(bright lively music) - Feel the power of music, as it captivates and connects us.

- Music is love, music is passion.

- [Sarah] Music belongs to everyone.

(bright lively music continues) This is Minnesota Orchestra.

- Okay, perfect, perfect, okay.

So whenever I'm ready?

Okay.

Anxiety feels like being completely trapped and kind of having no way out.

You don't really know how to get better, sometimes.

- When I feel anxious, I feel very heavy, and it feels a little suffocating.

(sighing) Well it's, time kinda like slows down, but it also feels like it speeds up a little bit, and it's a very disorienting feeling.

So, that's how it feels when I am anxious.

- Anxiety to me feels like there's a brick that's on my stomach and chest, and it just makes me want to sit there and go to bed, and not ever get out.

- Everything is just kinda spiraling onto me.

It's like everything's just really kinda pressing and impending on me.

- My mind is running a thousand miles an hour, outta control, like a NASCAR flipping across the racetrack.

- Anxiety to me, it feels like I am frozen in place, as all of these heavy emotions just fill through my body.

My chest feels too big and too small at the same time.

I feel like I'll never get out of it, ever again.

- Ah man, anxiety feels like I'm trembling, and I'm scared, my hands are sweating, my heart is pounding, and I'm super overwhelmed.

(bright uneasy orchestral music) (bright uneasy orchestral music continues) (tense uneasy orchestral music) (tense uneasy orchestral music continues) (tense uneasy orchestral music continues) (bright uneasy orchestral music) (tense uneasy orchestral music) (audience cheering) - Thank you.

Now that is what anxiety feels like to me, all jagged edges and clashing chords, and rhythms crashing forward.

Anxiety is something we've all experienced, because it's an inextricable part of being human.

And tonight we're gonna explore the intersection of anxiety and music, the ways in which music can help us express, process, and ease anxiety, and how music can promote the mindfulness that can bring us back to ourselves in our most anxious moments.

Well, welcome to Orchestra Hall everyone.

I am Sarah Hicks, and it's my privilege to lead this exploration with, of course, the incredible musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra, but also with some really extraordinary guests, who will be illuminating the intersection between music and our mental states.

So my first guest is a biomedical engineer and auto laryngologist specializing in auditory neuroscience.

In other words, someone who knows a lot about how sound is processed in the brain.

Dr. Hubert Lim, thank you so much for joining us.

- Thank you for having me.

(audience applauding) - So Dr. Lim, tell me a little bit more about auditory neuroscience.

How do our brains process sound?

- Yeah, so at University of Minnesota, my group focuses on how sound is coded in the brain.

And with that information we're able to improve and develop better hearing technologies, like hearing aids and cochlear implants.

Now the brain, it is quite complex no doubt, and sometimes it appears a bit mysterious, but there is some order to it, thank goodness for us that there is.

And the way it processes sound can be characterized in different studies.

At least for hearing, sound is coded in maps.

For example, in the auditory brain you have cells in a given location, that's coding for low-frequency tones, and then cells next to that are coding for middle-frequency tones, and then next to that is high-frequency tones.

So you have this orderly spatial organization of cells coding for frequencies, like a piano, what we call tone atopy.

And there's different maps like that for pitch, for rhythm, for periodicity and so on.

So basically the brain takes that sound, breaks it up into features, and then reorganize it in a way that it can perceive and understand sound.

- So interesting.

So I understand that organized sound like music lights a part of the brain that are not about auditory processing.

So what does that tell us?

- That's correct Sarah, that in the past decade there's been compelling discoveries and growing evidence that sound can actually activate similar brain regions, or some of the same brain regions, that's involved with reward processing, and pleasure, and emotional responses.

Some of those you've heard of like the amygdala, the basal forebrain, different portions of your frontal cortex.

And I think that has been one of the major advances of the neuroscience field for music therapy.

- Music therapy, so bringing that back into the mental health sphere, because music interacts with so many regions of the brain, how could it be used to impact our emotional states?

- Yeah, I like to think of it in two ways.

One all of you are familiar with, is you can use music as a tool to be able to alter your heart rate, change your breathing patterns, cause physiological responses in your body.

And these changes can help you calm down, they can help you relax, they can make you feel better, they can reduce your stress.

So that to me, I view as a more indirect way.

Now there's a other way which is, you know, more challenging and creative ways to do it, but you directly use music to activate those limbic and emotional regions of your brain.

And that will be of course, some individualization.

We all know that we have different preferences for music, what affects us, what moves us, and those will have to be incorporated into it.

But there is new research also coming out, that you can use complex sounds for treating many individuals.

For example, like 40-hertz stimulation, or in my lab we've found complex sounds that can treat tinnitus and associated symptoms related to that.

So I think it's a exciting time for the future, with all these different methods and opportunities with music therapy.

- It is exciting, thank you so much Dr. Lim, for joining us.

- Thank you for having me.

(audience applauding) - And now another perspective.

For over 30 years, psychiatrists and social worker Dianne Hartman has seen her patients not only grapple with their mental health, but also with the stigma around their struggles.

So as also a musician and composer, she's written works that address mental health issues, in an effort to promote understanding and empathy.

Here is the first movement from her work, "The Music of Mental Health", that takes us on a journey from anxiety and struggle, to finding healing.

(uneasy dread-filled music) (uneasy dread-filled music continues) (tense disjointed music) (uneasy expectant music) (bright expectant music) (audience cheering) Now from a psychiatrist's perspective to a musician's perspective.

As performers on stage, we might look like we all have it together all the time, but the truth is, whether or not on or off the stage, we're human too, and we live and work through our own anxiety.

We have our own stories, and I'm glad my friends and colleagues, Sonia Mantell and Greg Milleren, are here on stage to share a little bit of theirs.

So Sonia, I know that you've worked through your own performance anxiety.

How do you recognize it, and what do you immediately do?

- So usually the first thing that happens for me, is that I have a lot of racing thoughts.

It's usually focused on really like small details, I normally don't think about in performances, and that usually affects my breathing next.

I usually sense that I'm not able to fully inhale.

Like sometimes I'll be inhaling, and then I feel like I just hit this, this like point where it just stops.

So when I get to that point, I realize it's happening, and I try to like feel, like very grounded with my feet.

Like specifically I try to like feel like, like almost like lower to the ground than usual.

And then I'll also try and just exhale as slowly as I possibly can.

And then another thing I sometimes do that helps me a lot, I actually look at the posture of other people playing around me, specifically sometimes shoulders helps me a lot, just seeing like you know, how low their shoulders are.

And yeah, just seeing what energy other people are bringing to the stage, that helps me.

- Good energy, that makes sense.

Greg, what are the sort of long-term strategies you've sort of learned and discovered to manage your anxiety?

- Yeah, you know, I have noticed over the years that it's not just anxiety that can be an issue for me, but the emotional responses I have to the anxiety, that can build and feed off each other.

I think as a society we're taught that anxiety's something to be avoided and perhaps feared.

And so if I'm also feeling fear and dread in response to the anxiety, that can become something that's truly unmanageable.

So I have learned to simply notice that the anxiety is there, and sometimes I even engage with it.

I say, "Do you need anything from me right now, anxiety?"

And I, like Sonia, I also notice things around me.

I notice my breathing, I notice the sound of the orchestra, so I'm not only fixated on the anxiety, and not internalizing it.

And I'll notice that when I do that, the anxiety stays perfectly manageable, and sometimes it'll even fade away on its own.

- Making friends with anxiety.

No, I love that.

So Sonia, what's the one thing you would tell your younger self about anxiety, given your understanding now?

- I think I would tell my younger self that, you know, it's okay that you're having feelings and sensations like this, and you're definitely not alone.

You know, a lotta people struggle with this, and especially musicians, so I would tell myself that.

- With compassion, yeah.

How about you, Greg?

- Yeah, you know, my younger self probably didn't even know to label what he was feeling as anxiety.

So I would probably tell him, "This is what you're feeling.

It's perfectly normal to feel this way, and you shouldn't be afraid of it.

And it's okay to talk to other people about what you're feeling.

That can be extremely empowering and give you a lot of freedom."

- Sonia, Greg, thanks so much for sharing your experiences with us.

- Thank you.

(audience applauding) - When we were putting together this concert, we wanted to include as many voices as possible.

And so we reached out to our followers on social media with three questions.

What does anxiety feel like to you?

What does feeling at peace in your body feel like?

And, how do you move from feeling anxious to comfort?

Their answers have inspired and been integrated into a new commission, a work written by composer Molly Joyce that we premiere tonight, here is "Serenity".

- [Interviewer] What does anxiety feel like for you?

(delicate uneasy music) - [Respondent] Being twisted in a knot.

- [Respondent] What does anxiety feel like?

It feels like one is desperately trying to catch up with the rest of the orchestra, frantically scrambling through the previous measure, perpetually.

It feels like a series of false endings, never ending.

It feels like yearning for a blessed return to the opening chord, if only.

(delicate uneasy music continues) - [Respondent] My anxiety feels buzzy, and as if I'm unattached to my surroundings.

I feel ungrounded and unmoored.

When I have anxiety, I am unfocused.

(delicate uneasy music continues) - [Respondent] What does anxiety feel like?

Anxiety is your mouth salivating mercury.

The poison comes up from the stomach, out from the lungs, and clouds your vision.

It's every worst truth about yourself being exposed, and known to everyone near you without saying a word, because somehow they already know.

And then your head gets dizzy, your eyes water and your knees buckle.

It's knowing the worst is coming, and you can't stop it, because you did it to yourself.

It's a curse you made in your own mind, and your body, and no amount of logic can cure it.

(delicate uneasy music continues) - [Respondent] Anxiety for me is like being trapped in a box from which I can't escape.

(tense uneasy music) - Anxiety feels loud and fast.

It feels like everybody is trying to talk to me all at once, but I can't understand what they're saying.

- [Respondent] Anxiety can take many forms for me.

Feelings vary depending on where I am mentally with the situation.

Hyperventilation, feeling of despair, like no one is listening or can hear me.

Total body sensation, tingly from head to toe to fingertips.

Uneasiness, sometimes a body senses the anxiety, even before I can mentally grasp the situation.

A feeling of heaviness, the weight of the world is on my shoulders.

(tense uneasy music continues) - [Respondent] Anxiety feels unmoored, scattered.

Within oneself the breathing quivers.

I've experienced this myself from the outside, watching my husband Todd, a former Minnesota Orchestra employee, in the months before his death of neuroblastoma multiform, a terminal form of brain cancer.

As the disease progressed, Todd's world got progressively smaller, from the decline of mobility and abilities.

He moved more within himself, his breathing was erratic.

What calmed him and what brought him peace was music.

(soft expectant music) - [Respondent] Out of control process that I get swept up in.

It's mostly irrational and scary.

(soft expectant music continues) - [Respondent] Anxiety is feeling trapped in a million sharp edges of armor.

In the darkness alone, afraid in the vastness with no light in sight, I cannot move.

And then beginning with one, and then several long oceanic, deep breaths, the rhythm of the waves embrace me, and it brings me back to where I have just enough courage to lift my heavy head and slowly open my eyes, and I see light so far ahead in the distance.

It is balance, a horizon line.

(soft uneasy music) - [Respondent] Anxiety is an evil, invisible, long-toothed rodent gnawing at my insides.

- [Respondent] Anxiety is uncomfortable, yes, but it is normal, especially when performing in any situation that requires effort to be ready and presented to others, such as playing music or any public performance.

So I'm glad you are normalizing it as natural process, not a psychological condition.

(soft unsure music) - Yeah!

(audience applauding) - [Interviewer] What does being at peace in your body feel like?

(gentle thoughtful music) - When my body's relaxed, my mind feels free.

For me, a relaxed body feels melty, like I'm fully engaged in my surroundings, and present to the moment.

- [Respondent] When my body starts to relax, it feels tired at first because it is usually holding so much tension.

The release and ease is unfamiliar at first, but feels welcoming.

Then I feel like I can move freely without impediments.

- [Respondent] Feels like a river flowing.

(bright expectant music) - Oh my God.

Without music, I wouldn't be able to exist.

I grew up as a very quiet, modest, introverted baby boomer.

I found out later that I had generalized anxiety disorder, and a few other close seconds.

There's no medication that helps me more than music of all styles.

I received two degrees in music education, just to stay close to music.

My close and dear spouse wants to go to a concert, I scream, "Yes, please."

(building expectant music) - Weightless, warm, grounded.

Sometimes when I'm really relaxed, it feels like gravity is working extra hard on me.

My connection to the ground and the earth below me is stronger.

- [Respondent] I recover by taking a walk or riding my bike.

- [Respondent] Feeling relaxed is floating in the air, lying on my side, serenely observing the beauty of everything below me.

I feel like one of the people in a Chagall painting.

(gentle expectant music) - [Respondent] Relaxation is the deepest inhale through the nose I could possibly take.

It's my favorite smells of cooking foods, leather and perfumes.

It's the good kind of dizzy, spinning in an open field, with arms wide and hair in the breeze.

- [Respondent] Sometimes I may not even feel relaxed in my body, as I struggle to calm my mind, or vice versa.

Just one big major exhale, a peaceful, deep sleep, whatever that feels like.

Relaxed, does that really happen?

(gentle thoughtful music) - [Interviewer] How do you move from feeling anxious to comfort?

(gentle thoughtful music continues) - [Respondent] Being in nature gives me perspective.

I feel grounded, connected, and joyful.

- [Respondent] Music from my sunshine playlists, which are songs that always bring me joy, and spending time walking and moving in nature are two things that help me move from feeling anxious to feeling at ease, always without fail.

- The honesty bomb, communication.

When you learn to communicate when it hurts you, you change everything.

Perspective and understanding, the love and care of a partner to communicate these things with, clears away the clouds, cures the poison, quiets the heart and mind.

- [Respondent] I move from anxiety to feeling at ease by rhythmic breathing and thinking of my wonderful daughter.

- [Respondent] Movement helps me to know that within me, I have the power to recover.

Deep breathing scares up my asthma.

Technology only names my heart rate.

(gentle thoughtful music continues) - [Respondent] Therapy, tactical experiences, finding something else to occupy that space in my brain, such as going for a walk, playing a board game, cooking food, or something else that I can do with my hands.

- [Respondent] Knowing someone has listened, can help us on the way.

Hearing the fire trucks, ambulance in the distance, a loving animal, silence.

I've been noticing that sounds of nature brings me back to feeling a peace.

Closing the computer, and knowing that work is done for the day.

A drink, a fire in the fireplace, or the crickets at night, and some nice slow, peaceful music, forgotten.

(expectant thoughtful music) - I move from anxiety to relaxed by walking, by doing mindful breathing, and before I go to bed and all through the night I have ocean waves playing on Spotify.

(building thoughtful music) - [Respondent] It seems so important to have time when there is silence for meditating and concentrating on our individual strengths and what we bring to the world.

But we also must have music to lift our spirits, help us imagine possibilities outside of our normal realm of thinking.

Change your thinking, and you change your life.

(expectant thoughtful music) (audience cheering) - I'm here with musician, artist, producer, manager, man of many hats, Lazerbeak.

And you're wearing a hat today - - I'm wearing a hat.

- Super apropos.

- Yeah, exactly.

- So what are you up to lately?

- Oh man.

- Tell me about all your projects.

- All my projects?

So I'm a musician and a producer.

That's like my passion, but also I manage artists.

I run a record label, Doomtree Records, and, kind of general manager of that.

And I'm always hustling to make ends meet.

So it's been a cool 20 years of figuring out all the different things to help supplement being able to still be a musician.

And so with Doomtree, we started out as just a crew of like-minded friends, who were kinda learning how to create music together.

And then coming up in Minnesota, there's not a ton of infrastructure so, "Oh, there's no label that'll put out our album, I guess we are the label."

So we start a label, and then we figure out how to press CDs back in the day, and like figure out how to book the shows and all that.

And every time there was a new thing or a new hurdle, I just was so excited that I would raise my hand and say like, "I'll try to figure that out."

Then as we're slowly getting more success, you know, there's constantly more things that are coming up, and I just kinda bit off more than I could chew.

And I didn't know what I was experiencing.

Like I wasn't sleeping, my body felt like it was on fire.

I couldn't focus, I was losing sensation in my limbs.

Then I finally went and talked to my doctor, and God bless her, she was just like, "Okay, as humans, like we're good at dealing with a lot of stress.

It's actually kinda healthy to have a decent amount of stress, and we can handle it, but if it's like a rollercoaster, we wanna be like right here before the top."

And she's like, "And you just kinda went here, so we gotta bring you back over here."

And I just remember like crying, of course.

And being like, no one had ever explained it to me.

She's like, "You're dealing with extreme anxiety."

That was like this breakthrough moment, that was about probably seven years ago.

When I realized what I was experiencing was not just something insane happening to me, that it was an experience that every human being has had since the dawn of time, at some point or another, it was such a eureka moment of connection for me.

Like, "Oh my God," it just, it cleared everything.

And that's powerful in itself, to know that like, we're all going through this stuff together, and it's gonna get hard.

It gets easier when you talk about it.

- Our friend Lazerbeak so eloquently expresses his experience of moving from anxiety to connection and healing.

When we talk about music and healing though, we're not just talking about the act of listening, but also the act of creating as well.

Some musicians strive to shine a light on mental health, and actively incorporate it into their art.

We're so fortunate tonight to have such an artist share our stage.

Singer-songwriter Chastity Brown has long been open about her mental health, and expresses her experiences poignantly through her music.

She candidly addresses difficult emotions and her journeys towards healing.

Tonight she shares with us two powerful songs, "Can't Take You Out" and "Mosaic".

Please welcome Chastity Brown.

(audience cheering) ♪ I can't take you out my heart ♪ ♪ I can't take you out my mind ♪ I know that you're gone ♪ By these tears in my eyes ♪ I can't take you out my heart ♪ ♪ I can't take you out my mind ♪ I know that you're gone ♪ By these tears in my eyes ♪ Said back to, say weeks ♪ I know that it's over ♪ If I gave one wish ♪ I wish we had longer ♪ 'Cause I can't take you out ♪ I can't take you out my mind ♪ I know that you're gone ♪ By these tears in my eyes ♪ What is a language, what is a language ♪ ♪ Weird enrages, weird enrages ♪ To find your favorites, find your favorites ♪ ♪ And pull you close to me ♪ But I can't take you out ♪ I can't take you out my heart ♪ ♪ I can't you take me out my mind ♪ ♪ I know you're gone ♪ By these tears in my eyes ♪ I can't take you out my heart ♪ ♪ I can't take you out my mind ♪ I know that you're gone ♪ By these tears in my eyes (gentle thoughtful music) (audience cheering) ♪ When I broke ♪ There were pieces on the ground ♪ ♪ There were pieces I have found, were shiny ♪ ♪ When I broke ♪ It was clapping thunderclouds ♪ ♪ It was beautiful somehow, but frightening ♪ ♪ I couldn't name the thing that wouldn't let me die ♪ ♪ I couldn't name all the colors in the sky ♪ ♪ I couldn't name the thing that wouldn't let me die ♪ ♪ I couldn't name all the colors in the sky ♪ ♪ When I broke ♪ I didn't stop myself ♪ But let everything I felt have room to breathe ♪ ♪ 'Cause when I broke ♪ I must have needed ♪ To see all the parts of me that deserved to live ♪ ♪ I couldn't name the thing that wouldn't let me die ♪ ♪ I couldn't name all the colors in the sky ♪ ♪ I couldn't name the thing that wouldn't let me die ♪ ♪ I couldn't name all the colors in the sky ♪ ♪ I couldn't name the thing (expectant thoughtful music) (gentle thoughtful music) (audience cheering) - Listening to music that moves us can create moments of emotional engagement and relief by capturing and holding our attention fully.

But the impact of music can go even further, because as we listen to music, we're also exquisitely attuned to each moment as it unfolds, and it can help us to be more connected to the present and to ourselves.

We're so lucky to have with us Mariann Johnson from the Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota.

She'll share with us the powerful ways in which music can help us with mindfulness and wellness.

Mariann, welcome.

- Oh, thanks Sarah, I'm so happy to be here.

- So Mariann, I know that the word mindfulness gets tossed around a lot.

What does it really mean?

- That's such a great question.

Well actually, I like to say that mindfulness is actually an innate capacity that we all have.

However, given the busyness of our lives, inevitable life stressors, and of course states of anxiety that we can all fall into, it can be really difficult to engender this innate capacity.

So it can be helpful to build this capacity through mindful meditation, and everyday practices like mindful eating, or listening to music mindfully.

So a simple definition of mindfulness that I'd like to share with you comes from Jon Kabat-Zinn, who over 40 years ago developed something that some of you may know about, a program called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.

And it's an eight-week program now very well-researched, teaching mindfulness meditation as a wellbeing and stress reduction method.

So here's his definition.

"Mindfulness is an awareness of one's present moment experience with openness, curiosity, and a non-judgmental attitude."

And I wanna pause for a minute when I say non-judgmental, because that certainly doesn't mean that you lack discernment.

But what it does mean is that we offer ourselves an opportunity to befriend that not always so helpful inner voice that we can have, and that's a process that we develop over time, with patience and practice, and a great deal of kindness.

As we know, this being human isn't always easy for any of us.

So the other thing I just wanna say, is that for over 40 years now, research tells us that the regular practice of mindfulness meditation can lead to reduced stress, and reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety.

And interestingly, when you look at the reported benefits of mindfulness, and then you also look at the benefits of listening to music, you find a great deal of similarity in that research.

So that's why together, listening to music mindfully can be so, I think healing for us.

So instead of talking about mindfulness, I thought that I would lead us through a short mindfulness meditation exercise.

So I hope you're up for that.

All right, so I'm gonna settle into a comfortable seated position, and I'm gonna invite you to do the same if you'd like.

You'll notice I'm putting my feet on the floor here.

So just taking a moment now to turn that gaze that's so obviously externally-oriented for so many of us throughout the day, a bit inward now, getting comfortable in the chair that you're sitting in.

Your eyes may be opened or closed through this exercise, whichever you prefer.

If open, a soft gaze may be helpful.

Taking a moment to really notice the feel of the placement of your feet on the ground.

Perhaps noting that your body is being held and supported by the chair you're sitting in now.

As best you can in this moment, gently inviting ease in the body, softening into any areas of holding, bracing or tightness.

And now becoming aware of the movement of your breath, your body breathing, as if stepping back a bit to observe.

This body knows just how to breathe.

So no striving, efforting, or controlling the breath is needed.

Just being with the rhythmic quality of the body breathing.

The in breath and the out breath just as it is.

And now when you're ready, allowing your attention on the breath to recede a bit into the background for now, and bringing awareness of sounds to the forefront.

Sounds in the hall, close by, further away.

A movement of the body, of subtle sounds, the sounds of my voice coming and going.

And also receiving the sounds of silence.

Not having to chase after sounds, simply receiving them, just as you received the natural breath.

And noticing when your attention has moved away from simply hearing a receiving sound, perhaps noting the very human tendency of the mind to wander and to judge, editorialize or critique.

This happens to all of us.

As best you can with a sense of openness, curiosity, and kindness, gently acknowledging any thoughts or emotions that may arise, without having to judge them in any way, or to attach to or proliferate them.

Rather just acknowledging them, and seeing them perhaps as clouds in an open, expansive sky, being seen and passing through.

And then when you're ready, returning to receiving the changing nature of sound and of silence.

And now, if you would like, continuing this mindful listening practice on your own, as you receive the orchestra's performance that's about to start, coming back to the breath or the feel of your feet on the floor, whenever you feel the need to refresh and renew.

And then returning to listening to, receiving the music mindfully, as if allowing the music to simply wash over you.

Throughout this piece, please note, I will also quietly offer a few one-word mindful prompts.

(gentle thoughtful music) Aware.

(gentle thoughtful music continues) (building thoughtful music) Receiving, remembering.

(building thoughtful music continues) (dramatic victorious music) (gentle thoughtful music) Being with.

(gentle thoughtful music continues) (gentle thoughtful music continues) (audience applauding) I really would encourage you all now if you'd like, just to take a moment to notice what it feels like in your body, mind and heart, having just listened to that piece mindfully, just noticing whatever's present for you.

And then before we listen to this next piece, I just wanna say that a Minnesota Orchestra musician once told me that a mentor of his told him that the music is good enough already, don't need to add anything to it, and simply allow it to express itself.

So may you enjoy the opportunity to listen mindfully now to "And the Birds Are Still", simply and mindfully allowing the music to express itself.

(bright gentle music) (bright gentle music continues) (bright vibrant music) (gentle thoughtful music) (bright expectant music) (soaring expectant music) (gentle bright music) (soaring bright music) (gentle thoughtful music) (audience cheering) Yeah.

Wow.

So wasn't that just a, wasn't that just a beautiful piece of music?

Yeah, yeah.

I hope your mindful presence made listening to it even more exquisite, but it was really beautiful.

So Sarah, I'd like to ask you a question.

- Mm-hmm.

- So, or just invite you to give a response to the audience, because last week I think it was, I asked you why you chose the two specific pieces that you did tonight, for us to listen to mindfully.

And I just loved your response, so I'm wondering if you could share that with the audience.

- Sure, when we think about mindfulness and music, I think we often go to stillness or quietness in music.

But I feel that it shouldn't be passive.

Listening to music, being mindful, those are engaging.

We participate, we're active.

And so I chose the first piece, because it takes us on a journey, and we end up somewhere different from where we started.

And this beautiful piece by Yoshimatsu, every section, I feel like I'm opening a door and looking into this wonderful new room.

And I love that sense of constant rediscovery.

- Oh yeah, that's just such a beautiful description of listening to music, and the pieces that you chose.

So thanks so much, and mindfulness.

- Thanks, Mariann.

- Yeah, and thank you.

It's just been such a wonderful opportunity Sarah, thank you.

- Thank you, Mariann.

(audience applauding) As we come to the end of this evening's exploration, I'm reminded of the words of Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of Modern Mindfulness, who reminds us that you can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.

We've all encountered those unstoppable waves, but how they crest, how they break, how we learn to ride them, that is unique to each one of us.

And when I face my stormy seas, my personal surfboard has always been music.

As an anxious kid and teen, I often found it excruciating to navigate the world.

I felt like I didn't belong.

I was terrified that I would say or do the wrong thing, but rather than retreat into myself, I always turned to music.

For me then as it is now, music is a way to channel that stomach-churning, electric sting of anxiety into the sheer energy that can launch me forward into the world, that can move me to joy.

Because music turns my focus outward, it unfolds me, it propels me towards hope.

So I leave you now with music of exuberance and bright sunshine, music that I turned to as a young person to give me a shot of joy.

Music that made my feet dance when they wanted to run away.

And just as I found my own ways to surf those challenging waves, I know you'll find yours.

It may be a wild ride, but I'll see you on the shore.

(audience applauding) (bright vibrant music) (lively vibrant music) (lively vibrant music continues) (upbeat vibrant music) (upbeat vibrant music continues) (soaring vibrant music) (soaring vibrant music continues) (bright vibrant music) (soaring vibrant music) (audience cheering) ♪ Woke up from a crazy dream last night ♪ ♪ You were in my arms, sleeping by my side ♪ ♪ Pulled me from the dark, cold place in my mind ♪ ♪ This love's the warmest thing to find ♪ ♪ And I would wait for the sun to come up ♪ ♪ You're like the sun, you're like the sun, yeah ♪ ♪ I would wait for the sun to come up ♪ ♪ You're like the sun, you're like the sun, yeah ♪ ♪ When we hooked up the summer's heat was full on ♪ ♪ And we'd bike thru the city streets just 'cause ♪ ♪ I kissed you on the lips that night, oh love ♪ ♪ And I got home the sun was coming up ♪ ♪ I would wait for the sun to come up ♪ ♪ You're like the sun, you're like the sun, yeah ♪ ♪ I would wait for the sun to come up ♪ ♪ You're like the sun, you're like the sun, yeah ♪ ♪ I would wait for the sun to come up ♪ ♪ You're like the sun, you're like the sun, yeah ♪ ♪ I would wait for the sun to come up ♪ ♪ You're like the sun, you're like the sun, yeah ♪ ♪ You're like the sun, you're like the sun, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ You're like the sun, you're like the sun, yeah ♪ ♪ You're like the sun ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ Oh, you're like the sun ♪ Ooh (audience cheering) (audience chattering)