From http://www.rockandtheology.comOn Saturday morning, I started a busy week of yoga teaching at New York Methodist Hospital. I went to the Geriatric Psychology Unit. Because it is an acute care facility, I always have a different group of patients whom I work with in a small group class. Their cognitive and physical abilities vary widely. This weekend I met a woman, Ruth, who spoke very little and though she could hear me speaking, my questions didn’t register in her mind. Their illnesses are both fascinating and heart breaking to witness. My mind can’t help but go to the thought that some day I and / or the people I know and love may find ourselves in this same situation of loss as the years tick by.
There was a piano in the room where I was teaching the class. Ruth slowly shuffled to it and played a church hymn that she probably learned as a young child. Her shaking that was prevalent throughout the yoga class completely stopped. Color came back to her cheeks and for a moment she seemed aware again as she played the hymn. I was astonished and asked Caroline, the recreational therapist, why Ruth could play the song perfectly but not answer the question, “how are you?” Caroline had a very simple answer, “Music is the very last thing to go from the mind. Cognitive abilities, math skills, and speech can be completely gone but music sticks with us until our very last days.” I had no idea.
I’m certain that there is a very sound, neurological reason for this. Perhaps musical ability is stored in an area of the brain that is not affected by the loss of cognitive ability from aging. The writer and philosopher in me finds this notion to retaining music as a beautiful, powerful justification for making creativity and the arts a very necessary part of our lives at every age. When everything else falls away, and I mean everything, we can take comfort that music will become our final voice to the world.
IN BRIEF
Author, journalist, digital product manager, and licensed New York City tour guide. Creator and host of NYC's Secrets and Lies. Alumna of the University of Pennsylvania (BA), the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia (MBA), Arizona State University (Biomimicry), and the University of Cambridge (MSt in Sustainability Leadership).
I build digital media platforms, report on urban climate resilience and biodiversity, and produce live narrative experiences that connect communities to history, nature, and place.
THE DEEP DIVE
My work centers on a single thread: building systems and stories that foster deep connection to our shared world. Across digital streaming, environmental reporting, and live civic storytelling, I design experiences that help people understand complex ideas and the environments around them.
DIGITAL PRODUCT STRATEGY & MEDIA LEADERSHIP
At Carnegie Hall, I serve as Digital Product Manager, leading product strategy, operations, and technical delivery for the video streaming platform Carnegie Hall+. I translate artistic mission into scalable, high-performance streaming architecture that reaches audiences globally. Previously, I led agile product and delivery teams across operations and compliance at American Express, managed Broadway theatrical productions and national tours, and guided strategic initiatives across cultural institutions.
ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM & AUTHORSHIP
As a freelance journalist, I investigate how living systems, urban infrastructure, and human culture intersect. My reported features on urban decarbonization, biodiversity, coastal resilience, and biomimicry appear in publications including Smithsonian Magazine, The Washington Post, Mongabay, Natural History Magazine, and Foreign Policy Magazine. In fiction, I write the Emerson Page young adult novel series, alongside upcoming historical fiction and nonfiction works on New York history, mythology, and human resilience. I also write Togetherhood, a LinkedIn newsletter focused on urban ecology and community restoration, and co-host the podcast Frameworks in the Wild.
LIVE EXPERIENCE & CIVIC STORYTELLING
As a licensed New York City tour guide and live event producer, I transform urban landscapes into shared narrative encounters. I created, produce, and host NYC's Secrets and Lies, an interactive live storytelling series staged across cultural landmarks including the New York Transit Museum, the South Street Seaport Museum, and the historic tall ship Wavertree. I also design and lead site-specific walking tours exploring coastal ecology, food history, and neighborhood evolution, often with partners at Climate Week NYC and the Natural Areas Conservancy.
DOUBLE OR NOTHING MEDIA
Through my independent production studio, Double or Nothing Media, I develop ventures across media, ecology, and public history:
Digital Products & Strategy: Architecting scalable digital platforms, streaming experiences, and operational models for mission-driven institutions.
Environmental Reporting & Publications: Delivering long-form reporting, books, and newsletters grounded in climate resilience and regenerative design.
Site-Specific Live Storytelling: Producing immersive live shows and educational walking tours that engage public audiences in community history.
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7 thoughts on “Beginning: The Music Stays With Us to Our Last Days”
In the last days of my father being able to communicate what he wanted, he simply said “Turn on Eric Clapton”. For days the CD played without rest and even as he was unable to speak he would smile at his favorite songs and tap his fingers. I love hearing the song My Father’s Eyes.
I have found that music has been a key to connection, as well as freedom to dance, sing and even relax.
So glad you were able to witness your student connect with music is such a life refreshing way.
Hi Lyndi! Thank you so much for sharing your dad’s beautiful story. How amazing – you should let Eric Clapton know, too. I’m sure he would be so happy to hear that your dad found so much comfort in his music.
Thanks. I love sharing how music can bring people together. It is those moments that someone shy gets up and starts to dance to their favorite beat. Or waking intro a grocery store and singing along to a familiar song. I think music wakes us up and calls for us to connect with one another. Build community, play with instruments and move our bodies. 😉
I totally agree Lyndi! Music does wake us up, even when we didn’t even know we were sleep walking through life. Makes me even more concerned that music is being cut from public schools. It’s such an integral part of our culture and clearly has therapeutic, life-long benefits.
That is a beautiful story! What would happen, I wonder, if you paired music with yoga for such patients – would it reach into that part of the mind and attend to some healing?
In the last days of my father being able to communicate what he wanted, he simply said “Turn on Eric Clapton”. For days the CD played without rest and even as he was unable to speak he would smile at his favorite songs and tap his fingers. I love hearing the song My Father’s Eyes.
I have found that music has been a key to connection, as well as freedom to dance, sing and even relax.
So glad you were able to witness your student connect with music is such a life refreshing way.
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Hi Lyndi! Thank you so much for sharing your dad’s beautiful story. How amazing – you should let Eric Clapton know, too. I’m sure he would be so happy to hear that your dad found so much comfort in his music.
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I should write Eric Clapton. 🙂
Thanks. I love sharing how music can bring people together. It is those moments that someone shy gets up and starts to dance to their favorite beat. Or waking intro a grocery store and singing along to a familiar song. I think music wakes us up and calls for us to connect with one another. Build community, play with instruments and move our bodies. 😉
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I totally agree Lyndi! Music does wake us up, even when we didn’t even know we were sleep walking through life. Makes me even more concerned that music is being cut from public schools. It’s such an integral part of our culture and clearly has therapeutic, life-long benefits.
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That is a beautiful story! What would happen, I wonder, if you paired music with yoga for such patients – would it reach into that part of the mind and attend to some healing?
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Absolutely! Music in yoga is so powerful. And kirtans are another form of how yoga and music closely tie together.
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