E195 - Dr. Mei Rui: The Science of Sound & Music as Medicine

Dr. Mei Rui is a Yale-trained molecular biophysicist, concert pianist, and clinical researcher at MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she runs trials on the measurable effects of music on the human body. In this conversation, we explore what actually happens in the brain the moment music enters it, why the auditory system is the first sense to develop in the womb and the last to go when we die, and how something as accessible as a curated playlist can outperform FDA-approved pharmaceuticals in reducing cortisol.

What We Dive Into:

1. Music is not a supplement to healing. In the right context, it is the intervention.

2. The brain responds differently when you actually show up for the music.

3. A longitudinal study in twins showed that three to four years of musical training reduced the risk of Alzheimer's and cognitive decline by 64%, an effect size found in no other single activity.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

Oneskin — Code KNOWTHYSELF for 15% off - Limited time only!

https://oneskin.co/KNOWTHYSELF

BASED Body Works — Code KNOWTHYSELF for 20% and a free toiletry bag!

https://www.basedbodyworks.com

___________

00:00 Introduction: Dr. Mei Rui

01:44 A Life Between Music and Science

05:26 What Happens When Music Enters the Brain

07:26 How the Brain Processes Sound and Music

11:32 Why Minor Keys Feel Sad: The Science of Tonality

14:37 Live Piano Demo: Matching Music to Mood

19:06 Music in the Operating Room

27:41 Music as Medicine: Clinical Applications

29:10 The 32% Cortisol Study

31:19 The 16 Compositional Elements of Healing Music

35:11 Oxytocin, Familiarity, and the Parasympathetic Response

36:18 Timbre and the Cello's Resemblance to a Mother's Voice

42:31 Cymatics: Sound Made Visible

45:16 The Ancient Roots of Music as Healing

47:09 Listening vs. Playing an Instrument

55:33 The Musician's Brain: Structural Differences

57:46 Music Training and Protection Against Alzheimer's

59:44 Music, Empathy, and Neural Synchrony

1:01:36 The EEG Experiment: Reading André's Brain Live

1:18:21 What the EEG Data Revealed

1:22:26 Music, Flow State, and the Disappearance of Self

1:26:55 Music as Spiritual Medicine

1:30:23 How to Listen More Intentionally

___________

Jaksot(212)

E212 - Dr. Shefali: How To Raise Conscious Children (It Starts With You)

I sat down with Dr. Shefali, clinical psychologist trained at Columbia and the voice behind the Conscious Parenting Movement for over two decades, to explore what it really means to parent from awaren...

15 Syys 1h 56min

E211 - John Wineland: Love, Safety & Desire - What Your Wounds Are Deciding for You

John Wineland has spent nearly twenty years teaching people how to love more deeply, and in this conversation he lays out why intimacy has become one of the most demanding spiritual practices availabl...

8 Syys 1h 53min

E210 - Dr. David Spiegel: #1 Hypnotism Expert, “Wake Up From The Trance of Your Life”

Dr. David Spiegel is the Wilson Professor and Associate Chair of Psychiatry at Stanford, the co-founder of the hypnosis app Reveri, and one of the world's leading clinical researchers on hypnosis. He ...

1 Syys 1h 29min

E209 – Rizwan Virk: Are We Living in a Simulation? (It's Deeper Than You Think)

Rizwan Virk is an MIT-trained computer scientist, video game pioneer, and bestselling author of The Simulation Hypothesis. His work sits at a rare intersection: quantum physics, Eastern mysticism, and...

25 Elo 2h 34min

E208 - Dr. Robert Lustig: What Modern Food Is Doing to Your Sense of Self

Dr. Robert Lustig is a neuroendocrinologist, pediatrician, and bestselling author who has spent 45 years watching children get sicker despite his best efforts to stop it. His work connects the dots be...

18 Elo 1h 50min

E207 - Jim George: Stillness Expert: “How To Not Miss Your Life”

Jim George is a stillness coach, former animator, and one of the first guests ever to appear on this podcast. He has spent nearly 50 years developing what he calls practical spirituality, a way of wor...

11 Elo 2h 10min

E206 - Jahnavi Harrison: Living a Life of Devotion & Embracing Your Voice

Jahnavi Harrison is a Grammy-nominated artist, musician, and practitioner of Bhakti Yoga who has spent her life exploring sound as a path to the divine. Raised at Bhaktivedanta Manor in England, she g...

4 Elo 1h 54min

E205 - Anil Seth: Your Perception of Reality & Self Is a Hallucination

Anil Seth is a professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at the University of Sussex and one of the world's leading researchers on consciousness. His central claim is both unsettling and l...

28 Heinä 2h 11min