The Sound Outside | Broccoli Magazine
Design by Jennifer James Wright for Broccoli Magazine
“What happens when the places from which restorative recordings are produced become endangered? What happens without the trail or the ice or the forest?”
Listen. The wind is in the treetops, swaying with the sound of a delicate rustling. Birdsong fills the air. Not your cup of tea? Try a shoreline instead, waves crashing at your toes. Crash, then quiet. Exhale.
For the stressed-out among us, this type of exercise probably rings some bells. If you’ve downloaded a meditation app or attended mindfulness gatherings, you’ve likely undertaken similar excursions to imagined places in the name of tranquility.
(Or, maybe rainymood.com is more your vibe. It’s a good one.)
There are suggested evolutionary explanations for why humans are so drawn to natural sounds — a babbling brook and chirping birds would have communicated safety and food/water supply. In hearing these sounds, we feel at ease in our bones as much as in our minds.