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Music as Medicine

Music and sound vibrations have the power to influence our mind, our emotions, and our bodily functions. Music and sound can aid healing and rejuvenation, calm and uplift emotions, ease a headache, and even stimulate enthusiasm and inspiration. Music and sound can also be destructive to our health and wellbeing. The vibrations of jackhammers, traffic and air conditioning units in buildings have been proven to cause symptoms of recklessness, lowered efficiency, dizziness due to loss of balance and nausea.

Yogis have focused on the positive aspects of sound and music as a means to create enlightenment and awaken higher consciousness.

Music as a Positive Force

Music as a positive force is part of our everyday life and is embedded in our social and artistic environment. Many visual artists have claimed music to be invaluable as a way of inspiring their creative process and work. Many writers use music to pacify their inner critic (left brain) that can block their creativity, and to free their imagination and intuition (right brain). Filmmaker Martin Scorsese, for example, says that classical music is the key inspirational tool in storyboarding the action, rhythm, and texture of his films. 

We do not need to be engaged in creating art to experience the effects of music and sound. It is available throughout our whole waking lives. Once we become aware of the role of sound and music in our lives and their effects on our consciousness, we can use them to create certain desired effects. This has practical application at home and work, as well as in settings such as hospitals.

Science, Sound and Music

In his recent book Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, Oliver Sacks (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat) reveals the great healing power of music in case studies of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, and schizophrenia. He states “Music can move us to the heights or depths of emotion. It can persuade us to buy something, or remind us of our first date. It can lift us out of depression when nothing else can. It can get us dancing to its beat. But the power of music goes much, much further. Indeed, music occupies more areas of our brain than language does -- humans are a musical species.”

Science is showing us just how powerful music can be in our lives. In a recent scientific study from the online journal Circulation an Italian research group has revealed that heart rate, blood pressure and breathing capacity accurately mirrored the rising and falling volume in classical music. The study is titled, The Dynamic Interactions Between Musical, Cardiovascular, and Cerebral Rhythms in Humans. Earlier, the same group of scientists observed the same effect for musical tempo. Heart rate and breath rate change to directly reflect the tempo of music.

Long before western science was available to us, the yogis and healers of ancient times understood the power of sound and music. For example, the tribal rhythms of Indian and African drums were used to induce a trance-state in which malignant and subconscious forces were liberated in the healing experience.

Animals, being more attuned to nature, are more sensitive to sub audible vibrations. Fish, deer and rabbits have been known to foretell earthquakes hours before they occur, in a form of precognition. There are places where animals will not sleep because of disharmonious vibrations, and sensitive humans such as yogis, shamans and witchdoctors have made certain areas taboo because of their adverse effects on health.

Sounds can be either harmonious or disharmonious, energizing or debilitating, audible or below the threshold of hearing. Whatever their origin or nature, sounds constantly impinge on our hearing even while we are asleep and these sounds affect our minds and emotions. For example, we experience joy while listening to birds singing, relaxation with patter of rain on a roof and emotional upheaval with a thunderstorm, a raging sea or a volcanic eruption.

Kirtan is an Antidote to Noise Pollution and Stresses of Modern Living

The inner rhythms of the body need to work together to maintain health. This is achieved in the yogic science of nada yoga. Nada yoga, the science of awakening consciousness through vibration, is comprised of sound vibration, mantra and kirtan. Nada yoga is an integral part of the total yogic practice and is part of many cultures and traditions.

The effect of kirtan when practised regularly superimposes simple, regular rhythms, harmonious melody, inspirational themes, and the power of mantra on our inner rhythms. If our inner rhythms are healthy they will be reinforced and sublime spiritual heights may be reached. If our inner rhythms are diseased or chaotic then a profoundly soothing effect will be felt.

Kirtan is Mantra and Music

Kirtan and other forms of Nada yoga are distinguished from normal musical experience because they incorporate the science of mantra. Mantras powerfully influence the whole personality. Each sound has a specific effect and stimulates a certain area of the brain and consciousness. The mantras, whether chanted audibly or mentally, spread a benevolent influence in ever increasing circles, rippling through our body, mind and spirit, like stones thrown into a pond.

Authors: Dr Swami Shankardev Saraswati and Jayne Stevenson

Listen to healing and inspiring kirtan music.

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