Mother Nature’s Lullaby

“The water sings a different song to all.”

Old Manali, India

The rustling of the trees, the patter of the rain, the gurgling of rivers or the babble of the crashing waterfalls. All these sounds of nature have a special connection with humans. Since generations, sound of rivers, ocean, rain or waterfalls has been used as a calming therapy for humans.

Being from the nature, it is a human instinctive tendency to be alert when hearing an artificial sound while natural sounds calm our senses.

According to science, human brain has ‘threat activated vigilance system’, which wakes up or alerts our senses when we hear a loud noise, like a shriek or an abrupt door knob. There are different sonic hues like different colours on the spectrum. The hues depict the different frequencies of sounds audible to the human ear.

White noise, the most familiar noise to humans, sounds like a radio connection gone bad. Different frequencies of white noise are reverberating around us every day. Like white colour contains all the wavelengths of the visible spectrum, the same way white noise contains all frequencies audible to the human ear. White noise physically alters the connection in our brain, reducing our body’s natural fight or flight instinct.

The brain reacts to white noise by washing away the unwanted noise and relaxing the mind. The brain interprets white noise as “non-threat”.

Lake Louise, Alberta

As white noise is said to be broadly spread across the spectrum, including low, mid and high frequencies. It can be explained with the sound of a waterfall, water falling at different speed and hitting different surfaces.

Natural sounds and being close to nature has always been linked with relaxation and well-being for hundreds of years. Flowing water’s soothing sounds, the whooshing of the stream, the gurgling of the river at night, are all different frequencies of white noise. These natural sounds are long associated with meditation and has even been said to increase one’s concentration and focus.

The sound of flowing water is white noise and because of the various frequencies that white noise contains, the whooshing and the gushing sounds are heard by everyone differently. The water sings a different song to all. Every human hearing nature’s white noise can hear many things and interpret it in their own ways. Just experiencing the sound as it comes and the consistency of the frequencies, makes the sound wash over you, making your mind and body effortless.

Victoria, British Columbia Ferries

The calming effects of river sounds have been thoroughly researched by scientists but it is through spirituality that we may find answers.

The low sound in the background, the sound of falling rain, a stream of water, or a waterfall are the most natural and powerful white noises you can enjoy. But the continuity of the reverberating noise rids the mind of any thought, relaxing the body. Whilst all our activities, the sound is consistently heard by the mind, making it go deeper in the music, the vibrations. The mind becomes free of any thought for it is lost in the white noise. Therefore, giving the mind and body free to experience and create new ideas.

White noise aids humans in different ways. The sound of nature not only helps with insomnia but helps the mind to create, focus, relax and reboot for a new day. It is only when we are at peace with ourselves, we create something new and it feeds our soul, relaxing it for a new day.

Meditating by the river and letting the song of river resound in your ears is practiced by saints and monks all over the world. This notion is exemplified in Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha, one of the most important works of 20th-century Buddhist fiction. In it, the title character, while meditating upon the sound of a river and its "many-voiced song," has a life-changing experience, whereupon he ceases to fight against his destiny and thus achieves enlightenment.

It is only when we are effortless and free of thought, we rise our capability to think deeper and broader, it is only when we are at peace within ourselves, we can achieve enlightenment.

India is fortunate to be surrounded with rivers in every state. It is like the Goddesses themselves singing lullabies at night, in the mystical land of India.