The conference proposes to explore the relation of rhythm and happiness through the following subthemes:

Theme 1: Influence of Rhythm on Happiness and Wellbeing : Cognitive and Bio-Sciences Perspectives

The brain has its own rhythms of neural activities linked to sleep, arousal, emotions and behavior. It also responds strongly to rhythm. The heart is rhythmic, circadian rhythms regulate our sleep and alertness, and all these bodily rhythms have deep significance in the context of both physical and mental wellbeing. Papers are expected to explore the relation between the brain and bio-rhythms, the way our entire mind-body system responds to the external rhythms of the world, and their relevance for happiness.

Theme 2: The Rhythms of Happiness in Music, Visual Arts and Dance

Periodicity and cyclicity are the essence of all the art forms. Music ranging from joyful to mournful aesthetic emotions have tremendous impact on our lives and wellbeing. Music, dance and visuals can all induce emotions, and rhythm and harmony play key roles in the way they impact our minds. All these forms not only deeply affect the artists but also their audience. Moreover, they are intrinsically linked to one another and often their collective multimodality as well as their inter-medial relation have key relevance for the way our happiness and wellbeing are affected. Papers are expected to explore various aspects of rhythm, periodicity, both in their core contexts as well as their inter-relationship in contributing to happiness.

Theme 3: Rhythms in Everyday Life and Culture & their contribution to Happiness and Wellbeing

Everyday life consists of various rhythms regulated by habits, rituals, norms and rules. The periodicity of the days, weekends, vacations, festivals, daily routines, work and rest, all contribute to human wellbeing in terms of their continuance, disruption or breakdown. Papers are expected from a wide range of areas starting from social sciences to big data analysis of human behavior patterns and their impact on our happiness.

Theme 4: Rhythm and Positive Psychology

Psychological sciences examine the various aspects of mental states and behavior that relate to a wide variety of human activities – everyday life, art practices, bio and brain rhythms – and form a core area from which rhythm and its behavioral impacts on happiness can be examined and papers are expected that explore these connections.

Theme 5: Rhythm in Sound & Vibration: Wellbeing from Philosophical and Scientific Perspectives

Certain core areas with which rhythm has intrinsic relation happen to be sound and vibration. The audible and tactile, often interlinked, are some of the most distinctly manifest examples of rhythm. Philosophical traditions across cultures, and especially in India focus on Nada (primordial sound) and sound has been studied from diverse scientific perspectives. Papers are expected to examine the crossovers between these wide varieties of disciplines with a novel scientific outlook.

Theme 6: Rhythm of Positive Communication: Language and Speech, Poetry

An area more implicitly related to theme 5 is that of rhythm in diverse aspects of communication – especially in our utterances, the rhythms of poetry, in the verbal and non-verbal exchange and interaction of communication. While rhythm in speech and poetry is well explored, rhythm in communication, especially in the context of happiness, is a neglected area and papers that address these issues from diverse approaches are welcome.

Theme 7: Ecological Rhythm, Environment and Wellbeing

While dealing with the microcosm we often ignore the macrocosm. Human rhythms are deeply interrelated to ecological and environmental rhythms of days, seasons, of tides and waves. A key and extremely exciting area for exploration, they have key significance for human wellbeing. Papers can explore any aspect of ecology and environment in relation to human beings and the way the presence of absence of rhythm influence both their wellbeing.

Theme 8: Interdisciplinary exploration of rhythm and happiness

Since rhythm is a core part of human and cosmic existence, there are many areas where its influence is felt – cosmology, astrology, medicine, technology, town planning, mathematics – the list is endless. Papers that relate areas not covered in the first seven sections, but are related to the core concepts of rhythm and happiness in other areas are also welcome.