Welcome to Polyhum, an innovative enterprise project of social impact and cultural action through the transformative power of music and the generation of new models of preventive mental health in a systemic way, promoting creativity, empathy and citizen participation. Created by Sergio López Figueroa from Gran Canaria to the world, I share this presentation with those who resonate with the idea of a circular economy and the potential of new paradigms of co-creation
I invite you to feel the whisper of life like a miracle and inner peace like that suitcase, where infinite intangible experiences fit, full of humor, humanity and humility alongside with other experiences of spiritual growth, sometimes classified as painful or traumatic. We need to continue to create from the heart new paradigms for a better world, where the common good comes from personal emotional balance. Not for tomorrow, nor enclosed in the past, but in this precise moment, here and now. Let’s hum together in harmony a song without words, as children do when they play free of egos, pollinating like bees the joy from the purity of their beings. Let’s learn to share and remind others what we thought it was lost. In this collaborative process we will be healing and vibrating as we prepare together for a journey towards a new level of consciousness.
POLY polyphonic,
polyhedral, polyvalent and pollinator
HUM
vocal vibration that is felt in the body and resonates in space Polyhum® is a multi-sensorial and creative mindfulness practice on development towards the improvement of social and emotional wellbeing by enhancing the mind-body connection through sound vibration. It is the result of more than fifteen years of observation, study and personal and group experiences both in the UK and Spain.
Created by Sergio López, also known as The Humming Man, it was born with the vision of helping people improve their emotional health in a responsible, playful, proactive and creative way. It uses simple protocols and tools available to everyone: the human voice, conscious breathing and active listening. The perception of oneself and the other simultaneously and without the mediation of words is the first step to connect with emotions. The mission is to stimulate empathy on a daily basis and helps to control stress through mechanical stimulation of the vocal cords acting on the parasympathetic nervous system. It provokes an instinctive and sensitive relationship with our senses, people and the environment.
EMPATHY TO HEAL
Polyhum® users are co-creators of their emotional wellbeing, with active participation in the process
Would you be willing to get out from your comfort zone to connect with a stranger? Are you ready to interact with someone who doesn’t belong to your local tribe who does not speak your language or doesn’t think like you?
Thanks to the Polyhum creative mindfulness workshops, I learned to trust myself more and not to wonder what will happen next all the time instead of living the experience. Thank you for helping me to think less and feel more.
“Music is medicine for our body, mind and soul”
Polyhum® is an inclusive practice but requires continuity. In a world where the visual prevails over the auditory senses, Polyhum integrates mindful breathing, active listening, and simultaneous multi-frequency musical perception. The person becomes an active musical instrument that resonates. It is open to all as it doesn’t require to have musical knowledge to start, because it is a natural and universal practice.
A hyybrid learning model of face-to-face and virtual learning, both individual and groups. The improvisations through certain exercises are self-regulated without the need to be guided by a conductor. Many of the users have defined the experience as a spontaneous chorus without words or who communicate among themselves like dolphins. The interactive meditations are guided by original music created for specific objectives.
Overtime and with ongoing practise it is possible to transcend fixed states of the mind and to overcome emotional blockages with the help of personalized musical repertoire.
After Covid-19 pandemic there is an urgent need to tackle mental health as the ongoing level of stress figures have reached the highest level worldwide.
Benefits of conscious collective humming: Polyhum “talking” from the heart
• Reduce social isolation by providing the user with tools to feel connected
• Explore creativity, improve communication and reduce anxiety and stress
• In a complex changing world and with constant stimuli it restores inner peace
• Emotional empowerment also improves sleep quality and psychosomatic pain control.
• Accelerator of quality human connections improves interpersonal and community ties
• Conflict reduction in complex environments. Helps to social emotional intelligence
• Develop a sense of common good as well as spiritual, social and emotional wellbeing
• Reduce fear and resistance to the new with the imaginative participation of users.
Humming is an ancient skill known among yoga enthusiasts as "Bhramari Pranayama," which translates to "breathing like a big black bee."
Scientific evidence of the positive effects of humming for health https://www.buteykobreathing.nz/blog/potential-immune-protective-effects-nitric-oxide-and-humming
• Increased oxygen in cells, improving health and well-being.
• Decreased blood pressure and heart rate
• Increased lymphatic circulation: remove toxins from the body
• Increased levels of melatonin, a hormone that improves sleep
• Reduced levels of stress-related hormones, improving well-being
• Endorphin release: self-created opiates that function as natural pain relievers, NO a molecule associated with vasodilation and the promotion of healing allowing a flow of blood and oxygen to the brain and lungs. 15-fold increase in nitric oxide (NO) levels
• Release of oxytocin, the love hormone which creates trust between us Other studies have linked humming with better cognitive control and response inhibition and also better mental health. This is due to its action on the vagus nerve that runs through the vocal cords. This power cord is the two-way highway of communication between the body and the brain. The vagus nerve is a bundle of fibers responsible for regulating our internal organs our reflexes and - as more and more evidence confirms - our mental health.
Are you willing to donate your time and creativity to help others?
Empathic and Creative Resonance
The Empathic Resonance
Empathy differs from empathic resonance in the depth of the connection. It is a total opening to capture the reality of those who are in front of us, understanding emotions, thoughts and personal situations. Likewise, when something "resonates" with us, it invites us to act, to promote behaviors of help, support and altruism.
• Ecpathy was a term introduced by the professor of psychiatry J.L. Gonzalez. Defines the ability to empathically connect with someone but without being impregnated with the other's emotions. Thus, empathic resonance also makes use of that same characteristic, that of not being carried away by the feelings of others and being able to act in an active and practical way.
• Empathy, like empathic resonance, are two dimensions that should be more present in society. We need people who look into the eyes and who understand emotions, who see needs and who act. Haste, superficial relationships, the digital universe of new technologies and even growing narcissism completely overshadow this competition.
POLYHUM EDUCATION creative mindfulness for preventive mental health
Live Workshops and online courses
Video on demand courses (2023) and app development HUM (2024)
Social intervention in open spacess, nomadic, international placements
Creative drawing and empathy workshop
Music in hospitals and care centres
POLYHUM CULTURAL alternative experiences of live music
Music concert for dogs and their owners
Improvisatory and interactive live concert experiences with audiences
Live music meditations on Instagram and other social media platforms
New music composition and participatory community intervention
POLYHUM TOURISM AND PARTICIPATION unlikely connections
The routes of silence: Trekking for listening and group activities in nature
Space Polyhum: Participatory podcasts and debates on sustainable goals
Collaboration with holistic retreats and international music festivals
Business model and sectors
EDUCATION B2B and B2C (paid for services and subscriptions)
Private and public enterprises interested in wellbeing at work training
Non for profit educational institutions, music schools, social care centres
Older people living in isolation and people with disabilities or social exclusion
Professional users of holistic therapies for the body: Yoga, pilates , trekking…
User of mindfulness apps looking after their wellbeing and health
WELLBEING CONCERTS AND MUSIC EXPERIENCES
B2B direct sales
Digital nomads, seasonal tourism, active senior individuals and groups
Dog owners who care about music
Classical music audiences, experimental music and cultural consumers
Music Festivals and cross cultural sector content providers and curators
TOURISM B2B (contract and consultancy services)
Sport and glamping travellers agencies, Senior tourists
Local development agencies and cultural heritage promoters
Hotels and health resorts
“
Life is energy, like a sound wave or like the tide that rises and falls. Although it seems to us that we live in a visual world, our lives are shaped by a constant need to listen and to be heard.”
Sergio López Figueroa
Good Deals Conference, 2017 the largest social investment conference in the UK. Sergio facilitated a mindful Polyhum intervention for 400 participants at the opening of the conference who also dealt with the topic of mental health of social entrepreneurs.
Career highlights
Sergio with his younger brother at Las Canteras beach
Education
BA Piano studies high degree Spain and compositions studies in Bologna (IT)
PGdip music for film (Bournemouth University and National Film School, UK)
Mental health awareness facilitator (Middlesex University, UK)
Civic participation expert (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria University)
Fundación Autor scholarship, composition at Sibelius Academy, Helsinki
Professional (Producer, event producer, speaker, interviewer)
Music teacher for special needs education and autism , London UK
Commercial representative and sales for Sibelius software in Barcelona
Big Bang Lab Founder (community media education and video production)
Public speaker (Barclays Bank, Cambridge University, European Commission
Project manager of music and media social project in Delhi, India
Online mindfulness trainer (Fundación SGAE) and live workshops
Awards
Harlock award, composition for silent film, Un Chien Andalou (1929)
Tate modern commission of music for film and Berlinale programme
European Medea award for media education and use of film archives
Ealing council award (London) for innovation in community mental health
Cultural Leadership award (British Council) New Delhi residency
Changemaker at Southbank centre RFH (Festival of Love 2017) London
Activities
• 200 hours online training in three languages: Spanish, English and Italian
• Four intensive 10 consecutive training days. First online experience
• 84 participants took part
• Qualitative review and satisfaction of 95%
• Deep interview to users published on Youtube channel
Musical Meditations: Paying tribute with a small contribution for the community recovery processes and collective trauma after the Grenfell building and tower fire in London one year after the tragedy that left 72 dead in June 2017
Organizer of mental health public events workshops and debates in London during Mental Health Awareness Week
Examples of endorsements letters
To continue to develop further Polyhum project I am looking for partners and research centres in order to apply for cultural mobility grants as well as R&D development collaboration grants in the fields of neuroscience, music, acoustic, design and artist development in Spain and other European countries looking at practical ways to measure its impact for specific users or new markets. Do not hesitate to get in touch.
