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Braintuning Breaks™
with Elizabeth Miles
The first radio feature to bring the proven power of music to
the airwaves. |
The
Braintuning Break™ offers busy listeners quick
mind-body management tips coupled with clips of the classical music that takes you there.
Created and hosted by Tune Your Brain®
author Elizabeth Miles,
this listener-favorite radio feature delivers the message that music is good for your body and mind as well as your
soul.
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Each 60-90 second segment features a different topic—from
curing insomnia to reducing over-eating, boosting IQ, breaking creative blocks
and more—to bring music's mind-body benefits directly to your ears.
Sample Segments
Browse Elizabeth's select Braintuning Break
excerpts and recommended music clips below.
Energize
| The Tip |
The Clip |
"By delivering an electrical charge
directly to your nervous system, Energizing music wakes you up to take
advantage of peak morning hours...."
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Bizet, March of the
Toreadors
on Tune Your Brain: Music to Manage Your
Mind, Body and Mood |
Invigorating
sounds can release endorphins for a just-do-it attitude and even entrain
your team. With hearts beating and brain cells firing to the same pulse,
you can work in perfect synch.
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Mozart,
Symphony No. 41 in C major,
on
Tune Your Brain with Mozart: Energize
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Many snack attacks are rooted more in a
natural instinct to stimulate your metabolism than they are in actual
hunger—so why not skip the vending machine and opt for Energizing
music instead?
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Copland, Rodeo |
Studies
have found that a regular walking program can help prevent viruses and
cut sick days in half – and substantial evidence shows music to be a
walker's best friend.
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Pachelbel, Canon in D
on Tune Your Brain for Pregnancy and
Childbirth |
Relax
| The Tip |
The Clip |
"Just
one sleeping pill a day can pose a health risk equivalent to smoking two
packs of cigarettes!–
so consider a natural and non-toxic way to send yourself off to the land
of Nod...."
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Mozart,
Piano Sonata in B-flat major K 570, Adagio
on Tune Your Brain with Mozart: Relax |
- Stress and the Working Mom
Most working mothers won't be surprised
to hear that a recent study found them to have higher levels of the
stress hormone cortisol than women without kids. A variety of clinical
trials have shown that listening to soft, slow music can reduce cortisol
levels.
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Lizst,
Consolation No. 3
on Tune Your Brain for Pregnancy and
Childbirth |
One good way to rebalance during or after
a high-stress day is meditation, and music can be a powerful tool to
stop the flow of conscious thought and move your focus toward within.
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Ravel, Piano
Concerto in G, Adagio assai |
When speed eating threatens to overfeed
you, the smooth sounds and easy pulse of Relaxing music can expand your
perception of time and provide the physiological slowdown that many
people seek when they overeat.
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Handel, Aria
from Concerto Grosso op. 6 no. 12 |
Focus
| The Tip |
The Clip |
"Research
suggests that when you hear complex, patterned music like Mozart's,
brain cells fire in the same patterns you need to learn and think, and
these connections make it easier for cells to fire across the same
pathways the next time around. It's like Nautilus for your
neurons."
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Mozart,
Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major, Andantino con variazioni
on Tune Your Brain with Mozart: Focus |
It
looks like learning to music may help imprint facts, figures, and words
into memory and improve their recall later. The best sounds are steady
with light, clear tones like the solo harpsichord in Bach's Well-Tempered
Clavier.
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Bach, The
Well-Tempered Clavier, Prelude and Fugue in C
on Tune Your Brain: Music to Manage Your
Mind, Body and Mood |
- Sound Waves Make Brain Waves
Working effectively with your mind is a
fine art of balancing your brain waves between the beta frequencies of
attention, the alpha activity that supports concentration, and theta waves
for creativity. You can make the right brain wave mix with music, and
here's one disc you can keep at your desk to create any brain wave pattern
your work requires.
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Vivaldi, The Four
Seasons |
- Music
for Minds and Bodies in the Making
Research
has found that newborns who heard a targeted music program during the
third trimester of pregnancy register advanced scores on a number of
cognitive and motor skills. So if you're a new-millennium mom-to-be,
why not listen for two?
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Mozart,
Piano Concerto in C, Allegro
on Tune Your Brain for Pregnancy and
Childbirth |
Heal
| The Tip |
The Clip |
- Music
for Workplace Health (and Wealth)
"A
Travelers Insurance study found a return of three dollars and forty cents
on every dollar invested in workplace wellness, making the payback on
professional health a better bet than the stock market and many capital
improvements. No matter which side of the employment equation you're on,
music can help enhance your workplace wealth."
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Bach, Concerto for Flute and Strings in G minor,
Largo
on Tune Your Brain with Bach: Heal |
Music is such effective medicine for
headache pain that doctors even use it to treat migraines! Healing music
is aspirin for the ears, and you should have something soothing on hand
anywhere a headache is likely to strike.
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Beethoven,
String Quartet in B flat major Op. 130, Cavatina |
More and more Americans are caring for
aging parents and relatives, and in an era in which more elderly people
than ever are addicted to painkillers or tranquilizers, the need for
safe, natural remedies is clear–and
increasingly, medical experts are turning to music.
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Vaughan
Williams, Fantasia on Greensleeves |
- Musical Blood Pressure Management
By slowing the signals in your autonomic
nervous system, Healing music can shave points off both your diastolic
and systolic blood pressure, so don't go to the office or get stuck in
traffic without a dose of something like Schubert's Ave Maria.
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Schubert, Ave
Maria
on Tune Your Brain: Music to Manage Your
Mind, Body and Mood |
Uplift
| The Tip |
The Clip |
- Good
Moods Are Contagious
"Whether
they're good or bad, moods have been found to spread rapidly among
co-workers, families, roommates, or any group of people. Rather than run
the risk of catching a bad mood from a sourpuss or passing yours along,
you can nip the blues in the bud with the help of Uplifting music...."
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Amilcare Ponchielli, Dance of the Hours from La
Giaconda |
- Get the Beat to Beat
Shyness
By inducing a positive mood and keying up
your reflexes, Uplifting music boosts your self-confidence to ease any
interpersonal exchange. The right lively tune can socialize your mind at
the same time that it goes to work on your limbic system and vital signs
to get you feeling good.
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Anonymous, Piva (Renaissance dance)
on Tune Your Brain: Music to Manage Your
Mind, Body and Mood |
Close your eyes and think of the music as
a golden light filling your head, with every beat making the light shine
brighter like an electrical current pouring through your ears. Gradually
move the light upward, feeling your scalp get warm. Now simply let the
top of your head lift off and the light beam up towards the sky with all
the force of Haydn's fire.
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Haydn, Symphony No. 59 in A major
("Fire"), Finale |
You
can alleviate the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder by exposing
your eyes to sunlight and your ears to Uplifting music. Buoyant tunes
with clear harmonies work on emotional centers in the brain and on the
body's nervous system to boost energy and mood–so if you've got the
winter blues, lighten up with a daily dose of bright music.
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Beethoven, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D
major, Rondo
on Tune Your Brain with Beethoven: Uplift |
Cleanse
| The Tip |
The Clip |
"Anger
is a natural and inevitable emotion–but
aggression is the number one predictor for high cholesterol levels,
as well as being hard on your health in other ways and wreaking havoc
on relationships. Psychologists recommend letting anger out before
it becomes aggression with some form of non-verbal catharsis, and
Cleansing music can provide just the outlet you need...."
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Holst, Mars, The Bringer of War from The Planets
on Tune Your Brain: Music to Manage Your
Mind, Body and Mood
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Many people turn to a drink, a snack, or
a cigarette when they get mad. Why not save your indulgence for a time
when you can really enjoy it, and vent your feelings with Cleansing
music instead?
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Mussorgsky, Night on Bald Mountain
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Anger appears to take a higher toll on
women in everything from higher depression rates to self-sabotaging
habits like smoking and emotional eating. The female of the species
tends to have a particularly hard time expressing anger, and many of us
would benefit from a way to vent such feelings that doesn't offend our
delicate social sensibilities.
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Tchaikovsky, March Slav
on Tune Your Brain with
Tchaikovsky: Cleanse
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A psychologist specializing in road rage
has grouped driving tempers into five personality types, and knowing
which one you are can help fine-tune your musical antidote to fit your
roadway persona.
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Vivaldi, Winter Concerto from the Four Seasons,
Allegro con molto or Largo
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Create
| The Tip |
The Clip |
"Every
venture, from writing a legal brief to walking on the moon, requires a
first step, and the neurological tendency of the mind to do what it's
already trained to do can make this initial move the hardest of the whole
project. Cue up some music to take the first small step that's the
greatest leap forward of all..."
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Delius, A Song Before Sunrise
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The clowning around, character roles, and
story-spinning that constitute play are great ways to spark imagination
and ideas. Use music to rediscover your playful side.
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Saint Saens, Carnival of the Animals
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Writing requires translating abstract,
right-brain ideas into concrete, left-brain words. You can
get writer's block when the flow of traffic between the two sides of the
brain slows down–and
you can break through by speeding things up with music.
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Vaughan Williams, The Lark Ascending
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In the information age, those who work well
with their wits often come out ahead–but
before you take on the next mindbender, take a tip from creativity
research suggesting that the best way to have brilliant thoughts is to
stop thinking.
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Debussy, Danseuses de Delphe
on Tune Your Brain with
Debussy: Create
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Braintuning Breaks © 1997-2000 by Elizabeth Miles
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