The Healing Power of Music: Why I Started My Podcast
Starting new things can be challenging, and this podcast dives into that struggle while exploring the transformative power of music and self-expression. Courtney McKenna shares her journey of creating a new podcast, Music Is My Mantra, reflecting on her past experiences and the lessons learned along the way. She discusses the importance of integrating her passions for music, healing, and personal growth, highlighting how these elements intertwine in her life. With a focus on emotional expression and the role of music in grounding and soothing, Courtney aims to inspire listeners to embrace their own journeys and goals. Tune in as she shares insights, personal stories, and tools to help you navigate your path to a fulfilling life.
Courtney McKenna's podcast, "Music Is My Mantra," opens a dialogue about the intersection of music, healing, and personal transformation. With a warm and inviting tone, McKenna shares her journey as an artist, touching on the struggles and triumphs she has encountered along the way. She reflects on her past podcast, "Indie Artists Survival Showcase," revealing her motivations for shifting focus to a new project that aligns more closely with her inner self and spiritual beliefs. This transition marks a significant evolution in her career, as she aims to create a platform that not only showcases music but also explores its deeper meanings and effects on healing and self-discovery.
Throughout the episode, McKenna articulates her passion for utilizing music as a therapeutic tool, emphasizing its ability to regulate emotions and provide solace during challenging times. She intertwines her experiences with energy healing and yoga, illustrating how these practices enhance her understanding of music's power. By inviting guests who share similar insights and experiences, McKenna hopes to provide her audience with diverse perspectives on how music can facilitate personal growth and emotional regulation. The narrative emphasizes the importance of self-expression and the need for a supportive community where artists can thrive and share their stories.
As the episode concludes, McKenna offers listeners practical resources, such as a Bullet Journal designed to help track their personal goals related to music and wellness. This initiative underscores her commitment to fostering accountability and encouraging listeners to embrace their creative journeys. The episode serves as both an introduction to her podcast and a heartfelt invitation for listeners to embark with her on a path of exploration, healing, and artistic expression, reinforcing the notion that the journey of self-discovery is a continuous and rewarding process.
Takeaways:
- Starting new projects can be challenging, but embracing the journey is essential for growth.
- Music serves as a powerful tool for emotional expression and personal transformation.
- The integration of experiences, such as learning, is often the hardest part of growth.
- Setting small, achievable goals can help maintain motivation in your creative journey.
- Reflection on past experiences can illuminate the path forward in artistic endeavors.
- Creating a supportive structure, like a bullet journal, can enhance your daily practice.
Transcript
Hi everyone, I'm Courtney McKenna.
Courtney McKenna:I'm a musician, marketer and community builder.
Courtney McKenna:And welcome to Music Is My Mantra, where we explore how music and self expression can transform lives.
Courtney McKenna:My mission is to inspire you to follow your passion, align with your purpose, and live a life full of limited abundance.
Courtney McKenna:On today's episode, I'll be sharing with you why I wanted to start this podcast and I'll talk a little bit about my own personal routine and what we have in store for next week's episode.
Courtney McKenna:This is going to be a weekly episode for those of you who have been following me.
Courtney McKenna:Thank you.
Courtney McKenna:First and foremost, you may remember that two years ago I started a podcast called Indie Artists Survival Showcase and I did three episodes and they were so fun.
Courtney McKenna:I interviewed some of my musician friends and I thought it was something that I would do for for at least a year.
Courtney McKenna:And I stopped after three episodes and partially I felt a little bit conflicted because although I really liked interviewing other artists and doing a collaborative song at the end, which was the best part of it, probably it was a lot of work and it just didn't feel like even the right name.
Courtney McKenna:So Music Is my mantra really feels more aligned with me.
Courtney McKenna:And there's also this part of me that I haven't really shown too much to the world which is this healer side of myself.
Courtney McKenna:I've been studying energy and the quantum field and a little bit of Reiki hypnosis.
Courtney McKenna:I'm a 200 hour yoga certified teacher and yoga is something that I've been doing since high school, so.
Courtney McKenna:So I really wanted to create a space where I can start to help people by talking about my love for music and how music has helped me and also integrate some of the other tools that I've learned along the way which is very intertwined with music.
Courtney McKenna:Singing can help regulate the nervous system.
Courtney McKenna:Any kind of music can help us get out of a funk or a mood.
Courtney McKenna:And these are just scraping the surface of the power of music.
Courtney McKenna:So one thing that I really am excited to do here is have guests come on that are even more knowledgeable about these topics than myself.
Courtney McKenna:I'll probably interview some of my friends who are musicians and have their own stories of transformation to share.
Courtney McKenna:And most of all, I just really wanted to help share this knowledge that music is more than we give it credit for.
Courtney McKenna:I really believe that about most arts is that self expression and art is something that especially in the United States, we just brush off because we can't commodify it as much as we can.
Courtney McKenna:A product or even look at the music industry and most artists are products.
Courtney McKenna:It's not necessarily that sacred space where we can express and transform our emotions, which for me, that's what songwriting has always been about.
Courtney McKenna:It's all about emotional expression.
Courtney McKenna:And the more that I learned about music and the more that I learned about my own emotions and the body and how they all work together, I just feel like we are coming into this time where all of the things that we sort of have taken for granted have a lot more meaning and purpose in our lives that we don't even fully understand yet.
Courtney McKenna:So I'm hoping that this will be a space where I can speak to those things and we can explore those things together.
Courtney McKenna:And at the very minimum, I can share my own stories of being a musician and practice finding those magical moments in life that really this practice and following my own heart and journey has.
Courtney McKenna:Has brought me into because there have been so many.
Courtney McKenna:And, you know, I often get stuck when I'm thinking about making social media or content because I've gotten into a rhythm for doing it for clients for years now.
Courtney McKenna:And when it comes to my own personal experience, I get.
Courtney McKenna:I just get stuck.
Courtney McKenna:I don't know where to start.
Courtney McKenna:I feel like I'm too much and I have this.
Courtney McKenna:This shadow of self doubt that is I think most artists experience.
Courtney McKenna:But mine seems to be like, real strong.
Courtney McKenna:Anytime I want to start something, even today, when I was on my way here, I had planned to go to church before I got here, and I was like 40 minutes late, and that's embarrassing.
Courtney McKenna:But I made it for the most important part and I made it.
Courtney McKenna:And that's kind of, you know, really relevant to music because I just.
Courtney McKenna:I know that the hardest part of anything is starting.
Courtney McKenna:And, you know, they always say right before you have a breakthrough, that's when you experience the most resistance.
Courtney McKenna:And I'm.
Courtney McKenna:I don't know if this, today's intro podcast is actually going to be a full breakthrough episode for myself or anyone, but I'm going to count it as a win because this is scary.
Courtney McKenna:It's scary putting myself out there like this.
Courtney McKenna:I am used to getting up on a stage and performing.
Courtney McKenna:I'm used to sharing my songs.
Courtney McKenna:And, you know, that all was really scary at one point.
Courtney McKenna:For me also, starting anything new can be really scary.
Courtney McKenna:So thank you guys for giving me some grace.
Courtney McKenna:I'm gonna give myself some grace today as we get started.
Courtney McKenna:My goal with this podcast is to be very intentional.
Courtney McKenna:I want this to actually be helpful for you.
Courtney McKenna:For those of you who have studied Buddhism or yoga, you're probably familiar with the term mantra.
Courtney McKenna:But for a lot of my family and friends maybe aren't as familiar.
Courtney McKenna:You might be thinking, okay, what is this?
Courtney McKenna:This Eastern word?
Courtney McKenna:Mantra is usually.
Courtney McKenna:It could be a phrase or even sound that has other meaning to it, perhaps that you use as a way to come into meditation.
Courtney McKenna:And that can bring you closer to God.
Courtney McKenna:It can bring you closer to whatever it is that you're trying to achieve.
Courtney McKenna:And especially for me, the past few years have been really tough as an artist because I have really big goals for myself financially and I put a lot of pressure on myself.
Courtney McKenna:And so even when it feels like I'm moving forward sometimes, like I have to put blinders on to reality that the music industry barely even exists in today's world, on one hand.
Courtney McKenna:On the other hand, it's easier than ever to put your stuff out there because of technology.
Courtney McKenna:So it's just been a really kind of confusing journey.
Courtney McKenna:And I've been really trying to figure out what works best for me and what do I want to bring to the world and what was.
Courtney McKenna:What is my purpose here.
Courtney McKenna:So, you know, I was really trying to be performing every single weekend.
Courtney McKenna:And I did that for a couple of years with a cover band and sometimes my own music.
Courtney McKenna:And then I took a year off just to focus on songwriting.
Courtney McKenna:And that really got me into my emotions, let me tell you.
Courtney McKenna:The year before my songwriting hiatus, I was in a six month program to learn all about hypnosis and energy healing and basic Reiki.
Courtney McKenna:And it was like all of this information up here, but none of it was really integrated in my life and in my body.
Courtney McKenna:And I think even for the past five or six years, I have goals of working out twice a day or just stretching before I go to bed or when I wake up.
Courtney McKenna:And the integration is the hardest part.
Courtney McKenna:So every time I think back to where I want to go, I.
Courtney McKenna:I come back to this space of like, okay, I have this beginner's mindset.
Courtney McKenna:It starts with the body.
Courtney McKenna:It starts with, you know, a vision.
Courtney McKenna:But sometimes that vision can be so it doesn't feel real because it seems so far away.
Courtney McKenna:And I have no idea how I'm gonna get from A to B.
Courtney McKenna:So there's this constant surrender that is happening while I'm in the process of writing or recording.
Courtney McKenna:And when it comes back to mantra, I realize, like, I have all of these projects that are undone that are not finished.
Courtney McKenna:I have demos that I've recorded that are ready to be turned into real songs.
Courtney McKenna:And I have things in my closet that are crafts that I want to finish creating.
Courtney McKenna:And for a while, and this is still true, is like the best advice that I ever got was just to keep going.
Courtney McKenna:And it's so hard when you feel like you have all of these things working against you.
Courtney McKenna:But I realize, like, every time that things have gotten hard or like I felt as though my path was being diverted.
Courtney McKenna:I've always been able to come back to music.
Courtney McKenna:And music devotion to music is something that I find very soothing.
Courtney McKenna:It's very grounding.
Courtney McKenna:It also is very transformative self expression.
Courtney McKenna:We all want to be heard or seen, and sometimes not.
Courtney McKenna:But I've learned that I do need that I do need a platform to put myself out there and to practice and to be seen.
Courtney McKenna:And every time I come back to music, which is the thing that I love, it comes back to me in another way.
Courtney McKenna:When I was in college at the University of Arizona, there was a class called love and world religions.
Courtney McKenna:And I remember the very first day the professor had us listen to nirvana come as you are.
Courtney McKenna:And ever since then, I've just been very curious and even more open to what different religions have to say.
Courtney McKenna:So I went to New York and I actually had a really hard time getting myself to church because I had a lot of resentment around the difficulties that I had as a kid growing up and the family dynamics and issues that I was sort of still playing a victim to.
Courtney McKenna:And so I found Buddhism.
Courtney McKenna:And the type of Buddhism that I found was sgi.
Courtney McKenna:They believed that sound heals and sound transforms what I know to be true as musician and how I am time and time again feeling saved by music.
Courtney McKenna:There's a.
Courtney McKenna:There's this whole scientific side of it as well.
Courtney McKenna:So on the most basic level to become an artist of any kind is like you have to start and you have to practice.
Courtney McKenna:And so it's funny that today I was facing so much of my own resistance to start, because this is.
Courtney McKenna:This is how it is.
Courtney McKenna:It's hard.
Courtney McKenna:And I think when it comes to wellness or healing, we all want to go take ayahuasca or do you know, hallucinogenics, or we want a quick fix, we want the drugs, we want the surgery, whatever.
Courtney McKenna:But what I've come to find time and time again is that the actual work is the integration of it all.
Courtney McKenna:And the integration is not pretty.
Courtney McKenna:It's boring.
Courtney McKenna:It's sitting down, it's like turning on the metronome.
Courtney McKenna:Click, click, click, click.
Courtney McKenna:And it's doing the thing A thousand times until, like, your brain and your body actually get on board to start recognizing the new patterns that you're creating.
Courtney McKenna:I'm doing this weekly podcast partially for you and partially for me because I'm in a crossroads with my own musical journey right now, and I'm not exactly sure where I want to go.
Courtney McKenna:Like I said, I've got a bunch of undone projects in front of me.
Courtney McKenna:I have this beautiful new space to record in or put a band together, and I don't want to be creating for myself anymore.
Courtney McKenna:As much as any great producer will say, that's what you need to do.
Courtney McKenna:Like, talk to Rick Rubin.
Courtney McKenna:You need to like the music for yourself.
Courtney McKenna:So maybe I'll get back to that.
Courtney McKenna:But this podcast is a way in which I can hopefully share some of my knowledge and help inspire both of us to stay accountable to our goals and our dreams.
Courtney McKenna:The takeaway from this week's episode is that starting new things are hard, and good things take time and devotion.
Courtney McKenna:And whether you're listening to this, the very beginning of the year, or anytime during the year, I'm going to include my devotional Bullet Journal in the link underneath the podcast so that you can download it.
Courtney McKenna:This is something that I've been using for the last three years.
Courtney McKenna:There's mine, which I, in the circle, have my daily music goals, and then at the bottom, I have my wellness goals, and yours will be blank.
Courtney McKenna:So you might have different goals than I do, but one of them is like 15 minutes a day vocal warm ups or 5 minutes a day practicing piano skills.
Courtney McKenna:So.
Courtney McKenna:So these are just ways that, these are things that make me feel good.
Courtney McKenna:And anytime that I think about doing them, I'm like, ugh, maybe I don't want to do them.
Courtney McKenna:But every time I do them, they always make me feel better.
Courtney McKenna: le week or reflecting back to: Courtney McKenna:And this is something, this is a practice, a monthly practice, daily practice that I've had for years.
Courtney McKenna:Every month I print out a new one, a new sheet, and I write the name of the month at the top.
Courtney McKenna:And so I encourage you to print it out and customize it for what works for you and what your goals are.
Courtney McKenna:And.
Courtney McKenna:And it could be something like going for a walk for 15 minutes every day.
Courtney McKenna:It could be drinking more water, like drinking six cups of water instead of four or whatever.
Courtney McKenna:I just encourage you to find what it is for you and to use it.
Courtney McKenna:This is something that has helped me a lot, and I hope it helps you as well.
Courtney McKenna:And next week I'll be talking about breaking the habit of being yourself.
Courtney McKenna:This is something that last year I really dove into with my songwriting, and I was able to sort of cycle analyze myself through what was coming up in my songs.
Courtney McKenna:And if that sounds interesting to you, tune in next week.
Courtney McKenna:I'm very excited that you are here joining me, and I can't wait to share all the good things music, wellness, healing so that you can become the best version of yourself, healthy, wealthy, wise, and go live your best life.
