The healing power of sound

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

A vivid proof that sounds in a certain way affect the energy of a person up to a change in his physical state is the existence of sound therapy.

Numerous studies have shown that certain tunes have strong therapeutic effects. It is possible to treat neuroses and depression, cardiovascular diseases and migraines with the help of music; you can use music as a pain reliever in dentistry.

Music can be considered not only as a means that affects the mood of a sick person, but also as a method of influencing the deep processes in the body in order to strengthen its defenses.

In the mythology of the ancient Greeks, Asclepius (the patron saint of healing) healed the sick with singing and music, and with the help of the sounds of the trumpet he improved the hearing of the hearing impaired. In the treatise "Instructions to Music" the Roman statesman and philosopher Boethius (480-524) writes that the musicians "Terpander and Arion of Methymna, through singing, saved the inhabitants of Lesbos and the Ionians from serious illnesses."

Prophet David by playing the cithara and singing helped the biblical king Saul get rid of depression. In the III century. BC. in the Parthian kingdom, a special musical and medical center was built, where music was used to treat melancholy and emotional experiences. Democritus (5th century BC) advised listening to the flute to cure infections.

A musical melody is a combination of sound waves (of an electromagnetic nature) that make every cell of our body resonate. Even the deaf are influenced by music, because we perceive it not only by hearing, but also by internal organs, skin, skeleton, brain - all cells of the body as a whole.

The body (body and psyche) reacts to musical works. Respiration, pulse, pressure, temperature are normalized, muscle tension is relieved. Music triggers the release of hormones that are associated with emotional responses, such as feelings of joy, courage, and courage.

Experts consider Mozart's music to be the most beneficial for mental and physical health, for harmony, beauty and balance. Mozart's works are recommended for stress relief, effective assimilation of educational material, headaches, as well as during the recovery period, for example, after a student session, night shift, extreme situations, etc.

In 1993, Fran Roche, a neurologist at the University of Wisconsin, discovered the unusual influence of Mozart's music on human physiology. Listening to the "Sonata for Two Pianos in C Major" improved the students' mental abilities - they performed better on tests. This musical phenomenon, not yet fully explained, was called the "Mozart effect."

According to psychologists, a child begins to react to music in the womb. Some even believe that classical works can have a beneficial effect not only on health and mental abilities, but also on the appearance of a child.

The psychoneurologist V. M. Bekhterev was the first to study the influence of music on children in our country. Already at the beginning of the 20th century, it was clear that it is useful for children to listen to classics and lullabies, that music not only develops children, but also heals them. Also V. M. Bekhterev more than once noted in his writings the beneficial effect of music on patients with neuroses and some mental illnesses. He found that music has a positive effect on breathing, blood circulation, eliminates fatigue and maintains physical vigor.

Pharmacologist I. Dogel found that under the influence of music in animals and humans, blood pressure, heart rate, rhythm and depth of breathing change. The famous surgeon, academician B. Petrovsky used music during complex operations, believing that under its influence the body works more harmoniously.

In the USA, after World War II, music was successfully used in the treatment of emotional disorders and phantom pain in veterans. In Germany, doctors began to work seriously with music since 1978, and in 1985 they founded the Institute of Music Therapy. Now in Germany, patients with gastrointestinal diseases are advised to listen to Mozart. In India, national chants are used as a preventive measure in many hospitals. And in Madras, even a special center for the training of music therapists was opened. They have already found musical pieces for the treatment of hypertension and some mental illnesses, before which traditional medicine is often powerless.

The author of the book The Art of Resonant Singing, Vladimir Morozov, says that music can relieve pain: “Now, with certain music, teeth are removed, and a person does not seem to feel pain. The ancient Chinese used gong strikes, such as tam-tam, drum, or tambourine, for this process. The strongest sound was combined with the moment of pulling out the tooth, and the patient did not feel pain. All our senses are tuned to the perception of the corresponding impact, which enters the nervous system, and if some strong excitement goes in parallel, then another, even painful sensation can be dulled."

There is a whole science of bird song therapy - ornithotherapy. Similar beneficial effects of bird music are known in the practice of dentistry.

From time immemorial, military music has inspired fighters to battle. The sound of a battle copper trumpet, very bright, proud, victorious, announced alarm, on the one hand, and, at the same time, confidence in victory. Suvorov was very fond of military music and said that it would increase the number of soldiers tenfold, because each of them would become ten times stronger. Under the influence of music, the soldier does not feel pain.

The battle cries issued by the combatants are no less important. The Indians have a battle cry that paralyzes the enemy. This cry is born by stimulating the deepest structures of the brain (reticular formation). A person does not feel either pain or fear, a lion's energy is born in him, aimed at defeating the enemy. During combat, the cry acts like a sword strike.

In the United States, Dr. Helen Bonnie has developed a whole therapeutic technique called Guides Imagery And Musik (GIM), based on stimulating the imagination through music. A certain kind of music causes reactions in patients, which entail an expansion of consciousness. Dr. Bonnie argues that music in this case has the same powerful effect as psychotropic drugs, however, unlike drugs, it is not fraught with any danger.

How it works

Sound is elastic waves propagating in the medium with frequencies from 16 to 20,000 Hertz, affecting the human hearing aid, organs, cells and DNA. Besides, sound is energy. In 1 second, sound can do more or less work. Therefore, the sound or the source of this sound can be characterized by more or less power, measured in watts. The power of an ordinary spoken voice is about 10 μW. When the voice is amplified, the sound power rises to hundreds of microwatts, and for singers it even reaches hundreds of thousands of microwatts.

In Russia, for the first time in the world, scientists have proven the effect of music at the cellular level, as well as at the level of DNA - a complex structure that interacts with electromagnetic and acoustic waves, and also emits them itself. The DNA molecules that make up chromosomes act like miniature transmitters: they make complex sounds and emit electromagnetic waves.

According to the researchers, cancer cells react to music, and from one music they begin to actively grow and multiply, and from another, on the contrary, their growth slows down. Scientists have experimented with staphylococci, with Escherichia coli and picked up such music, from which these microbes die.

The resonance of oscillatory systems is a well-studied and understood phenomenon in physics. If you excite a tuning fork at a frequency of, say, 440 hertz and bring it to another, unexcited, tuning fork with a natural frequency of also 440 hertz, then the latter will also start to sound. In this case, it is said that the second tuning fork caused the first to resonate. The physics of resonant interactions is equally applicable to biological systems. A bell, for example, emits a huge amount of resonant ultrasonic radiation that physically and spiritually cleanses the space.

The electrochemical activity of the brain leads to the appearance of electromagnetic waves in it, which can be studied with the help of special equipment. The frequency of these waves depends on the activity of neurons in the brain. Since neural activity is electrochemical in nature, the functioning of the brain can be altered by resonant interactions with external systems. Rhythmic structures used in music can also be such systems.

Dr. Alfred Tomatis, French otolaryngologist, highlights the most important functions of hearing: stabilization of the nervous system, restoration of physical tone, as well as coordination of sensory information and motor reactions.

Tomatis discovered that the ear not only "hears", but the vibrations it perceives stimulate the nerves of the inner ear, where these vibrations are converted into electrical impulses that enter the brain in various ways. Some go to the auditory centers, we perceive them as sounds. Others create an electrical potential in the cerebellum that controls complex movements and a sense of balance. From there they go to the limbic system, which controls our emotions and the release of various biochemical substances, incl. hormones that affect our entire body. The electrical potential created by sound is also transmitted to the cerebral cortex, which controls the higher functions of consciousness. Thus, the sound "feeds" the brain, and with it the whole body.

According to Tomatis, brain cells function like small batteries that generate electricity. Cellular "batteries" are charged with sound, including high-frequency sound.

Cells, which are called "corti" are involved in the processing of energy. About 25 thousand cells arranged in rows begin to "dance" in accordance with each individual sound. Part of the energy received after listening to certain sounds is located in the brain, and the other part goes to the muscles. High frequency sounds energize brain cells, relieve muscle tension and affect the body even after listening to them.

It turned out that frequencies from 5 to 8000 Hz charge "brain batteries" with great success.

Gregorian chants "contain all the frequencies of the vocal range - approximately 70 to 9000 Hz." The same range is also covered by the Tibetan technique of "one-tone chord", the khoomei technique and other traditions of overtone singing.

According to the theory of Tomatis, the therapeutic effect of harmonic singing is achieved mainly due to the conduction of bone tissue: the latter resonates at a frequency of about 2000 Hz: “The sound is generated not in the mouth, not in the body, but, in fact, in the bones. The bones "sing" as the walls of a church sing, resonating with the voice of a singer."

In particular, the sound is amplified through resonance by the bone tissue of the skull. In addition, bone conduction stimulates the stapes (the auditory ossicle of the middle ear), which Tomatis believes is primarily responsible for activating the brain. Tomatis claims that by listening to sounds rich in high-frequency harmonics every day for four hours, or by producing them on their own, a person can maintain high brain activity. The doctor himself remains vigorous for most of the day, making do with four hours of sleep. He explains this ability by the fact that he regularly listens to sounds containing high-frequency harmonics.

Music can:

• neutralize the effect on the psyche of unpleasant sounds and sensations (for example, in dentistry);

• slow down and balance brain waves;

• affect breathing;

• affect heart rate, pulse and blood pressure;

• relieve muscle tension and increase body mobility and coordination;

• influence body temperature;

• increase the level of endorphins ("pleasure hormones");

• regulate the release of hormones that reduce stress;

• strengthen the immune function of the body;

• influence our perception of space;

• change the perception of time;

• improve memory and learning;

• increase labor productivity;

• to promote the rise of romanticism, the expression of warm feelings between partners, as well as feelings of joy, love, kindness, mercy in interpersonal relationships;

• stimulate digestion;

• increase persistence;

• help get rid of old grievances and unnecessary memories that prevent us from living;

• activate the temporal zone of the right hemisphere, which is extremely insufficiently involved in our daily life.

• increase efficiency, drive away drowsiness;

• reduce nervous tension, including during work, help calm down or fall asleep.