the case for ditching earbuds

free your ears and tune into your natural surroundings

Twice a year, I take a small group through the basics of sound healing. Aside from the golden rule of crystal bowls (you’re playing too loud. I guarantee it), the other key thing I ask participants to take away with them, is this:

don’t listen to anything when you’re going for a walk

And I don’t just mean a bush walk (as demonstrated by my bird-loving husband, above - clearly having just spotted something feathered, in a tree).

I mean any walk. City. Bush. Anywhere.

Leave the buds at home.

Free your ears.

As a musician who releases music to soundtrack everyday moments, this may seem like dumb advice for me to give you. I should be telling you to listen to my albums on repeat at every available opportunity, right?

But I’m asking you to not do that.

Our hearing is fundamental to our survival as Homo Sapiens. Not only is it one of the first senses to develop in utero, but it’s the last to leave us. The University of British Columbia did a study in 2020 which showed that in palliative care patients on their deathbed, “some may still be able to hear while in an unresponsive state. Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to measure the dying brain's response to sound” (source: Science Daily).

So clearly, hearing is important to us. Why else would we need it right until the very end?

One of the reasons is because it helps signal imminent danger. When we hear a loud BANG! What happens? We startle. Our cortisol levels jump. We instantly become alert, so we can run away or face the threat. If we can’t hear our surroundings, we have to wait until we see or smell it - at which point maybe it’s too late to escape.

I was recently told about a woman who was killed by a car when she was on a morning jog. She had earbuds in. :’(

But it doesn’t even need to be a threat (perceived or otherwise).

I can’t count the number of times I’ve walked past someone with earbuds in, only to startle them. Had they been able to hear my footsteps as I approached, there wouldn’t have been any element of surprise (or shock) for them. No unnecessary cortisol spike.

So there’s that.

But sound also works the opposite way and calms our nervous system. Birdsong and frogs suggest a healthy, predator-free environment. Somewhere we will be safe.

And it tells us so much about our place in space and time. The season. The weather patterns. And therefore, where we sit within the environment. Most of us live in totally artificial environments most of the time - with electric lighting and climate control. It’s a balmy 21 degree spring morning, all year round for most of us.

Taking that valuable time to tune in to the sounds of the living world, gives us the opportunity to connect with the rhythms of the natural world. The world we evolved as part of. The seasonal shifts. Those cues that signal to us whether we should be resting and hibernating (winter) or exerting abundant energy (summer).

Regardless of how urbanised the environment you live in is, you’ll always find the sounds of the natural world around you. The leaves, rustling. A bee, buzzing past. Gravel, crunching beneath your sneakers. The wind, tickling your ears. Or a bird, greeting the day with a chirrup. And these sounds help us connect to the living world. which in turn helps us regulate our nervous system, making us happier and healthier human beings.

Win.

But it also helps on a cognitive and creative level.

I’m sure most of you already know this - but walking solves problems. Before I set out for a walk, I love pondering an issue I’m having - and so often, the solution materialises as I pound the pavement.

If I’m listening to a podcast or music, how could that happen? I’d be consumed with whatever I was listening to, and lose all that super valuable processing (and creative) time. Valuable time for my brain to unravel. To process my problems and to come up with solutions.

I treat walking as a retreat. A sacred time to connect, process and release. To connect with the natural world around me.

Try it for yourself. Regardless of how urbanised your environment, see if you can tune in to the different birds and weather sounds, however loud or drowned out by other manmade sounds. If you focus, you’ll always be able to find something to hone in on. The more you listen, the more you’ll notice.

I’d love to hear from you with any experiences you might have (or will have after giving this a try yourself).

x Phoebe

FYI Warm Mids Afternoons on Sunday 22 March with Nat Bartsch, Matt Wicking + Paul Raine (and me) is already selling. Don’t wait til the last minute as tickets are strictly limited and will sell out. So Grab some mates (or come solo!) and spend an afternoon blissing out to gorgeous music with us at the Abbotsford Convent. Here’s what happened last year

Tickets and info here.

Also, I did a lil mix for Deep Breakfast - using songs which I had on repeat in the mornings on my outback adventure last year. Hope you dig.