Tune into the joy of sound therapy
The healing vibration of sound has been used for millennia. Sound has a conspicuous and mysterious impact on the behaviour of humans, animals and plants. Sound can alter moods, emotions, behaviour and health. Music can propel, motivate and inspire or it can repulse, sicken and impair mental and physical health. Research shows that classical music soothes infants and toddlers and stimulates early brain development. Babies are born with a natural sense of music and preference for harmonic, pleasant chords over dissonant ones. In the fabled lost city of Atlantis the sick were healed with sound vibration in temples. The monks of Tibet discovered the healing power of chanting thousands of years ago. Today sound therapy is used in hospitals as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
Harmonious sounds can reduce stress, elevate moods and enhance memory while noise pollution — loud, discordant sounds can cause mind alteration, and cognitive and physical damage. Too much noise — the over-stimulation of loud talking, loud noises, age-inappropriate and dissonant music — can lead to agitation and confusion. Going outside one’s musical comfort boundaries can cause nervous tension, headaches and irritability. In an instant, a blaring siren can give us a headache or a lullabye can put us to sleep. Sound has the power to either heal or harm.
Women being more expressive and spontaneous with their emotions are more receptive to the use of sound therapy. Alexander Lowen, the originator of a body psychotherapy known as Bioenergetics says that the cathartic release of emotions must move through the throat in sound. Simply, weeping silent tears will not release sadness. For grieving to be truly therapeutic the person crying has to make sobbing sounds — have a good cry. Exercising the vocal cords while releasing tension and painful emotions is why chanting certain sounds is effective in healing, especially, in dealing with frustration and anger. Jubilant shrieks are to pleasure what crying is to pain.
Releasing joy through sound is more therapeutic than venting negative feelings. The jubilant cheers of persons at a sporting event or concert are 100 times more energising than the curses of the offended. We moan in ecstasy if rubbed at just the right spot on our shoulders, or when biting a tasty morsel of food, sipping delicate wine, or smelling a rose, and the experience is more exquisite because we sound out our appreciation. Sex is better when partners make sounds and enter fully into the experience. In the Pleasure Zone, Stella Resnick, Ph D, shares that people who are sexually dissatisfied with their partners complain that they make no sound during sex, not even at orgasm. Women interpret silent orgasms in men as holding back emotionally and not being real. Men think that women hold back sound because they are afraid of sex.
All pleasures are intensified through making joyful sounds: singing in the car or the shower jump-starts our day. Reciting tender poetry is a sensuous way to bond with our lovers. Hum delight when someone hugs you and the hug feels warmer. Music stimulates the brain; sets the mood for romance and is a companion for joggers and lonely people.
The basis of sound therapy is that everything in the universe, including the cells of the body is in a constant state of vibration. Sound vibration either relaxes, agitates, heals or harms us. Sound healing is effective because of the intimate connection between the emotional and physical bodies. Healing sounds and harmonious music have therapeutic effect on many conditions and diseases, such as depression, arthritis, back pain and soft-tissue damage, nervousness and obesity. Studies reveal that noise pollution negatively influences blood pressure. Research estimates that one to three million Americans are affected by noise pollution in at least one category, such as, hearing loss, lack of sleep, irritability, heartburn, indigestion, ulcers, high blood pressure and tension and it contributes to mental illness.
Musical combinations to try: Music plus aromatherapy = stress relief and mood alteration; music plus massage = total relaxation; music plus conversation = intellectual stimulation; music plus colour = soothing and calming effect; music plus shopping = excessive spending; music plus exercise = motivation and discipline; music plus meditation = deep cleaning; and music plus love = heaven.
Harmonious sounds can reduce stress, elevate moods and enhance memory
