All Posts by Jude Ritz

“The past is gone; the future is not yet here."

A pretty simple concept, yet, we oftentimes find ourselves regurgitating things that have already happened or worrying about things that haven’t.

Of course, it’s normal (and even helpful) to think about these things.

But spending too much time and energy mulling over the past and future distracts us from the things we  can actually control...

When I was in my teenage years, I will always spend time thinking about unnecessary things that are either unproductive or harmful to my well-being.

But after coming to realize that I'll never be able to go back and change what happened yesterday or a few years ago…

I began shifting my focus to the present and incorporating mindfulness in my everyday life.

Mindfulness.

You may have heard of this before. It’s a pretty hot buzzword in the alternative health universe…

Today, I’m going to explain why this practice is so beneficial to your whole-body health, and how you can work it into your day-to-day routine.

Mindfulness benefits your body

The benefits mindfulness offers your body and brain are incredible.

For instance, it's proven to protect your brain.

In a 2016 study, Alzheimer’s patients underwent either mindfulness meditation, cognitive stimulation therapy, relaxation training, or no treatment at all.

After undergoing a series of cognitive tests, researchers found that those in the mindfulness meditation group demonstrated more significant improvement in their scores than any other group.

Mindfulness has also been shown to reduce stress, blood pressure, and risk of heart disease.

Being “in the moment” also benefits your mind

Practicing mindfulness offers a vault of psychological benefits. According to study, researchers found that this practice helped lower stress, anxiety, depression, and pain in individuals.

Mindfulness has even been linked to helping those in drug or alcohol recovery, as well as those who suffer from overeating. It’s been shown to help been awareness to physiological cravings—thus helping people better understand and tolerate their cravings, increasing the likelihood of avoiding relapse.

Incorporating “mindful minutes” into your life

As you can see, you can enjoy an array of substantial health benefits, just by training your mind to focus on where you are and what you’re doing right now.

If you’d like to try practicing mindfulness, here’s one of my favorite short exercises to help you get started:

This exercise typically takes about 10 to 15 minutes, but feel free to do it for more or less time—whatever works (and feels) the best for you.

1. Find a quiet, peaceful place where you can be still comfortably.
2. Breathing exercises - Start breathing slowly, in through your nose and out through your mouth. Let your mind go quiet.
3. Now, direct your awareness to everything that you’re currently experiencing using your 4 senses…
   
   —  Sense of sight. Look carefully at your surroundings. Note the exquisite detail in each thing and every thing. Try to see the beauty in life and things that surround you.
   
   — Next, focus on your sense of hearing. Listen closely to all of the sounds around you. Try to focus on each individual sound for a few seconds. Then shift to listening to everything as a whole—as if it were a big symphony.
   
   — Third, focus on your sense of smell. Can you name some odors in your mind?
   
   — Last, move on to your sense of touch. What can you physically feel? If you are sitting in your backyard, ask yourself, "Are there rays of sunshine warming your skin?" or if you are at the beach, perhaps a light wind may be caressing your cheek?
   
   Afterwards, focus on how you feel internally and breath in slowly and deeply.
4. Now take a few minutes to just sit or lie down in silence. Check in with yourself.
   
   Do you feel more relaxed? Do you feel more focused on the present moment?

It's great to see the positive effects music has on us. Especially since the rates of dementia diagnoses show no signs of trending downward anytime soon.

In fact, the rate of diagnosed cases increased by 117 percent globally from 1990 to 2016.

Protecting your brain is more important than ever.

So today, I’m going to highlight some breathtaking research on how you can protect your brain or help a loved one delay the symptoms of dementia—even if they have early stages of the disease.

The 3Ms - Music, Mind, and Movement

In a recent study published in Frontiers in Psychology, researchers studied music as a therapeutic tool for dementia patients using the MMM program they developed.

The researchers found that music offers therapeutic effects because of its seven distinct qualities: 

• Emotional
• Engaging
• Personal
• Persuasive
• Physical
• Social
• Synchronous (coordinating body movement and speech to music)

Researchers implemented the MMM program in the study, curating sessions that focused on one or more of the seven elements above.

20 patients with mild to moderate dementia participated in seven 45-minute group sessions per week for a total of seven weeks.

The group was divided in half. Group one participated in the MMM program, while group two received standard care.

Each session included music activities like drumming, group singing, group music listening, identifying the name and artist of songs, finishing song lyrics, and reminiscing about favorite songs. 

​Amazingly? 

67 percent of the patients who participated in the music group improved their cognition scores by three points. This includes verbal fluency and attention span.

The researchers suggest that early music-based interventions could potentially optimize cognitive function and delay advanced stages of the disease in dementia patients.

Adding music to exercise

This is one of the best way to protect your brain.

Listen to music while you exercise.

Based on evidence that exercise improves brain function in adults, a group of Japanese researchers wanted to see if adding music to fitness routines could further improve these effects.

In the 2014 study published in the Public Library of Science Journal, 120 healthy older adults worked out with a physical trainer for one 60-minute session per week for the duration of one year.

The participants all performed the same exercise routine, except one group worked out with music, while the other did not.

Researchers found that:

• Both groups showed an increase in psychomotor speed­—what we normally refer to as “reaction time,” or how fast your cognitive function signals your body to move. You use psychomotor skills when you do things like drive a car, type, or throw a ball.
  
  
• The group that listened to music during their workouts demonstrated significant improvements in their visuospatial function—your ability to gauge visual and spatial relationships among objects, like when you identify movement, depth, or distance.

By simply listening to music as they exercised, the intervention group enhanced essential brain functions.

Start incorporating music into your daily routine and watch your life transform!

What is sound?

The power of sound has been an integral part of human civilization for thousands of years. We live in a vibratory universe where there is no such thing as Matter. Everything we sense and feel, see and touch is pure energy. This is of accordance to the Law of Creation.

Mark my words,  sound therapy is going to be the next big thing in the future.

Though it’s been known as a powerful healing practice throughout the world for centuries, Western medicine has long considered it to be “fringe.”

That is, until now…

Sound therapy can appear a little weird to some people.

To some individuals, sound therapy can be perceived as 'hype-y' or a little 'out-there'...

After all, some of the methods sound is used are out of the ordinary...

Take sound baths, for instance…

Participants lay on the floor and the facilitator rub a mallet inside bowls of varying sizes to make sounds. Occasionally, the facilitator will bang a gong or play an exotic-looking instrument. And sometimes, they’ll hover over participants, striking instruments right over their heads. 

It may seem odd to some people who are unfamiliar with this practice.

But the benefits to this are immense and there are plenty of research to support the effects and benefits.

There are a plethora of knowledge regarding sound healing’s history, the science behind how it works, and all of the peer-reviewed research demonstrating its effectiveness.

And, time and time again—after learning how sound works and what it can do for them—I’ve seen even the most steadfast skeptics become the most vocal advocates.

How Sound Can Activate Your Body's Self-Healing Process

Sound is the conduit that puts your body in its optimal state to allow healing.

You can do this by either using:

1. Passive sound therapy (like sound baths or listening to music/nature sounds), which activates your parasympathetic nervous system, making your body calm and relaxed.
2. Active sound therapy (like singing, humming, or chanting), which utilizes the sound of your own voice to stimulate the vagus nerve¾the longest nerve of the body. When activated, it can promote your body’s natural healing abilities.

Both of these sound healing approaches work in a multitude of ways to speed up healing, ease chronic stress, boost mood, or clear the mind… just to name a few.

It’s only a matter of time until more and more people discover how sound can help them activate their built-in healing systems.

Remember, you were born with regenerative abilities!

And I’ve made it my mission to educate people about this simple, yet little-known fact.

If you’ve already experienced the life-changing power of sound, I’d love to hear about how it’s helped you. And if you’ve been spreading the word about sound healing, thank you!