TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

The art of listening: How to be mindful through music

Being mindful is necessary during the pandemic, as it can help us to experience reality as it is and it can be achieved through listening to music. 

Ni Nyoman Wira (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, September 18, 2020

Share This Article

Change Size

The art of listening: How to be mindful through music Listening to music is a way to practice mindfulness. (Shutterstock/File)

T

he ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has affected people’s mental health. The pressures of having to adapt to the crisis while staying at home and trying to stay healthy are only added to by working from home. Some may experience a blurring of the work-life boundaries.

Though the unpredictable situation may lead to anxiety, mindfulness and meditation practitioner Adjie Santosoputro said that it could also be a moment to learn to face who we are and to listen to our conscience. “Perhaps we often ran from ourselves before the pandemic started,” said Adjie during a press conference of JOOX – Ngobrolin Kata Hati (Chatting about Conscience) on Wednesday.

Being mindful is necessary in this period, including listening to what our hearts say amid life’s hustle-and-bustle. It helps us to accept and experience reality as it is. “If we are able to balance out ourselves by learning to be mindful and listen to our conscience, we will be more relaxed as we’re not constantly thinking,” he said.  

One of the basic methods of mindfulness training is to take time to sit in silence and be aware of our breathing.

Another mindfulness training method is to practice the art of listening, including listening to music. When we listen to a song, we may tend to hear what we want to as perhaps the song evokes certain memories. According to Adjie, this can be a problem as we don't listen to the song itself. He emphasized the importance of listening with our hearts to be aware of our presence.

“The art of listening can be difficult as some people think that they are able to listen while in fact they are not,” Adjie said.

If we get carried away by our memories when listening to a song, Adjie suggested that we become aware of our breathing. “When certain memories or thoughts arise, realize that they are only in your mind, not in your reality,” he said.

Listening to our conscience is also part of the online music streaming service JOOX’s latest campaign that encourages users to listen to, follow and express what their hearts say through music. One of the campaign’s features is curated #KataHati (#aheartsvoice) playlists that are tailored to the users’ feelings, such as Rindu (longing), Cinta (love) and Ambyar (broken).

JOOX’s users can also express their feelings by using Karaoke and Quick Sing features. Quick Sing allows users to select certain part of a song’s lyric and edit it on the same platform.

“We provide more than 30 million local and international songs from various genres,” said JOOX Indonesia’s head of marketing Yuanita Agata. “Our users can choose which song that represents their hearts the most.”

Launched in 2015, JOOX is available on App Store and Play Store. From February to July, the streaming platform saw a 30 percent increase in usage of its Karaoke feature in several countries, including Indonesia. (wng)

{

Your Opinion Counts

Your thoughts matter - share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.