Hi friend,
I have a recommendation for your death doula toolkit that I am so excited to share with you! It's a song ... often called "world's most relaxing song", in fact. Have you heard of Weightless by Marconi Union?
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I've long heard about the therapeudic benefits of sound therapy and have first-hand experience with the power of a sound bath and healing frequencies. On my walk this morning, I listened to an interview with licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Jenny Taitz, who's newest book Stress Resets: How to Soothe Your Body and Mind in Minutes offers meaningful reframing of "stress" and interventions we can turn to (in minutes) to relieve stress.
One of the research studies cited in the interview and published in the journal Regional Anaesthesia & Pain Medicine, reported that patients who listened to the song Weightless on noise-cancelling headphones had similar levels of anxiety reduction during pre-surgical anaesthesia to those treated with the 1-2 mg doses of the mild sedative Midazolam. That means a song can have the same impact on overall anxiety as a pill?!
Created by UK-based ambient group Marconi Union in 2012, Weightless was designed in tandem with sound therapists during the recording process to integrate scientific theory of sound healing to reduce heart rate, blood pressure, and anxiety. Studies are dubbing this track the "world's most relaxing song".
“The sound works from the view of sustained tones really helping a person to feel safe … it enables the person, the listener to get out of the way and really relax at a deep level.” - Lyz Cooper
Imagine the potential: you are in the room of a person who is dying and experiencing terminal agitation. Maybe he is picking at his blanket, shifting position continually, trying to get up out of the bed. The family has tried everything and is eager for any new suggestions. What if Weightless was played on a blue-tooth speaker? The space is filled with dreamy and mellow soundscapes that include piano and guitar blended with electronic samples and nature-based synths. Along with adding the healing frequency to the space, we've also likely used the power of sound to bring a 35% reduction in physiological resting rates to the person who is dying and those who are also in the room. Based on the evidence suggested by the researcher MindLab, anxiety and restlessness can be reduced by at least 65% when listened to for 3 minutes.
When we are considering the tools that we can offer to those at end-of-life, we are often unsure of what measures will actually be helpful. Especially when I make rounds at my local hospice residence and am meeting patients for the first time when they are non-communicative. Because it does not contain words, or fall within a specific genre that may trigger positive or negative responses, songs such as Weightless may be an incredibly powerful tool we deathwalkers can add to our toolkits.
Best of all? It's now available in over 10 hours on Spotify and YouTube.
Here's a link to the full 10 hour YouTube to enjoy. Hope this adds a tool (or reminds you of one) to your death doula tool kit!
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As always, may Death be our guide,
Jade | Death Doula & Holistic Death Care Educator
p.s. Here's a few ways we can spend more time together, if you're curious:
- Want to learn about the work of death doulas & midwives, Death Doula 101 is for you!
- Though the in-person apprenticeship is currently full (& on a waitlist!), you can find out more about the virtual apprenticeship here.
- If you're local to Middle-Tennessee, Death Doula Dialogues is planning the next live, in-person event: an education & experience opportunity in Therapeudic Use of Ritual & Psychadelics for End-of-Life Care.
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