TRAIN YOUR BRAIN: What to listen to at WORK
Got playlist fatigue, ADHD paralysis or just need some new sounds? Me too to ALL those things. I've got you covered.
Firstly, I’m sorry I’ve been absent on here. Life has been pretty tough going lately and believe me, nobody is more frustrated about this than me. Thank you for staying around while I take a short break.
However I wanted to surface briefly as I started writing this feature a few weeks ago and realised I hadn’t ever finished and posted it. It’s not fully expanded and I’ll probably come back to it at some later point, but it’s really pertinent to where I’m at right now so I wanted to share and give you something to read and listen to on this rainy, windy August morning.
As I battle another big burnout, my brain has begun to do the thing which any of you who have also found yourselves in this state will recognise - it’s started to fragment, and shatter. It’s terrifying. Distractions sear into my mind like shards of glass and I’m finding myself unable to string together basic sentences.
A long suppressed stammer has returned to my speech and when I read back my words I am frequently finding that syntax and grammar, usually among my superpowers, have completely deserted me, with words the wrong way round or missed out entirely, and simple adjectives appearing as glyphs on the page. My spelling has become appalling and it’s taken me the longest time to even proof-read (this is the fourth time I’ve logged back in to make corrections and I’m sure you’ll still see some) this post, and the sheer number of errors was shocking to someone who has always been a straight A in English Language. Most of the day I’m totally disembodied and have the sense of some insidious energy bodysnatching me out of this realm.
Given that my book manuscript is due in just days, this is a frustrating and exhausting state of affairs.
What’s happening is that due to a clusterfuck of life, endless people pleasing, undeniably awful luck and bad timing, compounded by my propensity for a big burnout every 7 years or so (this one is right on time), my nervous system is absolutely annihilated and my brain is trying to self protect by shutting down random sections of itself.
It’s all very tiring and frightening.
But the fact is, the book deadline is right in front of me and I need to find a way to be present for the significant and life-changing personal situations happening in my family and personal life right now.
So STEP ONE is to shut down and get rid of the external noise and demands. The immediate impact of my decision to switch my phone off and get off social media, email and WhatsApp has been PROFOUND, I suspect a total game-changer and something I’ll definitely reflect on in this space at some later juncture.
Step two is to cultivate quiet space.
I’ve been wearing noise cancelling headphones about 80% of my waking time, even if nothing is playing in them. Mine are giant over-ear Bose QC35s which I’ve had for years and still love, but I’m looking into a new wave of solutions including these Loop Earbuds which I think have nailed a niche in overstimulation: https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/earplugs-for-adhd
Step three is to replace the noise with BETTER SOUNDS.
What we listen to is SO fundamental in how our brains are able to function.
As a sound healing practitioner I’m always very attuned to this, but lately I’ve been choosing VERY carefully, knowing that any sound has potential to create a painful trigger or yet another complicated distraction.
I’m starting most days with my own mini sound bath session - sometimes I get instruments out and play, some days I listen to a recording. Yes of myself (because I do this job for me as much as anyone else) but also of other colleagues whose work I love!
I could listen to Kate Fleur Young’s voice all day and my old Stoke Newington pal and music production expert Simone Salvatici has some wonderful tracks on Soundcloud that I come back to often.
I’m often asked where my own sound healing library is and the truth is it’s in pieces on my laptop. My autumn project is to get a new app launched where you can access a whole library of sounds especially recorded for different moments, moods and emotions. But that’s for the other side of burnout and for now you can have a potter round my YouTube channel or check out the reels part of my Instagram.
I also recorded this flumie-only session a few weeks ago as I find the drone of the flumies (those are the silicone ball type mallets that I drag across the surface of the gong for that deep space sound) to be really excellent tools for dropping me into an alpha brainwave pretty fast. Which is a helpful place to be for creativity and writing.
I’ve also been returning to mantra and raga playlists which train the brain into a meditative state and create helpful natural blinkers, and I’ve been finding the chakra-balancing tones and reassuring message of classic Vedic mantras honouring the Hindu god Ganesh (the remover of obstacles) encouraging.
I’m staying away from anything with lyrics as it encourages too much beta brainwave that throws me back into full cognition, and from there it only takes a nanosecond to unravel back into anxiety and that stabbing, distorted feedback loop. But I really enjoy the vocal-free lyricism of the hang drum, especially Kate Stone or my fellow Goa-based faves Hang Massive. This playlist has been on repeat this week:
Later in the day I switch it up to Gamma brainwaves, which are what I call master meditator frequency. This is our brain’s high performance channel, and one I know I ‘normally’ spend a lot of time in.
At the moment the intensity feels dangerous so I’m using binaural beats to manage how much time I spend fired up and in this place of powerful focus and heightened awareness.
It’s useful for pushing the book over the line but I know my fragile nervous system can only take so much, so I’m going to the other extreme too and being sure to play myself to sleep with delta brainwaves.
A go-to Alpha track for focus:
I’ve got a load of playlists for all these recommendations at my Spotify channel, and I hope they help you too. Eventually, I’ll get my own tracks on here too.
Until then, thank goodness for Nils Frahm……!
Sending love from inside the tunnel…
Janie xx
This is so helpful! Thank you! I will definitely be using these tips. Sending you huge hugs 🖤