‘yes’.
And then, is there music that can confirm and celebrate who we truly are? Again, an absolute ‘yes’, evidenced by the music of Michael Benhayon & Glorious Music, Chris James, and others who deeply respect music as the healing art it can indeed be. Their music confirms all that we are, and often offers the opportunity to go deeper in our knowing, understanding of, and connection to ourselves. There is a vast amount to explore and also apply research to here, as to the true and healing (and deleterious) effects of music… Thank-you for opening up the conversation with your awesome blog.
Ditto that. Music is a force to be reckoned with, wherever we are in the world. Advertisers are all too aware of the subliminal nature of jingles and how they act to persuade. We can make similar assumptions I feel about the nature of music regarding how easily it becomes embedded and enmeshed in our bodies and brains. If that is the case, determining the source of the music – the quality of the livingness of the musician – becomes paramount. Why would I want to feed myself something that has come from anything less than clarity and harmony? Granted, we still need to move about in the world and will comes across music of all types, most of it not of our choosing. That’s where discernment and awareness comes into play – what we choose to allow in, or not!
A great point here Victoria. To highlight how the musician lives comes through the music they sing is so relevant. How many musicians are clear of emotions, in some cases they are on drugs and live a lifestyle of indulgence. How many young people look up to their idols?
It would be great if more awareness about this subject was taught in schools so at least the students had more understanding of the effects of music on their bodies.
I have noticed even if I give the music I hear out and about in the world one slight moment of recognition, sympathy or nostalgia it is in my body in an instant – changing the way I move, act and think. With Glorious Music I can align to it, the words, the sound, the tone, the texture whole heartedly and I can feel an expansion of me within the music which is incredibly profound. We walk together.
I agree Victoria, and share this from being a ‘career musician’ for many years… It was not until I truly stopped to listen and feel deeply, the effects of music on my body and being, that my awareness and discernment really started to open up – and open up widely… a process that is ongoing.
Through the Esoteric Modalities & work of Universal Medicine, this natural facility to truly feel and discern has been supported to open up – I can’t not but feel what’s going on in my body and so much more in the energetic foundation of a piece of music today.
We have much to truly open our eyes and ears to.
And yes, hear, hear Suzanne. The music of Michael Benhayon & Glorious Music indeed has shown the way at a most exemplary level. This goes way beyond any apparent genre or style – if ‘everything is energy’, then music absolutely carries an energetic package, to be discerned whether it it truly supportive and confirming of every aspect of our being and true health, or not. Glorious Music ticks every box, there is simply no question.
Reading your comment below Suzanne Cox – yes, I have found exactly that as well: sympathy and nostalgia are what open the door to a tune cycling around or popping unbidden into my head. Then I know it’s gotten in… or reactivated what has being lying dormant in my body. Now that’s an interesting phenomenon to ponder…
Well said Victoria, ‘deeply respect music as the healing art it can indeed be.’ This is so true and yet we have strolled so far away from this joyous way to be with lovingly played sound.
Thank you Gyl, the Victoria’s, Lorraine, Suzanne and Lee. Every thing is energy, therefore everything is because of energy [Serge Benhayon]. Music is not exempt from this truth! There are now many students of the Livingness who connect to their soul and produce music that leaves humanity alone and thus does not contain the emotional outplays of the musicians! Ear ear what a glorious blessing.
Yes – instead we allow ourselves to be unlovingly played around (with)!
Great article Gyl. When I was in my late teens and starting to approach my ‘angst’ years, I totally immersed myself in music. Like you so keenly express Gyl, the music fed my current woes as I gravitated to certain artists who were clearly experiencing the same issues. It felt like a drug. Music is everywhere feeding us the artists’ emotions – to be aware of the imposing emotions which enter our bodies which can transform our natural true personality and even lead us to engage in behaviours which we would not usually do, is a science and awareness all human beings should understand. I, like you, enjoy now listening to music which does not impose but is clear and connects me to the joy and essence of who I am. What a freedom.
So spot on Gina. I can relate to all of what you’ve shared here. It’s interesting too how within the angst of the music we listened to in our teenage years (and beyond) there’s often the accompanying adulation of the musician/s personality and lifestyle – and all that entails. I am thinking here particularly of artists who are abusive towards themselves and or others or who are suicidal. What awful energies for us to take on.
Well expressed Gina, you capture the essence of my experience and feelings with regards to music. I now understand that music can hook me in and change my persona, it is definitely a science that is worth exploring because as it is unseen we assume that music cannot harm, but what if what goes in our ears is no different to what enters our mouth! It’s worth a lot of consideration.
Many popular music and dance TV shows really highlight the general public attitudes to music. They want to feel the emotions in the music and movement, they demand it from the contestants, they crave it like vampires. If a singer or dancer fails to convey enough emotion they don’t score well. However once we learn to connect with ourselves on a deeper level and to feel the energetic effects of everything, including music, upon our bodies then we cannot bear the imposition of most music. The emotions become unbearably painful. It is great to have some music that is not imposing so that we can know the difference, so we can develop a new non-imposing normal. Thank you Glorious Music.
Very well said Jeanette! TV Shows like the ones you mentioned are designed to draw the audience in, by being super emotional and dramatic. This plays out in music too – sometimes when I’m listening to the radio I make a point of listening to the lyrics of the songs, and boy oh boy are they awful – like emotional roller-coasters!
I can really relate here Susie, they are not just awful they are in many ways disturbing and ridiculous.
Susie I totally agree. I am often shocked at music lyrics and I’m not talking about the obvious sexually explicit or swearing ones, but the love songs and how they depict emotional power plays or putting down an another or dependency on another. These songs are often played at schools for ‘wake and shake’ and discos.
And I understand schools do their best with only playing what they consider the most harmless songs, but they are condoning all that is being expressed in the lyrics because schools are the main educator of society’s moral code.
It’s so amazing to have Glorious Music’s music. To have music that doesn’t impose but supports me to reconnect and expand.
With other music I remember getting bored with it but with this I find listening to the songs is like the first time because the music and words, through being very soulful, hold an ever expanding depth. It’s really blown away my conception that to be deep and hold interest something has to complicated!
Absolutely Karin – I love Glorious Music’s music. The words, the feel, the sound. When I listen to it, it allows me to be, I feel an expansion – especially when I move to it.
Universal Medicine introduced to me that music can be our medicine or basically our poison. Very few want to hear this fact but it is so empowering to be aware the affect music is actually having on us.
I know what you mean about holding interest, Glorious Music is a form of music for me that I never tire of listening too, and can take my body to deeper levels of awareness without imposing and making me want to move in a way that is harmful to my body. It really is true, the beauty is in the simplicity.
I agree Vicky, to have the understanding of the healing or harming effects of music from Universal Medicine has been an eye opener and I now feel this difference when I hear music.
Yes I agree Karin, it is awesome to have Glorious Music’s music. I find I can listen to a song or album over and over again and I never get tired of it. I can feel the effects of this soulful music within my body, each song feels like a healing session in itself. I don’t use the music to make me feel better but the effects of listening to it is helps me to reconnect or deepen my connection with me.
I have always been very sensitive to music and could never listen to loud music, which I found very imposing. When the music is not imposing my body responds by going deeper within myself and allows me to connect to who I truly am.
I totally relate Amita, I especially am sensitive to the vibration of the bass coming from neighbour’s places when you are unable to hear the melody or lyrics. If music is imposing in the sense of trying to excite me or connect me with an emotional state it disturbs my ability to connect to my essence of stillness.
I’m very sensitive to this also Jenny, especially at night if I am trying to sleep – it can be quite difficult at times to remain connected to that lovely still essence within myself if the beat is quite loud as it is so imposing/forceful. Luckily where I am now, this doesn’t seem to happen, yey!
I can definitely relate here Amita, music is very imposing and can make you feel emotional and out of sorts depending on the energy in which the musician has played, song after song.
I really feel how Imposing music can be, it often feels racy or sad and if I don’t stay steady and with myself then I can allow music to affect me, my breath changes and is no longer rhythmical and gentle and my body feels crushed and sometimes my heart pounds and then I have the song going around in my head for days, it feels very harming.
The power of music – not necessarily in a good way. The world talks about the power music has and how it can evoke emotions etc in us all and applauds this. What you offer here is a deeper look into how music truly affects us and how harming (or healing) it can be.
I have always struggled with Opera and classical music, when I hear it I want to leave the room, it hurt my ears, my chest and my head and I feel like I am being crushed, it is like an assault on all my senses. Listening to Glorious Music is the complete opposite, the music just lets me be and doesn’t hurt my body, to me it feels like music for the Soul, it really is so unimposing.
I find music at the movies can be super imposing – it’s deliberately designed to hook you, excite you, create tension, suspense and a roller coaster of emotions. It can be a great exercise in how to stay with yourself and not get whipped up into the action.
The other day I had a shopping trip and was overwhelmed each time I went into a store by the loud imposing music. When a song was to stop it was almost as if people felt uncomfortable. Music has become so commonplace and to many it feels weird or awkward when it is not being played. Now throw in there everything that you have said in this blog Gyl about the effect of music on the body and the hooking emotional nature….why when this is not present do many feel uncomfortable?
Very true Gyl. Music can be so hooking, totally designed to take you on an emotional journey with the musician. It feels so imposing on me and my body and takes me away from my truth. My son also is very clear with music – if we have the radio on and a song comes on he will say ‘that’s too rough mummy’ and ask me to change it.
Great point Gyl that the key lies in the intention or motivation behind the creation of the music in the first place. Was it produced to dump or purge unresolved emotions? Was it produced to gain fame or wealth or recognition? Was it produced to escape from an emptiness or a deep sadness? If we think about it would we notice and accept these ulterior motives if we were having a conversation with someone? Why is it any different then just because these words and intentions are attached to a tune?
Growing up, especially getting ready for school I would always have a song or tune playing in my head and I used to wonder why was this, others have also told me about songs they have playing in their heads, like when you are listening to a song on the radio and even though the song has stopped it still carries on playing in the mind. That alone says there is something about music we need to be more aware of, and as harmless as it may seem it is actually the complete opposite and really quite harming.
Growing up never once did I try to discern the type of music I was listening to. I would constantly play heavy metal and would impose this on all others around me with little care of the impact this could be having. When I first heard music by Glorious Music I thought “no way, that is nothing like the music I like” but later I heard it being played again and I felt the depth of the music and how it supported me to feel more of me. Since that day I have not felt to play any other music. Occasionally I will flick the radio on but I do not enjoy it. I have found, especially in heavy metal music there is such an imposition, I can honestly say that to me, it feels so imposing. What’s interesting is everyone around me who didn’t like heavy metal would tell me how heavy and depressing it was and still I didn’t want to stop to feel the truth of that for myself.
Certain music hooked me in for most of my life and I know its going to take a long time for me to be totally clear of that hook even though I seldom choose to listen to it anymore.
A great article about music. What I have also noticed is that when you ask for it to be turned down in public places, it does not take long for the sound to creep up again. I find this quite revealing that emotional music assists in buying and selling of products!
It was lovely to read your blog Gyl and to realise that, although I feel the imposition of all the music that is constantly offered to us as we go about our lives, I have not stopped to feel how deeply that impacts on my body. I will take time to do this and observe the effects as it feels true that if I am finding the sound of the music imposing on my ear there will be other parts of me that are re-acting in some way. As you say it is beautiful to find music that is unimposing and holds us in a way that leaves us free to feel for ourselves.
There are so many times where I used to get lost in music, in tv shows and movies. When driving or on my occasional trips into the gym I would get swept away by the music – yet before being asked to consider what was going on with music I never gave it a second thought. Now I’ve observed how my entire day, what I do, how I feel and my every action can be influenced by what I listen to. For example if that music is deeply emotional I may turn to food or drama to keep the sensation going. Before Serge Benhayon I was in the rough sea being battered around but thinking I was on dry land. What we listen to is something that has more affect on us than I used to want to admit.
I have been noticing lately that when I get in the car, depending on what mood I am in, I will want to put on certain music. I know that the music will pull me further away and sometimes that is what I am wanting. I have now had experience with how that feels when I do succumb and make a different choice. But it was an interesting learning experience with the pull of music and it’s effect. Depending on which music I choose, it can be to stay with myself or to do the opposite.
It is easy to discount the huge influence and impact music can have on us. Allowing ourselves to focus on how we feel while or after listening to music can be very revealing.
If you don’t only take music which is played on the radio but also consider the music which different nationalities and ethnic groups play you can see a significant difference, better to say hear and feel. As far as I have experienced as I grew up multicultural each music preferred in a country reflects where the people are at. There is totally emotional music, music about suffering of lost love, there is aggressive music and sexual one. In Europe you can observe this very well at the European Song Contest ‘Eurovision’. As the name says it gives you a vision of what each country prefers to listen to and live as the people can vote directly by phone.
Consider also in the past music which accompanied men into wars. Preparing for something which is horrible.
Also consider the big music festivals and what they reflect, how you truly feel and what’s going on. Music can hold and direct masses. But in what quality, that’s the question.
So if music has an impact on us and our lives should we not distinguish what we are listening to?
Sonja, you make some great points. Yes let’s ask the question of how does music control masses of people, and from what energy, what intention, and to what end? I once saw a film of a big rock concert where a component of the audience got out of control and violent (I think drugs were suspected as being involved). The band ‘changed their tune’, aware of what was going on, and sang new words to try to calm the audience down, successfully if I remember correctly. So those musicians held the emotions of the people in their hands. I was also once at a big private party in another country. It was loud. There was a music band, and there was marijuana – a very severe offence in that country. The police arrived, called in by an annoyed neighbour. I stood quietly in a corner and watched what happened. Instead of packing up the party and stopping the music, the band began changing their words, singing the story of the arrival of the police, in a funny but ironic way. The band did not want to back down, and the party-goers did not either, but all stood their ground, without offering violence or insults to the police. I left the room and went out to the bottom of the garden, not sure if the guns would come out! To my surprise, the police did not push the issue although they could have arrested everyone quite legitimately. It felt as if the confident, assertive, yet non-violent and cheeky stance of the band ‘got into’ the partying people and made them the same way.The police seemed to be put a bit off balance and uncertain by it. In the end, they requested that the music be turned way down (which was done; the band stopped playing), and left without arresting anyone. Makes you wonder, hey?
“I’ve learned that love can only be something that truly comes from within me first, not from anyone else filling me up.” So true Gyl. I used to always look outside for confirmation of who I am and to ‘make me feel good’, whether it was music, food or relationships etc. Now, like you, I have learned something different and the effect on my life is profound.
Gyl, you are so spot on, music is everywhere we go, it is as if no one can stand being in silence so they use music to break it. There are definitely places where silence to be with yourself is far more preferable, because when they play the music I can feel it trying to take me away from being just with me. Especially in a waiting room, but just about everywhere else too.
I used to enjoy music to really indulge in emotions. All that did however was to magnify them in my body and to spin in thoughts that would cement that emotion more deeply. It gave me permission to wallow or to get stimulated, never really to connect and deal with whatever was going on for me. Nowadays I find I am less likely to get hooked because I have realised how much I dislike being taken out of feeling connected to my body and how much I dislike getting emotional.
Thank you Gyl for another great blog and the reminder that music is everywhere, which is something that I had come to accept as just background noise along with traffic, people’s conversations etc, until yesterday when my body was jolted into awareness. I was in a store, half listening to a song while examining the merchandise, when I felt as if my body had been thrown across the room. I then remembered that I had been listening with unawareness of the true emotion of the song that was playing. A great marker and a reawakening that most music is not made with love and the sweet clarity of music that is made with love flows through my body leaving no residual emotions.
Thanks Gyl for sharing your blog, music or what we term music to be is played every where for all different reasons we use music to convey a feeling whether to stimulate, excite, elicit emotions or to get lost. It’s like moving to a rhythm that demands and orders you to be a certain way. What a blessing to have music that has been presented through Universal Medicine that just allows you to be and move as who you are and to enjoy your inner beauty that is allowed to be expressed openly through movement.
I can relate to becoming very sensitive to the imposition of music that is heavily loaded with the emotions of the musicians or songwriters. It is enough to not get over involved in other’s emotions and dramas in everyday life without picking up more shopping at the supermarket or exercising at the gym etc.
Love it Gyl, yes the difference is definitely palpable. I am inspired by your observational experiment, and instead of reacting to the music, to be aware of everything it is doing, and instead, hold ourselves. Inspiring!
Awesome Blog Gyl.
I have been ‘noting’ music and song lyrics for a long time now and it has always concerned me that we sing about;
Emotional sad… ‘come and save me’ love tunes.
‘I want your body.. you are mine’ lusting song themes.
‘I am nothing withOut you’…. tunes. The words are rarely empowering and the message is clear…. Apparently we are nothing without someone desiring us first. 😦
This of course is deeply harming to listen to and untrue. It’s brainwashing and it is what we hear and grow up with every single day. Junk food for the ears.
Thank Heavens for the NEW ERA music masters like Michael Benhayon, Chris James and Rachel Kane that have re-ignited the ‘glorious’ expression of music where it is felt and heard as inspiring and evolutionary. 🙂
I can relate to this, ages ago when I was in a shop two children were singing the lyrics to a song that was really popular at the time, the lyrics were sung by a man about a woman’s body .. so they were really demeaning lyrics anyway but to hear two children singing along to this was quite disturbing and felt so very wrong.
I would also say I got completely sucked in by emotional music and enjoined a drama that was not my own but one I could relate to. But I would also choose the music for the purpose of going into a mood that was familiar but very dark. Now I know there is very little music that is not imposing on me, when I hear it I really appreciate it.
I love the gym I go to in Goonellabah as they have a CD of Michael Benhayon’s dance music so I put it on and do my exercise routine. The other women in the gym seem to love it I have never had any-one complain. What I suggest is that you get one of his CD’s and donate it to your gym.
True Mary Louise it’s possible for us to find ways to gently change things. A great idea!
The things people are saying on this blog have to be said, because no-one else ‘out there’ is saying them! And yet the indicators are all around. People with earphones plugged in, avoiding meeting anyone else’s eyes, while listening to songs that talk about being lonely, unheard, desperate to connect, etc. Such a paradox! Why aren’t we seeing it? What if everyone turned off the music that’s being used to feel emotions as a substitute for feeling other people, and actually started feeling other people directly?
I agree diannetrussell… Such a parody. People listening to music which confirms misery in the world in every word or note rather than true love and freedom which is what we all really want.
Yes Gretel, it confirms misery in the world, without people even noticing that’s happening. I was sitting in the doctor’s waiting room this morning, and they always have music playing throughout the medical centre. It sounded soothing and background-ish to the ears, being easily ignored by the patients reading their magazines, but the words were all about misery and lack of trust and failure. So how about the energy of the person who wrote that, and sings it? Then there’s the music while you wait on hold on the phone, and in elevators, and in restaurants, and at swimming pools… hardly a place free of someone else’s choice of music, that we cannot prevent from entering us, willing or not….
I can understand people wanting to block out the world in the way they do but it isn’t an answer to anything in truth. I agree, we long for a true connection with others and indeed with ourselves but shutting others out simply confirms the loneliness.
Gyl great blog to call out the insidiousness of most music, it is indeed toxic to us and I was also sucked into music in a big way…..now I am very selective to what music that I choose to play and thank the great heavens for Glorious Music and Chris James who are bringing back true music with the healing and magic that it offers all.
How true Gyl that our bodies do know what kinds of music are harmful to us if we are very honest with ourselves. I have found that the transition from enjoying certain music to finding it impossible to listen to anymore, happened because of being more loving and gentle to the body, and therefore, the body’s messages became clearer.
Great Blog Gyl, often the gym I go to plays the music extremely loud and instantly as soon as I walk in there I can feel the impact it has on my body and how imposing and empty it feels.
This used to affect me a lot in the past but now I still ask for music to be turned down if needed but have also found if I just go very still in my body and just allow myself to feel it ,it does not have that “hooking” effect and I can do what I need to do.
At school my ballet teacher used to say ‘Do what the music tells you’. That simple phrase for me now holds a more sinister meaning – what energy is running us when we listen to the music that is generally ‘out there’?
What I have experienced is that music that is free of emotions and has been made with and is performed with love is a very powerful support to allow myself to open up my body, let go of emotions and stress and connect back to myself.
Thank you for this Gyl. It will be very interesting for me to observe the further subtleties of how music affects my every day life. After being an avid music listener/fan of many artists and genres, I now choose to listen only to music I don’t feel imposes – and from which I know the integrity and love is complete. I know how other music feels in my body too, and no different to the food that I eat, I don’t want anything in my body that makes me feel anything less than the amazingness I am.
Once music like that of Michael Benhayon’s is heard, you naturally don’t want to listen to the ‘other stuff.’ You become highly aware how imposing it is.
Yes I agree Coleen. Michael Benhayon’s music actually feels light and expansive, as though it awakens something inside… and once that happens the other music is exposed for often being heavy, emotional and manipulative.
Yes, over time I have begun to avoid the type of music that hurts or feels imposing. I have noticed that I can actually feel worse after listening to it or have a song stuck in my head but at the same time not wanting it there. So beautiful to find music that helps me feel more of me and songs I can actually sing to and sound good! Afterwards I just feel me, and that’s great.
For there to be music made with love for all humanity to hear holding us all equally without any imposition and void of self gain and promotion, now that is gold.
Awesome blog Gyl. Music literally is everywhere; school, shops, the TV, the radio – even the supermarket! It is almost, if not impossible to avoid it. Being a teenager, I’m very exposed to trending tunes, and the pop culture. In my experience and opinion, the kind of things we listen to is appalling – a large majority of ‘popular’ songs are about sex, and if not that then drinking, partying, drugs, and so forth.. And this is seen as completely normal – parents are perfectly happy letting their children listen to songs about these kind of things. A change is definitely, definitely needed.
Totally agree Suzie listening to this kind of music just makes self abuse and self harm trendy and the energy of the music actually makes it easier and supports this lovelessness. I remember being a teenager and listening to certain music that I didn’t even like but it was popular so I pretended that I like it too.
Yes Susie the topics of popular songs are so blatant, and can be very crude, it’s amazing they haven’t attracted more parental guidance. Some lyrics are so incredibly dark and yet people choose to fill their heads and bodies with this and think it’s actual cool and or necessary. I think there was a bit of a movement in the 50’s to stop the progress off the popular music of the day that was emerging… i.e. rock and roll. Certain groups where concerned it would corrupt the teenagers. While no doubt they were poo-hooed, on reflection they where probably onto something.
Music does seem to be everywhere we go. Since reading this blog I have been noticing more how shops and my hairdressers use music. I asked my hairdresser about the music and does he ever switch it off and his response was that he prefers it even louder when the blowdryers and people are talking, which from experience I know can be quite deafening. I find the best time to go is first thing during the week when business is slow and a lot quieter.
Yes, it is everywhere, Julie. I always ask my hairdresser, beauty therapist, dentist and the dog’s vet to turn it off. Then we get to connect and talk properly.
Great point Coleen most music I have noticed when talking to another actually stops us from truly connecting with each other. Music I feel adds a lot to the illness and disease of our world.
So true! The music is so imposing that it can limit the connection. I often ask people to turn music off too. Otherwise I feel like I’m battling with the music and that it is constantly at me.
I love this Coleen – trying to connect with another person with music on does not honour the process at all.
Yes, music is everywhere, I have noticed that too, in shops, shopping centers, in lifts. It is like you can’t be left alone to just be with yourself when you are shopping… and have you noticed that sometimes there’s an ‘awkward’ moment when music stops?… Perhaps what is awkward is the fact that we forget to check in (because we are distracted by many things in life) to know our true selves, and know what THAT feels like, so when there is silence, we are unfamiliar with ourselves and alas, an awkward moment arises. Food is also the same as music… substitution to allowing us to connect and feel a true sense of ourselves.
This is a very important topic you have raised Gyl. I remember going to night clubs when I was younger and getting totally absorbed in the music, disconnecting from my body and allowing the music to take me away from any reality. I used it to escape from life. Now, with certain music like Michael Benhayon’s which is clear and made for people not for personal gain nor recognition, I am inspired to be fully present and it supports me to feel what ever is to be felt and I love listening to it because it is truly joyful
You are so right, this is an important topic and one we should all be aware of. Nearly all music is not co-created to inspire or let you be fully present in your body or non imposing. Instead it is created to take you away from being present with yourself and your body. I can really relate to what you have shared about escaping in night clubs. I would feel this the whole time and would also feel really racy in my body not still and lovely but no one talked about music this way .. that is until Serge Benhayon did and I knew then what he was saying was true from my experience; but how amazingly refreshing it is to see what is really going on. Awesome.
Coming back to this article I can feel how easy it can be to get lost in music when we are seeking distraction or numbness, I find that music on a whole is very emotional and I feel quite out of sorts after listening to it, I find I have to be very aware of myself and my actions when music is around.
Aminatumi I agree. In fact if I am not truly connected to myself first, then music hooks me in…. it is very seductive and because of this it can manipulate my mood and attitude. Not so Innocent!
Agree aminatumi, I’ve experienced the same.
What a phenomenal subject to open up, as the amount of comments here reflects in such a short space of time. Music is obviously something that affects everyone greatly, we are brought up with it starting with lullabies as a baby, choir practise and music lessons at school, concerts and buying our first CD (or vinyl as they were in my day) as a teenager, and going to concerts and nightclubs and having the music ringing in your ears stopping you from sleeping! Music is something that many people can’t seem to live without, always there as a background noise. Why is it that people are so afraid of the silence, choosing instead the distraction and emotional response that some music engenders, could we agree that somehow music can be an addiction and a means to keep us away from connecting to ourselves…?
That is so true Sandra, silence seems to be a threat to many people. I feel it is because then we really have to pay attention to ourselves, and often don’t like what we feel. Putting on music as a distraction actually takes us away from the feeling we don’t want to feel and replaces it with an emotion that in some way comforts us. Then we never really discover who we truly are. Whereas if we play music that is not intended to rouse the emotions or control our responses, we go straight there — to the heart and soul.
You are so right Doug about our need to be plugged into something that normally is a white umbilical cord that is connected to our ears. They are everywhere you look. It is like being in the womb again… blissfully unaware of the world around them. Self mediated on the sound of their choice and comfortably numb.
Or even more ironically I would use music to pretend I was feeling those emotions, like exaggerating what was being said in the songs, when in truth I wasn’t feeling those things at all. Insidious really.
Great point Sandra. I recently became aware of the level to which I have avoided stillness and the same applies to silence. There seems to be a drive within us to keep moving and not be still, just as there is this apparent fear of silence. Having become aware of these factors I have consciously brought both silence and stillness into my daily rhythm and feel the benefits to my wellbeing are huge. I agree with you, music has been a way of keeping us from connecting to ourselves.
Gyl I feel that music in general (meaning pretty much everything that’s ever been produced) has the same effect, which is, IT DICTATES TO US WHAT TO FEEL. Music often changes the way that we feel. Temporarily. An up beat tune may cause me to feel merry for the time that it plays but it is a false lift. Another tune may make me reflective, temporarily but it all just messes with us and leads us away from who we truly are. I agree that there is a tiny amount of music that has been made that leads us back to feeling who we are in truth and that is all that I am prepared to listen to now because I don’t want to leave myself any more, not even for the length of a song.
Very true, Alexis: most music is a dictator of mood. I can recall using it consciously to that effect!
Me too….using it to indulge even further into the sadness and other emotions. Playing the same songs over and over thinking that they were your favourite but really it was just the right song to fester that emotion.
Me too. There were times when I was quite happy sitting on the porch listening to music that “pulled my heart strings”. At the time I convinced myself that the music was helping me to feel what was inside, but really it was just emotional indulgence and I enjoyed lounging in that pool of soppy emotion.
A bit like the allowing the thoughts in our head Simone, to fester and play over and over to indulge in emotions.
So true Alexis, I find that it can be so easy to leave myself to an old familiar tune that I have a particular association with. But it just isn’t worth it, to get carried away for a moment, only to find that what I left behind is me. It’s just not worth it.
It certainly does dictate moods. It can also make you dwell on certain emotions, if sad already, play sad music, not explore why you’re sad.
While reading your comment kehinde2012, I am remembering how in the past when I was feeling sad I would play ‘Candle in the Wind’, which just added to my sadness, and allowed me to avoid feeling the reason for why I was sad in the first place.
I know we used to use music as the great separator. You would decide whether a person was cool by their taste in music. I see this all the time. People try to out cool each other and the workplace is bombarded with not only the emotional load the music carries, but the competition between who is playing it and their need to be identified by the music. No wonder they don’t want to turn it off and feel what is really going on.
This is so true Amanda, ‘you would decide if a person was cool by their taste in music’, I really remember this going to university, I didn’t really listen to music and didn’t have any favourite bands, other students were astonished by this and I felt very uncool, so I chose some bands that I could say I liked so I could list the names when people asked (I didn’t actually like the music), I never really understood why liking certain bands was such a big thing. It has been really lovely discovering Glorious Music, because I genuinely enjoy listening to their albums.
great blog Gyl love what you say it is so true. I destroyed all the music I had years ago back when it left me with only a couple of CD’s but now there is a great range from Glorious Music and Chris James
I have to say that I have removed a number of cd’s from my collection too. It got to the point that I realised how awful they made me feel when I played them so they had to go.
One of the cupboards left untouched and rarely opened at home is full of vinyls (singles and album), going back to the 60’s, CDs, and tape cassettes. I no longer play them, but feel an attachment to them. I need to explore more what it is I’m hanging on to and perhaps this presents for me the next phase of clearing and decluttering
And don’t forget all the music online as well – I recently culled a great deal when I transferred over to my new computer. De-cluttering with music is a great thing.
Thanks Sarah, for the tip. I already feel the lightness that awaits me when I finally dump those records, tapes and CDs.
So true Gyl, the intensity of most music out there is like an assault on the body…and sometimes it can sound harmless but I often feel now there is so much more behind it that we tend to just ignore.
I agree Sara. The benefit we get is that music makes it very easy to space out – to get away from how we feel and where we are. Having five minutes respite between school lessons seems worthwhile but you do pay a heavy price by absorbing all these emotions from the musicians.
Intensity is a good word to describe it Sara, I can hear music now and when it is switched off it is such a relief. That alone shows to me the powerful effect of music. As Gyl has shared it can be easy to get lost or immersed in music but it is certainly worth being more discerning as to what we are getting when we hear a song, there is a lot more going on, coming through the songs, than I used to realise.
Have you ever been in a supermarket where there is music playing, and you get to used to it you don’t hear it anymore, and only notice it when it stops?!
The fact that music had been playing in the first place becomes conspicuous in its absence.
Great observation Sandra. I can extend this to not just the supermarket but in general. I used to listen to music a lot. It was not until I had a break from music that I could then start to feel what impact it was having on me and my life. It’s like dairy or gluten, we don’t really notice the effect until we give the body the space without it so that the awareness of what the body is feeling can be felt again.
So true Sara. I remember being in clubs and trying to find a quiet corner as the loud music felt like an assault on the body. Sometimes I felt like the party pooper at that time but now I realise my body spoke the truth!
I understand what you say about how the music feels on the body Gyl. I use to walk inside the Skating forum, when it was too cold outside to enjoy a walk and there was no loud music playing. But then they started playing the music all day long so that put the dampers on enjoying a walk there.
This is such an important discussion as how many of us truly consider the effect music has on us? For many years I was in bands, gigging regularly, recording etc. and the main goal was to get people to deeply relate to what we were doing. There were many other sides to this – trying to gain recognition and acceptance to name but 2, but if someone expressed how they had been emotionally touched by our music, that was the pinnacle of it all. This was a true fan who would then come with us on the journey and be there through thick and thin, spreading the word. Having stepped away from this way of expressing with music, I can now feel how set up the whole thing was – all of us just feeding each other’s needs in some way or another. The majority of the songs we played were cathartic and emotional which is basically just dumping all your rubbish in someone else’s lap – although many times harder to get out the stains and the smell once it’s been in the bin for a while! Why do we see this as a great thing? Even while I was still in the music scene I had stopped listening to music – I found it physically painful most of the time but I couldn’t get enough of listening to my own recordings – it was like a drug going over the same emotions time and time and time again. And that’s it in a nutshell really – we choose not to acknowledge how harming it is to take on the dumped emotions of others because it numbs us from what’s really going on so we don’t have to feel the mess we/Humanity are in. It makes us feel better to know that there are others who are feeling just as sad, depressed, lonely, manic…whatever it may be – as we are, and then we don’t have to deal with that because we accept it as being normal. In effect we give up and join in.
‘If you can’t beat them join them’ sort of mentality Lucy. There is another pressure I have felt too which says ‘so many people can’t be wrong’ – but then once upon a time we all aligned with the thinking that the world is flat – so maybe it is possible.
Well said Lucy. This line particularly stuck out from me ” I can now feel how set up the whole thing was” .
“It’s music that allows my body the freedom to expand, and it calls me to connect more deeply within myself and to all that I am.” Thank you for this Gyl, I find that my body responds very readily to go deeper when I listen to music that’s been composed and played and produced in a way that does not impose and simply lets the listener respond.
It is astounding what music artists get away with these days – so provocative and debasing of basic human integrity and this is without looking at all of the emotional hooks in other types of music too – bringing this to wider attention is much called for as the impact on our bodies and the people around us is very damaging.
I actually walked out of a shop this week because the music was so intrusive,the speaker was right above the changing rooms.
Great point to ask what are we really listening to? What is really being said? What are we being fed?!
if we don’t connect to our bodies, we don’t feel and won’t know.
I agree music can be quite intense and it is interesting how we can blend it out and not hear it anymore after some time – however it kind of lulls you in and then the tune keeps playing in your head over and over again long after you have heard it.
That’s so true Judith, strange how music can be so invasive to the body, it lingers on and on, reverberating around and around, and once it is in the body there is no way of getting away from it, you’ve been hooked.
That’s why I love the music of Michael Benhayon, it is clear and safe and doesn’t impose on my body.
True Judith – we can ‘tune out of the tune’ so to speak so we don’t hear it anymore but the energy of the music can still impact on us.
Just back from ‘Marks and Spencers’ and a conversation in the car about precisely this. The music in the shop was painful, empty, not particularly musical and actually quite depressing. I found it hard to be around. I agree with you Gyl, we can feel what music and other sounds do in our bodies – something I have learned to do over the past few years attending Chris James, Sounds Wonderful events. In fact we know sound is a vibration and can be felt because this has been proven. So the energy of music is something we should consider carefully. If a song were a plate of food, would we still eat it?
What a great blog. I too feel that most music is very imposing and hurts my body when I listen to it. I actually really became aware of this fact when I first heard the music of Michael and Emmalee Benhayon, which is so beautiful and does not impose and makes me feel how amazing and beautiful I am. I never before thought of the fact music could be in this way, music that supports you to connect to yourself.
Gyl, I can relate to what you are sharing, music is everywhere and we can’t really escape it, so it is wise to pay attention to it and become aware of the effects it has on our body and moods.
Awesome blog about a important topic, Gyl. In all honesty I really dislike when shopping with my daughter we have to go into this loud music area’s. It makes me feel unwell. I used to think there was something wrong with me for not being into music and not buying music. I love the quietness in restaurants or at other places where I also want to talk. Now that I’ve heard different music, Glorious Music, that leaves me be and does’t feel like it smashes my body, I love listening to music.
Yes Monika, this music also smashes the young people that are working in these shops with the extremely loud music blaring at them all day. They really suffer as I have made a point of asking them how they cope. They all have said that they have to block the music out in order to work there. I always encourage them to rally together and make a stand as it really is an occupational health and safety hazard. To me it is utterly evil as it sets these kids up to have to check out. This combined with video games, played from a very earlier age and known to effect the pathways of the brain, is bound to produce a generation that will find dementia at earlier stages of life that ever before known.
It is not new that music is used to create a mood, to enhance an experience or to stimulate a response. It is a game used by companies to encourage spending, is this manipulation? No different to placing chocolate and sweets at a childs height to evoke a situation in the supermarket. Nor is it any different to product placement or reward cards that record your purchases then used for ‘personal discounts” to make you feel special and sell the infomation for $’s. I’m sure there are other tricks with colours and smells. At the end of the day our presence trumps all the tricks, well at least I think it does.
Such a big topic to explore and if music is like food to the ears, what are we consuming and digesting? When random lines from songs pop into my head, I often stop and wonder, ‘why that line?’ What was the message in that line that I swallowed…..did I fully digest/understand it? Why did I keep it in my head all this time? Am I ready to let it go? Exploring how sound feels in my body is something I’m reconnecting with, realising that my whole body can hold sound, so it makes me consider that what sound I put in is crucial.
I find that many of the popular singers and musicians nowadays leave a lot to be desired in their choices in life. Girls, drugs, crime, enormous amount of arrogance, tattoos. This list is endless. These are not the role models I am looking for for my two girls. What Glorious Music and Chris James offer is amazing and are incredible role models for all our children.
So true Gyl, Feeling the music beyond what the beat and lyrics are trying to portray opens a world of insight into what is really being expressed…and on the whole it is not pretty.
I have had some interesting reactions to music in the past. On a physical level my heart gets knocked out of rhythm and I end up with heart palpitations if the music is too loud and the base beat is thumping, then I need to lie down flat before it stops. For me listening to the esoteric music played by Glorious Music and the lovely words sung with such meaning are so beautiful and my experience is joyful instead of painful! Thank you Gyl for sharing your experience.
Gyl, I have been aware for a while now the effect music was having on my body – it hurt! I’ve also noticed its increase, as you too have observed, everywhere. There seems no public place without music and its getting louder and more imposing. What is going on in society? But for me it is an opportunity to stay with myself, my rhythm – even in the supermarket I wonder if I am the only one being affected as I move to stay as connected as possible to myself and finish my shop. Thank goodness for Glorious Music, I can breathe and move freely. Thank you both.
Music is everywhere, yet how much do we discern the energetic quality of what we are hearing. The more we attune to the reaction of our body to music the more we can actually determine if the music is something that feels right to listen to or not. Much of the music I hear on the radio is not something I want to hear or let be absorbed into me. When I used to listen to music it was often for emotional reasons such as relief and catharsis, yet I never discerned as I do now. I now consider it much like eating a bar of chocolate, it tastes good in the mouth but the after effects are not that great for the body. Thanks Gyl for writing on a subject I am slowly coming to terms with.
Most know how music like heavy metal and such like make us feel, the barrage against our bodies of that, but what about the sweet and nice or haunting music which for sure also affects us.
I used to be very taken in by it and would find myself getting wistful or ‘longing for something’, as if what I had in my life wasn’t enough, which would make me feel sad.
If I was a bit down I would use/choose music which kept me in that kind of space, usually something melancholic and there is plenty of that about.
Once I became more discerning of energy, the energy of sound could no longer fool me and I found I couldn’t listen to most of my music collection no matter how I tried, it just felt horrible in my body. It is great to be free of such entrapment now, no longer held in any way by music which influences mood.
What I have learnt through the amazing support of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine is to not re-act to what I hear as then bang it’s in my body and I feel worse than I did by simply honouring what I felt and nominating it in the first place, e.g this music feels needy, aggressive , emotional, and then getting on with my day. When I do this, whether it is with music, a tone of voice, or how a person drives, then no longer am I held by whatever emotion is being expressed through them. I am able to let go of reaction and judgement, which allows much more room for clarity and understanding of a person and what may be going on in their life or that day.
That is great Gyl, thanks for sharing.
Wow, love what you have expressed here Gyl. It is all about accepting and understanding where someone or society is at. If this is truly felt then there is no reacting, judgement or absorbing of situations. I feel like singing out FREEDOM. This feels like freedom of all the complication I use to live with. I now simply observe situations (still a work in progress) which allows me to feel what is truly happening and then this is more supportive for myself and others.
As a former professional dancer music and beats were everything for me. To realise that you can get fooled if you don’t feel and just “enjoy” a tune was and still is huge for me.
If you truly feel the most fancy beat is actually feeling really imposing.
How normal it is in this world to escape from life, hurts and the presence through music and who did ever question this?
Top blog Gyl and one that I could relate to in the past. Music is very powerful and can change your mood instantly as it evokes memories of past pain, sadness or joy. Thanks to the presentations of Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon, I am a lot more aware how music affects me and now, if I am listening to the radio and certain songs come on, I switch it off.
You have raised a very important subject here as music is in every aspect of our lives, it’s all around and has enormous influence over our thinking, and our bodies… its almost like a subliminal intrusion with messages and sounds that pound at us, appealing to our emotions, or even our intellect, igniting our aggression and anger, depending on what our tastes and appeals are…I know in my experience I still hear music from my young days where I had a story going on at the time and that same music/song would ignite these old memories and the emotions that were there at the time…in that moment and feeling in my body what is going on,Ii choose to not give it any energy or feed into it because I can now feel how awful it actually feels and makes me feel less than how I am feeling in the present…which is often great!
This description of how music plays with us is spot on Karoline. Thank you for sharing your experience so clearly.
Hi Karoline what you have expressed here . . .”I know in my experience I still hear music from my young days where I had a story going on at the time and that same music/song would ignite these old memories and the emotions that were there at the time . .” . . . is exactly why most people hold on to their precious music, no matter how damaging it is, as it is like holding on to an old photo album of times gone by. We all can remember the indulgence of regurgitating old hurts and old victories that we kept buried in the body to pull out in a dull moment to entertain us and keep us from actually stepping out of our comfort zone into a fuller expression of who we truly are.
Thank you Gyl.
This reminds me of about 10 years ago – when I used to use music as something that understood my emotions. I used the love songs of someone looking to be filled as a constant reminder that I felt empty.
And you are so right that most of them are all about something outside of themselves completing us. Its crazy to think how sucked in I was – and how I identified with these songs.
I’m far from that now, but the music hasn’t changed – it still talks about the same stuff – waiting for the next person to get drawn in….
In my experience the music nowadays is more seductive and enticing and far more damaging in its subtleness with its ‘catchy’ tunes and ‘good looking’ singers. But just scratch the surface a little and you can see the mess they are all in and they are sharing this mess with everyone with every note they sing. It is quite disgraceful really!
True Robyn – there is a lot more ‘glamour and illusion’ in singing now – and there are so many more award shows associated with it, plus the cross over of singers appearing in movies. So there is much bigger emphasis on the fame and fortune factor rather than who they are. They are no longer celebrated for the music they can bring but the recognition they can get.
Gyl what you’ve written echoes my own experience. Most public venues have a constant stream of music. But gyms reach a different level of noise pollution. It’s not just noise levels but type of music played overly emotional and sexual too. The choices open to me were to continue using the gym, but find ways to block out the music, find a different gym (this one is five minutes from my home), or not go at all. I asked gym management if the volume could be turned down, they did. I suggested they had silent gym sessions with no music played at all as some people liked to move to silence, they were less convinced of this. I feel if more people expressed how they felt about the volume and type of music played, they may begin to listen. I now choose to exercise at home. An alternative is to take headphones and listen to inspiring music ( like Glorious Music) or talks. Thankfully, swimming pools are largely music free, though one University pool I use out of London plays music. Again I questioned them, why I asked? They weren’t able to give me a valid answer. Keep swimming pools music free!
I like the silent gym idea Kehinde2012 – then people can exercise to their own rhythm and not the one imposed on them by the music.
Yes Richard it would lovely.
An awesome blog, Gyl. I used to be so identified with music and prided myself on the breadth of my tastes, and the obscure songs I could find and play for others. Now when I listen to music I used to it can give me a massive headache and I have trouble getting through an entire song without feeling uncomfortable.
What has changed is that I no longer am looking for recognition from others in the music I listen to, and I allow myself to feel what music is doing and saying rather than just allowing it to ‘happen’ to me. As a result, I have become much more discerning about what I listen to, and I have found that when I feel myself ‘craving’ a song (usually one from my past) that there is something else going on with me that I need to look at.
This is a big subject thanks for bringing it up Gyl. My relationship with music has also changed dramatically over the last few years when I let myself feel how music was effecting me. I was one who had invested a lot of time and money in having quite an extensive collection of albums, cd’s and downloads and so it was a hard thing for me to come to terms with the fact that most of what I was listening to, or invested in was actually harming me.
It makes me wonder too Kev, what exactly had I been investing in all of these years when spending thousands of dollars on a growing music collection. If we are saying that certain music is harmful to the body (which I know it is) then what I’d been buying was an audio library no different to a fridge stocked full with doughnuts and cakes… just ready management tools to consume whenever I needed to avoid something I didn’t want to be aware of.
I agree Gyl, I have felt how horrible music can feel to my body, and it does sometimes feel like it tries to hoodwink me into thinking a certain way. Great to be aware.
One of the places I find music invasive and disturbing is in restaurants when I am eating a meal. Usually it is too loud, so that conversation is difficult, and then very often it either has a heavy beat, or is gushingly romantic. Either is a distraction and interference, and eating and communication become a strain and difficult. What are we swallowing with our food? The emotions the cafe impose on us through playing the music. I am sure the body does not appreciate this. I love when a cafe does not play music and I can enjoy my meal in beautiful silence or quiet conversation, and really respect myself and the food I am eating. A great blog, Gill, it calls into question the motivations behind the continual playing of music in public places.
Another one of these places is the night club. I have never been a fan of them and really struggle with the notion that you can truly ‘meet’ someone in such an environment. To be honest, the whole energy of a night club seems to go against making any kind of real connection with another person in my view and the type of music, the volume and the energy are a big part of that.
Thanks for broaching this rarely discussed fact about music Gyl. I used to use music to soothe my daily woes and ‘lift me’ but eventually I realised it was like a medication that got rid of the symptoms whilst suppressing the underlying undealt with issues that caused the woes in the first place. My music collection was like a drug cabinet filled with every kind of drug (music) my emotional state could need to drown sorrows or induce elation depending on my mood whilst unbeknownst to me lacing me with more of the same emotion. As you say when we re-learn to choose music from our body we start to find that most of what people listen to is void and empty of true love.
Love what you share here regarding the effects music has on us. I used to go to a little gym about 11 years ago now, I used to enjoy it, had a personal trainer who ran the gym with her husband. There was no music and we had a lovely connection. Then the business grew somewhat and they moved into slightly bigger premises. Music was introduced but it was not on all of the time. Occasionally it would be the usual loud imposing music that is played at most gyms now, but my trainer did not really like it herself and either turned it down very low or mostly turned it off when I was there.
But of course, business grew exponentially and as they grew, then the use of the imposing [horrible to me] music was played much more. That was what the clients wanted. Eventually they built a big building of their own, the whole atmosphere changed, blaring, pumping music and completely imposing energy took over and I could no longer put up with any of it. For the business owners I guess they regarded it as success. But what effect was it truly having on their clients? I have not been able to go to a gym since.
It seems we are all aware how music penetrates into us, how powerful its influence can be – hence its deliberate use for marketing and ambience, because we know it works. We can’t see it (yet), but if the sound was a group of tiny, tiny molecules that are able to seep into my skin, into my being, I definitely would be very choosy in what I listen to, just like I would with food.
Actually Fumiyo, our particles are exchanging with other particles in our environment all of the time whether we like it or not so this is an important topic and is possible why the onslaught of music is so extensive. To counter this assault I have come to the conclusion that the more we make our every move, sound and action in and about true harmony the more we are able to make a real stand against the de-harmonising sounds that are forever there designed to keep humanity on the back foot.
Awesome blog and definitely something to discuss, feel, sense and learn. From my experience I have felt how music actually takes me away from me. It makes me more racy, emotional and less present with myself. Even calm music hooks you into looking outside of yourself instead of allowing you to stay with yourself. We should do more experiments with this; and although I did feel this when I was younger it wasn’t until Serge Benhayon presented the truth with music that I could actually see and be aware of it conciously.
I agree Vicky. In the past I used music to feed my emotions and any beat would take me off. Since listening to Serge Benhayon present the truth about music and how it affects us I’ve become aware of just how much it can. Glorious Music and Chris James Music are a breath of fresh air and leave me being me.
I agree we should do more experiments on this and not give our power away to something that is generally seen as harmless…because if we seriously accepted the impact music has on us on many levels we would become very selective what music we would open up too. As shared in this blog, there is music that actually inspires you to be more expansive and joyful, rather than making you less.
I was in a large store on Oxford Street last weekend and the music hit me like a tsunami. There was this bass beat thumping away and I couldn’t get out of the area fast enough. I thought it was just in one section but then found it was on a large part of the ground floor. I watched the sales personnel and they seemed oblivious to the harm that was going through their bodies. Either the music is getting worse or more imposing or I’m waking up to what’s going on around me – both I expect and you’re right Gyl it’s everywhere.
Hi Michael, Having spoken to a lot of sales assistants on how they survive this onslaught of sound I have found that the general consensuses is that they block it out in order to be able to operate and work in the environment. Unfortunately, blocking it out or ignoring it doesn’t save one from the damage this kind of vibrational onslaught is doing to the cells of the body.
My relationship with music has been like my relationship with food. For years I thought everything was fine until I tried to go without for a while and instead spent the time fine-tuning my ability to feel when something is fundamentaly harmonious with me or not. Then when I tried the food or the music I was shocked that so much of what I used to think was fine no longer seemed at all okay.
There are those shops you just cant go into because it feels as if someones hit you over the head as you walk in and then keeps kicking you, it’s not much fun!!
I agree with you Jaime, I also just cannot go into those shops.
Hilarious description but so true Jaime, I’ve actually walked out of shops because the music is too intense and actually distracting.
Me too Karoline. I have walked in and straight out again as if I have rebounded off the wall of sound.
To me it sometimes feels like I have a tight little hat on my head, capping me…!?
I so agree with you Jaime, it is like you are getting assaulted as you walk into the shop. I too find I do not want to go into these shops.
I agree Jamie in some shops it feels like a physical assault and I have often made a point of asking the people that work in these environments how it is for them. They all so far have given me quite similar responses and I have asked quite a few over the years. This is what they generally have to say . . .
1. If they could they would turn it right down or off completely but they can’t as it is set by head office.
2. When they first started working it drove them nuts and they found that the music was still ringing in their heads in their sleep for a least the first week in some cases longer.
3. They have learned to block it out completely as if it is not there.
I have concluded that they have been tortured into submission by the music. Also I might add never ever has any person I have asked ever said that they enjoyed the music! In fact always the opposite is stressed and these are generally young people who have often added that they worried that if they complained they would lose their jobs.
Gyl, what a great blog on a topic that’s all around us. We seem to swing from one extreme to another, craving loudness and music to distract us and then quiet – I’ve learned to love travelling in the car with no music and it’s such a relief as a lot of what I hear on the radio is an assault and I don’t have room to think. Music which just let’s us be is such a gift, and many have missed the whole purpose of music, it’s a form of expression to support all to be love, not a place to dump and live out your emotions, unfortunately most is still the later but in time as more connect to what music truly is, we will get more of the former.
I often find it more pleasurable to drive the car with no music, no radio etc., it is so much better to just stay with myself. I find it such a great time to really practice conscious presence. The only music I ever now play in the car is that by Michael Benhayon or Chris James.
Me to Beverley, silence or Michael Benhayon or Chris James, both of which I can have a great sing-a-long too…. glorious 🙂
What about the music that is enforced on you when you are having to wait on the end of the phone? Music has become a huge distraction for a lot of people and for some it appears that their lives revolve around it. By associating something that is happening now or allowing it to pull us back to some past emotional experience music can hook us in. How strange we are, when the music we can hear when we just listen to the sounds of nature is so lovely and yet people go walking with their head phones plugged into their ears. I would like to express my appreciation for the music that I listen to these days from Glorious Music and Chris James’s music, which have provided a wonderful choice of harmonious and joyful music, that is not intrusive in any way.
Music is one of those holy sacraments, a birthright, a personal form of expression that all are free and entitled to create. We know not to criticise other people’s musical tastes. It’s a sensitive topic, like politics and religion. We use music to bring us up and down like many other things in life, but how clearly are we listening to it.
What is the effect of say a number 1 hit song written from depth’s of an artist’s misery which although very pleasing to the ear gets stuck in your mind for twenty years? How does this impact on the body and the way we think? It is a fascinating subject and one that Serge Benhayon has dared to explore in full detail.
I agree Dean, very well said.
It’s frightening to think how music can affect the body and affect us for years influencing our thoughts and affecting our emotions. Even more scary is the amount of young people you see plugged into their music day in and day out, what is it that they are avoiding and how detrimental it must be to their bodies.
It is incredible how words of a song of an era long past can appear in the head and then go around and around. As you offer Dean, Serge Benhaypn does dare to go there with unpacking what is happening and how this actualy occurs.
When a connection is made with an emotional song it leaves an impression that can be ever lasting. It is worth knowing what is being chosen.
Music is an extremely powerful medium, and one perhaps that we do not pay enough attention to. Try memorising a poem and remembering it, and compare that to remembering the lyrics of a song, and you start to see how powerful a medium it is, and how much of an effect it can have on us – good or bad depending on the music of course. To this day, it always amazes me how you can suddenly get a song running in your head that you have not heard for years or months, and have no idea why you find yourself suddenly humming it.
That is very true Adam. I had never thought about how easy it is to remember a song vs. a poem. That really exposes how powerful music is.
Gosh yes, and it’s a tool that is used while we grow up to remember information, for exams for example…put it to music and it’s all the more memorable.
It is interesting that we are discerning about what food we let into our bodies but we do not have the same discernment around allowing music into our bodies.
While reading Gyl I could feel how I had blocked out music in my life, never really taking any interest in it. Your blog just gave me a moment of appreciation that my body always new it never felt right. What you write feels complete truth. Music is everywhere in our lived days, hooking and distracting us from our stillness and love.
I’m experiencing the exact same thing with music at the moment. I’ve started a new job that has a small team of 6. Everyone takes it in turns to play the music they like. I find it completely draining and distracting and I work hard at blocking it all out. I don’t listen to much mainstream music these days at all because I simply can’t stand the lyrics and lack of story being told and I get completely sucked into the emotion of it all. I struggle choosing something when it is my turn and have taken the opportunity to pick albums I used to love when I was younger, and as I sit and listen I am absolutely amazed at how it can take me back to a feeling I felt when I was however old. This has made me realise how stuck some music can keep us, as we relive an emotion over and over again everytime we listen to it.
That’s such a great point Elodie, music we’ve known can literally trigger us back into an old grove if we’re not aware of it – it’s like an old road we’ve travelled often and hearing it again reminds us of it again. Very tricky and very insidious, it can trap us, if we let it.
It is true Music comes at us everywhere we go, I also find it very imposing, for example if one goes shopping I didn’t ask to listen to the music. It seems that people avoid silence and stillness at every opportunity, its like we have to be constantly entertained or distracted from our selves with having music playing, that often no one is really listening to! Thank you Gyl for your awesome blog.
I agree Thomas, also there is the volume at which the music is played. There have been occasions when I have walked out of a shop due to the music, especially at christmas.
I wonder if someone somewhere did a survey and discovered customers prefer music and as a result they spend more or find the whole shopping experience more enjoyable?
Thank you Thomas for what you share ” It seems that people avoid silence and stillness” I would agree with that, that many people do. Even at times I can say I still do this, which is makes me stop and ask why? What else is going on , is there something I don’t want to feel or avoid, as I love the feeling and sound of stillness and silence. In stillness and silence I am able to deeply connect and feel much more of what is going on in my body and also the bigger picture of life. In this space I can feel things or people on the other side of the world, then it doesn’t really feel like that big a place.
Maybe people want to avoid silence and stillness because they don’t want to feel where they’re at. Hence, why the world is so NOISY!
Great point Thomas – I agree, people avoid silence and stillness as if something is wrong when there is no sound. Personally I have learned to love silence and find it allows me to drop into and connect to myself more deeply. Using the Gentle Breath Meditation has been a great support to me in doing this. Thank you to Serge Benhayon for bringing it to us.
It’s so true Gyl about music and how it can pull you in and keep you held in an emotion. Now when I go to the supermarket or shopping centre, it is interesting to feel how a familiar song from the past comes on and a couple of times I have felt my body actually start to align to that song almost like a pull and before I know it I’m singing it and in it. But when I catch that starting to happen, I just stop and say to myself, breathe your rhythm and stay with you, it is amazing how much lovelier that feels to choose my own rhythm and hold that through the song. Very empowering.
Thanks Gyl for raising the subject of music and how the impact is ‘hidden in plain sight’ for the majority of people. People are often very absorbed by their choice of music and defend it vigorously. I have found the music that is played in public places, such as shopping centres etc, is a real assault on my body. Not only that – it comes loaded with the manipulative intention of supposedly ‘hooking me in’ to stay longer and spend more. There is definitely a lot of numbing or stirring of emotions going on that people don’t realise via the music industry.
What your comment reminds me of Helen, is how supermarkets do the same thing, only they use the smell of freshly baked bread or pastries being pumped out through a fan in the ceiling at the front door, to entice and manipulate people to buy sweet food, bread and cakes.
To be honest: the music that I commonly hear on the radio shows or in stores or on TV for me is like a weapon of mass destruction. So horrific for the body.
So true felixschmacher8, and why is it that nowadays most music on the TV has an associated visual as well, as if the music wasn’t enough, not only a double whammy of horrific for the body, but through the eyes and ears as well.
Love is the most sung about topic in the world, but it’s fascinating that more often than not it’s presented in an emotional way, as something we need, long for, would die for, something that elates us, makes us whole, breaks our heart, devastates us etc etc. No wonder the true meaning of love has gotten so lost when we are pummelled with such imposing definitions of love in the musically saturated society we live in. And so how grateful I feel to have had the opportunity to experience music such as that produced by ‘Michael Benhayon of Glorious Music’ and ‘Chris James of Sounds Wonderful’ and some others, that supports us to feel and connect to the true love that resides within us all first and foremost.
Yes, why IS love the most sung about topic in the world? Again, this just keeps us looking on the outside for love of the emotional kind instead of listening to the silence within and connecting to the love inside of us.
Gyl Rae, I couldn’t agree with you more on this interesting topic of music. When I look back to the heavy metal music I used to listen to religiously my body can still wince at the memory of the hardness it felt and took to subject myself to it. Now when I listen to music that is a living testament and quality to the musician themselves, who hold the responsibility of providing music that does not harm another, I don’t feel hard and in actual fact feel a sense of confirmation and harmony throughout my body. I feel at one with the music and this oneness to me oozes beauty, flow and the love of God.
Hello Gyl, this will be a big topic to have a conversation about. Music has been ‘protected’ in part because many of us attach it to things or parts of our lives or does it attach to things or parts of our lives. Different songs used to bring out different memories and emotions, some good and some not so good. I think the ‘energy’ around music is huge and one that people can have a difficult time considering. This maybe because of the huge investment we have in ‘our’ music. I look forward to this conversation. The only music I listen to is Glorious Music, not only because it is one of my great mates leading it but because the music leaves you alone, it lets you be and doesn’t take me away to another place.
I agree Ray, there are also many people who have built a part of themselves around a certain type of music, music that allows them to be taken to an emotional state that confirms for them where their at. Making that space comfortable with a false sense of brotherhood. Such is the illusion and hook of music that is not true.
This is a great blog and it is very true, Raymond, when you say, “the ‘energy’ around music is huge and one that people can have a difficult time considering”. People have so much emotional association with music and songs it is very challenging to accept that it can be harmful until one learns to truly feel how one’s body responds to it.
So true Raymond, ‘it lets you be and doesn’t take me away to another place.’, it’s interesting what you say here about music taking us away to another place, I notice that most music does this, that I start daydreaming or thinking of the past, or going into drama, whereas I always find Glorious music inspiring and enjoyable to listen to, I don’t get involved in any drama or emotion, I feel more me and more connected, a huge difference!
I agree Raymond, music can transport us very quickly back to experiences we have had, be it good or bad, and can bring up all kinds of emotions. I know that, in the past, I have actively sought some music to ENGENDER some kind of feelings because I felt so empty inside. Not any more though, Glorious Music is the only music for me too… and Chris James.
I Love the truth you expose on Music Gyl. For years I have worked in retail and it’s compulsory to play music. Why at some point was it decided that having music played adds ambience? Personally I feel it is a manipulation so you can’t choose your own thoughts and think clearly when you are out shopping etc.
On one side, humanity craves peace and quite, the travel industry is full of ‘getaways for rejuvenation’. Perhaps these would not be craved for nearly so much if everyday living was a little more peaceful, like going to the shop without being bombarded by imposing noise.
I agree Sandra Williamson, having music playing in shops, sometimes quite loud, is totally imposing and I find it quite distracting. You have a point, maybe we are being manipulated into buying more through not being able to connect to our thoughts. And/or maybe those who work somewhere where there is constant music just like the distraction, even though I am sure they must be exhausted by it at the end of the day.
Great point here, Sandra, it does feel like an imposition and possibly even a manipulation to have the music blaring so loudly that you can’t hear yourself think, never mind stay connected to what you are really feeling as to whether your impulse to purchase is true or not.
Music is one of the biggest distractions we have in society. On building sites it is often common practice to get the music going before the tools even come off the ute.
Yes, why is that Tony, I have found this too, working in shops and offices where they feel the need to have constant background noise, either that or they are plugged in through earphones cutting themselves off even further. What IS it that they don’t want to listen to, themselves…?
Having earphones in is actually dangerous as it blocks your awareness of yourself and your surroundings. I have been witness to quite a few near accidents where people walking or riding a bike have nearly been hit as they could not hear the car coming or they were that caught up in the music they didn’t actually look. I have often wondered about physical attacks on people whilst they are exercising or walking home and could some of them been avoided by being aware of their surroundings.
Tony, I too have noticed that whenever there is a building crew or any crew that arrives to perform some kind of maintenance from chopping down trees to repairing something, there is always music blaring from the radios in their truck even before the engine has stopped. If they are not working near their vehicles they invariably bring portable radios. The co-called music that blares from their workplace is without exception, music that feels very jarring to listen to and is only drowned out by the swearing and profanities with which they often address each other – when they are not aware that the customer can over-hear them! Music has become such an accepted distraction that the listener no longer has any awareness of the effect it may be having on their body. The time is well overdue to expose the harm that most music can have on the body. Gyl’s blog and comments such as yours are a great start to bringing awareness to the true story about how most music can not only distract us but also be a poison for the body.
It gets really messy when working on site with a lot of different trades as each crew has their own radio and quite often they have it on different stations. Normally there is only one level on the volume, LOUD.
It is hard nowadays to escape music in public places. I have never liked it and now I understand that it is indeed an imposition on the body, that it creates unpleasant reactions. Thank you Gyl for bringing this to my attention.
Hello Gyl and it is interesting to bring some awareness to just how much music is being played around us. We have become that used to it that at times you don’t even know it is playing. Many companies spend a lot of money choosing the type and style of music they play and it is targeted at different people even down to the time of day it is played. I watched my children respond to different ads and how they reacted. At times as you say I feel the music almost bombards me and brings out emotions in me. Have we really assessed the music we listen too? Or do we just listen to anything we want. This will be a touchy subject for some but essentially I agree with you and with music, there is more to it than meets the ear.
I have walked out of shops because of the music playing because I could not connect to what I may want to purchase. On other occasions I have asked the shop assistant to turn the music down or off – they do this in bewilderment at the request. In one place I went to recently they could not turn the music down as it was piped from somewhere else and had to be at a certain volume!! You are so right Gyl this is so imposing on us and many just accept this as being okay. Listening to music which allows us to expand and be open is beautiful thing!
Thank you, Gyl, for exposing both the harm and healing that music can bring. It is such a powerful modality, that as you say, is imposed on us in many situations through the day; with most of us having little awareness of its effects.
Great sharing. Music can be very hooking and even trigger emotions and needs in you. I had this during my time I went clubbing a lot to electronic music which was always combined with drinking alcohol and taking drugs. After a couple of years doing so I would be triggered by the music into the urge to have a drink during the day going shopping with friends. We made a joke out of it, if the music in a shop was to much of a techno beat we would say lets get out of here if not I need a drink to cope with it. It was very revealing that during the day, not being under alcohol and drug influence we felt the music unbearable and were urging for a drink to be able to take it. The music sometimes even triggered the taste of the drugs in my mouth and throat we used to take. So music actually triggered taste in me. I found that quite powerful and it made me think about the power of music and how it hooks us and how we are taken by it.
Today I very much appreciate the unimposing music that is available through Glorious music and I developed a new relationship with music, one without need, just pure joy.
Thank you Gyl Rae – a great blog. I love the ‘feeling music’ program you went on – it sounds like a fun game to actually become aware of what we are feeling when we ‘hear’ music. Even the word ‘hear’ is so loaded – alluding to a notion that we can only hear with our ears rather than our whole bodies. And when we do listen with our bodies, we can actually feel what is really going on.
What a very apt topic. Music is everywhere and I feel it’s used to distract us. There’s supermarket chain that has the music on so loud that it’s painful! It’s its own music channel and isn’t the only superstore to have their own music channels. I have no doubt they’d not have invested in a music channel without finding people buy more. It doesn’t surprise me people buy more- they’re feeling less. I know it affects me if I’m not feeling 100%.
To have music that takes you away from yourself is like a poison. That’s not healthy.
Great blog Gyl, It is quite interesting to feel the older music pull me in, especially the music that was being played when I began to notice and get interested in this world of music when I was younger. The catchy tune or some of the lyrics are just terrible, singing about pulling the trigger of a gun. When you separate the lyrics to the catchy tune, it should make most people reconsider what they are actually saying but I don’t think it does.
When you listen to some of the music played today, and their words, who write all these dreadful lyrics. Half of what we listen to does not make sense.
Music played in shops etc. To me is far too loud and very intrusive. As they say silence is golden. Cannot beat good classical music.
My wife and I stayed in a Hotel in Ireland. Had dinner in the restaurant, my wife said what do you hear, my reply, people talking. Great she said. Not a hint of music or a TV.
The whole evening was pure magic.
What a great subject you raised here. Music has such a huge impact on us and we really ought to be more aware of how exactly it is impacting us.
I completely agree Gyl. I would say that most of my waking hours have been filled with music… That’s a lot of music I’ve consumed!
From my favourite tracks as a child to the music blaring at me during dancing classes, to learning instruments, hours in my room with stereo and headphones, listening to music in the car, on the bus, train, ferry or airplane. While exercising, and at work in environments where music was ‘pumping’ loudly, and then in nightclubs where it pumped even louder!
I’m sure in all my years I have listened to more music than I’ve eaten food. And yet up until recently I was far less discerning about the music I ingested than food! Music made me feel depressed, emotional, moody and left me often feeling not myself.
Glorious Music and Chris James have touched me deeply because finally there is music that ‘loves me back’, music that is non imposing, and is a joy for my whole body to enjoy.
Thank God for true music.
Yes Gyl I remember when depression hit me and I played a slow depressing song by Pantera. Pantera is a heavy metal American band. I played it over and over again to cement my emotions and depression. At that time too I was right into Heavy and some death metal – I was really angry with life and this music confirmed it.
I’m aware now how destructive any emotionally infused music can be. It can take me out very quickly where my emotions are sucked in and heightened by the song. Because I love music and I really enjoy the tone and beat etc – there is nothing I do not like about music, except now I do not let the music become me.
As many have expressed music is all around us and it has been part of many different civilizations for as long as history can show us. The most basic innate instrument is our voices, for me it feels as if singing it is as natural as eating or sleeping. But is seems to be slipping away from us and being turned into something else. As a parent I find it difficult to listen to some of the music my kids play and NEVER thought I would be “that parent” but if some of their music makes me feel awful, I can see it has an impact on their lives. So I can see that music is very powerful if it can make us feel all of these things. So I have questioned what is it’s true role in our lives? Because it can make a massive difference on many levels and it can reflect the best and worst of humanity. What is that we should be singing about to evolve humanity?
I have worked in environments with ‘relaxing’ music for years, cafe del mar type of music. When I listen to this with my whole body I know it is anything but relaxing, it is very much on edge, and wants to take you away somewhere… which is the point in a Day Spa. I just stand there sometimes and marvel that anyone could be laying to have a healing massage with that racket going on, it actually keeps people tense. Glorious Music does not make me feel tense, it makes me feel like there is so much more to life, it supports me to grow within myself with lyrics that are all about being who you are. Much different to the songs we are hearing in the gym that are all about what that man did to you or how messed up you are.
Great blog Gyl. I remember years ago after returning home from Asia where I had had no access to music for months to be shocked on hearing the music and drama in a popular love (not) song at the time. It went something like “you’ve abandoned me, love don’t live here any more”. It was awful to feel this in my body and disturbing to feel how untrue it was as well.
We are blasted with music wherever we go these days and it is affecting us more than we may realise. If we are not discerning or aware of the energy that can come through music, and letting it all in, the music and lyrics can start ‘playing’ us. This is such an important topic to bring our awareness to. The music I choose to listen to these days leaves me alone.
I used to always study and later work with music in the background. I was never really conscious of song texts, let alone the quality of the music and how my body was feeling with it. I realise now that i was using the music to be distracted from how i was really feeling and to not be aware of everything that was going on around me.
I have consumed so much music over my lifetime. Music isn’t something we would liken to food or anything we put in our body but it goes in just the same. I am surprised we don’t have more people saying ‘it wasn’t me, it was the music’. But then again, we always have the choice to listen and be affected, or not.
The more I read about love on these blogs the more it all makes sense…Of course love has to come from you first, because if you can’t feel the love first how do you know love? Music plays such a huge part in the world…I don’t believe people actually listen to the lyrics though because the lyrics are really shocking to hear. The emotional woe and dance beat of music is what kept me in tune as well, they are really hooking. Often the music you hear everywhere is distracting as well and hard to concentrate with or have a conversation when it’s playing..I get songs stuck in my head all the time that constantly play in the background of my mind whilst I’m going about my day- it’s super annoying and my mood changes a bit with them. Though I have found that less emotional music that has no imposition is less distracting, way lighter and I can easily have a conversation whilst it is playing . Plus the lyrics don’t shock me either!
I can totally relate to being sucked in by music Gyl, and there has always been a type or style of music to suit my every emotion – whether I was wanting to indulge in some sadness and woe, or something to hype me up and make me ‘happy’. Now when I hear music that is trying to put out a certain type of emotion it feels very imposing and it doesn’t feel good to listen to it. Thanks for sharing your observations, I feel it’s important to be more aware of how music is affecting us.
I feel I am only at the beginning of understanding the affect music has on us. It is a vibration of energy which either harms or heals. Glorious Music has been my first experience of hearing music that lets me be without interference. The space I feel in this form of expression is absolutely glorious and inspirational!
It is precisely the same for me Suzanne. I never realized in how far I was influenced and imposed by music until I met Universal Medicine and Glorious Music and felt the amazing difference: support instead of imposing.
Gorgeous Gyl. The imposition of music these days is huge. It’s hard to go into a public place without having people’s emotions or emptiness coming through the speakers. I indulged in music in the past but thanks to Universal Medicine I can now feel the energy of musical expression rather than on the basis of sound. When music is made for personal gain and comes from a place of emptiness or doesn’t present truth, it feels disharmonious in my body, even if it sounds good.
I threw myself into music as a teenager and young adult and never once did I consider or discern if the music was harming me. Now that doesn’t make sense to me, as we all know that sound waves pass through us, affecting every cell in our body. But like ‘Everything is Energy” we somehow find a way to think that doesn’t mean our lives or our bodies that will be affected.
Hi Gyl, I can really relate to what you are saying. I no longer listen to the radio or the TV and if I am out I do not give my attention to what music is going on around me. I am aware the music is there, but I do not get hooked into the words and story because the moment I do I feel my body change and the feeling is one of pain and contraction. It has been a blessing listening to and immersing myself in Michael Benhayon’s music and feeling the difference. It is unimposing, uplifting and healing – a true gift for all.
It’s hard for me too, listening to much of what is on offer music wise these days. Most of what is playing on the radio, tv, shopping centres feels like it’s try to get a rise out of people; to stimulate emotions or create drama. it’s great reading your blog Gyl that tells how you have experienced how music feels to your body.
It is so true Gyl that music is imposing. My awareness of this has grown over the last few years as I’ve worked with Chris James and heard Serge Benhayon talk about energy and music. I had a similar experience to what you describe but in a fashion store, where on this particular occasion the music really stood out and it made me feel very uncomfortable. I actually felt like I was being attacked, in deed sexually assaulted. The song had a catchy chorus and when I got home I looked it up online and not to my surprise it was written and performed by a rapper with misogynistic words and a near pornographic video. What I found most alarming is that this type of song is played everywhere and is popular among our children yet the actual message of the song is usually covered up with a funky dance beat. What appears as harmless music to dance to is actually incredibly harming. I’m grateful to be more aware of the true energy of music and to be able to now choose music that is not imposing such as that of Chris James (www.chrisjames.net) and Michael Benhayon (www.gloriousmusic.com.au)
Gyl I love your experiment. I often find myself bracing against music that is played in shopping centres. On the other hand, unimposing and truly soulful music without emotions is wonderful to play in my car as I drive to and from work is totally nourishing; so is singing in a choir where all the songs are expressions of joy without an ounce of emotion, and hearing the sounds of nature – the birds, insects, rain and wind; this is my choice in music now.
Music is everywhere, so true Gyl. I went to the self car wash on the weekend to vacuum the inside of my car and bingo, I opened my door and the music was blaring out. I’ve learnt to not react to it now (a lot of the time) and just accept it is there – otherwise I wouldn’t leave the house! It calls me to be more present so I don’t check out and then get hammered by it.
Gyl, at the mention of ‘come and get your fill” I had to laugh as my mind ‘filled’ with pictures of hyenas and vampires, or people devouring sweet cakes….! But seriously, it’s revealing of one doing the taking and one being taken from – as you say, not my idea of true love. You’re right about the clear music that does not stimulate emotions or hook you in. Unlike the emotional music which is addictive, I can play the clear music without it changing how I feel. On the contrary, how I feel will govern what music I choose to confirm and reflect what I’m feeling. It is the whole other way around – coming from within me first, then the outer, unimposing joyful confirmation.
Great topic Gyl, it is one that has come to my attention recently also. The lyrics that they are using in the songs being broadcasted – eek.
I was watching Michael do his guitar ‘riff’ recently and it brought up such a sadness, I used to love nothing more than to have a ‘dooby’ and listen to Metallica loud, my ultimate check out but it was great to feel this and then to have Michael followed by Simon playing brought a real clearing.
It is so nice to know the music we are able to listen to now is so clear.
For a long time music has been a world order. It has dictated social normals and the expression of ideas through many. It is indeed very influential. Music can and does have a impact. People are walking around everyday with headphones in their ears and tapping their feet to the beat. The music impacts the body, like you say Gyl, and effects us constantly. We are listening all the time, is there something else that we are trying to drown out?
Last weekend I was in a fruit shop when the manager commented that he found the sad song playing on the radio really imposing. He was aware that the music was changing the atmosphere of the whole store and the mood of the people in it. You are so right Gyl – it is an absolute gift to be able to listen to music that does not impose or create emotions in the body.
It’s so true Gyl that music can be an imposition. It is everywhere as you say, and it can feel so aggressive or seductive or emotional – pulling us from one emotion to the other. I love spending time without music so I can tune in to how I am really feeling and give myself space to be me without being pulled to feel a certain way.
‘it holds all others equally and allows people to feel the truth of who they really are with no imposition at all.’
I love how you say this Gyl.. Imagine if ALL music could unite humanity in this way and allow space to feel our true self.
I work in a sales office where the radio is constantly buzzing. I have let it affect me for too long and the songs get stuck in my head and follow me around! I am learning to simply call out what I feel is hidden within the song or the hooking energy so I do not absorb it into my day. This is of course challenging and something I am learning.
Your sharing reminded me of when I was first introduced to psychedelic trance music and it hurt my ears. I forced myself to get used to it and then became hooked. Your body becomes owned by the music. The way you move and dance is attuned to the vibration of that particular music. This is very insidious as the psychedelic trance music is not at all about love. It is all about recognition and self-gain. Thank you for sharing on such an important topic Gyl.
Ha ha I’m laughing Marcia, “psychedelic trance music” as I just had an awful flashback to days in big dance festival tents listening to and dancing to this awful stuff. Even recalling it I feel a pain in my chest. I was totally lost and a mess back then, thank God, for Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon and what I know, live and feel now, inspired by them.
Ha Ha – now you are making me laugh – I know right – psychedelic trance music – like hello! : ) Where was I, who was I! Yes absolutely Gyl, thank God for Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon.
Thank you Gyl, this blog has really reflected to me how sensitive we can be to influences like music, speech and also what we see. You have raised the important point that we do not often notice music in the background and therefore do not notice the effects on our bodies and our quality of life. Yet you have explained very clearly how we can actually observe how music affects us and how it used to affect us as little children who are naturally so sensitive. I remember a particular song that always used to make me cry – it was a ‘happy’ song, outwardly, yet full of sadness and it confused me and my parents why I cried. The overall effect of reading this blog was how awareness is power and allows us to choose what influences in life we ‘let in’ and therefore, choose to develop our quality of life.
Gyl what you have shared here makes so much sense to me. Ever since I was little music has affected me in many ways. Some music can be so loaded with emotion, anger and so much more. We are so lucky to be able to listen to music that is created with love, joy and doesn’t impose upon us. Glorious Music is just that, glorious.
I love this blog Gyl, especially your vet real science experiment that you did for a week around music.
I too have discovered the beautiful expansiveness of true music from Glorious Music (Michael Benhayon) and also Sound Wonderful (Chris James).
Thank you johanna08smith, and yes this very real life experiment was great. Something I do with other things in life such as food, saying okay how does this feel when I eat it, in my body – and if it doesn’t feel great or I have any sensitivities to it, out it goes. Instead of listening to what other people write or say. Our bodies are amazing they are so worth listening too. How can anyone else know us better that we do, our body shares the truth.
Gyl, The music we listen to does have a huge impact on us-our mind & our body. I know some words & music both can lure into deeper state of emotion you’re in & in past I used to enjoy that as it seemed familiar. Now listening to similar music & lyrics & learning to feel what it does to my body I am able to feel the damaging affect it’s actually having on me. Music & words in a song do have a huge impact on our state of being.
That is so true pinkylight music can really lure into a deeper state of emotion and it can affect your movement. I remember in the past when I needed to drive long distances I would listen to up-tempo music and now I can feel the hold it had on me. I would drive faster without even noticing that I was way over the speeding limit. I would litterly drive in the rythm of that music. Or when I played ballads, I could become so sad if the lyrics were about how hard love was etc. even though there was nothing going on for my to be sad about.
I agree with everything you have expressed Gyl. Blaring music in shops, public places and restaurants is an actual assault on my body. We were in a restaurant the other day and there was some very odd music being played, we commented on it and the manageress said – “I don’t hear it anymore, I just zone out from it”. It was then turned off completely and lunch was even more enjoyable.
Great blog Gyl. I also really take notice of music when I am out. There will be some shops that I just refuse to shop in because of the music that they play. I remember once saying to a shop keeper how loud the music was and her comment was ‘really, I hadn’t noticed’.
Thank you Sally.
Yes I have had those conversations as well Sally. I often say to the young women behind the counter – how do you cope with this incessant loud music all day? And quite often that is the answer….I switch off, I don’t notice it anymore.
I have always been extremely sensitive to sound, especially loud noises. I remember my mother used to take my younger sister and me to christmas pantomimes where there was lots of music and cheering and booing spectators (children) and I used to hate it, it would give me a headache in no time. I extremely dislike the music that is played in many of the clothing shops especially now, I find I just can’t stay in there. If only they knew how many people that they actually turn away from their shops who cannot stand the music that they think is going to attract people. As far as the ‘love’ songs that are played now, if one actually listens to the words, they are so untrue. The love that they portray is not at all true love, it is all about needing someone to fill me, or bleating stories of how someone has hurt me, has left me etc. So so different to the beautiful music that I am listening to now, through Glorious Music and Sounds Wonderful.
I agree with you Beverley about being sensitive to sound. I know I and many, can feel the same ( the discomfort and physical sensation of hurt in our bodies) in the way a person speaks, opens a door or walks. I would go so far to say that we are all as sensitive as this, and we all can feel so much.
I too have found that music does affect you if it isn’t clear of emotions.
I remember listening to new age spiritual music which actually make me not feel my body at all. I was fooled into believing that I was connecting closer to my soul. In truth I was so disconnected.
Hi loreyttarapp, I so get what you say about the new age music too. People often think it’s great to listen to, to help you chill out or relax, but the truth is it is trick, a trap, an escape, taking you further away from your body and real life, and not offering any true connection at all.
The other music I recall as a child was ‘relaxation music’ it may have been panpipes and soft tunes but it never held a space for expansion within my body or supported me to feel confirmed in who I was or the harmony and flow that was possible.
What a gorgeous post Gyl Rae. I too would be totally gone to music as long as it had a good beat! No more! I am now much more discerning about the music I listen to once I started to notice how music leaves me feeling. It really does come down to the quality of the artist and the band, not in terms of how musically skilled they are but how they live their lives. Any disregard, any emotions in the artist and band and the listener cops it too regardless of how pretty the vocals sound.
Absolutely Shevon I couldn’t agree more you have hit the nail exactly on the head ” It really does come down to the quality of the artist and the band, not in terms of how musically skilled they are but how they live their lives.”
It’s so important that musicians and songwriters (just as the case within any occupation) take the responsibility for the music that they produce. If one is in anger or emotion when they write a song, that will affect all that hear its tune and this is a big responsibility to hold, one that is possible through looking at the responsibility you are bringing to your own personal life first.
I can so relate to what you have shared here Gyl. As I read this I am remembering how imposing I find most music particulary the type played in clothes shops. In one shop, where I love the syle of clothes, I find the music is soo hooking, soo loud and soo intrusive that I would feel rushed when making a purchase there. Now when I go there to buy something, I listen to glorious music through my headphones and make sure I am totally present with me while I shop, and this has made a world of a difference to how I feel while shopping there. Thank you for posing the very important question of : what are we really listening to? it is giving me plenty to ponder on….I will definitely be returning to your blog Gyl.
Very joyful to read, Gyl. I used to be a human juke-box. I was absolutely into music, doing playlists for friends and having a huge archive of music, knowing nearly all the lyrics. But to be honest – whenever the lyrics were too much painful to me the song wouldn’t make it into my archive. But what was even less obvious – the energy in which the song was performed – wasn’t that clear to me. By now days, after having grown my awareness by the wonderful work of the way of the livingness, there is only a tiny little ounce of music left on my computer. There are thousands that didn’t make it through the “imposing control”. And only a very few that truly let me align to my body’s oscillation and not impose on me.
Awesome Christina, yes I too used to be into music in a big way, clubbing lots, all that music has long gone and it feel amazing in my body ( there is so much more space and lightness) to not listen to this imposing and harmful music anymore.
When I’m in the supermarket or a shop I often wonder if anyone has any idea how imposing the music that is played feels. My guess is not, as music as you mentioned Gyl is played everywhere. I often do my best to avoid it. It’s funny because I use to love hearing old songs that took me back to my teenage years that I could sing along to. Now, however, since becoming aware that everything is energy and that we are always being affected by the energy that we come into contact with including music, I notice that most music tends to pull me towards old feelings and emotions and I have to really focus to stay connected with me. I choose no longer to listen to this type of music as I much prefer to hold my connection with me.
I have always loved music and going out for a dance. I loved music that would take me away somewhere, to give me a break from whatever was happening in my life. I was a festival goer and this was often a time where I would let my hair down, dance for 3 or 4 days and go for it, regardless of the weather or how tired I was feeling and festivals are exhausting. I would use the energy of the music to keep me going rather than checking in with me. I’d never before considered that music came with and from an energy and if we really listened to it with our whole body rather than just our ears, we would hear much more that a great ditty.
Awesome observations Gyl about the music that is blasted at us from wherever we go these days. There have been some shops that I have turned around and walked out of because the music is so intrusive. In some cases I have actually stopped and told the closest assistant why I am leaving and ask them how the music that they are playing makes them feel by the end of the day. Amazingly most have said that they don’t really enjoy it and they often get headaches, but it is the shop policy so they feel powerless to turn it off, or in some cases, even down. I usually suggest that perhaps that could let management know, but I feel the chances are slim that they would, so the music continues to affect them and everyone who walks in.
Thank goodness that we now have another option of the music we can listen to, from Chris James and Glorious Music, music “that allows people to feel the truth of who they really are with no imposition at all.” Imagine walking into a shop with some of this beautiful music playing – I definitely wouldn’t be walking out in a hurry
Never give up, you may just find that one day down the line that something we have shared or expressed, without pressure or imposition, has inspired another to speak up or choose another way.
That is true Gyl, everytime we share or express without pressure or imposition a seed is planted.
I don’t go to clothing shops with imposing music anymore. In restaurants I always ask if the volume can go down, which sometimes gets anwered with an annoyed look, but so what. In the gym I ask if they can change the music or at least lower the volume, which they mostly do when it’s not to busy. Sometimes with friends they play music and talk at the same time, which for me is not possible, so I ask to put it off or lower the volume… Music can be a fly buzzing around your head and you constantly have to wave it away, people are not aware of the imposing nature, which I was not also. Music is just there and distracts us from what we really feel.
I’ve noticed there are certain times that the music is louder at the gym…no surprises, early Sunday morning when I love to go it’s often REALLY loud. This says a lot about where the staff are at and that they are wanting the stimulation from the music to get them going in the morning.
Just ask them to turn it down 🙂 they might not, but it’s defiantly worth speaking up and sharing how you feel, as you are a paying customer. It may also offer them an opportunity to reflect on how they feel.
I do the same delmore2013d, and find that sometimes it is very confronting for people to be with you without the background noise of music or tv. Many have become so used to having this distraction that keeps them from being fully present that when it is not there it is suddenly much harder to not be aware of themselves.
Music is affecting us all, and there is almost no escape. As I have felt listening a lot to music it was something that gave me a safe feeling, when walking on the street with my headphones in. It was like I created my own world, but now after realizing what it actually does, I enjoy walking on the street more than I ever did with the headphones in.
I can relate to that Benkt, to the sense of being in your own world with your headphones in. It’s painful what we do to ourselves to escape a connection with ourselves and other people when we are naturally built for a world of togetherness.
Great that you write this blog Gyl. I feel it is something we all know intrinsically but turn a deaf ear to quite literally. When I became aware of how harmful music can be I was shocked to realise that I had been lapping up all sorts of emotional twisters for a long time. Great awareness you share, thank you.
You make some great and very important points here seeing that music of one kind or another is ubiquitous nowadays. It seems that the world (or someone or something?) has decided that we need music all of the time lest we … what?
What would actually happen without this constant stream of sounds and lyrics about personal woes, the demand for acclaim and the grab for money; what would happen?
Thank you Gly for sharing the real truth about music. Music is everywhere and mostly very imposing and crushing of who we are . When out there in the world on a daily basis we are all affected so much without taking the time to stop and really feel its effects as it numbs us.
I too have found the magical unimposing expansive and very honouring music of Michael Benhayon of Glorious Music and Chris James of Sounds Wonderful as an example and pleasure to my senses and ears in contrast to everything else out there as it leaves you simply to be with no imposing and a joy from within.
Awesome blog Gyl – music is not something that is commonly seen as something that can harm us – but it certainly can, as you say it portrays a version of love that is definitely not love, imposing this idea onto us which can even affect our relationships
This blog makes perfect sense to me as when my daughters were teenagers they played what they call emo music (emotional music) and one day on my way to work I was playing a mixed cd of the music which was popular at the time and as I drove from house to house I could feel that I was feeling angry and I was late for my appointments and just felt out of sorts.
I remember commenting at the time that it was the angry emotional music I was reacting to and I could feel how my mood was affected.
It makes me wonder if this is what contributes to the change in behaviour I saw within my two daughters, when they started to listen to emo music and dress as a goth.
Thank you Gyl, I can relate very much to how you describe the effect of sound. What I have found in my experiments is that the words can be the nicest in the world, but in the end there is no denying the energy and feeling that comes through. Thanks to the sounds of Chris James and Glorious Music I have come to see just how beautiful music can be when its made with love, care and energetic integrity.
Thank you for sharing Gyl, I too have found that there is almost a background music everywhere I go trying to entice or tantalise me into buying more. There is one particular clothes shop where I love the clothes they are very soft and comfortable but the music is loud, offensive and I just want to get out of there. I used to just hear the music and the lyrics would blur but when a friend said listen to the words when I was about 15 I was shocked to actually hear what was being said and many songs I listened to previously I couldn’t any more! And as you said there is a stark difference between music which is played for the love of humanity and music which is played for recognition or acceptance of any sort.
This is a great blog Gyl. Music is and always has been such an accepted part of our lives that there are few places you can go these days without something blaring out of the speakers. Music was always a part of my life from learning to play the piano at an early age (which was always a struggle as I didn’t enjoy what I was playing), but then discovering a whole world of ‘alternative’ music in my late teens which I got totally hooked by. Like Kevin, I can understand why my parents would say ‘turn that awful noise off’ – perhaps they too were feeling the intrusiveness of what they were hearing.
Hi Gyl, Love this blog and have been noticing more and more the different types of music you hear and the energy they contain, on the phone its often sleepy dulling you down music so you wait with some semblance of patience but it feels yucky, then there is the supermarket where its all upbeat buy more music. Some music you can feel the sadness in the singer and so on. I hadn’t stopped to consider just how much in a day we are exposed to this and its an interesting question, one to take note of.
Sitting in a restaurant the other day I was aware of the strident music being played and how my body felt defensive listening. Later, walking along the beach, there was the sound of waves and my body was restored to harmony.
After many many years ensconced in the music industry, I have also discovered music that is clear of emotions and is a pure joy to listen to. Soulful music doesn’t have to be ‘soft’ either I was happy to discover, as I love a good rock out at the best of times!
Thanks, Gyl. Music is one of those things in life that people just accept and do not question how they really feel about it. By bringing awareness to the imposition on the body of a lot of music, I really appreciate how powerful and insidious it can be. It is therefore such a blessing to have access to the wide range of Glorious Music which is unimposing, joyful and leaves me feeling expanded.
Lets face it its difficult not to look outside of yourself in a gym environment – only yesterday i walked through a sports university gym and observed many of the students sizing each other up, driving their bodies in the name of fitness and competition. The music serves to compound/confirm this outward search.
I listen to the Glorious music dance albums when i exercise – I do build up quite a fast pace but never from push – with lots of playfulness and vitality.
Thank you Gyl, a great blog and some valuable questions raised as we can be surrounded by music everywhere we go. It seems like whatever we would be feeling around us is distorted or numbed away from. I know I have used music myself in this way in the past and it has kept me in whatever emotional drama I am in. Now though I have felt the purpose of music in a completely different way and feel how it can support my development.
That is an awesome experiment – music is one of those things that is so normal we don’t properly look into the effect it’s having on us. It’s also fascinating that if you listen to older music from say the 50s, it’s so much sweeter and less emotional than the music we hear today that is so loaded with heavy emotion and sexual connotations, and just gets stuck on repeat in your head. I also love how you suggest that we hear with so much more than just our ears – that is definitely my experience too.
Gyl what an interesting experiment to conduct, I’ll certainly be more aware because as you say music is everywhere. Recently going out for dinners i’ve noticed just how loud some of the music is in restaurants. You can hardly hear yourself speaking let alone the other person. It got me wondering why? Why put music in-between people when they go for dinner? Perhaps to avoid any moments where there could be a silence between people? As someone that also used to get swept away by music it’s also now a far more enjoyable experience to listen to music that has been created with love and simply lets me enjoy me without trying to get me caught up in a sea of emotions.
This blog has made me stop and consider – what is not music? I hear the airplane flying over the city and the birds singing, I hear the rain and wind, my family in the kitchen, my own voice. All of this is sound and so, then question is, if music on the radio can have such an effect, what is our responsibility when we are contributing to what is being heard and felt?
I can feel the effect that emotional music has on my body, how it can draw me into the sadness, I have been listening to the words of many emotional songs lately and noticing that they all seem to be about expecting love from someone, being left sad and empty and lonely, not being able to live without this person, etc.. They are not in any way evolving or supportive or encouraging us to take responsibility and to care for and love ourselves.
Gyl this has been my experience as well once I chose to stop and listened to the music’s impact of me. Every now and again I will be somewhere where a catchy tune is playing where I get sucked into the beat. Fortunately I quickly became aware of being sucked in and get honest around how it truly feels. Thanks for sharing your experience as many of us are unaware of the impact of music on us.
I can relate to what you are saying here Gyl about music having an effect on your body. I had zero awareness and used music to take me off and check out so far away that when I made a conscious choice to stop listening to those types of songs, I had them play in my head whilst I was trying to sleep. It went on for years where a song would keep repeating and I felt the huge harm I had let in by absorbing all this music in my body. That’s how it felt and now its different. I cannot change the music in a restaurant or the hairdressers but I have a choice if I want it to bother me, react and let it affect me. It is now rare for a song to repeat in my head if I have the radio on but on the occasions where it does, I know its because I was listening for too long.
“I’ve learned that love can only be something that truly comes from within me first, not from anyone else filling me up.” I used to use music to make me ‘feel better’ and fill me up. Now I am much more discerning and enjoy listening to true music – and yes – the ‘musak’ we have to hear when shopping etc feels awful nowadays. It imposes as you say – without us even realising – until we learn to feel our bodies more.
I love this Gyl, my experience of music has been the same. Sometimes the music that I hear these days feels so harsh on my body even if it may sound ‘good’ to my ears, I feel how the music is asking me to change, to move faster, to get attached to some kind of emotion, maybe sadness, a bit of rah-rah, so called sexy oomph, the whole gambit of emotions can be found in music. Most music does not let me be. Whereas when I listen to music that is composed and sung by someone who does not have any agenda or unresolved baggage, the music feels so different– it lets me be and can be so healing. It reminds me of the joy I feel within me and together listening to music that is true, I can celebrate expressing that joy, expanding, dancing and singing away. 🙂
I love this observation Gyl and how true this is. I often hear a song on the radio and it takes me right back to a memory of an emotion I was feeling at the time the song was popular, maybe from a relationship breakup or a happy time spent, all of which could entice me on a roller coaster of emotion in my body if I choose to jump on.
I have noticed more recently the affect music has on my body for as you note here Gyl there are so many songs that seem to want to rev us up or pull us down and actually feel so horrible in the body and we are bombarded with it everywhere.
It worth experimenting in the way you have Gyl, to see if music is affecting us… I have noticed the effect that certain music has on me, I can listen to songs that remind me of past relationships, and it very obviously changes the way I feel, I can become sad and emotional. There is also music that can pull me up, I might not be left feeling sad, but it’s still deciding my mood. There are many songs I can feel the emotion of the person singing that makes me feel uncomfortable, they can be desperately needy, emotional, angry, lurid, and very degrading. It’s definitely something worth being aware of…
Your story about shouting “stop!” in the car had me laughing Gyl.
I recall as a child feeling a dreadful creeping sensation all over my body with certain music. When I was a child we used to visit a family friend who loved classical music and it would play for the whole time we were there. It used to give me the creeps…as a little one it made me think of dead people…bizarre but that it is the effect it had on me.
As I got older I learned to “love” music especially miserable rock. You know the stuff I am talking about, lots of love gone wrong and life is awful…la la la.
I stopped listening to it years ago. This was difficult at first, but having had the break when I hear it again at the shops I can say I don’t miss it at all. Listening to it is like taking a bath in another person’s stale, lukewarm bathwater. Yes a gross thought, but very close to the feeling when you listen with your whole body.
That’s a great analogy! I very much agree, it’s like bathing in someone else’s old bathwater, or drowning in their undealt with emotions!
What we take on from music, how it influences our behaviours and the way we think is just starting to be acknowledged through the obvious abusive lyrics backed up with aggressive, catchy beats and music. But the real and lasting energetic damage is still a point where many will not go to. Thanks to Serge Benhayon for introducing us to the energetic law of sound and vibration that music cannot escape – no matter how ‘beautiful’ it may sound.
I was in a room with 3 other people the other day and the music video channel was on, I could feel that they were completely sucked into the TV screen.
Music, what are we really listening to, great question, title and blog to start the discussion over music and how distracting and harming it can be as it pours into our bodies, as the emotions and undertones hook us especially love songs about relationships. And I feel many women including myself, fall for and take on the emotions more so if we are going through a relationship break-up, or we are don’t have a relationship, so we use the lyrics of the current ‘love’ song to fantasize and day dream of one to come…. Super Blog Gyl.
Gyl great sharing. I can completely resonate with you. I always used to struggle to listen to all types of music, like you said it never felt supportive but, full of emotions and would hurt my body. I never knew then what was going on, all I knew was it did not feel right to me, so I never really listened much to music. Now I love listening to music from Micheal Benhayon and Glorious Music. This music is definitely not imposing to my body, nor is it loaded with emotions.
I hear what you are saying Gyl, I sometimes have to leave places like restaurants, because of the music they play. I can now sympathise with my dad who used to cringe at a lot of music I used to play, but perhaps he was actually feeling what it was like and not just being old about it.
Great to express this Gyl, as I only can agree how music can affect me when I am not totally with myself and sometimes I am reacting because the dis-ease in my body is unbearable. When I express this it is interesting to observe how some people are opening up and sharing their feelings concerning music.
Great blog Gyl, and yes, music is everywhere. I sometimes walk into a shop to leave again within 10 seconds because the music they are playing is just hurting my body so much, that I cannot stay in the shop. It is not only the type of music but also the volume that is really hurting my ears. When I really want to stay in the shop, I ask them about the music and most of the times, they actually change the volume. I have noticed the importance of speaking up and share with others the effect of music.
So true Gyl Rae that everywhere there is music around and it is imposing on us and unconsciously has its effect on us. I always have the funny feeling that when I see people walking on the street with earphones is that they are remote controlled through these plugs in their ears, and in a way I do believe they are. Why should you need to have music on while you are traveling or walking on the street, being engaged with the music but not with the beauty around you and the people you pass. Music is used to distract ourselves from the reality of life and from our inner most where the most harmonious melodies are being performed if we choose so to listen to.
I agree Nico. I find it sad when I meet people out for a walk on the nature reserve and they are plugged in to earphones so shutting out the birdsong and the feel of nature all around them and shutting out any connection to the people they meet.
Yes Nico, the simple symphony of life is an album well worth hearing. Like many things we can use and choose something to escape or to heal, so I feel music can be magnificent when we are clear and make it so.
I found recently how distracted and tense I felt listening to music when I was out and about. The singers sounded angry, sharp, and aggressive, and the music felt really terrible to listen to. The lyrics I heard in the supermarket were so pathetic, apparently someone’s life was over because someone left them and they “needed” them back, it was like a great big advert to normalise co-dependency. Once upon a time I’m sure we understood the power of sound, but we seem to be in a society today that feels “so long as everyone else is doing it, just accept it and don’t question it.” Since listening to Serge Benhayon talk about energetic integrity and about music I’ve been more aware and selective about music, it certainly does have a powerful affect on the whole self.
Thank you Gyl, I agree, in my 62 years, until Universal Medicine my musical orientation was totally caught up in the emotional outplay of the artist involved. The presentations by Serge Benhayon have inspired me to be more discerning about the energy of not only music, but all aspects where energy can take me away from the amazingness I feel every day.
Thanks Gyl. Yes music can be cleverly made to please our minds, but they can’t fool anyone who is feeling their body and can feel what emotions are coming through and what that actually feels like. I was surprised that I could feel this also and had been stuck in identifying myself with a song because I was attracted to the emotions in the song (mostly sadness and grief) but since hearing music that is made without emotional quality and feeling the healing effect this can have on my body simply because I am allowed to be, was truly amazing and changed my whole world.
This has been my experience too harryjwhite; ‘ since hearing music that is made without emotional quality and feeling the healing effect this can have on my body simply because I am allowed to be, was truly amazing and changed my whole world.
What a great experiment!! A couple of years ago I picked up my son from daycare and he had learnt to do the Gangnam style dance and sing the song, telling me it was his favourite. Needless to say it was not a great feeling to watch a 3 year old boy sing “hey sexy lady” while doing thrusting moves. All the kids had no idea what any of it meant but the energy of the song was all through them.
I had a chat to the daycare educators and they had not even considered listening to the actual words of the song or feeling where the song was coming from and if it was the type of energy and feel we wanted to have at the centre. They totally understood once they stopped and considered but the impact of music is something that is not talked about enough. It is not just the words or lyrics or even sounds it is the whole feel and intention (energy) of the music.
Yep rebeccalpoole I am with you on that one. I remember going to a kids dance show a few years ago and saying ‘this is so not okay’ – as the music being played and what they had young children, the age of your son and upwards dancing to was highly sexualised songs. But this is prevalent in society everywhere today. Kids are exposed to so much sexual imagery, language and energy at such a young age, constantly if they listen to music and watch music videos ( and magazine, celeb culture etc). I will openly say it’s not okay, or I don’t like a song because it’s misogynistic, or it doesn’t feel great in my body, and am not a popular teacher at times in class when I say no to kids listening to music – but that’s okay.
I too have seen small children performing in this way and singing songs that are very sexual but of course the children have no idea. However as you say, I can feel the energy coursing through them and unlike many of the adults around do not find it ‘cute’, it’s actually quite horrible. We definitely have to wake up and be a lot more aware of the feel and intention that is behind music because it affects us all not just children. Most if not all songs are designed to keep the listener ensnared in the human condition.
What I find interesting too Rebecca is when children dance in this way, copying adult moves such as this, they just don’t look like themselves anymore, they certainly don’t have the natural joy in their movement that children have and they take on a whole other personna when doing these moves. Its often deemed to be cute, I feel it’s very far away from cute and who they are.
Thank you Gyl for your sharing on music, it makes me thankful that I lived on a farm for most of my life with the bird’s music. I realize why I never liked the radio being on and how I feel the disharmony in my body with most music except that which has been heaven sent. There is a huge difference.
I agree wholeheartedly Gyl! The music that’s on offer in all the places that you mention is an insidious poison, and actually very unpleasant to listen to even more so when you really stop, feel it and listen to the words, which are often not short of abusive and violent. I could go on but would probably end up sounding like an old timer!
Gyl this is so very well observed. Music is the ‘distract all’ solution – just press play and you do not have to feel. Yesterday chatting to a supplier in a very quiet kitchen early in the morning – she said ‘ you need to get some music down here – way too quiet’. It was interesting to observe then the need in another to have the ever-present perceived safety of a musical blanket that takes away all the pain. When in truth it steers us further away from feeling all that is there to be felt.
I too have come to realise and feel that most if not all music that’s out there is an assault on the body and designed to keep us hooked into an emotional way of being and that it isn’t the benign harmless thing we think it to be. In the past being drawn into what I thought was a pleasurable experience but now understanding the harm that can be done to our bodies when we choose to be unaware of the energy that’s coming at us. Listening to music has been a very big part of my life and something I thought would be difficult to give up which hasn’t been the case at all because now I’ve had the experience of listening to music that is clear and unimposing and I can feel what a joy that is.
Well said Gyl. I find it very hard to listen to music especially in the car – the music seems to blast out at me and hurts my ears. It’s not the volume, it’s the tone and how it is being sung that hurts.
I agree Susan. If music does not feel true and hurts my body, feels imposing etc then I do not listen to it. I and my body and what it feels comes first.
Good point
What a great blog Gyl, and one to which I can so relate! It’s so true that we are surrounded by music and sound everywhere we go these days. To me, much of this feels to be either imposing or a distraction, but that we have become so used to this, that it’s often uncomfortable to have space without some kind of noise or sound – and so we keep ‘filling’ the space without stopping to really feel what we are listening to, and how it actually feels in our bodies. You have started a great conversation here and also shown that true music does not impose, harm or involve emotions but simply allows us to just be, and in this allowing, it allows us to feel space and expansion within the body. I have found the music of Glorious Music and Sounds Wonderful to offer exactly that.
It took me years to come to the conclusions that you did in a week, Gyl! Music has such a grip on society that it may take even longer for people, in general, to understand what is being said in this blog. They will argue “But music is the universal language – all nationalities, all ages react to music.” And indeed they do. So I guess the question is, “Who is the maestro behind the music you choose to listen to?”
Yep I have had a few people disagree, not that I was trying to put a point across, but simply sharing how I felt. But I know what is true for me, in my body.
Spot on Gyl, your words here so true: “I found when I listened to my body it spoke to me loud and clear”, isn’t it amazing how much we don’t want to hear, see, feel or touch as we live life. But that when we do, so much gets revealed to us with the sense or knowing that there is always more behind everything…
I also really love music and so deeply appreciate of the wonderful music by Michael Benhayon and Glorious Music, plus also The Band as well as the musicians from Europe too, they have changed the way I enjoy and listen to music now, forever.
I can relate Gyl. One of the reasons I stopped going to a local gym was because of the blaring music and the video clips (many like soft porn) on screens all around the gym. It was inescapable and there for high school kids to see. It’s no wonder they are confused about love.
Hi Rod, yes gyms often have music on like this, I tend to go more during the day when it’s not blaring or in your face as it doesn’t feel great. They often show awful tv as well, which I find can be as equally damaging and harmful to our body and society. For example they were playing a well know British day time tv program, which is the most horrible, emotional and vile tv talk show ( if you can call it that) so I complained. They no longer play it now.
That was what I was wondering as well Mary, why is it so necessary? For the past two days we haven’t had the music on at work (A supermarket where one of the store standards is to have music playing, apparently to create a ‘relaxed atmosphere’ while at the same time providing ‘a buzz’ – This dual concept doesn’t make sense to me either) and I have felt much calmer compared to when the music is playing which can feel like a weight coming down from the speakers. Why is it that there is a need to create ‘a buzz’ in shops? does that affect how we shop and what we buy? If we are emotional and used to craving certain foods while in that emotional state is the emotional energy in the music supporting sales of those foods?
I really know what you mean Gyl Rae, if I catch myself singing along in my head to a song around me it completely changes my demeanor. Even those songs with a pleasant melody would make me feel down. The guys at work are friendly and cooperative, but one guy listens to music that makes him have a real chip on his shoulder attitude. Another guy when he puts on his heavy metal he goes through his work like a bulldozer not caring of others around him, he is completely different when the music is not blaring. I could go on and on but I recommend to anyone reading this to listen and feel for yourself how music imposes on people and changes their mood.
Hi Bernard, that’s a very astute observation of your work colleagues, and I can concur with what you say with my own experience of music. I generally don’t listen to ‘mainstream’ music anymore because of this very reason, it makes me feel emotional and depending on what type of music it is, it engenders all kinds of feelings in my body which don’t belong, and if it is dance music, that makes me want to move my body in a way that is not me and can transport me back to times in my life that I care not to remember!
There is music out there that is clear and not loaded with emotions, thanks to Michael Benhayon and Chris James, and I can listen and sing along to this music without it imposing on me or changing my mood and making me feel emotional. In fact I could say that this music has a healing affect, and I feel lighter and more joy-full after listening to it.
I agree, we need to truly feel into how music affects us and hooks us into feeling emotions that do not belong in our bodies.
I love how we ‘feel’ music, it is very powerful and therefore has the capacity to harm as you have so eloquently expressed here Gyl.