What is Sound Health?
What is Sound Health? by Suzanne Jonas, Ed.D.
Music and sound therapy has been with us since the beginning of time. When we think of music therapy today we immediately think of music that makes us feel good. Music that lifts our moods, makes a long driving trip shorter, or housework effortless. When I was working in a large rehabilitation hospital the most popular tape on the stroke unit was a compilation of big band songs played by the Glen Miller Orchestra. After listening to this music patients were in a good mood, they participated more fully in their therapies, reported less pain, and socialized more.
But what about the other parts of us? Does music do nothing more than make us feel good or bad? act on our emotions? The ancient Greeks through Pathagorus knew there were certain chords and melodies that produced definite responses within the body. In the 6th Century B.C. his disciples knew the right sequence of sounds played on certain instruments could cure bodily pain and dis-eases. His philosophies encompassed music, healing, science, mathematics, nutrition, and medicine and were practiced for 800 years.
A branch of modern music therapy is music medicine. It is a rediscovering of how music affects our physical body. Thanks to our modern technology, we can measure these effects and find that the RIGHT music can:
- lower or raise blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration
- release endorphins that soothe pain
- relax muscles and release tension
- increase circulation
- assist with sleep
- and many more effects.
We are a larger matrix than just our emotions and body. We are also our minds, though there are times when we feel like we have lost it, as this story demonstrates.
A very elderly gentleman (mid-90’s), very well dressed, hair well groomed, great looking suit, flower in his lapel smelling slightly of a good after shave, presenting a well looked-after image, walks into an upscale cocktail lounge.
Seated at the bar is an elderly looking lady, (mid 80s). The gentleman walks over, sits alongside her, orders a drink, takes a sip, turns to her and says: “So tell me, do I come her often?”
So, is there music that can assist you in not losing your mind in the first place? YES ! The RIGHT music assists our brain waves to
- increase focus and concentration and THERFORE increase memory
- increase creativity
- increase attention
We can remember more, think more clearly, get better grades, be more creative and more productive with the right music. As a beginning step, much of the music composed by Mozart will assist in this process. Use the second movements of his instrument concertos, the tempos of which are highly conducive to keeping our brain moving on track. *
As a flutist and singer performing in large groups I have felt music to the point that tears flowed and I became paralyzed...not a good thing during performances! This was music that communicated with my soul. Soul music is music that touches your very core, expands your heart, gives you tingles, leaves you in a much better place, and has the potential to heal your body . I remember a 45 year old patient in ICU several years ago who was very slowly dying and no one could figure out why. She was attached to every life support modern medicine had and nothing was changing. I suggested to her nurse that she play a tape I had compiled for the hospital of ‘soul’ music, thinking that if she indeed was in the process of transitioning to the next life, hearing beautiful music might assist her. I wasn’t able to reconnect with the nurse for a few days, and when I did I was informed that the patient had been moved to a regular room in the hospital and was doing quite well. Apparently she had begun to stabilize and then improve some hours after the nurse had started the soul music tape. The patient never talked about her experience.*
So on my journey of using music to help others heal, be more productive, learn faster, and be more joyful, I began to wonder what is music? To make a long story short....I have become a sound therapist, one who uses individual sounds to affect the body. You are already familiar with the use of sound in medicine: ultrasound: frequencies that excite cells to generate heat; and using sound/frequencies to breakup kidney stones.
Think of the sound of chalk on a blackboard......the sound of trains braking. These sounds set off a chemical change in your body which gives you a physical reaction. And yes, there are beneficial sounds. Here we blend with quantum physics. This science tells us that everything is made up of vibration: rocks, gases, a heart, grass, etc. Sound is audible vibration. Humans have been using sound for healing for centuries in the form of drumming, chants, bells and gongs, and now, tones. Sound enters our auric fields, our ears, our brain, and then every part of our body. It has the ability to make significant changes in our physiology and emotions.
In Sound Therapy, if your liver is not functioning well we could say it is out of tune. And by using the laws of physics, we can retune the liver with another frequency, the frequency of a healthy liver. For more information on this you can read my book** or go to my website. One person sent me a description of how the Spinal Ease CD helped him. *
~”…I had two herniated disks in my neck. I spent several weeks in physical therapy twice a week with no relief. Each time I went to therapy the pain grew worse for several days. I later went to a Neurosurgeon to discuss surgery. His news was not what I wanted hear. I also have lung disease from chemical exposure. The Neurosurgeon told me the disk problem was operable, but not on me because he was afraid I would not wake up from the anesthesia. The alternative was to live out my life in pain, tingling, and numbness, until things were so bad the risk of dieing would be worth the surgery... I began listening to the CD Spinal Tap, once or twice a day as time permitted. I didn't notice much of anything for about three days. After that I realized the pain and tingling in my arm weren't as frequent or severe. In about a week feeling was returning to my fingers. I'm not sure when the rest happened, but within three weeks I no longer had numbness in my fingers, the pain in my shoulder was gone, and the tingling in my arm was so infrequent I was totally amazed. By the fourth week I had no symptoms at all. I continued listening for one more week and have stopped. I forgot to mention the Neurosurgeon also told me I had arthritis in my neck. It has been weeks since listening to my powerful CD. I have noticed a very slight pain in my neck if I sit at my computer for a prolonged period of time.
Sound Therapy is really rediscovering what the ancient Greeks knew, using the laws of physics, and applying it with tuning forks, or generated tones through headphones and special sound chairs and beds. Sound Health is using sounds (tones or music) to increase your vitality be it physical, emotional, intellectual, or spiritual. Just like a prescription for drugs, music medicine can target a specific symptom or dis-ease, must be taken consistently, and as directed, and has few to no side effects. Sound Health can be employed anytime and anywhere:
- wake up to music
- meditate to music
- exercise to music
- be more productive and creative with music
- learn faster with music
- enjoy your meals with music
- go to sleep with music
- decrease symptoms with music or sounds
- increase well being and health with music or sounds
You can significantly enhance or decrease what ever you use music and sound for.
A New Yorker cartoon has summed it up perfectly. Picture an overweight middle aged man wearing headphones attached to a portable tape player and smoking a cigarette. He was talking to a very beautiful young woman saying:
“Right now I’m listening to a creativity tape. Later, I’ll do the stop smoking, stop drinking and weight loss ones. By tomorrow, I’ll be the man of your dreams, baby.”
* For a list of suggestions and to purchase CDs go to www.MusicalMedicine.net
** Take Two Tapes and Call Me in the Morning
posted by SoundLady @ 9:12 AM
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