Sound and the benefits of birdsong
Benefits of birdsong and how I try to benefit
Having recently read the amazing book 'How to be Heard: Secrets for Powerful Speaking and Listening' by Julian Treasure, I've become much more aware of the sounds around me and of how to utilise sounds to help me in various aspects of my life. I can highly recommend the book, or the audio version, which is how I 'read' the book! I also recommend his TED talks which you can easily find on YouTube and his interviews on various Podcasts too. You can read a blog he wrote on the way sound affects us here.
This article explores some of the habits I've changed related to sound, and some of the potential explanations for this.
Birdsong
I've always enjoyed the gentle sound of birds singing from my garden and in our local area. I recently walked along the Basingstoke canal and stood listening to incredible chorus of the birds for a few minutes. I found the sound generally very calming and relaxing, but I also felt focussed and alert. There are experts and articles that suggest this calming effect is due to an evolutionary mechanism - when birds are singing we feel safe, but when the birds stop singing we may have cause for concern. To read more on this check out this article from 2022 in the Guardian.
If you've read any of my previous articles you may have come across some of my daily habits already. One that I enjoy, especially on mornings like today (I'm writing this on one of the first brighter days after many days of January rain), is to take my green tea into the garden for a few minutes and tune into the sound of the birds. I feel gratitude that I have a garden, and one that many small garden birds like to visit. I take in the morning daylight - which helps to strengthen my sleep-wake cycle and may improve my sleep later that night. I tune into the nature around me, the plants and the trees, the sounds, the wind and the sky. In this way I'm doing what's known as 'habit stacking'. I'm layering up the benefits of my green tea, with the sound of bird song, the morning daylight and the wider connection with nature, and it only takes a matter of a few minutes. There's another interesting article supporting the benefits of connecting with birdsong and more widely with nature in an article on the natural history museum blog here.
Whilst listening to the birdsong, I like to pay attention to the different calls and melodies, which ones are louder and quieter, which is coming from far away and which is closer. Which is coming from my left, or right, in front or behind me. One technique I use, is to imagine each birdsong as a different fader/volume control on a mixing desk, In this way, I can notice all the different sounds at the same time in their varying volumes. Then if a man-made sound occurs such as a passing train, or aircraft, I imagine the fader for that sound being lowered while turning up the faders for the birdsong.
This can be a useful technique for my Pilates participants to use during the relaxation, when there are often other sounds coming from within the building. If they can mentally lower the volume on the mixing desk for those sounds, they might be able to reduce distraction and tune into the relaxation music more clearly - although this does take practice! I'll talk more on how I use music to support various aspects of my life in my next article.
If Pilates, mindfulness or Breathwork is something you'd like to explore in 2024, please visit the various pages on my website and email me if you have any queries or to book a place.
Credit for final photo - Ewa Jones Photography