 back to movement matters. I'm your host Christine Linders, physical therapist and board certified orthopedic clinical specialist. It's a fact. Music training is mindfulness training. I know it helped me through the worries, stresses and strains the pandemic was putting on my mind and my body. Let's look at image number one to see what music had done for me. I love this picture because it is just epitomizes the calm and the joy and the serenity that I have felt when I'm playing ukulele and I'm not even good but when I go to play that instrument that's how I feel so it doesn't matter if it's work stress, job stress, pandemic stress, pain in my body stress. I play the ukulele and that's what I feel. So today I have a very special guest who will show us how learning music can be an effective way to decrease your stress and anxiety during tough times, decrease depression and even pain, promote a healthy brain and prevent cognitive decline as we age. She not only has been teaching music for over 46 years but has a master in psychology. Let me welcome Eilisa Peralta. Thank you so much Eilisa for coming. Thanks Christine. That was great. That was great. Now sunflowers and the and the keyword there is play. You have a very playful way of going about things and that's that's great. I love it. It works. I want to know from you first how with all the stresses that everybody's been going through and not just the pandemic but just everyday little things like the toilet broke, the showers clogged, your door isn't locking and you're on your way out to work. What do you do? How can music help with some of those stresses? What are the benefits of music? I know what they are but from you. Kind of piles up. Those are daily hassles, right? Daily hassles just pile up and it can be just as bad as chronic stress. Playing music, actively playing music, not just listening but actively playing engages your whole brain. You are fully involved with it and it gives you, if you go about it in a mindful way, it gives you a real break, a real timeout. Allows your brain to kind of reset, regroup and go at it again. Yeah, I did find that and I was telling you how I was in the midst of working full time. I'm trying to get a book out that I wrote six years ago by myself self-publishing. I'm taking care of everything. I'm worried about my family on the east coast and all of a sudden I'm finding myself playing a keyboard that I got from a patient playing my harmonica. I don't never took music lessons and now I'm taking lessons in the midst of all of this mayhem and every time I got stressed I didn't even think, oh, let me play my ukulele that you stress me. I just grabbed the thing and started playing and I, for those like 30 minutes to an hour sometimes, I would find that time in a schedule that had no time and it changed my, I feel like it changed my brain chemistry. It changed my outlook and then I went and worked on my projects and I felt like there was no worries, no pressure, nothing on my back anymore and I found an extra hour or 30 minutes in my day that I didn't even have before. Yeah, it helps you focus and you learn to focus. So the focus that you were using with your music, you kind of take that focus with you to your other project. You know, it, it's generalizes out. You've got about it really well. I'm impressed. Well, thank you. Thank you. Well, thanks to your help. So, so how did you get interested in mindfulness and, and music, I guess the connection or? Yeah, after we talked about that before, I, I sat down and said, how did I get you interested? I was a single parent trying to put myself through school, through college, and I got interested in stress. So I decided to focus on, to learn about it. So I went from stress to mind-body interactions. The influence your mind has over how your body reacts to meditation. I got into the clinical psychology program here at UH and I went to a workshop with John Kabat-Zinn on mindfulness meditation. Followed that with a year-long practice at all in the pain management program, which was based on meditation. I wrote the APA Encyclopedia of Psychology chapter on health psychology and meditation. So, and I used it. Everything I learned I used. So, yeah, I've had my stressful moments throughout my life. And it's always worked for me. You know, I was using it kind of unconsciously, not really knowing. My caregiving for my mom, you know, I took my guitar with me when I went back to Texas and I would play at the end of the day. How did you feel like before you started and then after, like after taking care of her and then at the end of the day grabbing? Like, what was that shift in your, like, relax, way more relaxed and, and, and stronger. You know, I remember one time, I think I told you about this. I was out on the patio, it's a patio in Texas that's all and I hear. But I was out there with my guitar and I was playing and I suddenly realized my sister was shaking my shoulder and saying, at least it's dark. You need to come in. And I didn't even realize that you were lost in it. I think that's, it's kind of an amazing thing, music. And for someone like, like we're so different in that, you know, music so well. And I just like playing, but I don't know the structure. It's like something I never experienced as a kid to learn notes and things. But yet I've played lots of music, because I can, you can learn other ways now without knowing the, all the little notes and things like that. But that feeling that, feeling that I was driving towards after being stressed to clear my mind. And I've done mindfulness before I took a study on like the amygdala and hippocampus and how when you're chronically stressed, you know, they did functional MRI scans of the amygdala organ looking bigger and hippocampus looking smaller and people saying, I can't remember anything. And then doing mindfulness training and then re scanning the brain and seeing how those brain organs had changed shape. That was kind of mind blowing for me as a physical therapist with pain and stress and trying to find a way to, I think like you said, get that, reset your brain or that focus on one thing, which like a mindfulness meditation does. I just never really linked it up to music until I found myself reaching for wanting craving to play something, you know, and it sounds great. It's nothing new. I mean, it's top notch musicians slip into that zone all the time. You know, it's just, but I'm thinking of why wait that long, to reap the benefits of a meditative approach to play. You should learn from the get go. Yeah. And then you get there faster going, going more slowly, more mindfully, means you're not repeating errors. So, which means you repeat errors, you get good at them. You know, that's the problem. So, yeah. Slow down. Slow down. Practice it correctly. What kind of age ranges can this mindfulness music help? Is it from kids to adults? Yep. Kids to adults. With kids, you need to be doing something pretty concrete, a little riff, a little melody, a scale, but you can talk a child into focusing on his fingers, you know, going down, watching them, watching what those fingers do and trying to bring them under your mental control, explaining, you know, that you don't want, you don't want to make any mistakes. You're making any mistakes, you're probably going too fast and you're not focused enough. So, that's your, that's your, your sign that you need to think a little deeper into that meditation. I could see that being a huge benefit for kids today with the kind of boom of devices and all the extraneous things that are bouncing off their little brains. I know one of the sources of my stresses in the technological world is texts and emails and voicemails that are out there. Whereas before it was a voicemail on the phone when you came home and now there's extra communication that when I come home at the end of the day, I'm like, oh my gosh, wait, I gotta check that and I gotta check that. And I just, I don't have the time for that, but maybe it's, I don't have the emotional time to get to that. But now with children who are getting, you know, iPads and YouTube and all this extra stimulation, I think this would be a great thing for their brains to focus on something and it's learning and it's tactile. I guess even kids who have disabilities, it would probably be a great thing for to get their brain to focus or maybe even ADD. I'm not sure. Have you had experience with that? Oh yes. I wish I'd known what I know now way back when, you know, we can all say that I guess, but I had a student years and years ago, I wasn't even in Honolulu, who had pretty severe ADHD and I was working in a small room with a drum set and shelves. And I, that kid would get up and go, you know, I'd have to bring him back, bring him back. And I literally had to get him down off the wall. He was literally climbing the shelves, you know, so, so scattered and so frenetic. If I'd known then what I know now, I think I could have gotten him to focus. Yeah. I find that, I find that interesting. I have a friend who's an occupational therapist and she works with kids in the home who have different issues, ADD being one of them and autism and other things and getting them to focus on one task and helping the family to help them, helping the family communicate with them so they don't get so scattered and kind of overloaded. And I need to talk to her because I can see music as being one of those things to channel that energy that's all over the place, like bring it into one spot. And I never considered, I never thought of that until actually this moment. So do you know, do you have any examples of adults who have used music over your time other than me that has helped them to, you know, heal from an illness or get through a difficult time? Just playing cope. Yes, quite a few actually. People in high stress jobs, you know, I've seen this over and over again. One attorney told me when I'm doing this, I cannot think about anything else. It's a real break, real time out, obviously. And if you're playing instrumentals, finger picking, focusing on a move, a piece, the sound, whatever, it really does give you that time out. I had a young woman with bipolar disorder who really got herself in a lot of trouble. And she was a rapid cycler. She was up and down about every three weeks. And she told me that her guitar and the music was the only thing that stayed constant throughout the ups and the downs. It was very, very important to her. And it's a beautiful thing. That is, yeah. Yeah, those are the examples that kind of put hair on my, the goosebumps, the chicken skin. Because we all have our different things that we struggle with. And when you can find an avenue to channel that and improve yourself or just get yourself under control. And it's natural. You pick it up. You can play it. I think that's amazing to get that. I really, yeah, I would love to have more people play music for that reason. Just a joy and kids always love to mess around because it's fun because the sounds and things. And I know adults, we can get frustrated if the sounds aren't right. Do you have any tips for, you know, like, ah, I'm not getting there fast enough or the, oh, geez, I just can't seem to get this. Well, I know what your way is. But for the viewers, what's your way to help an adult get over that hump where they're, they're just like, I think I came to you and I said, I'm disgusted. I'm disgusted with myself. And I love this instrument, but I was disgusted with where I was at. And I think you said, well, you just hit a plateau. You don't stink. You know what I mean? You just hit a plateau. You know, and you gave me your little on the website, which is somewhat, maybe you can pull up the website link. The website is such a wealth of information. And you had mentioned on the website that you had your core things. And what I said about myself was not one of those. And to stay, you know, to stay encouraging myself or what do you tell people? It's the process to count. So on my website, there are a few books. I'm going to be adding to that. But books that explain that far better than I do or can. And I recommend them because they agree with me. I was, yeah, this is learning to love the process. When you say I am not there yet, or I don't sound good, you've got a goal in mind. You know, the goal, the place you want to be is your, it just gives you direction. Am I heading in the right direction? And that's, that's its purpose. It's focusing on your very next step. Oh, and just that, you know, what I'm doing right now and what's my very next step, that's all you need. And if it's just, you know, rinse and repeat, you just keep going. Persistence is the goal. You just, you just keep going. I, when I had my stroke, which was 2015, yeah, that was a bit of a surprise. It was a mild stroke. It affected my left hand, my speech, my left leg. And I ended up in the rehab hospital where I've, you know, 17 years before I had been there, you know, interning in a mindfulness, in a mindfulness program. So mindfulness and meditation. So here I am on back in the rehab hospital as a patient. And I asked for my ukulele. At that point, I couldn't hold down one string on the uke, but I just kept kind of like tapping at it. And then I got to where I could hold it down. And then, okay, and then I tried another finger and got my stuff worked up to a scale using these three fingers. And then I managed to get my pinky into it. And then I tried a chord. I couldn't hold down both of them at the same time. That, that was a, a epiphany for me. That's, I've seen kids struggle with that. So I, and I get it now. Hold it and putting pressure on both fingers simultaneously. I got that. And then, you know, I just kept going. It's interesting to talk about the epiphanies when you lose function. I think the, what do they say, you know, walk a mile in somebody else's shoes. And I know for me as a physical therapist, and now, and for you as a music teacher, having gone through that, I've walked a mile in so many of my patients shoes well before they did. So you have that insider knowledge that, that's not just experience for you playing music or experience for me as a physical therapist with patients, but experience in myself as to, I need to be able to do this. What do I have to do? And you can't really teach that in school, right? And so you were like, wow, I can't, I can't hold that down. I know what they experienced. And then you found a way. I'm big on saying, I will find a way for people to do what they love without or with less pain so they can enjoy their lives to the fullest. And that's what you're doing, finding a way. And that's what like you've helped me and I'm sure everyone like that. Yeah, I like that. Find a way to do it. And it's different for different people. Yeah. No, but just staying focused on what you can do or what you're trying to do right now, and finding a way to do it. Yeah. And not letting it blow up. Soon as you start looking at, you know what? I was back to work in three months full time. They had given me, you know, instructions to go for outpatient and OT and speech, and all three. But when they did their initial assessment, the outpatient therapists, they just discharged it. Discharged me. They said, you don't need it. I was recovering so fast and the therapist and the neurologist attributed that. Now they're just postulating, but four therapists and three neurologists said the same thing. It's the musical instrument because you have so many more connections. It's a whole brain activity. And I really want to get this in before we run out of time. Yes, I love it. Yeah. And Anita Collins, little video on your brain on music when you're playing a musical instrument, actually playing, not just listening. You use your brain in so many ways. A musician's brain actually is different. That tracks the corpus callosum that links the two hemispheres is actually thicker in musicians because you're going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth all the time. And it gives you more resources. And they told me that when the brain has to rewire after an injury, an illness, traumatic brain injury, recovery from an addiction, whatever, you've got more resources to work with. And so the brain just routes right around it. I think that's probably why I recovered so quickly. I believe that because my first job in San Diego as a new physical therapist was a cute rehab. And so I worked with strokes, brain injuries, burn patients, everything, and multiple trauma. And we always talk about making those remaking the neural connections, especially like with a severe stroke where the leg and the arm are or limp, there's nothing happening. Yeah, I never got that line wasn't that bad. I could still move. I just couldn't do anything. I didn't have any coordination, no strength. It's still the same thing though, right? Except for what we do in rehab is we're having them use a lot of their left, their noninvolve side. And I have them look at their right side because of the brain mapping. If you don't, yes, he doesn't map the connections and then that forgets and it doesn't come back. But you, even though you got mild, you're using that and looking at it. Like you said to me the last time I was there, look at your fingers. Like look at them hit the strings. And that's also mindfulness, incredible mindfulness, but also to get me to focus on I can't use this finger because I had so many stitches when I was a kid. I'm having trouble. I was 10 and I never had hand therapy. And I never had a problem until I was like, at least I can't, I can't get my pinky involved. And we were trying to work on getting that involved and looking at it helped because it's kind of had a mind of its own. All these 30 something years, maybe more than 30 years, I hate to say, but and now for the first time, I'm trying to get it to function in a specific way and looking at it helps. I had to like at first pick it up and move it there, but now I can move it there. And I had to look at it. And I love how you said, look at it like wiggle your toe for people that saw that movie, wiggle your toe, you look at it, wiggle your toe. Eventually it wiggles. Your brain, body connection is happening over and over and over again. And I brilliant. So how can people, so how can people get in touch with you on your website? Is it best for them to email you or go to the website, the contact button? If you could pull the website up. It's alisa guitar.com. Yep. Guitar is my last name. I know. I love that. Is it is it best if they go to your website and yes. Yeah, okay. Go to my website. You can email the emails right there right top. Okay. Yeah. Good. Good. So one more question I have for you because I know that you have a lesson coming up. But when you you told me something when I was in there on how you like to teach and how you watch a student to see what they need. So how is your approach, you know, your little approach when someone comes in without a music background like myself? And it's just like, I want to play the ukulele. I like the way it sounds. And, you know, how do you how do you move me through the lessons? Like what's your approach? Well, I think a teacher's first job is to learn the student. So you kind of need to know why the students really doing it, you know. And the kind of music you like what gives you joy. So that we know which direction it goes. It gives me tools and I often will ask for a wish list. You know, who are you listening to? What do you like? Do you sing? Do you want to play like, you know, a company? I usually start with just accompaniment first, but occasionally there's somebody with, you know, with a music background who'd rather go straight to classical. So we work, we work it out the approach. And I need to know, you know, what you need to do for you. Yeah, that's key. Yeah. So getting getting people to learn to move into that, especially high, high achievers, high achievers is so performance oriented. I had a cardiac surgeon who was just like fanatical about that. Got to work really hard at it, got to practice and it took him a long time. He finally came in and told me, well, I got my mind around it. It's the process that counts. And I don't have to worry about how well I perform it as long as I'm, I'm take, you know, doing it correctly each time. And he made quite a quite a quite good progress. That's that I think maybe they call that that paradigm shift in your mind where you don't know. And then you finally go, I get it. It's the process. It's not that I have to perform at such a high level. It's this process of learning and growing that is so valuable. Yes. It's the flow, you know, the mind. It's mind body. It's a mind body connection. The mind, to the fingers, the ears, the brain, it all works together. It's a beautiful, beautifully orchestrated actually. Yeah, no, it's lovely. It's lovely. So we'll wrap it up so that you can get to your lesson. Thank you so much for joining me. This is a lot of fun. I think you know, this is wonderful. I just want to say to the viewers that everybody needs to go on ilisaguitar.com and look at some of the resources and contact of her lesson because it has transformed me and and my appreciation for music, but also the fun that I've had when I've played. And so thank you, Elisa, for coming and thank you everyone for joining us. Thank you for having me. I enjoyed it immensely. This is great. And remember, life is better when you listen to your physical therapist and your guitar or ukulele teacher. Aloha.