“If music be the food of love, play on…” – William Shakesphere
Music is an intrinsic part of each one of us – regardless of what we are – singers or listeners. To quote Kabir, “Nada is music which plays in the body without strings.”
Rhythm is the first organizing structure in an infant’s experience. Modern science acknowledges that pulse and rhythmic patterns found in our heart beat, in our breathing, and in our body movements are just a few indicators of rhythms with which all our life-processes are intrinsically linked. There is a rhythm inherent everywhere – in and around us. With a little focused attention we can get in touch with our body rhythms. We can then recognize how our breathing cycles, heart beats and our bio-receptor feedback loops are made of resonance and rhythms, which simply go on and on, till death deprives us of them.
Melody is in-built in our laughter, cries, screams or songs and they all follow a fixed, rhythmic pattern. A whole range of emotions can be captured and communicated through a wide range of rhythms, tones and melodies drawn from diverse cultural milieux and musical styles, schools and systems.
As in the case of any biological system, nature too, is made of cycles and rhythms. Seasons change in a cyclic manner and life functions in a cycle of birth, growth and death: a cycle without a start or an end. Within the human body itself life-processes are carried out in a purely rhythmic fashion. Various kinds of rhythm viz., endogenous rhythm, muscular rhythm, pain wave rhythm, pulse-breath frequency, rhythms involved in the processes related to blood circulation, digestion, respiration, etc., are well known to the world of science and medicine.
All biological processes including breathing, food-intake, excretion, energy exchange, metabolism, circulation, action of nerves, reproduction – all follow a basic pattern in an orchestrated manner. It is interesting to note that scientists have discovered a musical symphony in the process, by which chromosomes condense and segregate during mitosis (nuclear division). It is likened to a musical symphony produced by an orchestra in which several instruments working individually or in unison, make an attempt to produce the collective piece of elegance and beauty – as one may come across in a Bach or a Beethoven, in a Mozart or a Mendelssohn. Just as a conductor ensures that each musical instrument enters the symphony at the appropriate time, with the wave of the baton, so the conductors of the so-called mitotic symphony called ‘checkpoints’ prevents errors in chromosome segregation that can lead to disease such as down’s syndrome or cancer.(David Cortez and Stephen J Elledge 2000).
The Rhythmic Expansion
Rhythms cannot be confined to intracellular functions alone; complexities of periodic rhythms grow right from cellular levels to the tissue levels and onwards to organs and to the entire organism. Nada Yogis visualize their impact even beyond the confines of their bodies, on the firm belief of their influence over the Universe. The present-day physicists are discovering that the foundation of the Universe is not just matter particle or quartz, but movement of energy – the vibrations.
Some common rhythms in the body such as the heart rate and breathing cycle can be directly experienced when we focus our awareness on them. This awareness is more pronounced particularly when one feels excruciating pain – as in toothache, when a wave of pain sweeps over the affected area, occurring in an interval of say 15 to 30 seconds. The rhythmic pattern here is the one and the same as the one, which forms our sleep cycles during the night.
Musical Rhythms and Body Rhythms
It has been an age-old practice in all primitive societies, to induce a shamanic state of consciousness, by drumming at the rate of 41/2 beats per second. Recent researches like Landereth (1974), Harrer (1977) have confirmed that slow beats modify the heart rate and breathing cycles in a significant way. Listening to musical rhythms does have an impact on the brain wave rhythms, which are responsible for our level of consciousness: a stage of alertness (with the predominance in beta waves) or a state of relaxation or deep sleep (with the predominance and alpha, theta or delta waves).
A musical-harmonic order called ‘rhythmic functional order in humans’ responds by intensifying, even when a person is sleepy. It has been experimentally found by this author in a workshop conducted at Delhi on the 22nd December, 2001 before an enlightened audience, compromising of diplomats, civil servants, yoga teachers and music lovers that, manipulation of the rhythmic pace of the tabla or a manjira could lead us to a relaxed state. The literature on music therapy is fast building up, confirming that long-term musical involvement reaps cognitive rewards in terms of linguistic skills, reasoning and creativity for enhancing social adjustments, love and peace.
Music exercises the brain and playing instruments for instance, involves vision, hearing, touch, motor planning, emotion, symbol-interpretation – all of which go to activate different areas of brain- functioning. It has been observed that some Alzheimer patients could play music even long after they had forgotten their near and dear.
In the deepest and most general level, the forms of music stimulate the forms of adaptation (that is, assimilation and accommodation) which are deeply rooted in our autonomic nervous system. These intimate connections between our life-processes and music can remain despite illness or disability, and are never dependent on our musical skill or mastery. Because of this, the emotional, cognitive and development needs of people with a wide range of problems arising from such varied causes such as learning difficulties, mental and physical ailments, physical or sexual abuse, stress, terminal illness etc., can be rationally addressed by selecting appropriate music.
Every one of us responds to music – from the newborn, to patients on their deathbeds; from the physically or mentally strong to those who are weak or impaired.
Music Therapy: A Rediscovery
It is strange that the subject of music therapy has not witnessed a revival in India in recent years. This is particularly surprising for a nation, which has even in ancient times, made great strides in recognizing the therapeutic impact of rhythms, resonance and melodies for the well-being of body, mind and spirit. Ragas, which are therapeutic, were even codified and celebrated in the ancient text of Raga Chikitsa.
Music is interred with the very existence of man. It has been an inseparable companion not only to the primitive aboriginal man who feared nature’s fury, but also to the contemporary man who is under constant threat by his own species. In the words of Carlyle, “Music is a kind of inarticulate, unfathomable speech, which leads us to the edge of the infinite and let us for a moment gaze in that.”
Science, which is usually skeptical about the existence of God, is confounded by the power of music, because there is no denying its impact on mind and consciousness, or its role in soothing and pacifying one’s mind, elevating one’s moods. In fact, a formidable body of research has been built all confirming the therapeutic, prophylactic and audio-analgesic role of music. Staunch believers of modern medicine have also begun to openly acknowledge music as a ‘complementary medicine’.
Having considered its significant role in wide-ranging disorders including epilepsy, mental ailments, speech-related disorders, and terminal illness such as cancer and AIDS, music is increasingly getting accepted as medicine. Patients who have undergone musical treatment can vouch for the fact that they experienced a neo-sense of dignity with music during their struggle for survival. Even while awaiting one’s death – as in hospitals or in hospices – music has lent it dignity, helping ease the passage to the other world less painful.
With the publication of Medicina Musica by Richard Browne in 1729, music became the pride of place not only in restaurants and bars, but also in shopping malls, street junctions, automobile and railway coaches etc. Its importance was recognized particularly in those places where one’s patience undergoes a test eg., in queues, in waiting halls, in ICU’s and CCU’s, and in hospices. Several endroits, such as operation theatres, street-corners, examination halls, board rooms etc., where tempers and anxiety run amok have also witnessed a sea-change after introduction to the magic of music.
Ancient Indian civilization, which prescribed meditation for ‘taming’ the mind so as to reach into the higher realms of consciousness, also devised ways to tap the inherent power lying in music for holistic health. The esoteric concepts and practices of Nada Yoga or Laya Yoga, not only take into account the gross resonance captured within the sensory limitations of the human ears, viz., 20 to 20,000 Hz., but also the subtle, anahata, which is totally beyond one’s sensory reach, but can be perceived by mastering the techniques in yoga.
Music or nada reveals a distinct yin-yang pattern, a characteristic common to all living systems in the Universe. Here, sound and silence – otherwise two opposing phenomena, which stultify each other, are yoked together under a mistaken canopy for their mutual interaction, producing synergy. While the acoustically driven recognizes this as a sound (or a tone of such-and-such frequency range) a musical connoisseur may find it a marvel. For the nada yogi, however, it represents the very manifestation of God or Brahman. The synergy arising out of this strange combination of sound and silence is, however, considered to be the very building block that constitutes the entire Universe.
The Western Note and the Eastern Swara: Affinities & Differences
In the Westerner’s eyes (or, rather, ears), a note is just a note. Nothing more, nothing less. It has to be mathematically correct and mechanically precise. Take for example, the care and concern that go into tuning a piano. The Indian system of ragas on the other hand, encompasses not only swaras (lit. “self-shining”), but also their partials, those stacks of subordinate vibrations (semi-tones), which are recognized by a sensitive listener of resonance. In fact, it is the selective application of such harmonics to appear themselves at appropriate places that lends a raga, its unique identity in an otherwise virtual ocean of ragas. In other words, it is just not a mere thread of tonal vibration, but a stack of sub- ordinate vibration that go into the spinning of a raga wick. The subtle way in which the subordinate vibrations in a swara encounter their counterparts in the preceding or succeeding swara determines the pakad, a shortcut involved in identifying a raga by presenting a musical phrase and not a sentence.
It is not enough if a student is offered a notation or the solfa-syllables to master a raga. As the selected harmonics cannot be properly reflected in these, the Indian system of music is dependent on the guru shishya parampara, which makes the Indian system of raga unique in the world of music. It is these partials in swaras that elevate the Indian raga from being a mere mechanistic melody to a lofty divine form, and making it so effective in meditation.
In the realm of yoga, the concentration on the swayambhu swaras especially during rechaka (exhalation) and kumbhaka (the interval between the incoming and outgoing breath) has heightened the experience of one’s own consciousness.
Therapeutic Traditions in Ancient Civilizations
Long before acoustics came to be studied in Europe, the ancient civilization of the Arabs, Greeks and Indians were already aware of the prophylactic and therapeutic role of musical sounds and vibrations. While the Greek legends glorify the music that healed Ulysses’s deadly wounds, the Arabian writer Ibn Sina had recorded the therapeutic role of music in his various treatises on medicine. The Indian musician Tansen is said to have cured Emperor Akbar’s hypertension with his recipe: the raga Yaman. It was widely known that depending on its nature, a raga could induce or intensify joy or sorrow, anger or peace and capture and communicate a whole range of emotions. All this could be done by manipulating the pace or gait or, by exploiting certain swaras or ragas through altering, or their methods of rendering as in meend or glissando, staccato, iteration, progression etc.
Indian Therapeutic Music: A Musical Alchemy
Indian music is a combination of experiences, both emotional and intellectual. While a listener’s emotional hunger is met by selecting the melodies laced with required bhavas, his intellectual thirst is quenched by the mathematical precision involved in the complex and elaborate tala system. It is also a well-known fact that the Indian classical music attaches importance to security and thoughtful state of mind as its primary aim, catering both, to emotions and intelligence a la fois, thus enabling balancing of the analytical mind (mastish) and emotion or intuitive mind (buddhi).
By listening to certain kinds of music, one is able to achieve equanimity, a quality propagated in several schools of yoga.
Music emanating from certain instruments is also respected for its therapeutic value. The credit here goes to the unique texture or timber (tone color). For instance, in South India, sweet strains from the veena have been believed to ensure a smooth and safe passage for a baby’s arrival from the womb of its mother. Certain ragas are also considered to have an ‘equalizing effect’ on the mind. For example, there has been a practice of concluding the concerts, bhajans, kalakshepams etc. with the raga Madhyamavati. It is a raga, which takes the first three notes in the cycles of fifths and fourth (samvada dvaya) and naturally has a high degree of rakti. When sung at the end, it imparts a state of equilibrium and tranquility in a listener, who would have been exposed to a variety of emotions emanating from a number of ragas.
Bhupalam and Malayamarutham, when sung before dawn serves as an agreeable invitation to people – including the Lord of the Seven Hills – to wake up from their slumber. Nadanamakriya is supposed to ‘soften’ adamant people and even hardened criminals.
Therapeutic Indian Ragas
To cure insomnia, one listens to bits and pieces of Neelambari Raga; likewise marital favours are believed to be installed in people by making them listen to pieces of Bilahari or Kedaram. Sriraga, when sung or listened to after a heavy lunch, is said to aid in digestion and assimilation; while Sama raga restores mental peace. Relief from paralysis is reported to be there by listening to pieces of Dvijaavanti raga. Those who are prone to depression and often recommended a dose of the lilt in Bilahari to overcome their melancholy.
Some of the Ragas are examined here for a musical analysis, to uncover their secrets.
The Probable Therapeutic Components in some Ragas
Kalyani (Yaman – Hindustani equivalent) is frequently used as a remedy for high blood pressure. The intuitive use of resonance hidden in the tones and the way the swaras are selectively used is what has a definite impact on mind and moods.
For instance, the soothing touch inherent in the tivra madhyam in raga Kalyani, which is interspersed with the other six swaras that are all shuddha, render a composite compassionate personality to this raga, which, I think could be the reason for its acknowledged role in bringing down one’s blood pressure. The other ragas identified for similar effects are: Ahirbhairav, Anandabhairavi, Bhairavi, Bhupali, Darbari, Durga, Kalavati, Puriya, Todi, etc.
Malkauns (Hindolam is the carnatic equivalent) is a morning raga, and a prescription for low blood pressure. The oscillations in Gandhar, Daivat and in Nishad that one comes across in this raga, could be the reason behind the elevation of one’s spirit, as well as blood pressure. I find there is magic in the pivotal note, the madhyam, which makes it a feminine raga. The glides one notices in the swara combination such as ‘Ni-Da-Da-Ma’ and in ‘Ma-Ga’, according to me, could be a reason for its application is improving one’s self-confidence.
Bageshri is the romantic, late night Hindustani Raga, introduced to the Carnatic system by Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar, is prescribed for sleep disorders and insomnia. I believe that the occasional inclusion of Pancham, besides the sharpness (Komal-type) in Gandhar and Nishad could be the secret for its soporific role!
Bilahari, recommended for depression, this raga is ideal for starting the day. I feel that this raga should be sung/heard at a very early hours of dawn by those who suffer from dejection and depression. Any prayer song made in this raga could prove quite beneficial in uplifting one’s moods. Other ragas such as Bhupalam, Kedaram and Malaya Marutham, could prove equally effective in overcoming the bad effects of depression.
Durbari is a majestic, late night Raga, and is considered ideal for soothing nerves and reducing tension. It is often used in devotional music as it brings peace and tranquility. I am of the opinion that the smooth glides in all its seven notes (it is a heptatonic raga) could be the major reason for the smooth flow of nerve impulses. Its efficacy as an anti-stress raga, dates back to the times of Akbar the Great. It is believed that the Tansen played this raga to Emperor Akbar to help him overcome the stress and mental tension in governance. Other stress busters such as Durga, Kalavat, Hamsadhwani, Shankarabharanam, Tilak Kamod etc also promise to relieve those who are stressed by the constant exceptions of people and society alike.
Shiva Ranjani works for intellectual excellence, an ideal raga for the night, it is accredited with improvement in one’s intelligence quotient.
Surprisingly, the common man gets a taste of this raga from the least expected source of all: Bollywood films! It may also be seen that any ‘filmi abasement’ of the raga leads to hit songs – Mera Naam Joker (‘Jaane Kahan Gaye Woh Din’) and Ek Duje Ke Liye (‘Tere Mere Beech Mein Kaisa Hai Yeh Bandhan’) and there may be many more. There was a time when every producer in the North and South used to insist that at least one song should be composed in this raga, so that he was assured of at least one hit.
Madhyamavathi is the leveller. It is the raga often chosen by the carnatic vidwans for ending their katcheries (concerts) with mangalam. The reason is quite simple. That raga has certain unique quantities to equalize the upheaval of emotions, often brought in by singing or listening to various ragas that heighten them. Akin to Madhyamat Sarang, I feel that perhaps the repeated oscillations at Rishabh in this raga could be the cause for equalizing the mind. Another favourite raga for mangalam is Saurashtram.
Tambura and the Importance of the Drone in Music
Tambura or tanpura, the Indian drone instrument is just not a drone of achala swaras, the tonic and the fifth, spilling out monotony all the way! It is conceived to balance the expanding pitches in a raga by repeated basic pitches, which act as a constant reminder to the performer to maintain the purity of the pitch despite the flow of several consonant and dissonant swaras that constitute a raga. Further, the harmonics emanating from the heart of this instrument over a period of time – say 15 to 20 minutes a day-also sure harmony and peace all around – an event better experienced than explained.
Bikshandarkovil Subbarayar, a Carnatic vidwan who lived in the late 19th century, was known for sending his two tamburas to the stage much ahead of the arrival, so that the concert hall was a float with harmonics and semitones that prepared the mind of the audience to be attuned to the relevant shruti. There is no doubt that, when the actual concert began, a great degree of compatibility was already established between the artiste and his audience!
Music Therapy: Procedure and Practices
Though no fixed rules regarding the music treatment session have been laid down, a daily session at a fixed timing is recommended by some Western therapists. Basically, it is the convenience and the need of patients that matters. The session could last for anywhere between 1 to 2 hours and with a few intervals for optimum results. Higher frequency is always better and would in no way be harmful, unlike other medications or drugs which exhibit significant side-effects. While undergoing musical therapy, one should however, avoid an empty stomach.
In a typical therapeutic session, the patient is provided with an instrument or a piece of notation to go on improvising the value of the piece. In the true traditions of mano dharma sangita, the patient is encouraged to do with them, whatever he feels like, till an emotional bond develops between the patient and the musical piece.
At an outset the patient is made to understand that his musical outputs will never be judged and that he is absolutely free to make the music sound the way he wants to. All that he has to attempt is to make the sound as pleasant as possible. He is also persuaded to use his vocal chords in any way he wants to – which could range from mere murmurs to loud shouts. It also creates a ‘musical and emotional’ environment that accepts everything the patient tries to formulate. There’s no rejection whatsoever. As the patient’s response to the challenges increases, it also provides experience for socialization, improves his self confidence and communication.
Rhythm instruments have been found to be useful for this type of therapeutic goals, particularly in the case of hyperactive patients. The therapist can also prescribe speech, movement, drama etc to enhance the value of such methods. Songs or tunes familiar to the patient provide better effect than unfamiliar ones.
In the West, that therapist works usually with piano where the potentials of rhythm, melody and harmony are combined with a very wide range of fluctuations of pitch and loudness. A co-therapist may also work with a therapist to help support the client if necessary and both therapists may also use their voices or other instruments as appropriate. It has been clinically found that creative endeavour in music has comforted disabled children, trauma victims and individuals under geriatric care in a significant way.
Custom-made music is also used. In the developed World, an individual-based music program is often customized, after studying the individual constitution of the patient and his problems. Once a program is formulated, it is reviewed periodically, changed appropriately to suit the changed conditions in the patient. Music is thus improvised uniquely for each patient and for each session. Audio recording allows the therapist to monitor the music process from session to session. Particular songs, bits, pieces or styles of music may also become part of the therapy process.
Creative Music Therapy is an approach in which co-creative sessions between the therapist and the patient are aimed at activating the innate musicality, using a variety of standard and specialized instruments. This method has become popular in recent times, particularly in the West. Combining aesthetic sensibilities with ongoing analytical assessment, such improvisational music has helped patients to overcome their physical, emotional and cognitive barriers. Such improvisational, creative music is administered for helping disabled children, victims of accidents and trauma, individuals under psychiatric or geriatric care and self-referred adults seeking to overcome their emotional problems and stress. Known as Nordoff Robbins System, this approach has the growing popularity in the U.S.A, U.K., Germany, Australia, Scotland and Japan.
Music with Guided Imagery. As the musical melody progresses, the therapist explains imaginative events, situations and characters, which are further elaborated by the patient. Several symphonies in the Western classical system, particularly those of Beethoven, Bach, Haydn, Vivaldi and Tchaikovsky are utilized by the therapists for activating and imagination of the patient vis a vis the melody played, which not only induces satisfaction in the patient, but also greatly helps in overcoming problems such as depression, trauma and other psychological ailments. This method, called the Bonny Method, is also reported to have considerable impact in lowering one’s heart rate.
How Does Music Heal?
Though the mechanism of healing is still a mystery to modern science, there is a belief that music stimulates the pituitary glands, whose secretions affect the nervous system and the blood flow. It is also believed that for healing with music, the cells of the body have to be vibrated. It is through these vibrations, that the deceased person’s consciousness could be changed effectively to promote health.
Several psychiatrists have confirmed the usefulness of music therapy for neuroses. Lively music is found to be useful for depression, while melodious music played on the string instruments has been found useful for anxiety neurosis patients. Faster music is however reported to be preferred by the patients of mania. European experiments have endorsed that a fifteen-minute session of soothing melodies can lull a patient into a sense of well-being before a painful operation. Music is found to nudge some patients into making voluntary movements, which they can do not otherwise.
Music Therapy Practices: Conducive Environs:
Many therapists recommended that the patient should have a comfortable place for treatment without noise and any other disturbance. He should be comfortably seated, although yoga postures such as padmasana or vajrasana are often recommended. Simple steps involved are: (1) Close the eyes (2) Play or mutter soft/slow music (3) Focus on the breathing process (for instance, by simply placing hands on abdomen one becomes aware of the moment of that part of the body during breathing), (4) One could use meaningful mantras such as “I am good”, “The environment around is gracious and kind” ,”God is kind and protective”, etc. phrases such as “I am loved”, “I love me”, “I am good” etc. such assertions are said to result in erasure of depression. As one absorbs music, one absorbs all positive vibrations from nature, which are conducive to good health and well-being.
The Duration of Therapy:
There cannot be any hard and fast rules on the duration of musical inputs. The prescribed music can be played even after the person is in deep sleep or coma. As rhythms are linked to the heart beat, the music one receives should do wonders. However, instead of playing the music continuously, interspersing it with brief intervals can make it more effective.
Duration of therapy could be flexible depending on the need of each patient and his response to it. Individual duration of therapy can however be determined through trial and error as one develops experience. There is the general consensus that an hour’s dose of appropriate music at a fixed time of the day, every day, with intermittent intervals should be ideal. As the patient shows improvement, the musical input can be changed by the therapist. The first crucial step involves correct diagnosis followed by the selection of an appropriate raga or melody to suit the individual requirement.
Vibroacoustic and Vibrotactile Gadgets
Seven gadgets such as vibrating platforms, beds, chairs and leg-rest are commercially available in the West which extend a “physical experience” of 25-80 Hz. sine wave tones. Thanks to these gadgets, the people with hearing impairment can physically experience (as vibration through their bodies) the middle to low frequency content of music and other sounds. Hearing impaired people can also enjoy making and experiencing music. The physical experience of vibrations is said to be an effective therapeutic treatment for ailments such as autistic disability in children, Alzheimer’s disease, Asperger’s Syndrome in adults and children, brain damage, emotional disturbance, Huntington’s disease, learning impairments, Parkinson’s disease etc. It is considered ideal for sensory impairment and terminal care.
It has also been found that low frequency sine tones will have localized effects within the body. They are said to be helpful in speech correction and in restoration of metabolic and psychological deficiencies. A frequency range from 25 to 45 Hz. is said to be useful for ailment connected with the feet, ankle, calves, knees, upper thighs and sacrum: a range between 45 to 60 Hz. affects the coccyx, sacrum and lumbar region, whereas the 60 to 80 Hz. range is reported to affect the thoracic cavity, shoulder, neck and head region.
Vibroacoustic Harp Therapy (VAHT)
A relatively new concept, VAHT refers to amplification of live heart music through vibrotactile pads, tables or cushions. It is found that the bass tones, most pronounced in VAHT are most relaxing for patients. Glissandos, which refer to the smoothness with which the notes are made to glide, are also said to produce the desirable effect on the body.
The Gift of Music
There is a growing awareness in the West that certain music can provide physiological as well as psychological benefits. Seven experiments conducted on the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, have revealed that many of Mozart’s Sonatas result in increased joie de vivre and quality of life, regardless of one’s age or health conditions. Dr. Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, acknowledges the role of music in many neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s because of its unique capacity to organize and reorganize cerebral functions, when it has been greatly damaged. Designed music sessions using music improvisations, repetitive music listening, song-writing, guided imagery, learning through music have proved to be useful in ensuring emotional well-being besides improving communication and cognitive skills through musical responses.
A musical experience is unique in that it can impart an experience of extraordinary freedom to rise beyond the limitation of one’s physical being. This happens when one’s consciousness level is increased to the next higher realm, with appropriate dose of music. Inspirational words and expressions (lyrics) as in bhajans, kirtans, Vedic recitations etc. enhance meditation and concentration and enable the mind to focus inwards. This form of internalization brings about its own advantages such as strength, security, peace and tranquility to those who are mentally challenged. Through music and by letting one’s mind go after it, one experiences a deep state of relaxation, which cannot be guaranteed, with the help of chemical or synthetic drugs without their accompanying side-effects.
Music therapy has established itself as a dependable health care system and is increasingly being accepted as a complimentary healing system, especially in the advanced countries, where cost of medical cover has gone beyond the reach of the common man. In combination with other healing methods such as acupuncture, anesthesia, medication, surgery, yoga etc., music is found to be greatly efficacious. As the creative process of music takes over one’s mind and emotions, it leads one to a feeling of wholeness and completeness with the Universe on all levels of existence: physical, moral or intellectual. It helps in overcoming all forms of inadequacies or frustrations in life.
Music as a therapy, is not exclusive for just a disease; it is meant for all patient groups. From the terminally ill to the temporary sufferer, it can apply to everybody. Cognitive games help with long and short term memory recall. Music, combined with movement as in modern gym and aerobic sessions, improve physical capabilities. Music by itself, or in combination with other media such as art, aroma or dance offer unlimited scope for experience for the sensory – deprived, which is often caused by coma, injury or degenerative diseases.
Music, be it in the temples or sounds of celebration in village squares, by its very nature creates bonhomie and frees the mind in a joyful awakening of new and renewed states of wellbeing, improving functioning and quality of life in subtle ways.
This article was published in Heritage Healing — September 2002, pages 13 to 20. A similar article was published in U November 2002 – Pages 59 to 65.
Edited by Geeta Shreedar, Feb 18.