The Art of Listening: A Conversation with Dr. Sean Botha

In this presentation for the Business Relationships Matter Network, Dr. Sean Botha, a specialist in listening, discusses his unique ‘Listen Program.’ Dr. Botha delves into his background as a music composer and healthcare professional, explaining how his research into sound and stillness has shaped his understanding of communication. He describes how his program helps individuals reconnect with their environment by focusing on listening, rather than speaking, to foster better relationships and well-being in various fields such as education, health, and corporate settings.

00:00 Introduction to Dr. Sean Botha

01:10 The Listen Program: An Overview

01:40 Sean’s Journey and Inspirations

02:58 The Power of Experimental Music

04:28 Sound and Silence: A Deeper Connection

05:26 The Listen Program in Practice

08:58 The Importance of Listening

13:14 Applications and Impact

15:32 Final Thoughts and Reflections

17:31 Q&A and Further Discussion

Transcript:

[00:00:00] -: I’m delighted to introduce Dr. Sean Botha to Business Relationships Matter Network and in presentation, the spotlight speaker today. Uh, he is a listening specialist. Um, he hails from Victoria, Pretoria in South Africa, and is the founder and director of HES Botha Productions in Sydney, Australia.

Sean is a music composer, storyteller, and researcher. He created the Listen Program showing his doctoral research into sound and stillness in Western music. Sydney University in Australia between 2015 and 2020. His work includes 28 years of experience in the health industry, music performance, and creative immersive sound worlds.

His music background stretches over 37 years and includes classical guitar, piano, composing skills. Sean is passionate about the relationship between sound and stillness, physics and communication. His research has given him a deeper understanding of fundamental processes of communication and specifically listening and the need to help people realign.

So, Sean, I’ll pass this over to you.

[00:01:10] Sean Botha: Thank you.

Okay, so the listen program. Hello, everyone. Um, I hope you’re having a good day. So, um, this presentation is a bit different from what I normally do. Um, So, um, I’m hoping that my system will do what it’s supposed to be doing. So I’m just going to pass this on. So you’ll see in the first slide that it’s all just the listen program.

So a bit of background. Um, Yes, I’m Sean. Yes, I’m from South Africa. Um, my relationship with the creative arts started in 1987, if not earlier on, but I can’t remember that very well. Um, everything I do, everything I do. originates from a South African artist who is an extremely talented singer and artist in South Africa.

And from there, everything in my creative life just exploded. I started writing stories, which I never published. It was just all ideas falling out of my brain. on a daily basis. Um, so by the time I got to my research, you know, it’s all much pretty much ingrained together with, um, Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings as you’ve just seen.

So, and that of course also include my health background. Which actually included extensive training into all the major areas of health. So that included psychiatry, community care, general nursing care, intensive care, trauma care, all of the above. So when we fast forward into 2015, what you’re getting is somebody who’s desperate to get out of nursing.

Um, because nursing in itself is, um, an industry where anything and everything happens and the one thing that’s always made me tick was my music and before I knew it without any warning, I was introduced to the music composers of the 20th century. So they’re pretty much important because what they did in the 20th century was they took all the rules that everybody created around music and like broke it all.

They decided we’re now going to start coloring outside of the square. And what they did was, um, the French composers started to, um, experiment with sound. They compressed it, they stretched it, they pulled it into different directions, and created these really weird and wonderful soundscapes, which had me completely and utterly enthralled.

At some point in coin, in um, 2015, I was lying on the ground trying to recover. From the heat, I just walked in and I actually was playing a piece of experimental music, which it only took about 20 minutes to calm my entire system down. I was able to stand up and not feel dizzy. And that was purely just from listening to an experimental piece of music.

So it became an obsession and that obsession is still growing. So by the time I did my doctoral work, The idea around sound for me became more so about the fact that you cannot separate out sound or silence. And silence is the space where everything begins. But for everything to begin, it needs energy, and that energy is sound.

So sound is energy, energy is sound. Sound is silence, and silence is sound. But silence, in reality, does not exist. And that was proven by an American composer called John Cade, and that just fed the passion. So essentially it means that the quietest space that you can find on earth, you can still hear your own central nervous system ticking over.

So you’re never going to find that in this world. But what we can do is We can try and find small moments in time that gives us the space to reset and that’s where the lesson program comes in. So it wasn’t just created for the sake of selling something, it was created. Because I found myself during my doctoral work quite literally lying on my wooden desk with my ears on the wood, with my hands on the wood, because I was listening to a sonic piece of music trying to find the stillness in that piece.

And I could swear I could hear a few split seconds of it. in a piece where one sound was constantly overlapping another. And what I realized as I was doing this was that I could feel that sound not just in my hands, I could feel it in my muscles, I could feel it in my bones, I could feel it in my lungs, I could feel my heartbeat trying to adjust itself to the music.

to the sound that I was hearing in my computer. So that basically then helped me to understand that my very overactive brain, which is extremely neurodiverse, was given the opportunity to just breathe. And I thought to myself, but hold on, there’s so much more to this, so I need to dig a little bit deeper.

So I thought to myself, so what’s the process? I’m going from the outside in, but if I’m going from the outside in, how do I structure it? What is the last point in the program? What’s the last point? And I thought to myself, the last point is every cell. In my body, every cell in my bloodstream, every cell in my lungs, my heart, my muscles, everywhere in my body.

That’s the last point, but the beginning point is everything that’s happening around me. And everything that’s happening around us is sound, noise, and quiet moments. The question is, what do we do with it? How do we communicate with it? How do we adapt ourselves and our life so that we can thrive? That then in a weird way, explains why I’ve got here on the screen that different tones and pictures can be heard in the rain.

I was out walking last week, Friday, and it had just stopped raining and I was down by nap, pian River, and I was doing a quick video and I realized, hold on. If I really listen to the rain, if I really, if I close my eyes and I pay attention to everything, I can hear that every raindrop. Once it hits the ground.

Or wherever it falls, it has a different pitch. It’s pretty obvious, like, when birds are singing, they’ve got different pitches. But rain is a different, that’s a different beast. It’s the same with the ocean. There’s different pitches happening 24 hours a day. We just have to find a moment to close our eyes and listen and focus in.

And then that type brings me to My next slide. Why? Why have I done all of this? Because unfortunately for me, the brain that I was born with, a part of it has been now trained to help people. So I think I want to tap into the idea of helping people because if this can help my brain, how many other people can I help?

How many people can I reach? So I think to myself, as many people as possible, there’s not just Australia, there’s everybody else. So how do we help them to get away from the noise? So what we do is, is we take the program, we strip away technology, we strip away the video games, the television, the computers, the phones, and everything else in between.

We set it aside and we take our immediate environment and we use it to our advantage. So what we do is, is Instead of talking 24 hours a day, we decide to take a step back from talking and we start listening. And when we’re listening, what we’re doing is we’re becoming aware. And that’s the first idea behind the program.

Become aware. Even strip away all the academic jargon that people have attached to what listening is. Listening is a fundamental part of our human experience and that fundamental part of our human experience can help us to reset. So the idea behind the program is we don’t use music. We use sound. So it’s all about perception, psychoacoustics.

So the idea is, Diane loves the sound of the dog barking down the road. Ross loves the sound of his neighbor practicing piano. I love the sound of the wind or the rain. So what I do is I focus in on that sound. But before I do that, I have to be aware of everything else that’s happening. Because by the time I choose a sound that I really like, I’m teaching my brain to filter out the rest.

And then I’m allowing my body to create a connection between my brain, my physical body, and the sound and the energy of that sound. And I’m allowing all of that to be absorbed by my physical body. So in a weird and wonderful way, we’re creating a gateway into meditation. We’re creating a gateway into a bit of stillness in this very noisy world we live in.

And by doing that, we’re giving ourselves a chance to realize, hold on, I don’t need technology and millions of dollars to be happy, but I do need really good listening skills to maintain a good relationship with myself. My family, my friends, my colleagues, and my clients, or my patients, or my customers. So by practicing your listening skills, you’re expanding your world in a very positive and unique way.

So in my perfect world and my very romanticized idea of how all of this should play out, I want this to work for everybody. But I also understand that we’re all unique. Not all of us are going to feel the same way that I feel about it, but what I can do is I can say that I’ve seen the benefits. I’ve seen how it works.

I’ve, I’ve had somebody come back to me this week saying that she can feel such a difference. And I, for a moment, for so many moments during a day, I sit and I ask myself, how much validity is there in my work? And I think to myself, now that’s a true academic thinking. I need to not think like an academic, I need to think like, you know, how do I feel when I do it?

And look at the feedback that I’m getting. And I’m realising that if I want to share this, I wanna share it in all these industries that I’ve got here on the screen for us. You know, education, health, corporate government, health and wellbeing. The Neurodiverse community. I mean, we can, I can help people to focus better when they feel like there’s just too much going on in their head, but at the same time, I can help a student nurse to just help their quiet, help to quiet their head.

before they start their shift. And at the same time, I can do that for a musician. I can help a musician who has to go on stage and do their final recital in the final year of their music studies. Let’s quiet your head, get you on stage, and you feel like you’re in control of what you’re doing. So I’m like thinking, I’ve created something that goes so far beyond me, and I’m actually quite proud of that work, because I never thought I would do something like this and it is such a, um, it, it amazes me on a daily basis to see how much of a difference it can make.

So at the end of the day, it’s about, it’s about what the person wants. It’s not about what I want. So if somebody comes to me and say, I just want to be able to sleep better, I’ll say to them, well, let’s try this. If it doesn’t work, then we try something else. If you just want to do step one and two, that’s absolutely fine.

If you just want to do step one for four months, that’s fine. You’re doing the program. You’re teaching yourself to learn more about your environment. So go for it. So at this stage of the, of the, of the process on finding the program to be in, in a nutshell, it’s a gateway. And from a different perspective, it is an opportunity to understand the importance of listening.

So in conclusion, I was asked. a couple of weeks ago, why should anybody take the time to listen to anybody? None of us are obliged to do this. And I thought to myself, but that’s not true. That’s not true at all. Because if We were born to be able to speak. We were born to be able to hear. We were all born to be able to feel the ground underneath our feet.

We were all born to feel an emotion when we’re hearing something, a piece of music, you know, to experience it on every multi sensory level. So in the same way, listening is also a multi sensory process. That we need to practice, we need to foster it, we need to feed it. And when we do that, we’re automatically feeding our relationships the right ingredients.

So that not just ourself can thrive, but the other people in our lives can also thrive from it. So we’re including people, we’re pushing away isolation, and we’re creating belonging. And that’s why the listening process is so important. That’s why I actually say, speak less and listen more, because by doing that, you’re, you’re creating meaning.

And that’s it. It’s about meaning and understanding. By listening, we’re doing that. And then all the benefits from the program, that, all of that, that’s just happy side outcomes that your body will thank you for later down the line. Thank you.

[00:17:31] Anthony: Sean, so many interesting points in there to, uh, to discuss, but just wanted to touch on a couple of them.

Uh, initially, um, you talk so much about. noise. And we live in a world where there is so much noise, isn’t there? I mean, that’s the, we’ve, you know, so much attention is paid to the visual senses in particular these days, but the noise that even the visual creates and being able to focus on listening, it’s, it’s a hard art to master.

And it’s not really taught, is it?

[00:18:05] Sean Botha: Um, I remember actually somebody at university saying to me that we listen with our eyes and I thought to myself, that’s very true. That’s very true. We do listen with our eyes. And, um, sometimes we need to, I think, be willing to step away from the visual input. So that we can understand all the other noise and sounds that’s going on around us, because the visual input is a, it’s an extra ingredient.

Because when we go back in time, and in history, especially in film and cinema, what you find is, is, um, ham radio, I do believe I call it in America, where you have your stories that were told through radio, there were no visuals. All you were doing then, you were listening to a story being told on radio. So the visuals is just that extra little benefit.

So by taking that visual benefit and saying, okay, this is great, but I’m going to hit pause on this and I’m going to go and step outside and just listen and close my eyes and listen. I’m enhancing that skill automatically because we’re not honing in on what we can see. We’re honing in on what we hear.

[00:19:27] Anthony: Yeah, I love the power of that and what it can do. And it was funny as you were talking earlier about, uh, you know, favorite noises and, and, uh, sounds that people like to tune into. And I could hear outside the wind and just how, when you focused even just for a moment on that noise of the wind and you really listen into it.

It takes you away from everything else. And I think that’s a, that’s a powerful idea, isn’t it? And that’s what you’re trying to convey with some of this.

[00:19:59] Sean Botha: Yes, that’s definitely, it’s part of it. There is so many other layers to it and I’m still unpacking layers to it, which I hadn’t even thought of, and it just keeps going, there’s just more information coming in and more information coming in.

Um, especially in a military context. There’s a lot to unpack. So, yeah, lots of information.

[00:20:25] Anthony: I can imagine. And also, I gather, uh, for the people, you know, that have got things like ADHD, being able to focus, it’s going to have a huge impact on those sorts of people, isn’t it? To be able to, you know, Train themselves to cut out the noise and to, and to listen.

[00:20:42] Sean Botha: Well, yes, definitely. Um, I, I have found myself saying to people that there’s going to be days where somebody with ADHD will just say, I can’t do it. I can’t do it today. And it’s absolutely okay to feel like that, but there’s going to be other days where they’ll say, Oh man, I really need this now. I’m in overload.

I can do this now. I’m desperate. So, and it’s in those moments where you go, okay, no, I can do it because I need a reset. So for, for those people, it’s definitely a benefit, something that can really help.

[00:21:17] Anthony: And I suppose the question really is, um, where do you think the results of all of this will, will take?

I mean, I know it’s, it’s early days still, but where do you see the impact of this and, and how widespread do you think it ultimately should be? Because I know you’ve talked about touching lots of areas, but is this the kind of thing that should be taught at an early age? Is there a specific age that it works better?

And how far do you see the impact?

[00:21:42] Sean Botha: Well, again, in my very romanticized mind, I can, I can see it basically making a difference on an international scale, um, especially in the arts and in education and in military and potentially in government, um, at all levels. Yeah, I think there’s definitely huge differences because it plays in on the health and wellness space where you’re advocating for the well being of people.

Your staff and of your colleagues on all levels, and specifically for students on the education level. I, I would love to see students going, man, I could sit down for an hour and listen to my tutor or to my teacher and I got something out of it. So that’s, that’s one very romanticized idea in my brain.

That I would love to see come into fruition. Definitely.

[00:22:40] Anthony: This finally, I wanted to just sort of say to you that it’s really interesting that when you, and I don’t think any of us do this enough, but, um, when you lose one of your senses, whether it’s putting a blindfold on and losing your, your sight, or I actually have very little sense of smell that I haven’t had been like that for years.

And that makes your other senses that much more. Sensitive, doesn’t it? And, and that ability to be able to, um, hear so many things and then to be able to, to zone in on one level and cut out all of that noise, it’s, it’s such a calming impact that in, in this noisy day that we’re days that we have at the moment with so much going on all the time, so many screens and things going on in front of us that in itself, just for basic human relationships is going to have a huge impact.

[00:23:33] Sean Botha: Oh, definitely. Um, it definitely will. What’s interesting is, is, um, there’s a bit of background to that trail of thought as well. Um, it was, I think, we’re now in 2024, aren’t we? In 2022, um, one of my cousins passed away. She was born blind and she was a very well known pianist in Europe and she actually spoke about her process, her creative process, in an interview in South Africa where she basically said that from the darkness comes color and that color is the sounds coming from the darkness and that darkness we can equate to the quantum space.

So we’re talking about a stream of consciousness. So when we’re looking at a multi sensory approach to listening and cutting off one, one sense and highlighting other senses, we’re creating a stream of consciousness, um, like she did, because she was doing it every time she put her hands onto the piano.

And, um, so in that sense, the, the possibilities are endless. If we’re just willing to open our mind to, um, the possibilities.

[00:24:57] Anthony: Love it. So much more to explore. And I know we’ll get that opportunity to do that again. And thank you for being part of, uh, of the presentation for today.