What is your favorite song and why do you love it? Maybe you are thinking of a ballade, or a country song that soothes your soul. Perhaps you are thinking of a hymn that moves you, or a rock song that connects you with your inner strength. Everyone has different tastes, but most everyone enjoys the sound of music.
Music reaches us on a primal level. The beat of the drums mimic our heart beat. The melody of the strings touch upon the heart. The songs we love fill us with a sense of who we are, they uplift us. Music says what we fail to find words for. Music weaves the emotions we are unable to express. More than that, new research shows that music can heal.
One summer in historic Fairport NY, I found myself lying back on a portable makeshift foam table at the yearly canal festival. A traditional celebration which invites vendors and artists of all kinds to the Fairport canal side. I remember clearly the walk from the car to the festivities on that unusually hot day, and the enticing offer of FREE energy healing in a cool room away from the June sun. As I lie prone on said table in a room with four other initiates, my healer with multicolored hair and the silver shimmer of an eccentric excitement came to me and explained, “I will be doing Reiki and acoustic sound therapy”. I thought, well sure, that sounds great! As I closed my eyes and began to relax I heard a peculiar sound as she begin to sing. She let out a tone reminiscent of a Mary Poppins film. For me, though I did believe in energy healing, I took great pains not to laugh. At the close of the free ten minute session I graciously thanked her and ran out the door. Was there more to this than I understood at the time?
Music and sound as a mode of healing has been long understood in ancient civilizations. From the wisdom of Native America to the oldest continuous culture on earth: the Aborigines of Australia, Shamans and medicine healers across the world used sound to heal. In ancient Greece, Egypt, and India, sound healing became a science. The vibro-acoustic abilities of drums and sound vibrations could go where other medical instruments could not reach, beyond the physical body and into the energetic body, to clear out debilitating energies at the root of the sickness. These ancient sound healing techniques are still useful today.
At the University of Toronto, “Professor Lee Bartel and his team in the new Music and Health Research Collaboratory (MaHRC) are exploring the medical effects of low frequency sound and have shown that this therapy can play a key role in reducing the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.” Through the use of vibro-acoustic therapy (VAT) and frequencies conducted to the body: symptoms of tremors and ability to perform physical tasks such as walking both improved. [1] Other studies have shown sounds ability to heal arthritis, tinnitus and even cancer. Too amazing to be true? Let’s look at more academic studies.
Scientists at Michigan State have also delved more deeply into this ancient mode of healing to identify the mechanism of its seemingly miraculous affects. “[Researchers] found that listening to healing music significantly increases levels of interleukin-1 in the bloodstream. Interleukins are a family of proteins associated a variety of physical benefits including cellular protection against AIDS, cancer and other diseases. This same study also reduced levels of the stress hormone, cortisol in participants, which suppresses the immune system and is considered a significant contributing factor in modern diseases including diabetes, cancer, heart disease and many more.” [2]
To understand why sound is an effective healing tool we need to look at our own bodies and how they work. As modern science goes deeper we have learned that the human body is electric and magnetic. Electromagnetic waves penetrate everything we see. [3]Do not be unnerved by these terms, think of your body as a body of water. Water is highly resonate, if wind moves across its surface it will cause waves. If a large rock is dropped into a body of water you will get ripples. If water is shaken it will spill over. This is an easy way to visualize the energetic nature of our world.
[1] Nayyar, Anjum, May 4, 2012, Good vibrations: using sound to treat disease, U of T News, https://www.utoronto.ca/news/good-vibrations-using-sound-treat-disease
[2] Sound Healing, Conscious Wellness Institute, http://consciouswealthinstitute.com/sound-healing/
[3] More on this in the new book, The Self Beyond, a Field Guide to Personal Activation by Lisa Falcon G available on Amazon now (above tab UHI books will take you there) 1/3 of all proceeds go to charities helping people, animals and the planet.
Everything we consider to be physical is energy: waves of energy which solidify into the denser particles we know as matter. Sound is a frequency too. It is a vibration which can affect us on an emotional, mental and even physical level. Disease of any kind also has a resonate frequency. A frequency at which is lives and rests within our energetic and physical body. This is why sound can be so effective, it can change our resonate (or resting) frequency.
In 1992 researcher Bruce Taino made a unique discovery, he found that the average frequency of the human body during the daytime is 62-68 MHz. A healthy body frequency is 62-72 MHz or higher. When the frequency drops, the immune system is compromised.
Human Body Frequency Ranges:
Normal Brain Frequency 72 MHz
Human Body 62-78 MHz
Human Body: from Neck up 72-78 MHz
Human Body: from Neck down 60-68 MHz
Thyroid and Parathyroid glands are 62-68 MHz
Thymus Gland is 65-68 MHz
Heart is 67-70 MHz
Lungs are 58-65 MHz
Liver is 55-60 MHz
Pancreas is 60-80 MHz
Colds and Flu start at: 57-60 MHz
Disease starts at: 58 MHz
Candida overgrowth starts at: 55 MHz
Receptive to Epstein Barr at: 52 MHz
Receptive to Cancer at: 42 MHz
Death begins at: 25 MHz [1]
What these findings show is that disease has a frequency, and changes in frequency can change what happens to us on a physical level.
In the early 1980’s Fabien Maman; a French composer, musician, researcher and healer, conducted an experiment at the University of Jussieu Paris. World famous for his music, Maman was convinced that sound could be used in healing. He found that through a series of acoustic sounds cancer cells would explode and healthy cells would thrive. This was documented and expanded upon through the work of French physicist Joel Sternheimer. Sternheimer identified resonant frequencies of elementary particles long before “String Theory”. He developed a system of transposing molecular structures into musical patterns. [2]
Sound not only affects our body on a physical level but affects our brainwaves as well. Many may be familiar with the beta, alpha, delta and theta wave states. Beta waves are prevalent during our waking hours when we are driving, cooking, working, and likely a little bit stressed. Alpha waves are a more relaxed state when we settle down before bed. Delta and Theta are present during dreaming and as we go deeper into our sleep cycles. These more placid and peaceful states can also be achieved through simply listening to calming and pleasant music.
Consider sounds in nature and the peace that bestows. The sound of rain, a babbling brook, a gentle breeze through the treetops, birds singing their songs. Each of these sounds resonate at a more natural level than the sounds we hear in our busy daily lives. Trucks driving by, people honking horns, sirens, notification tones from our phones: all of those sounds disrupt a more natural frequency pattern which promotes healing, mental and emotional well-being, and healthy immune response.
[1] Chang, P. (2011). The Relationship Between Disease and Energy Frequency. EnergyFanatics.com. Retrieved from: http://energyfanatics.com/2011/12/07/relationship-between-diseases-energy-frequency/
[2] For more on this see “Sound Cellular Research”, Tama Do, The Academy of Sound, Color and Movement. https://tama-do.com/roothtmls/cell-research.html
FOR MORE on deeper healing, the energetic nature of our body and our world, and sound for personal transformation, see the new book The Self Beyond, available on the UHI book tab above and through Amazon.
1/3 of all proceeds go to help people, animals and the planet: so while you heal yourself you can be a part of healing in the world.
Healing sounds and music link below, Great for Meditation