The Happy Pod: The Healing Power of Singing

Podcast: Global News Podcast (BBC World Service)
Host: Vanessa Heaney
Date: October 18, 2025

Overview

In this uplifting edition of The Happy Pod, Vanessa Heaney and BBC correspondents share stories of hope, ingenuity, and community from around the world. The central theme is the healing power of singing, exploring how musical interventions benefit new mothers experiencing postnatal depression. Additional segments cover Cape Verde’s historic football achievement, women reviving ancient Aztec farming, Sweden’s phenomenal 81-year-old DJ, practical engineering to fix hospital equipment in Syria, a dinosaur sculpture that blends art and science, and the quirky joys of goat yoga.
The episode weaves together vignettes highlighting resilience, connection, and creativity amid global challenges.

Key Segments & Insights

1. The Healing Power of Singing for New Mothers

[03:58 – 16:27]

• Setting & Background:
  Reporter Jim Reid visits a "Melodies for Mums" session in South London, a group designed to support women at risk of postnatal depression with therapeutic singing classes.
• Format & Approach:
  • Small groups (10–12 mums) enable connection and support.
  • Songs in multiple languages and four-part harmonies foster community, eye contact, and a calming environment.
• Impact & Research:
  • Dr. Rebecca Beind (King’s College London):

    "What we saw was that the mothers and their babies who participated in the singing intervention experienced a really nice and steady decline in their depressive symptoms. And more importantly, what we found was that that actually lasted up to six months." (13:13)

    • Singing groups produced both immediate and lasting antidepressant effects, with lower dropout rates than conventional support.
• Participant Voices:
  • Holly, a mother:

    "After the very first session I walked in and I was like, oh, I’m safe here. Yeah, it did make things a lot easier." (11:36)

  • Jay with baby Ezra:

    "Just being able to be with people who, you know, are also kind of struggling... you’re having a great time, you’re singing, but you know that these people are also experiencing what you’re experiencing." (15:00)

2. Cape Verde’s Historic Football Triumph

[16:30 – 22:22]

• Celebration & Community:
  Cape Verde, one of the world’s smallest countries, qualifies for the football World Cup finals—the second smallest ever to do so.
• On-the-ground Reactions:
  • Tracey (expat in Cape Verde):

    "Everybody’s all dancing in the streets... This party’s going to be going on for at least 24 hours." (17:50)

  • Lizzie (local resident):

    "This is history in the making. Tiny little country like ours. And being just thrown into the spotlight like this is just amazing." (18:55)

  • Roberto Pico Lopez (player):

    "We did it. This is our goal, our objective. And we did... To be the first Cape Verdean team to lift all the people in the nation, there’s no better feeling than that." (20:46)

• Success Formula:
  • Years of scouting diaspora talent led to a “dream come true” campaign.

3. Reviving Aztec Farming: The Women of Xochimilco

[22:24 – 28:54]

• Preserving Ancient Techniques:
  Women in Mexico City are restoring “chinampas,” floating gardens central to Aztec agriculture and city ecology.
• Voices & Motivation:
  • Cassandra Garduno (farmer):

    "One of the first memories I have when I was a child was my grandfather planting, and in the chinampa, he would always plant flowers. So for me, coming to the chinampa was like paradise." (24:10) "Every time I came back, I saw the degradation of the ecosystem... part of my responsibility was to safeguard it." (25:41)

  • Yasmine Ordonez (farmer):

    "We extract the mud, place it on the beds, and sow the seeds directly here. And this is part of the world’s agricultural heritage." (26:41)

• Broader Impact:
  • The projects help regenerate biodiversity, mitigate temperature rise in Mexico City, and keep farming knowledge alive for future generations.

4. DJ Gloria: Sweden's 81-Year-Old Dancefloor Queen

[28:55 – 34:29]

• A New Lease on Life:
  Madeleine Manson, aka DJ Gloria, fills nightclubs with energy—redefining age norms as an 81-year-old DJ for over-50s.
• On Her Journey:

  • "Why did I become a DJ? Well, I trained as an aerobics instructor. I put a lot of work into movement and the music... and one fine day I heard myself say that I thought I was going to become a DJ." (30:00)

  • "Today I'm really good. I think so myself. But I was really bad in the beginning. Today I feel confident and secure. So I dare to take risks and I dare even more." (32:34)

• Fan Reactions:
  • Ava, 63:

    "She brings so much energy and love... if you are 55 plus, it’s not so easy to find somewhere to go. And Gloria just started this for all of us." (33:26)

  • Louise, 69:

    "She promotes all those women. She makes them strong. Look at them. They are young forever." (33:59)

5. 3D Printing Hope: Fixing Hospital Equipment in Syria

[37:04 – 42:40]

• Innovation Under Pressure:
  Charity FieldReady uses 3D printing and local ingenuity in Aleppo to supply spare parts for essential hospital equipment.
• Aymad Nasharnyam (engineer):

  • "The doors of these baby incubators are loose... So we go to the company website and we try to see if there are any sizes or if there are any specific model. But in most of the cases we couldn’t. So we start the design from zero." (39:00)

  • "When we brought them after five days... they told us that they really look better than the original doors. They were very happy... And unfortunately, many of these babies couldn’t survive because of not having these incubators." (41:02)

  • "Our role here was really different, like we could save lives through engineering interventions... For us, we smell the future, we smell the hope." (42:23)

• Model for the Future:
  • Spare parts cost around $150—versus $8,000+ for new incubators.
  • Designs are open-source and services coordinated via a mobile app.

6. Engineering as Art: Fern the Diplodocus

[42:45 – 48:44]

• Blending Craft & Technology:
  A life-size bronze replica of a diplodocus at the Natural History Museum, created without supports, shortlisted for a structural engineering award.
• Professor John Orr (University of Cambridge, awards judge):

  • "It's a world first and is among the shortlisted nominees for this year's IStructE Structural Awards." (42:55)

  • "It’s that lovely, technically brilliant combination of digital stuff, high tech, with techniques that have been around for a very, very long time... Structural engineering is imaginative, playful. It's as much about art and beauty as it is about doing calculation and mathematics." (44:13)

• Inspiration & Message:
  • Shows engineering is deeply creative and tied to environmental stewardship.

7. Goat Yoga: Movement, Laughter and Animal Antics

[48:45 – 54:23]

• The Fad Explained:
  Goat yoga, which began in America, is now popular in the UK. Classes involve traditional yoga poses… with goats climbing onto participants.
• Instructor:

  • "Started about 18 months ago and it was really a response to demand, basically... within three months, she had 30,000 people on a wait list to come and do goat yoga." (49:42)

• Participants’ Reactions:

  • "It's quite nice, actually. It's like a little massage." (52:03)

  • "I had one under me, one on top of me, so it was fun." (53:05)

• Rachel Wright (reporter):

  • "That was a bit of a smooch, wasn’t it, from Trevor. I'm just going to tickle his bottom. There you are." (54:04)

  • End result: everyone leaves smiling (if slightly sore).

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Singing for Mental Health:

  "This is really nice for mums to come together, mums that have been through things to relate and sing and sing is very healing." — Participant, Melodies for Mums [07:33]

• Football Fever:

  "This is history in the making. Tiny little country like ours. And being just thrown into the spotlight like this is just amazing." — Lizzie, Cape Verde [18:55]

• Aztec Heritage:

  "I like to think that each generation is a layer, a layer that keeps adding to the soil, enriching it." — Cassandra Garduno [27:51]

• Elder-Club Scene:

  "Today I feel confident and secure. So I dare to take risks and I dare even more." — Madeleine Manson/DJ Gloria [32:34]

• Engineering Hope:

  "For us, we smell the future, we smell the hope. This is the hope, this is what we feel, that we are doing what we can." — Aymad Nasharnyam [42:23]

Episode Flow by Timestamp

• 00:00-03:57: Intro/ads (omitted)
• 03:58-16:27: Healing power of singing for postnatal depression
• 16:30-22:22: Cape Verde's World Cup celebrations
• 22:24-28:54: Women restore Aztec chinampas in Mexico
• 28:55-34:29: DJ Gloria rocks Sweden’s over-50s parties
• 37:04-42:40: 3D printing transforms hospital repairs in Syria
• 42:45-48:44: Fern the Diplodocus—a marvel of structural, artistic engineering
• 48:45-54:23: Goat yoga brings joy and physical comedy to the UK

Tone & Style

This podcast episode preserves the BBC's characteristic mix of warmth, professionalism, and curiosity—blending personal stories, expert insight, and the quirky or unexpected. It’s a feel-good selection primed to inspire and make listeners smile.

In Summary

This Happy Pod episode illustrates how creativity, tradition, community spirit, and scientific ingenuity are making the world a happier, healthier, and more hopeful place, one song, goal, garden, dance step, and (sometimes goat-filled) yoga pose at a time.