MARINA SOKOLOVA: Healing Music.

Since very ancient times, humans have created music that has served their goals. Lullabies, marches, love songs and so on are as old as the history of humanity itself. In modern times scientists have studied the power of music and found that music that meets certain requirements can heal, increase mental abilities, and energize.

What is healing music.

Healing music comprises of sounds of the frequencies that correspond to frequencies of certain brain signals. It is able to stimulate production of certain chemicals in order to achieve desired goals, such as healing and improving one’s body functions. The concept of healing music can also be used for purposes other than healing, such as increasing intellect, improving memory, removing pain, increasing self-contentment and so on. For example, sounds of frequency from 90 to 111 hertz increase production of beta-endorphins subsequently increasing pleasure.

How does healing music work.

Nerves of your inner ear turn sounds into electrical impulses, just like all the regular impulses in your brain. Some of them go to the hearing centre of your brain, others end up in different parts of the brain affecting the body functions and the production of hormones.

Which music is good and which is bad for humans.

Sounds with a frequency from 5 to 8000 hertz are energizing for humans, where sounds with a frequency of 8000 hertz are the most energising. When scientists tested already existing music, they found that music written by Mozart has the highest quantity of beneficial high frequency sounds. A curious fact is that sounds of birds singing usually have frequency of 5000 hertz, which makes them beneficial for us. On the other hand, low frequency sounds cause a draining effect on the human mind and body. Examples of low frequency sounds are noises of road traffic, airports, factories and most rock music. Another interesting fact states that the most beneficial music consists of patterns that repeat themselves every 20-30 seconds, this is doe to the function of human central nervous system, which has a 30 seconds cycle. Surprisingly, of all the music analysed, Mozart’s music fitted this requirement of 30 seconds cycle the best.

Of course no one is going around measuring the frequency of music they hear all the time, but you do not need to do so in order to understand which music is good or which is bad for you. Once you get tuned into your survival senses, your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual states can let you know what music and sounds are good for you. Beneficial music would have a positive effect on your pulse and blood pressure. You may notice that it uplifts you spiritually, relieves your pain, increases your energy, and sparks your creativity.

When you go shopping for music, the safest music to buy is new age, world, and classical. The risk of getting bad for you music increases slightly with the pop music. The death metal, alternative rock, and rap music is usually very harmful.

Music that is good for you is also good for your plants and animals. For example: if you put plant next to a speaker and play same music to it regularly, it will ether grow toward it or away from it.

What music can heal.

Music can help with stress, depression, sleeping disorders, confidence and self-esteem, as well as other emotional issues. There is also music designed for general well being and music with specific goals to improve the work of certain body organs or functions. Such as: liver, kidneys, bowl, reproduction system, and blood pressure.

Is there a guarantee of healing.

Even so affects of healing music on humans are well studied and have good records, unfortunately there is no guarantee of music healing some one. It helps a lot of people, but in some it only slows deterioration and for a few it does not help.

Are there any side effects.

Healing music does not facilitate addiction to it like alcohol or drugs and it does not cause withdrawal symptoms. In fact the more one uses it the better result one tends to get as the mind becomes more trained to achieve desired states.

Eating with music.

Listening to dinner music while eating is beneficial for the following reasons. Studies have shown that whilst listening to slow classical music people tend to eat slower, chew their food more properly. As a result, their bodies assimilate more nutrients, because they are able to digest food better. Where as when people eat while listening to rock music, they tend to eat very fast and their bodies do not assimilate many nutrients.

Studying with music.

Music can also considerably increase one’s mental abilities. Many people like to study listening to music that contains binaural beats. Binaural recording transmits music of different frequencies in each of your ears from headphones. Different variations of those frequencies do a few interesting things, such as balance sodium and potassium levels in your brain removing ‘mental fatigue’, reduce stress, manage pain, improve sleep quality, reduce sleep requirements, and enhance creativity and intuition. Some people also use music with binaural beats to assist themselves in remote viewing, telepathy, out-of-body experience, and lucid dreaming.

Nowadays scientists also developed a variety of machines that can emit sounds in hundreds of frequencies not audible to the human ear that awaken production of certain chemicals in the brain which facilitate intellect and increase memory. These same chemicals tend to help very well with depression and drug addiction. However you do not need a special machine to help you increase your intellect, most people who have tried any variety of sound or music therapy agree that their mental abilities are increased where as stress and pain are decreased.

From theory to practice.

One of the cheapest ways to experience the power of the healing music is to by a CD. However buying it can be a bit more complicated that it sounds. Most shops offer mainly relaxation and new age music. Those CDs that claim to contain healing music, don’t always give any instructions or explanations and could be just compilations based simply on personal music preferences of a compiler, with no scientific approach. From those that have descriptions on the boxes, only few specify the frequency of music and what purpose it should be used for. Others just justify their benefits by spiritual reasons.

Another option is machines that contain music for healing and other purposes. They are usually called ether sound machines, sound and light machines, or mind machines. You would not see them often in shops, but one can find a big range of them on the Internet. The cheapest ones are the price of the CD. They play range of music and sounds that would sooth, relax, help to sleep and mask disturbing noises. More sophisticated machines can cost up to few hundreds of pounds. They can help with autism, learning disabilities, bi-polar disorder, dyslexia, depression, and so on. They can also include programs that relieve stress and anxiety, boost creativity, boost physical performance in athletes, provide rehab for brain injury, improve social skills, do hypnotherapy, and provide digestive solutions. They usually come with dozens of preloaded programs on them and free memory space to download more programs from the Internet. Many expensive machines also tend to include a device that is used like spectacles that shows lights for visual stimulation or colour therapy. Those lights are not for people suffering from epilepsy. So one must be careful there.

The more personal and guided approach is the hiring of a professional music therapist. Although working with music therapist does not necessary involve only listening to music as one would do at home. They use variety of other methods: moving to music, playing music, singing, lyric discussion, lyric writing, guided imagery and improvisation. Many of them also incorporate traditional psychotherapy techniques into their sessions. They work with developmental disabilities, learning disabilities, autism, speech disorders, behavioural problems, mental retardation, psychotic behaviours, physical rehabilitation, substance abuse problems, and acute and chronic pain. They also enhance skill related to social interaction, concentration, academic achievements, and motor abilities. For psychiatric patients music may be used in conjunction with medications.

Finding music therapist can be a bit tricky as well. If you can not find any in your yellow pages, you can contact Association of Professional Music Therapists (020 8440 4153, APMToffice@aol.com) and they will help you get in touch with your local music therapist.

Whatever option one chooses, healing music gives a chance to reap the rewards of researchers’ work that have combined traditions with modern technology. Even though it does not work one hundred percent for every one, it is nice to try a pleasurable alternative to drugs.