MUSIC FEATURE: Black Surf Collaborate With MindWave Meditation To Promote Mental Health Awareness
London alternative-rock trio Black Surf have teamed up with MindWave Meditation to offer a free Introduction to Mindfulness with their new EP Make Friends, helping to promote mental health awareness and create important change.
Frontman Ali Epstone tells us more…
WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE.
We’re completely blown away with how the world is changing for the positive right now. It’s truly unreal!
In 2019 we can actually freely discuss the awareness of mental health and now finally create change. Did you know that depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide? Over 300 million people are experiencing depression, so where do we go from here? Awareness is great, but it’s just the first stage. Implementing positive solutions to enable the next generation to not suffer as much as we have is key. Prevention is the new cure, so we at Black Surf and MindWave Meditation have collaborated to offer a free Introduction to Mindfulness with our new EP, to help you live a more enjoyable existence.
The new EP, Make Friends by Black Surf, is part one of two releases we have planned for this year. Lyrically speaking, it’s a reflection on overcoming my own mental health issues experienced in my teens and all throughout my twenties. Growing up, I had no idea what was happening to me. Nobody talked about this stuff, at all. I spent countless nights trying to numb myself and pass out with the aid of drugs and alcohol as I’d continuously jolt upright from sleep thinking I was dying. So much so that I’d write notes to family and friends only to throw them away in the morning with a brief, short lived sigh of relief – then, time for school, work, college and all the rest. It never stopped, and I never said a word to anyone and suffered in silence; much like everyone else did, we’re slowly finding out as people speak up.
What I didn’t know then was that I was just suffering from crippling anxiety and panic attacks. I say ‘just’ because when you overcome this (and you can) you realise how much the suffering you are enduring is completely unnecessary and avoidable with the right tools and better conscious actions made. The key to note here (for anyone suffering) is that you do ALWAYS wake up and it does always end. The common theme with anyone experiencing anxiety, particularly, is that you are short of breath and most likely wrapped up in a future thought of despair that is causing this.
“If you are depressed you are living in the past, if you are anxious you are in the future. If you are present you are living in the moment” – Lao Tzu.
Meditation balances and strengthens your immune system, and breathing techniques alone can create new habits that bypass these unwanted attacks. I’ve personally lived through this hell and now devote my working life to teaching others to easily, simply, and even enjoyably, overcome excess daily suffering with meditation and mindfulness. To merge my work and music to help others is a huge silver lining after going through this 10 year battle. It’s so great to work with musicians and creatives, as we’re the ones that don’t work the 9-5. Our minds literally never stop. Being aware of this, we can now find instant relief through these techniques.
The sooner we accept that life is both dangerously chaotic and also blissfully beautiful, the sooner we’ll experience relief within our own lives and story. There’s always going to be a war, a Trump and another form of Brexit happening—that’s life! Unless you’re going to create positive action, convert the story into art, or some kind of change, what are you actually gonna do about it all? This is what drives people into depression and anxiety.
On the flip side there’s evidently a massive momentum of positive change happening all around us. What do you want to be a part of? A positive change that starts with you, or the story of a sinking ship? The sooner we choose to really just let it all be, let go of the past and the future, and aim to live with a daily target of joy, happiness and love while we’re here—in the present moment, where life truly is—the sooner we individually experience long lasting relief and peace within ourselves.
We are here for such a short moment in time, just a flash in the pan, in reality. We finally now have the tools and strategies to change this old paradigm and create better habits now. It starts with our own individual selves and then, like a knock on effect we can nurture, empower and inspire others to do the same for themselves and others.
Try the free introduction to Mindfulness here: https://www.mindwavemeditation.com/mindwave-mindfulness-missions
Black Surf‘s new EP Make Friends is due for release on 15th May and is the first of two brand new EPs scheduled for release this year. The band will play a special EP release show at O2 Academy Islington on 25th May, tickets are on sale HERE.
Check out Black Surf‘s latest single Eleven Dando (Good Time).
