We recently connected with Nandani – Nani for short Sinha and have shared our conversation below.
Nandani – Nani for short, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
At the age of nine I became a professional opera singer. I toured the world singing in over 10 languages, on almost every continent, for millions of people and won multiple awards. For the past fifteen years I have been working in the field of music for wellness and health, pioneering programs for multiple organizations nationally. My journey in this work of music intervention for Alzheimer’s Dementia, and Brain trauma came to me by necessity and stayed by passion. I was trained professionally as an opera singer with an international career and with multiple awards.
About 25 years ago my father was diagnosed with dementia and Parkinson’s disease. My brilliant father was a college professor, Ph.D., and editor/author of multiple sociology texts. The progression of his disease caused us to lose him twice, once in mind and spirit and secondly in body. His 25 year decline was immensely difficult for our family. My mother insisted on overseeing every aspect of his care, and he was fortunate enough to remain at home throughout this life. This connection to the familiar, home, and place in the world is disrupted by these diseases causing anxiety, fear, and great sadness.
Every visit home to my father showed a steep decline until the day that he no longer recognized me anymore. He was terrified of me and only recognized my mother – leading to heartbreaking encounters for my entire family. But, if I sang to my father, or my mother played a recording of me for him, he knew me immediately and would smile and he felt calm and comfortable. It also brought comfort to me to see a glimmer of the man who was my foundation and be able to interact with him again for a brief while.
After my father passed I found a way to honor his memory by singing for multiple Enliven Units weekly and learning through hands-on experience, NDCCP Certification, Traumatic Stress Studies Certification, and Cognitive Neurological Studies. My studies helped me grasp how complex the brain and these diseases are; and that our scientific understanding and research are in their infancy. I, with a passion to be a part of the solution, research, and to bring relief to sufferers and their loved ones have created programs for LA Opera, Alzheimer’s Los Angeles, Songs by Heart, Sing for Hope and many other organizations.
During the pandemic all live in-person programs were canceled and the communities I had been singing for were now in isolation. My clients, their loved ones, and caregivers were cut off and lonely without any activities that were a staple of their weekly schedule. For some, the isolation, depression, and loneliness on top of their memory decline were too much. So, I created Music Heals Minds for individuals, organizations, institutions, and hospitals who work with Dementia, Alzheimer’s and Traumatic Brain Injury. Music Heals Minds is on the cutting edge of limbic therapy, somatic regulation and musical intervention by using music as a medium to access the HOME circuit (Human Oxytocin Mediated Empathy) to sing and bring people home to themselves and their loved ones. It is my honor to spend my time working in this arena and bringing comfort and calm to our loved ones suffering from Dementia, Alzheimer’s and Traumatic Brain Injury.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
We provide virtual and in person therapeutic music sessions for people living with Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Traumatic Brain Injury and their caregivers.
Our Virtual music offerings are available through the services tab on our website. A monthly subscription allows our participants and caretakers to participate in live daily sessions and access some pre-recorded sessions for later use and convenience.
Simply click on the date and time of the session and view the singer’s description and theme of the session. The day of the event – one hour in advance MHM will send an email with a Zoom meeting link. Click on the link and enjoy a full 45-minute interactive concert with a world-class singer from the comfort of your own home.
Songs and theme requests can be made to customize the session one week in advance by emailing [email protected]. Every session has some familiar and some new songs in various styles and genres to stimulate brain activity. Our musicians are Alzheimer’s and Dementia certified by the NCCDP (National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners) and our programs are overseen by a licensed music therapist.
Our virtual Zoom session singers are able to share clips and interactive trivia that stimulates the arousal and attention system of the brain which can reduce or inhibit responses like agitation, boredom, or sleepiness.
Our live program sessions take place in person at your care facility. We cater to all members of the community but specialize in catering to Enliven Units all over Los Angeles County.
The goals of our weekly sessions are to address emotional regulation, cognitive prowess, to stimulate thoughts and memories, to improve circulation and respiratory function through movement and singing, and establish psychobiological brain states of curiosity and joy.
Despite brain impairment or severity of dementia, musical memories remain present in the limbic system and are resistant to decline. People participating in movement and musical activities may not know who you are or tell you what year it is. Still they will be able to sing you a song from their childhood and access memories and feelings from that association. These activities that were learned and ingrained in adolescence and young adulthood remain in their memory.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I think loyalty and trust helped Music Heals Minds build its reputation. We are there for the client and build our programming and support structures with them in mind. My lived experience as the child of someone with Dementia has been invaluable to see the world in a way that offers detailed and relevant support to our clients.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
When pandemic hit all of our programs were in person – in retirement homes or Memory care facilities. As soon as lock down happened our clients were left alone and confused for their own protection. They did not have the regular schedule that they counted on to mark their time or memory of how a day would flow. I immediately looked into ways to get a HD camera and full in home studio set up so that we could broadcast over zoom. We had a fully functional set up within a month and were up and running our programs again within six weeks of shut down. Now that we are beyond that moment we have found our zoom concerts are still popular with our clients who are home bound but would still like access to world class concerts and music sessions.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mhmla.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/music.heals.minds/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Music-Heals-Minds/100068086123022/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/74275626/admin/feed/posts/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/healsminds
Image Credits
Anne Oh , Raul Matas