Tag: mindfulness

Take a Beat and Tune In to Nature for World Mental Health Day

October 9, 2024

Research shows that nature sounds can have a positive impact on your mental health. So, this World Mental Health Day, we’re inviting you to take a beat and tune in to nature. 

We’re reintroducing our “Take a Beat” campaign, which aims to help nature sounds become part of people’s everyday lives by highlighting the positive impact they can have on your mental health and well-being. Turning to nature provides listeners an opportunity to do something intentional for themselves by tuning out the background noise and tuning in to their own needs. We’re encouraging listeners to pause, reflect, and immerse themselves in the soothing sounds of nature. 

For Spotify, positive mental health is a state of well-being that allows people to better cope with the daily stresses of life, function productively, and make meaningful contributions. With this in mind, through Heart & Soul, our global mental health initiative for all Spotify employees, we are also encouraging employees to tap into Take a Beat and connect with nature through internal programming that helps educate, inspire, and normalize the idea of taking time away from their desks and spending time in nature.

Nature, mental health, and well-being are inextricably linked. A study of ~20,000 people found that those who spend at least two hours in nature throughout the week report consistently higher levels of mental health and well-being compared to those who don’t. Whether it’s the sound of ocean waves, a birdsong at dawn, or the rustle of wind through trees, the natural world offers a sense of calm and grounding that’s hard to find elsewhere. In today’s fast-paced world, these moments of stillness can feel distant or inaccessible. That’s why Spotify is proud to use its platform to bring these soothing sounds directly to people, wherever they are.

The Take a Beat hub 

The Take a Beat hub is filled with the best nature sounds available on Spotify—from field recordings to nature-themed albums, guided meditations to inspiring podcasts. The highlights in the hub are all backed by science, and the destination also features content from our partners, Sounds Right and Calm. 

Sounds Right, which launched earlier this year, is about recognizing Nature as an artist. By listening to NATURE’s tracks, fans are directly protecting the environment—a portion of royalties are disbursed to high-impact conservation initiatives. The Take a Beat hub includes tracks like Louis VI and NATURE‘s “Orange Skies” (featuring Mick Jenkins and Jelani Blackman); UMI, NATURE, and V’s (of BTS) “wherever u r”; and Cosmo Sheldrake and NATURE’s “Soil.” Our friends at Calm have curated an exclusive selection of nature-themed meditations that can be found in the hub. Listeners can find suggestions like We Are Nature, Nature Walk, Grounded Like a Mountain, Mindful Walking Meditation, and Nature All Around (the last of which is narrated by Jay Shetty). 

Collabs with Louis VI and other artists and influencers

With this year’s initiative, Spotify has teamed up with zoologist, BBC Creator in Residence, and rapper Louis VI, whose main purpose is to use sound to strengthen our connection to the natural world.

His collaboration with the campaign will help showcase how deeply nature and music are intertwined. “Having a strong relationship with nature is so important for both our mental health and creativity,” said Louis VI. “I draw inspiration from the natural world. Its rhythms, sounds, and energy are often a source of healing and creativity when making music.”

The Take a Beat campaign offers an open invitation to everyone, encouraging a deeper connection with the world around us through sound—whether it’s on World Mental Health Day or any other day.

Artists Maejor, N3WYRKLA, and Ralph Castelli are also joining us to share how they take a beat and tune in to nature, along with U.K.-based creators Char Bailey, Nadeem Perera, and Tash LC.

Community impact 

As a part of the campaign, we’re also making donations to organizations that are doing inspiring work to support people to connect with nature for their mental health and well-being. Three of these groups include Dose of Nature in the U.K., Climate Mental Health Network in the U.S., and The Global Fund for Mental Health. 

We also worked with our partners Good Energy to create a resource page where people can learn more about the intersection of mental health and climate change, discover simple ways to look after your mental health through nature, and learn more about partners working in this space. 

Explore the healing sounds of nature in our Take a Beat hub here.

Headspace’s Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher Dora Kamau Shares Tips and Tactics to Fight the Sunday Scaries

August 23, 2021

Now more than ever before, it’s become critical that we address and support our mental health. It’s not always easy to practice self-care, but doing so can have a major positive impact on our well-being. And right now, one particularly challenging area for many young professionals is work. Workplace anxiety around starting a new work week has become so common that there’s a term for it: “Sunday scaries.”

This has not gone unnoticed by mental health professionals or mindfulness experts—and they want to help. After seeing the popularity and positive impact of their “Sunday scaries” content on social media, Headspace Studios, a global leader in mindfulness and meditation and longtime Spotify partner, has teamed up with us to produce a new microcast, or mini-podcast, called Sunday Scaries by Headspace. It’s hosted by Headspace’s popular Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher Dora Kamau.

“‘Sunday Scaries’ is an all-too-typical feeling,” Dora explained to For the Record. “Especially for those working from home, work life has crept more and more into home life over the last year, which makes [Sunday] that much scarier.”

Starting August 29, Dora will share her knowledge as a registered psychiatric nurse and self-care and wellness artist to help listeners reframe their anxiety and approach the week with a positive outlook. The seven- to nine-minute episodes will also include breathing exercises and mindfulness techniques and tactics. Sunday Scaries by Headspace fans can expect 12 mini-episodes total, released weekly exclusively on Spotify.

For the Record caught up with Dora to learn more about the show, understand the benefits of meditation, and address anxiety.

How can meditation help listeners understand and manage anxiety? What are the benefits of doing so?

Anxiety is an experience that can have a severe impact on our well-being, especially when it’s not understood and is left unaddressed. When we can learn to understand anxiety and familiarize ourselves with its cause and the certain thoughts and emotions that come along with it, we can actually start to change our relationship with anxiety.

Meditation shows us that we aren’t our thoughts and most of our thoughts aren’t real (or as real as they may seem). With enough practice, we can learn to sit with and be at peace with our anxious thoughts and emotions, and even learn to live with anxiety as an everyday part of life instead of treating it like something scary! 

What comes with understanding is empowerment. I think when young people start to understand and address anxiety, it will empower them to take care of their own well-being. This turns into a ripple effect inspiring other young people around them to do the same. 

Can meditation newbies listen to the show? Do you have any advice for people new to or even intimidated by meditation?

Yes, definitely! I think a big misconception with meditation is that we have to be good at it when we first try it, and that’s far from the truth. The practice of meditation is something that we continue to cultivate and strengthen over time, just like a muscle. It’s not that we’re getting rid of every single thought in our mind, but we’re learning how to relate to those thoughts and feelings differently and respond to them in a healthier way. I like to advise people who are new to meditation to start small and stay consistent. So, start practicing for three to five minutes a day until you feel comfortable increasing the time.

And check out the Basics course that we have on the Headspace app! This course is great for beginners and goes over the fundamental practices and principles of meditation.

What is your favorite self-care exercise or tactic Sunday Scaries will share with listeners?

A favourite self-care exercise that I shared with listeners was mindful walking. It’s a practice that is still quite new for me, but something I’m definitely making more time for.

Oftentimes when we walk, we do so on autopilot, and our mind is elsewhere thinking about a million different things. It’s amazing how much something like walking can be turned into a restorative practice, especially when we are fully present with ourselves and our surroundings. With mindful walking, we can try a few things to sync our minds and bodies as we move: observing the body as we walk, noticing what’s going on around us—the cars, people, trees, etc.—listening to sounds close by or farther away, or simply just feeling the soles of our feet touch the ground. 

Burnout is another mental health issue on everyone’s minds. Do you have any tactics you can share for people experiencing burnout?

One of the reasons why I love meditation is the way it invites us to listen to our minds and bodies. Burnout is not just a mind thing and it’s not just a body thing; burnout impacts every aspect of our lives. Even if you’re new to meditation, a simple three minutes of noting your breathing can be beneficial. Why? Because it provides us with the opportunity to pause, reflect, and slow down. Not only that, but we can begin to become aware and understand the different cues of the body that are telling us to slow down as well. 

Another way to address burnout is by identifying your boundaries. Establish terms and standards for the way you show up in the world. Oftentimes, we don’t know our capacities and limitations when it comes to exerting ourselves, and this is what can cause burnout. By setting boundaries surrounding our work-life balance, we can create a more balanced approach to how we work and live our lives. 

Lastly, practicing self-compassion. Practice being kind and gentle with yourself as you navigate this experience. It can be so easy to be hard on ourselves for not being able to do and be more, but that won’t help us feel any better. Befriend your burnout, as silly as that sounds; this allows us to approach burnout in a curious and compassionate way. The same way we would check in and ask a friend how they’re doing, we can look at our experience with burnout in the same way. Get to know it and understand it a bit better so you can relate to it with more compassion.

Ready to relax? Connect your Spotify and Headspace accounts, then mark your calendar for the first mini-episode, which premieres Sunday, August 29. And until then, tune into Radio Headspace now:

Meditation, Mindfulness, and Ukulele: Niall Breslin’s Podcast Brings Meaning to Life Through Music

July 27, 2020

There’s a myriad of ways to take care of your mental health, whether that’s listening to a favorite band, getting outside, or taking time out every day to meditate. But with so much going on, sometimes a calm voice or gentle push is what you need to get started. 

Let podcast host Niall Breslin be your guide. In June, the musician ,mindfulness expert, and mental health advocate started recording the award-winning 52-episode series Where Is My Mind? to examine different coping skills for the challenging world we live in. Winner of the Creativity award at this year’s British Podcast Awards, Where Is My Mind? listeners can learn how to get off autopilot, navigate constant distraction, and explore what brings meaning to their lives.

Where Is My Mind? acknowledges how people have been feeling over the past few months of social distancing and works to address these emotions in informative and enlightening ways. Early episodes of the podcast detail the basics of meditation, mindfulness, and communication; the second season has progressed to cover topics like using nature, comedy, and exercise to help improve our well-being.

The role of music in mental health has always been near and dear to Niall’s heart. To bring this to life, as well as to give listeners the tools they need to create music of their own, he bought 400 ukuleles and gifted them to individuals currently addressing their own mental health.

Upon receiving their ukuleles, the budding musicians set off to hone their new skill. Specifically, they worked hard to learn the song “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. After a few weeks of practice, the ukulele players came together—albeit at a distance—for a chance to record themselves on a brand-new track and special music video set to coincide with a Where Is My Mind? episode on the topic of music and mental health.

The recording features 400 budding Irish ukulele players; professional musicians; choir singers; Niall’s band, The Blizzards; and some special Irish guest artists. Embrace the healing power of music by checking out the exclusive music video above and tuning into the new single, only on Spotify.

Looking for more mental health resources? Stream the latest episode of Where Is My Mind? below. Or, head to Irish Mental Health Charity A Lust for Life.