Farewell at Yang Pass

This ancient Chinese song was written during the Tang dynasty. The poet was Wang Wei. Since several of my students are Chinese, I wanted to learn one of their cultural songs and attempt to wrap my voice around the traditional Chinese vocal style. I have my working on the song in video. The sound is not loud but I hope you can get a flavor. Following my video is a beautiful rendition of the piece. It was originally written for performance with the instrument called "Guqin." That is the long stringed instruments in the second video. To hear the sound of the music takes me back immediately to my trip to China in 2009. It was transformational. It makes me so happy to try to step into their culture by trying to "fit" into this song. My students have been very kind and careful teachers. Whatever I have accomplished is to their credit.

Lovin’ Dat Heart o’ Mine

Coronary artery disease, or heart disease, is all too common among some of the acquaintances I have. It seems that exactly why the body decides to store extra fatty material in the arteries to the heart is less concrete than the fact that it can. When it does happen, the amount of oxygenated-blood flow to the heart is restricted. I am particularly interested in how it affects blood pressure. Unfortunately one does not usually sense the build-up. What one gets instead are symptoms only very close to having a heart-attack. With that in mind, I wanted to look at the preventative information concerning this issue.

The University of Minnesota has a site that explains that there are two main ways to treat heart disease. One method is through the use of medications, and the other is through changes to one’s lifestyle. The preventative measures the article lists include no smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, get three to four hours of intense exercise every week, and eat at least five servings of fresh fruits and vegetables every day (http://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/conditions/heart-disease).

This article also suggested a book by Dr. Dean Ornish who has founded a preventative medicine center and written a good bit about the challenges of heart disease. One of his books is Love & Survival: The Scientific Basis for the Healing Power of Intimacy (1988). “Ornish presents startling scientific evidence from researchers from many parts of the world on the important role of social support in healing all kinds of diseases” (http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/books/books.php?id=941). Two items that he mentions in particular are touching and becoming aware of what/how you say things. That really touched me and resonated with my current readings in psychoneuroimmunology.

At JayMan’s blog, I found a discussion about the correlation of both genetics and temperature to heart disease. The blogger feels that genetics and the average temperature in which you live are determining factors for heart disease, greater than those of life style. So I asked him what he thought about the relaxation response. I was thinking that if one lived in a colder place they might not relax as much. His response is complex but interesting.

Barbara / Sep 26 2013 1:30 PM

What a fascinating conversation. I am studying arts in medicine. We look at happiness, relaxation response, and how doing art positively influences the immune system. I wonder if one could study heart disease and those who sing? heart disease in those who consider themselves happy? Perhaps these studies are being or have been done. I’ll look. Otherwise, I agree that there is much more to learn about most things.

reply

·         JayMan / Sep 26 2013 3:13 PM

@Barbara:

We look at happiness, relaxation response, and how doing art positively influences the immune system.

Well, that would be an awfully hard thing to study, because you’d have to perform a very long randomized controlled trial…

I wonder if one could study heart disease and those who sing?

Sure, but it would be simply an academic inquiry. It wouldn’t be able to help anyone since the ability to sing is something you have or don’t have…

References

Ann Louise: At the Heart of Your Health. http://www.annlouise.com/blog/2013/02/15/at-the-heart-of-your-health/comment-page-1/#comment-58106

Centers for Disease Control. http://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/

How Stuff Works. http://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/cardiovascular/heart/heart-attack.htm

JayMan. http://jaymans.wordpress.com/2013/08/18/even-george-w-bush-has-heart-disease/

Ornish, DD. http://www.pmri.org/dean_ornish.html

University of Minnesota. http://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/conditions/heart-disease.

Self-Portrait Collage

This self-portrait represents many aspects that are observable to me about myself. It includes yielding bounty. This is represented mostly by the water which has its own attractiveness, beauty, and strength of purpose. After a hard travel down stream, the water plunges full steam ahead over the cliff, free-falling down the river bed, and then settles calmly and lazily at the bottom. In another view, one can see the sun shining through the water, and another with sailboats and roses. Other pictures represent the roles I play: mother, provider, counselor, dancer, tennis player, and sat-upon. One of the stronger images represents the success I have had and my sense that this has not always pleased others. Though I think my purpose is clear, am I kidding myself?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This activity might also serve to unlock some of the ambivalent feelings pregnant teenagers might have. As a second artistic discipline, it would be lovely to add poetry writing. To invite their participation, I would do it with them and hope to model exposing conflicting sides of one's personality in the mix. Doubt is OK!



Working on My Self-Image

 

The way we see ourselves is very important and affects how we go through our day and our life. Therefore, taking time to think through our own self-image is a fine way to spend a little time. Like many things in life, our self-image is under construction and can change by learning about ourselves. Sometimes we can do this by reflecting on what we feel we find in the internal cupboard of our mind, or by simply noting the words that other’s use to describe us, what we do, or how we do it.  The Cleveland Clinic offers a specific set of steps one could take to foster a more positive self-image (http://my.clevelandclinic.org/healthy_living/mental_health/hic_fostering_a_positive_self-image.aspx).

More directly, the Mayo Clinic suggests we might spend time thinking about our “thinking.” This clinic offers four steps to assist us with doing just that by going from identifying what’s bothering us to adjusting the way we might be thinking about just those things (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/self-esteem/MH00129).  

At the following listed blog, there are numerous quotes from famous individuals, noted literary figures, and religious figures. They each had a positive message. Several were also humorous in their wit addressing how we act as humans. I particularly liked the quote that pointed out how being positive and being negative take about the same amount of time and energy.

 

There are three quick ways to improve your positive thinking in an article by Hentrik Edberg given at this blog: http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2013/09/18/here-you-are/comment-page-1/#comment-451491: slow down, complete the phrase, "Now I am  . . .", and a word that acts as your own personal 'stop sign'. You see my response here.

 

 

singmewell September 19, 2013 at 10:33 am

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

Thank you, Henrik, for your three wonderful and well-articulated recommendations. I like the crispness of the interventions and your encouragement to use them. I will.

 

Because pictures are worth a thousand words, I recommend this site for laughs and uplift: https://www.google.com/search?q=positive+self-image&hl=en&qscrl=1&rlz=1T4GGHP_enUS443US444&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=qrA6UrGXOYuI9ASmrICYAw&sqi=2&ved=0CC4QsAQ&biw=1366&bih=641&dpr=1.

I also enjoy seeing what others have to say. Therefore, I went to the following site where I found many quotes by others, famous and not so.

http://addicted2success.com/quotes/50-positive-thinking-quotes-for-more-inner-strength-growth/

singmewell

September 19, 2013 at 7:52 am

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

Thanks for the positive and humorous reminders. The quotes bring to us the fact that we are not the only one looking for relief from our concerns and that others have found ways to identify and manage their challenges: so can we!

 

 



You Might Not Recognize This Drawing

There are three main colors in this drawing. The shapes made themselves. I think in reflection that each color represents one of my children. The fact that I set the sheet of paper in my rocking chair to paint seems more than Freudian! It does make me laugh. How human I am.

Gaming For Teen Health Education

The history of Health and Human Services in the United States is being “rocked” by the same thing that is creating waves of change and bewilderment in higher education: technology. The community health issues in rural communities are particularly impoverished by few well-trained personnel. What is offered to teen agers might not meet the needs of the community. Therefore larger organizations have taken to the internet. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has a very robust location on their website called “BAM! Body and Mind”. At this site teens are prompted: “Got a Question?” as in “Got milk?”

The number of ways this site engages young people includes videos of cartoon heros such as “The Immune Platoon”. They overcome the enemy, Lethargo, requesting help from teens to be active and chomp on fresh fruit and vegetables. There are also links to other activities including games such as “Smile Style”. This game asks that users choose elements in the window that will give them a great smile and trash the items that will not do so. Another United State government site with similar material offers teens different games that cover the topics of “Alcohol and Peer Pressure”, “Body Parts”, recipes for cooking (!) and also “It’s My Life”. This particular site invites teens to share, by writing, their inner thoughts about their lives and experiences. 

The need for training for health educators in public schools was address in another article. One particular study by Herman and Lohmann addressed instructional strategies for training those who will be teaching health to teens. Though they felt there was a need to use various methods of instruction, technology was certainly among those they listed. “It behooves health education curriculum developers to consider moving beyond the time-tested medium of video into more advanced technologies that can be designed to simulate real-world situations where participants learn to apply decision making and other health skills” (Herman, Lohmann 2011).

 

One other article talked about teens in Native American communities where there are no traditional means for broad discussion of health topics with this age group. Therefore, those working with teens are using the “media technologies, including the Internet, cell phones, and video games, offering new avenues to reach Native youth on sensitive health topics” (Craig, Stephens 2012). American teen agers need to be engaged in health and safety issues. The Health and Human Services professionals are the ones who try to reach this group. It is interesting and encouraging that technology can be used to advance this communication of need information.

 

Center for Disease Control and Prevention: www.cdc.gov/bam/

Craig, R. S., & Stephens, D. (January 01, 2012). Tribal recommendations for designing culturally appropriate technology-based sexual health interventions targeting Native youth in the Pacific Northwest. American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research (online), 19, 1, 76-101.

Herbert P, Lohmann D. (2011) It’s all in the delivery! An analysis of instructional strategies from effective health education curricula. The Journal of School Health, 81(5), 258-264.

KIDS.US.gov/teens-home/play-games-health-and-safety/index.shtml

Arms in the Air and Swing 'Em Like You Just Don't Care

Today's thought:

Humans are healthy when they are animated by vitality; in turn, when humans use their vitality to animate ideas, materials or sounds, it refreshes their own sense of vitality. Throughout history, human kind has developed this activity surrounding rituals for times when they feel least vital: death, illness, catastrophe, or fear of such; or when they feel most vital: birth, bonding, spiritual awakening, or awe.


This summary was written in response to a course I am taking at the University of Florida concerning the history of human health and healing and the arts. I would be glad for any reactions others might have to this and further the thinking and discovery in this area. 

Six Word Memoirs

Hemmingway set a neat bar with his six word memoir. The idea of distilling one's content per this or that into something small is a good exercise because it does get one to think through large blocks of experiences and encourages one to see a certain set of spikes, up or down, on the oscillating wave of their life or whatever is being considered. Therefore, it could be a good exercise for one working to find forward motion out of an emotional rut or out of a thought-looping that is challenging a more positive outlook.

I think it would serve very well as an exercise for senior music majors as they approach topics and processes for their Senior Capstone. I will add this procedure to their initial work on their Capstones and document its effectiveness. It might also be a good tool to use at the end of a session of singing to see what inner reflection surfaces in reaction to the singing experience.



Autobiography in Six Words:

Rhythm yields to melody to harmony.


Present Moment in Six Words:

Family haunts, family beckons; boat afloat.


Vision in Six Words:

Looking to see the next smile.


Professional Memoir in Six Words:

Happy rhythms, dotted rhythms, driven rhythms.

In looking at sites that address the therapeutic affects of singing, I ran across the following article: The Therapeutic Effects of Singing in Neurological Disorders  (Wan, Rueber, Hohmann, and Schlaug). They did a meta analysis of research studies looking at the affects of singing for patients who had problems with stuttering, or vocal problems due to strokes (aphasia), and Parkinson's disease. One conclusion was that singing helps these patients with neurological disorders because it makes use of both right and left sides of the brain. In everyday conversation, spoken language generally uses only the left side of the brain. Also in the process of singing words, individual phonemes, sound units, are more easily identified due to their elongation within the sung line of text. Parkinson's patients often experience difficulties with a weak and breathy speaking voice. By singing, they increase the strength and resonance of their voices by learning to use more body support for the breath column coupled with increased tension in the glottis. The article also referenced the "Lee Silverman Voice Treatment".

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2996848/?report=classic

I visited a blog site for this treatment and have captured their initial presentation and my question to the author, Allison Berglund, MS CCC-SLP:

Barbara Steinhaus, on September 4, 2013 at 10:37 pm said:

I am a professional singer and professor of Music. From what I have read here, I wondered if you felt that this “speech” technique was as effective if you sang vocal sounds instead of speaking vocal sound? Please visit my blog: singmewell.blogspot.com. I look forward to hearing what you would consider.
Thank you, Barbara Steinhaus

 

http://sliers.wordpress.com/2008/05/23/find-your-voice-lee-silverman-voice-treatment-lsvt%c2%ae/#comment-322