In recent years, music therapy is emerging as a wonder tool in the hands of medical practitioners and counsellors, as a dependable intervention especially for those who suffer from mental diseases and problems, which are threatening the very social fibre of the human race. Music therapy is fast emerging -both in the East and the West – not only as a hospital or health intervention, but also as a self-prescription for preventing stress and tension in everyday life of people from all walks of life and from all age groups.
Nada Centre for Music Therapy, (www.nada.in), a tiny non-profit organization dedicated to bring music from the background to the foreground of people’s lives, has been engaged in serious group studies and experiments to “discover” (or “rediscover”) the therapeutic role played by various genres and systems of music, with a strong voluntary support from both medicos and musicians converging to its seminars and workshops conducted from time to time.
One of the objectives of the Centre is to re-discover the principles and practices of yoga which are conducive to individual (and thereby social) health of the nation.
Thus, the Centres interests range from nada yoga to neuro-musicology to discover the magic that is music.
In its existence over a decade the Centre has developed its own “home” concepts and practices successfully used by the needy public. They are: proto-raga therapy, raga chikitsa therapy, nada yoga music therapy, yoga nidra music therapy, emotional music therapy etc. Large number of people have benefited from such concepts though the research work is still continuous.
In the system of yoga and meditation, one such practice relates to calming down the people with yoga nidra practice. It was a chance discovery that combining appropriate music into a yoga nidra session enhances their value and results. From several practical sessions we have taken out 12 musical pieces from the western classical school from the angle of their (i) imagery value and (ii) emotional content to inculcate power to move the mind and the spirit to overcome the adverse situations in life. The musical pieces identified for their richness in imagery value and beauty are taken for motivating the listener (patient) to synchronize with their characteristics. Similarly, those pieces which are rich in powerful emotional contents can be used psycho-therapeutically to address the emotional crisis relating to disappointments in life, frustrations, anger, depression and all such negative moorings that adversely affect the mental health of an individual.
The volunteer base of Nada Centre has thus worked on identifying the tones and tunes from these samples that can “cool down” the agitated and angry, when judicially applied. The popular western classical musical numbers which have been experimented with yoga nidra practice on patients who are prone to violence or misbehaviour and some of them and which show significant results in alleviating the agitated people are given in the table below. However, we would like that more repetitions of these experiments need to be conducted in order to assign a scientific validity for our humble attempt.
The selected musical pieces were studied for their musical quality which could be used for music imagery involved in yoga nidra sessions. For this purpose, music was analysed for their first stage “amrit-dhara” or nectar-effect, that is for an intensified imaginary ambrosial secretion in the sahasrara or crown chakra. They were also studied for their second-stage, i.e the imaginary spread of amrit-dhaaraa to various parts/ chakras of the body. The 2nd stage music helped many a cancer patients and others who silently suffered the physical and mental pain to “forget” their problems – at least temporarily as an effective audio- analgesic intervention. We are planning to refine and improvise this music therapy exercise, working with large population of people in various parts of India. Given below is the selected list of music (which are easily available for self-music therapy purposes in youtube). We are grateful to the modern technologists and technicians who have brought such a revolution in our lives to download any song or music in a jiffy from our mobile without tears! The Table below indicates the popular western classical numbers identified for the amrit-dhara exercise and also their duration (as available) for facilitating yoga nidra sessions for addressing pain or difficulties in the body and mind. The therapists can either cut short the duration or prolong it depending on the patient’s needs and response:
| S. No | Musical Piece/ treatment duration in minutes | First Stage (Amrit Dhaara) Yoga Nidra Intervention | Second Stage (Spread of Nectar) Yoga Nidra Intervention | Author’s Remarks |
| 1 | Beethoven – Moonlight Sonata | In the first half of this piece, patient to be directed to observe/ feel the oozing / dripping nectar in their crown Chakras | In the second half of this piece, the active spread of the nectar to various parts of the body can be felt. The patient directs this to the problem areas in his/ her body to get the healing benefits. | The patient needs to be comfortably seated on a cosy sofa or in padmasana or shavasana positions. Initial breathing exercises enhance the effect of the session. |
| 2 | Beethoven – Silencio ( 10.39) | Here the dripping of nectar can be felt at a faster pace. | No second stage intervention | This piece is somewhat faster and hence may not be probably useful for elderly and critical patients. |
| 3 | Beethoven – Symphony No.5 | No first stage intervention | Emotional and Powerful to address a crisis situation in the life of the listeners. The patient focuses on their problem or pain locus and whole-heartedly “fights” it with all energy felt and derived from music. | The dominant theme here is “Fighting the Mighty”It’s an aggressive number interspersed with self- effacing sound that lingers. |
| 4 | Chopin – Nocturne Op. 9, No. 2 (04:29) | Dripping effect to be guided if necessary | Not much for second stage experience | An effective piece for amrit-dhaaraa effect |
This article was published in ‘AYURVEDA AND ALL’ – April 2016-June 2016 – Pages 26 to 28.
Edited by Geeta Shreedar, Nov. 21, 2021