It was around this time that Laura was given a voice recorder for her 40th birthday and felt the “urge” (I mentioned earlier) to transform herself into “Aura”. She began experimenting with her voice like an instrument to portray the intense emotions felt across the planet. She teamed up with composer and producer Chris ‘Wood’ Marshall to help improve mental wellbeing globally.

Laura and Chris have created an album of meditative soundscapes during lockdown to help people relax, sleep, dream, heal and transform. Their latest soundscape ‘MetaMorphosis’ was inspired by the cocooned caterpillar’s painful transformation.

The Principal Director of Music of the Royal Marines, Lieutenant Colonel Jon Ridley, discovered first hand the healing powers of Aura’s music during spinal surgery last month:  

“I had just undergone intensive surgery on my spine and was staying in hospital for the initial recovery period. During the first night I was in a good deal of pain and feeling anxious, nauseous and unable to sleep. I decided I needed music to come to the rescue and donned my headphones whilst trying to decide what to listen to. I have incredibly wide-ranging musical taste and my initial thought was the Adagietto from Mahler 5.

Before I pressed play, I had an urge to change my mind, sensing that I was being drawn elsewhere...

I thought of the music of my friend Laura ‘Aura’ Westcott and immediately knew that should be the choice. I listened to her soundscapes one after the other - Somewhere in Time (for sleep), Dreamland (for imagination) and her latest track MetaMorphosis especially for healing and transformation.

Aura’s music changed the connection between my brain and body and I can’t fully understand it or entirely explain it. Moreover, I don’t feel I need to understand it. My lifetime in music and the trust I have in its power are enough for me to fully accept it and embrace what happened to me. All anxiety was gone once the music ended. The pain was different, it wasn’t just pain any longer, it was the experience of my body healing, which my brain processed differently.

I was absolutely at one with my mind and body listening to Aura’s voice and music.

Metamorphosis allowed me to connect with my body and soul in a way that normal medical intervention could not achieve. My anxiety and medical pain was returning rapidly after I stopped listening, so I decided to loop Metamorphosis for the night. I managed to drift, I managed to rest, I managed to sleep and I managed to begin my recovery.”

Thursday June 17th marks a personal milestone for Aura and Music for Mental Wealth. Not only is it the first postpandemic Music with Meaning live concert this year with very special guests such as Birdy, but it also represents the culmination of Laura’s coaching journey, as this is the first time she is taking to the stage as a solo singer and performing live for the first time as ‘Aura’.

The healing power of music and the positive impact of coaching on mental health are nothing new, but the ‘Music with Meaning’ campaign is unique in that it combines the two. By doing this it provides a potentially industry-changing funding model to solve the mental health crisis.

Money raised from concerts go to Music for Mental Wealth’s bursary to fund the coaching costs for musicians and create a happier, kinder music industry. 67 AWARENOW / THE MAYDAY EDITION

www.IamAwareNow.com