Heal yourself with the magic of “MUSIC THERAPY”

There is nothing soothing than music. If you’re stressed, tired or not able to sleep, you listen to music and immediately you feel good and automatically your eyes close. This is a kind of Music Therapy.

The concept of music therapy is not new in India especially. Music is an age-old part of Ayurveda, the holistic science which promotes a happy and healthy lifestyle. In the Vedas too, music has an important place, The ‘Samveda’ is full of music-mantras and ragas.

Great composers of Indian classical music have attempted music therapy down the years. Legend has it that classical music maestro Thyagaraja brought a dead person back to life with his composition.

How does it work? Music stimulates the pituitary gland, whose secretions affect the nervous system and the flow of blood. It is believed that for healing with music, it is necessary to vibrate the cells of the body, through these vibrations the person’s consciousness can be changed effectively to promote health.

Personally, I love music and have always treated music as my medicine. Whether I am stressed or in a confused state of mind …music always gives me the right direction. Having personally experienced a lot of positivity through Music, I thought why not write a blog on how music can be a positive healer.

Music therapy uses music and sounds that

• Helps you to express your emotions
• Cope with symptoms of a disease and its treatment
• Improve your emotional and physical well being
• Develop self-confidence and self-esteem
• Develop or re-kindle a sense of creativity
• Help you to relax and feel comfortable

Music therapy does not expect one to have musical expertise. The technique of music therapy consists of some interventions and planned programmes, which varies from situation to situation…to give you an example- the type of music plays an important role- soothing music, ragas, relaxing music, motivational music etc.

Interventions:

A bulk of sessions will consist of different interventions. There are four types of music-based interventions:

1. Performing/Playing. This can include singing or instrument playing.
2. Composing. This includes any group or individual songwriting process and can be as simple or complex as needed.
3. Improvising. Improvisation means creating music on the spot or in the moment.
4. Receiving/Listening. This can include a music and relaxation-type of experience, a lyric analysis intervention, and a “moving to music” type of experience (as in gait training).

A “typical” music therapy session may incorporate multiple interventions or just one long, in-depth one. The key is that each intervention is designed to target a specific therapeutic goal and objective.

Benefits:

Right kind of music helps one relax and refresh. Even during the course of working, light music improves efficiency, it helps control negative aspects of our personalities like worry, bias and anger, helps cure a headache, abdominal pain and tension. And, it is one of the most effective ways of controlling emotions, blood pressure and restoring the functioning of the liver, reduces insomnia, schizophrenia and epilepsy.

Some of other benefits are:

1. Coping with Work-Related Stress
2. Enhancing Social Skills in Children with Autism
3. Symptom Management in Cancer Care
4. treatment of tension headache
5. Music Therapy for Health and Wellness
6. People having chemotherapy
7. People having radiotherapy
8. Physical and psychological help for people with cancer
9. People at the end of life
10. Cancer pain
11. Children and young people
12. Music Therapy and Stress Reduction
13. Music Therapy Program on Parent-Child Interactions
14. Encouraging Conversation Among People with Middle to Late Stage Alzheimer’s Disease

I would like to end this blog with this quote

“If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC”

― Kurt Vonnegut