Change Your Vibration—Change Your Life.

When you look deep enough into spiritual texts, you will undoubtedly come across the following few adages,

“Life is a vibration.”"
“Change your vibration—change your life.”
“Vibrate higher.”

Without getting into all of the intricacies surrounding String Theory and the molecular vibration of atoms, nor the more esoteric disciplines of raising one’s Kundalini, I believe at their most utilitarian (ie. useful) level, what these adages are actually referring to is sound—more specifically, music.

Attend any contemporary yoga class and you’ll most likely hear LoFi music playing in the background; partake in an OM chant or two; and (for those of you who are really lucky) your instructor might even break out their singing-bowl to help “stimulate” (as they say) your nervous system. However, do you really need to visit your local yoga studio in order to vibrate higher or can you change and elevate your own vibration at home, without any of the fancy gimmicks?

I present to you: the Amygdala. 

A central component in the brain’s anatomical make up, the primary purpose of the Amygdala is to serve as the major processing centre for one’s emotions. In essence, the Amygdala is our “Emotion Factory” where we generate either positive or negative emotions.

How does this all fit together? Well, interestingly enough, the Amygdala is actually highly sensitive to (you guessed it) sound!

Simplified into a strictly input-output process, you can actually highjack your own emotions by changing your vibration; or, in other words, the music you’re listening to!

Feeling sad? Put on a happy song.
Feeling lazy? Put on an energetic song.
Feeling anxious? Put on something to clam your nerves.

Perhaps the best articulation of this process, without directly tying it all together, is Chad Hugo explaining how he makes a beat* in The Neptunes’ mini-documentary DRUMS & HAND GESTURES.

I mean, think about it—there’s a reason why a lot of athletes put on music to help them “get in the zone” before a game or a match; and why a “backing soundtrack” is essential for TV and movies, or else your audience will feel confused about how to feel during a scene. Quite literally, we need music to help us make sense of how to feel about the world around us. Swap out the music and everything changes. Case in point, this video HERE*.

All that being said, now that you know how vital a role music plays in our lives, what soundtrack will you choose? Selecting the right Soundtrack-To-Your-Life is an essential hack for changing your vibration to change your life. Only by knowing the truly important role that music plays in relation to our mood can we start to intentionally steer our mood (and, in effect, our lives) in the direction that we want. Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself!

-vibrate right.