In the spirit of using blogs as an opportunity to answer frequently asked questions about Network Care, chiropractic, and the office, I thought it would be fun to share with you about the music you listen to when you’re at the office getting adjusted.
You may have noticed, at this point, that it can be pretty eclectic!
Eclectic, but not random. This isn’t like the music that just happens to come through the speakers in between segments on NPR.
The music in the adjusting room is more than just “background music.” The music is key for helping set an energetic and emotional tone for healing during your adjustments. I choose the music for the morning or afternoon based on several factors.
Yes, my mood and how I feel are one of those factors. If the music isn’t helping stimulate the focus and energy I need to do my best work with you that day, it isn’t going to serve the higher good.
“But this is MY adjustment? Shouldn’t the music primarily be about me, the customer, and my comfort?” a reasonable practice member might ask. My answer is, “Yes. And no. And yes.” (But more on that in a minute).
I want to come back to my point about setting an energetic and emotional tone for healing.
One of the most irksome misperceptions about healing and healing environments, I think, is that they must be quiet, soft, lavender-scented places with new age music playing in the background. Places where serious conversations take place in half-whispered voices. Not only do I disagree that this is necessary for your healing, but in some cases these ideas and ways of approaching healing actually keep you from getting better.
If healing must happen in an environment that is most likely the opposite of everything you encounter in life outside of a healing environment in the city of Chicago, that means the best we can hope for with your healing is that it relaxes you a bit, calms you, and undoes a little bit of the damage done by the rest of your life. Basically, it’s a glorified hand lotion.
Don’t forget this: Healing is, above all, an EXPERIENCING.
And yes, lavender scented spaces and spiritual music are one experience we might like to have. But there are many other experiences to have and have fully. And they can all be healing. And the intention is, that the more I can help re-program your nervous system out of stress-based, fight or flight patterning, into ease, into energy and transformation, and/or into an experience of the reality of the interconnectedness of all there is, the more you will experience all manner of experiences as healing, whether or not they are relaxing or the experiences you would have chosen.
Which brings me back to that first question. Should the music be what you want (and not necessarily what I choose)? Maybe. But, probably not. Here’s why.
The you who is wanting the music changed because it is too annoying or abrasive is not the real you. It’s who we are when we are in the stress-based program, but not who we really are. The gift in my not changing the music is that you get to experience your relationship with the music change, minute by minute, as YOU change in your internal functioning. It’s really, really cool!
But it really doesn’t happen very often that I get negative feedback about the music (you’re all such well-tuned healing machines:))
THIS does not fit the stereotype of “healing music.” But it is healing! 
The other factors that may play a role in the music I choose for the adjusting room may include (but are not limited to) how busy the office will be, the day of the week, the political/cultural context that day, which practice members are scheduled (yes, i know you. And one of the gifts of knowing you over time is knowing sometimes what music will help bring you and everyone in the room to your next brightest possibility), healing events I have attended recently where I have experienced powerful music (sometimes it’s important to use the same music over and over again as an anchor for the subconscious mind), and the weather. Yes, the weather.
We primarily listen to Pandora Radio and have 2 stations that we listen to the most (Deva Premal, The Album Leaf), and a larger number that we listen to less often (Steven Halpern, Ratatat, John Denver, Neutron Dance, Hall & Oates, and Today’s Hit Music). If you use Pandora and would like to listen to the music you enjoy at New Day at home, there is a way to do that. Simply ask Amber or the front desk staff to have us “share” the Pandora station we listened to during your adjustment with you (can be done over email).
There is one other CD that has become a part of the regular rotation for many years now, and many of you have ask about it. Check out Christy Snow “I Sing My Love.”
Hopefully this blog has been as fun to read as it was to write! I’d love to hear from you. Can you think of a time (or times) when the music at New Day has helped you have a deeper experience in the office or in your life after an adjustment? What’s been your favorite to hear lately? Or has there been a time when the music surprised you most? Please comment below!
