 What is up, everyone? It's Ashley here, and today's little video is based on an article called The Benefits of Singing and Music Therapy. Now, as a performer myself, I cannot stress enough how much singing is beneficial to the human body and the human mind. Now, the majority of us love listening to music, and the majority of us also love singing, but at the same time, the majority of us aren't aware of the benefits that come with it. Immunoglobulin A. Thank you, Google Translate, for helping me to pronounce that. It's an antibody that increases there for benefiting the immune system when we're singing or when we're exposed to music. Not only that, singing releases dopamine, which is in charge of keeping you happy, and dorphins, which is associated with pleasure, and oxytocins, which is a hormone that can help you to relieve stress and anxiety. Another thing that singing does is that it improves your posture. As we all know, singing requires the use of your diaphragm, the muscle that's directly below your rib cage, and it holds air. If you're slouching or you're leaning back, then it's difficult for your diaphragm to receive any air. However, when you're standing up straight, your shoulders are relaxed, and you've got a level head, then your diaphragm can receive air more easily. However, that just might be a little bit of a flaw in singing, because it actually leads to the increase of shortness of breath, which can cause you to panic physically and mentally. Well, despite all that, the effects of singing and the research done on music therapy has mostly been positive, which actually leads me to the second part of this video, which is what exactly is music therapy? All right, it is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has accomplished an approved music therapy program. Yeah, I read it off my phone. I was not going to memorize that. I honestly had no idea that such a field actually existed, and when I found out my mind was blown. I always had an interest in psychology, but my first love in life will always be music, so to have those two things come together, it is so awesome. And I absolutely love performing and making people happy with my singing and my songs, so you can bet your butt that I will try to work towards this. You can find more information on music therapy at musictherapy.org. I will put a link in the description for you guys to check out. Do you love listening to music and or singing? If you do, do you feel that it helps you to relax and relieve stress? And that is my time. Thank you so much for watching this video. The link to the article is in the description box below.