Features | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh City Paper: Hitting the Hay. Shut Eye. Old Dreamy Time. No matter what you call it, sleep is one of the most important factors to being a healthy, functioning person, yet many people struggle to get the recommended eight hours a night (yours truly included). But what if, instead of anxiously scrolling through Instagram and mulling over that embarrassing thing you said in eighth grade, you slipped off to the sweet sounds of Pittsburgh’s topography?
6 comments:
I’ve used the Headspace app for a little over a year now. Meditation in the purest sense of the word is a hard skill to acquire and develop, and although Headspace bills itself as a low pressure introduction to the world of meditation, it still requires time and focus to reap the benefits of the practices. Headspace’s sleep casts have become a better way for me to wind down without the inherent expectation of meditation. Many of the sleep casts have a rhythm to them, an underlying pattern of sounds that give the sensation of rocking the listener to sleep- it would be interesting to delve into the biological implications and if there is any science behind the sound design in the sleep casts. How the host of the sleep cast speaks and the post editing of it has such an influence on the effectiveness of the cast, and getting to look behind the scenes at its production would be fascinating.
I’m so proud of her for not giving up and being ashamed that she is different from others. Just because she has a disability does not mean that she is less elegant, controlled, and powerful than other ballerinas. I find it amazing that she turned her took advantage of her disability by being hyper-aware of her weight distribution and placement. That is definitely an important and difficult element to master in ballet, and she is able to do it perfectly. Thinking of the ballet industry and community, I don’t feel like I see minorities being represented. I haven’t seen a ballet performance featuring a dancer with disabilities. I agree with her that she would definitely be a role model to those who are similar to her and want to dance. Seeing her on a big stage would be immensely inspiring and empowering. On another note, I admire her strength mentally, having to build the dancer’s confidence while also dealing with people’s judgments.
^ Sorry, I posted my comment to the wrong article!
As Bridget said above, meditation is a difficult skill to acquire and develop. I have tried using Headspace in the past but have found myself too impatient to take that time to think about myself, my breathing, my space, or nothing at all. However, I, on a regular basis use podcasts as a way to calm myself when I feel anxious, can’t sleep, or am overwhelmed. I find the sound of people talking very relaxing, and I especially find the conversations and dialogue of my favorite podcasters even more so. Although I don’t know if listening to this Pittsburgh topography will help me fall asleep any more - I think these sleepcasts are a great option for people who find themselves unable to relax and/or fall asleep. By being guided with this intent in mind, users of Headspace can still find peace in the exercises by being able to turn their brain off while someone else helps guide them.
Ever since I found out that Carnegie Mellon offers Headspace to students for free, I have loved using the app. As a person who does not necessarily meditate, I use Headspace’s sleep casts whenever I find myself tossing and turning at night unable to fall asleep. They offer a visually stimulating and a calming atmosphere that helps me turn my brain off from the activities of the day and just focus on a cute story until I fall asleep. I did not know that “River City” is describing Pittsburgh but I am excited to listen to it now knowing that I should be listening for familiar landmarks and a personal connection to the story. I have always thought that Pittsburgh’s environment is so unique by the natural features of the three rivers that it was only time that someone writes a story that focuses on these unique features. While I only utilize a small portion of what Headspace has to offer, I think the app is really helpful even if you only need it for specific cases.
I've heard of the Headspace app but never gave it serious consideration because I thought meditation wasn't really my thing. (Not that I've tried it or really understand it but because I made an uninformed assumption.) After reading this article I immediately went and downloaded it. As someone that often struggles to fall asleep, sleepcasts are very intriguing to me. I've surprisingly never heard of them before. I'm excited to begin using and hopefully benefiting from this app. A lot of orientation week leaders talked about it being an effective tool for destressing and disconnecting for a while to allow for a bit of sanity. As someone interested in lucid dreaming and dreamscapes I'm also interested to see how sleepcasts can affect dreams and our perceptions of the real spaces they are describing. Would repeated listening to a sleepcast such as River City, which is of the place where we live, change the way we view Pittsburgh during the waking hours.
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