Therapy by Alice

What Kind of Music Offers the Most Psychological Benefits?

Posted on January 16, 2023 Leave a Comment

What Kind of Music Offers the Most Psychological Benefits?

Research finds that certain songs can bolster optimism, self-esteem, self-continuity, and social connectedness.

“Music is a potent source of nostalgia,” wrote the authors of a 2022 study published in the journal Psychology of Music. And nostalgia, they said, “acts as a buffer against noxious stimuli . . . with positive consequences for psychological well-being.”

One of the most pronounced (and maybe surprising) of these positive consequences is an enhanced sense of social connectedness.

Most of us have songs that remind us of our best friends. Even if you can’t be with those people, listening to those songs can make you feel close to them again.

Some researchers have called music an “esthetic surrogate” for social interaction. It can strengthen and re-affirm connections you feel toward other people. Partly due to this enhanced feeling of connectedness, music-evoked nostalgia also “elevates self-esteem, instills a sense of youthfulness, and augments optimism and inspiration,” wrote the authors of that 2022 Psychology of Music review.

Likewise, nostalgic music can also reconnect you with yourself.

Like a great theme song that ties together different parts of a film, listening to old hits from the soundtrack of your life can help you get back in touch with yourself in a way the promotes a sense of heightened “self-continuity,” which music researchers describe as “a sense of temporal connection between one’s past and one’s present.” Put another way, nostalgic music can act as an identity clarifier.

One study found that when people read lyrics from songs that made them feel nostalgic, they were more likely to endorse statements like “I feel connected with who I was” and “I feel that important aspects of my personality remain the same across time.”

Why music does so much for us is a mystery. But it’s clear that music occupies a special and sacred place in the architecture of the human mind.

Studies on people with dementia have found that listening to music from their pasts can help them access memories or autobiographical details that, absent music, they are unable to retrieve. Imaging research has also revealed that the areas of the brain that house music-encoded memories are often spared from the ravages of dementia. Like treasured heirlooms, our musical memories are hidden away in our mind’s deepest, best-protected places.

It may not be true for everyone. But for a lot of us, it seems the music we’ve loved and connected with during our lifetime helps form the solid core of our identity. Listening to it is like stepping into a portal that takes us not only back in time, but back to ourselves.

You probably already know which tracks are your strongest nostalgia triggers. But if you’re wondering what to play, research has found that music from your youth — and specifically from your late teens — is often the most likely to induce nostalgia. Even older adults in their 70s and 80s show this nostalgic bias toward songs from their teenage years.

Some social scientists have argued that humans may have sung before they spoke, and that musicality is one of the fundamental traits of our species. Reconnecting with music that has meaning for you seems to do all sorts of good for your mind, and maybe also for your spirit.

Excerpted from Markham Heid

Tension & Compression in Yin Yoga

Posted on January 12, 2023 Leave a Comment

Tension and compression are the two stressors in the body during yoga

Tension

Resistance met when tissue is stretched to its max length
Usually talking about soft tissue which includes muscles, tendons and ligaments
Tension is what people mean when they feel a stretch in the body.
You will be more open will and tension decreases as the tissues opens up.
The connective tissues has a small amount of stretch compared to muscles
We hold poses in yin yoga longer to give the ligaments and tendons open up more since they open more slowly.

Compression

Resistance where bone meets bone
Cannot be safely increased over time
Often a result of anatomical differences.

The Benefits and Limitations of Both

Compression may shorten the area so that when it’s released it’s flushed out.
Tension creates length and lubrication
When you have stretched yourself to the max there will be no more tensions. When you hit compression you have no tension
When we reach our physical limitation you will begin to release emotions and energy

Student Experience

Tension is a stretch in a larger area of the body
Compression can be pin pointed to a specific area of the body.
If they feel pain that’s when they need to back off and avoid bone on bone. If they are feeling stuck sometimes we can get them to reshape the pose to accommodate
There is no one right way to do a yin pose.
Adjusting alignment helps fix compression
We try to help our students unlock all the tension before they hit compression

Yin yoga and contractures

Posted on January 11, 2023 Leave a Comment

Contracture is the connective tissue equivalent to muscle contraction. Contracture is when you feel stiff or tight. It is there to keep your joints safe. Your connective tissues becomes shaped according to your movement patterns. Yin Yoga helps reverse contractures and creates more mobility over time.

Price Increase after the New year

Posted on December 8, 2022 Leave a Comment

Everything costs more than it used to so unfortunately I have to raise prices to match the rest of the world. But I will promise to give the best service and massage I possibly can and you will leave my office feeling fantastic. Each item will be $5 more and the fully updated price list will be on my booking site at

Adagio Massage and Music Therapy

And always remember…at Adagio Massage and Perryman Septic Service we will massage the crap out of you.

Our new motto

Posted on November 23, 2022 Leave a Comment

Pushing the Limits

Posted on November 23, 2022 Leave a Comment

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeff-johnny-agar-father-son-ironman-triathlon-cerebral-palsy/

Video above…totally worth seeing.

Jeff and Johnny Agar are not your typical athletes. But with more than 200 races under their belts, including a full Ironman race, the father-son duo are overcoming the odds and redefining what it means to be champions.

Johnny, 28, has cerebral palsy, a muscle disorder that makes it difficult to walk and talk. So Jeff, at 59, takes on triathlons — an individual sport — for two people, totaling 400 pounds with their equipment.

When Jeff swims, he pulls Johnny. When Jeff runs, he pushes Johnny. And when Jeff bikes, he hauls his son.

Their bond is as strong as iron — tempered by love.

“I mean, I’m not a fan of swimming, biking or running, which is perfect for triathlon,” Jeff told CBS News, laughing. “This probably wouldn’t be in the top 100 things I would select to do. … I’m not doing it because I love it. This is Johnny’s dream and I’m giving him the legs and the power to do it.”

“I think we’re just trying to show him: You can’t let obstacles stand in your way,” Jeff said.

Jeff and his wife, Becky, found out their son had cerebral palsy when he was just three weeks old and were devastated by his diagnosis.

“It took a couple seconds to figure out: this is a totally different world for us. This is not going to be the typical type of thing,” Jeff told CBS News.

“I remember asking him one day, I said, ‘You know, what if he can’t play catch with you? What does that mean to you?’ And he said, ‘You know, I just love him. It doesn’t matter what he can and can’t do,'” Becky said.

“It was at that point I though, ‘Gosh, I got the right guy,'” she added.

Together, the Agars have completed more than 200 races across nine states over the past 14 years.

For me, it’s a tremendous blessing,” Johnny said of his father helping him compete. “I’m able to express my desires through him and he understands that. … You know, I saw Dad pushing himself to get me across the line. And I said to myself, this is ridiculous. I am capable of doing more.”

So, two months ago, they went after a goal they’d attempted five times before: finishing the ultimate endurance event, a full Ironman race. It was held in Maryland, where the father and son had to complete a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run. They trekked 140 miles in under 17 hours.

For the first time, they did it, with just five minutes to spare. Johnny took it upon himself to cross the finish line for his team.

“Walking in races was my way of telling dad, ‘Okay, I’m not just going to say thank you anymore, I’m going to actually put words into action,'” Johhny said.

He said being able to inspire someone else gives his challenges purpose.

“Even though he got him the 140 miles, he’ll always be hiding behind Johnny,” Becky said of her husband. “He doesn’t want to be announced as an Ironman. It’s Johnny’s moment. And it’s the most beautiful thing to me.”

So what’s next for team Agar? They’re doubling down in hopes of securing a spot at the Ironman World Championship next year in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

“It’s considered the most brutal one-day endurance event on the planet,” Jeff said. “You get 17 hours. And we would probably use every minute of it. For sure.”

They competed in the race back in 2016 but weren’t able to finish the bike portion in the time allowed.

“Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn,” Johnny said.

“It’s not about the medal for me. It’s not about the fame. It’s about doing it as a team,” Johnny said.