World Music Day: Can music help you relax? India’s wellness labels think so

Veteran American pianist Chad Lawson describes his latest album, Awakening: The Stillness Within, arsenic an effort to clasp hope, grief and representation wrong what helium calls stillness.

To realise that vision, Chad collaborated with flautist Rasika Shekar, sitar maestro Purbayan Chatterjee, vocalist Nush Lewis and dependable healer Paayal Lal connected the nine-track album. Produced by Vedam Records successful collaboration with Decca Records, a British-American grounds label, it blends Western classical compositions with Indian cadences, mantras and healing frequencies. In doing so, it taps into the booming wellness euphony genre, rooted successful Indian philharmonic traditions and gaining expanding planetary attention.

“The medium was made successful India with musicians who recognize that benignant of abstraction acold amended than I do. So overmuch of what the remainder of the satellite present calls wellness euphony grew retired of traditions that person been live successful India for centuries,” says Chad, who has antecedently topped the Billboard Top Classical Albums illustration with his interpretations of Frédéric Chopin’s works.

So, is wellness euphony a information oregon a fad?

“Music decidedly has a calming effect. From infants lulled to slumber to older adults, euphony is not constricted by property oregon demographic. It is simply a almighty auditory stimulus, a biologic improvement alternatively than simply a socio-cultural one,” says scientist Shantala Hegde, faculty-in-charge of the Music Cognition Lab, which advances probe successful euphony cognition and neuromusicology, and further prof of Neuropsychology astatine the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru.

Shantala points retired that Indian science is profoundly intertwined with philosophy, yoga and Ayurveda. The second 2 were conceived with wide wellness successful mind, with intelligence wellness seen arsenic a by-product.

“Similarly, definite forms of euphony were designed with wellness successful mind. Psychologists recognize that immoderate ragas evoke peacefulness and devotion alternatively than service arsenic a cure,” she says.

However, Hegde adds that existing probe remains contradictory and the grounds is insufficient to prescribe euphony arsenic an intervention. “Background euphony tin power cognitive function, attraction and processing speed, but it whitethorn not payment everyone,” she says.

Growth of wellness labels

Devraj Sanyal, president and CEO, India and South Asia, Universal Music Group, says, “A fewer years ago, we started proceeding astir intelligence wellness issues much than ever before,” adding that this led to the enactment of Vedam Records successful September 2024. The statement delves into the Vedas and India’s accepted wellness practices, specified arsenic yoga, portion classifying wellness euphony into 5 verticals — yoga, meditation, focus, sleep, and chakra balancing.

In May 2025, Vedam Records collaborated with Apple Music to motorboat Sound Therapy, releasing euphony for focus, relaxation, and slumber — blending songs with dependable waves to attain the desired results. Featured artistes see Imagine Dragons, Katy Perry, Kacey Musgraves, Ludovico Einaudi, AURORA, Jhené Aiko, Chelsea Cutler, and Jeremy Zucker.

“The apical hunt keywords from a wellness position are absorption and study, followed by guided meditations and yoga/chakra music. The past 1 is sleep,” says Devraj. Frequency euphony is different genre connected the rise, helium says, referring to euphony that uses precisely calibrated dependable frequencies specified arsenic binaural beats, achromatic noise, and truthful on. These assertion to stimulate the brain’s rhythmic patterns, creating an situation of auditory balance.

“Wellness is nary longer conscionable an option,” says Devraj. “We observed a requirement, for instance, during the exam season, erstwhile we saw our euphony and videos being streamed. There was a immense upswing successful absorption and calming music. Every azygous opus has a circumstantial intent, and each genre has a large magnitude of thinking; we spell done this process aggregate times to guarantee the champion merchandise possible.”

The festival ecosystem

The emergence of wellness euphony has besides fuelled the maturation of wellness euphony festivals.

“People present expect a holistic, sensory and astir transformational acquisition astatine these festivals,” says Nathan Menezes, founder, ELVT Live, which organises wellness euphony festivals successful Mumbai. He attributes the maturation of the assemblage to respective factors: fatigue pursuing revenge tourism — the post-pandemic surge successful question to marque up for mislaid vacations — the emergence of the fittingness and longevity industry, accrued planetary question and, astir importantly, a corporate tendency for deeper and much meaningful experiences.

Chad sees these gatherings arsenic offering thing much fundamental. “Something peculiar happens erstwhile a roomful of radical agrees to beryllium inactive astatine the aforesaid time,” helium says. “We are societal creatures. Many of america won’t dilatory down until we spot the idiosyncratic adjacent to america doing it too. These festivals connection support to pause, and that often turns retired to beryllium the missing piece.”

Wellness euphony practitioners

Mumbai-based seasoned tabla subordinate Anuradha Pal, a stalwart successful the tract of euphony for wellness, has worked with astir 27,000 people. She started Healing Tabla Experience (HTE), a meditative, rhythm-based routine, during the lockdown. Her different initiatives, Positive Weekends and Wellness Workshops, nurture intelligence health, focus, and calm done bushed and breath. She uses guided meditation and yoga to travel her instrumentals astatine her wellness programmes, which absorption connected tabla beats, exhibiting a affluent tonal palette and analyzable rhythmic flexibility. “When the bushed successful our hearts and lives flows gently, we are well.”

Sitarist Rishab Rikhiram Sharma has gained planetary attraction done his task Sitar for Mental Health, which promotes intelligence well-being done the fusion of Indian classical euphony and dependable therapy. Rishab’s sitar concerts diagnostic vocals, tabla, bass, guitar, and khartal. His album, Navarasa, features 9 songs that transmission 9 emotions with an immersive dependable design.

There are different wellness euphony programmes successful the country, specified arsenic Anahat Music Therapy, founded by Hindustani instrumentalist Santosh Ghatpande. Labels specified arsenic Saregama Wellness besides exclusively nutrient wellness music.

Based connected research

“The features of euphony tin beryllium connected however idiosyncratic perceives it,” says Shantala, a trained Hindustani singer, who finds relaxation successful it. “I person had participants astatine our laboratory who are exposed to Hindustani euphony connected television, evoking a sorrowful feeling for them.”

The scientist besides warns that intelligence wellness issues are an overused word connected societal media and suggests that the existent extremity should beryllium to attain wide wellness alternatively than relying solely connected specified music. “We are besides looking astatine unhealthy parts of music,” says the scientist who researches encephalon functions successful non-musical domains and their interplay with music, further complicating the information versus fad debate.

Devraj, however, remains optimistic astir the relation of euphony successful wellness. He says, “It is not a cure, but meant to marque radical consciousness better, beryllium calmer, and absorption better. And if we make it implicit a period, with the close magnitude of resources, India volition beryllium a large portion of the aboriginal wellness euphony space, globally.”