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 by Beverly M. Breakey.
Most of us don't pay much attention to the connection between music and our well-being. It is just there. It has always been there. For some of us it hovers on the periphery of our lives. For others it is central to our daily moods and activities.
Choose
Music, Choose Life
by
Beverly M. Breakey
"Music is the mediator
between
the spiritual and the sensual life."
-- Ludwig van Beethoven
Imagine
it's the Christmas season. You're looking
forward to some relaxation after a hectic
workweek. You pop a new CD of Gospel music
into the player, then sit down to enjoy your
neighborhood deli's specialty: a juicy
pastrami sandwich. Deep in thought, you
suddenly realize your body is swaying to the
rhythm of the music. "Go-o tell it on the
mou-ountain," sings the choir. You can't stop
moving. You are smiling and chewing, chewing
and swaying. You feel wonderful. "That Jesus
Chri-ist is born."
Most of us don't pay much
attention to the connection between music and
our well-being. It is just there. It has
always been there. For some of us it hovers on
the periphery of our lives. For others it is
central to our daily moods and activities.
We grow through every stage
of our life with a musical accompaniment.
Newborns are rocked to sleep with a lullaby.
The infant claps her hands in glee to the song
of Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, Baker's man.
A small child stops whatever he is doing to
join the circle for Ring around the Rosie.
Adolescents begin their mock attempts to leave
the nest through raucous, rebellious sounds
that they call "music.' Romantic ballads weave
lovers together. Amazing Grace eases
our suffering, and Blessed be the Tie That
Binds helps us to say "good-bye." Our
physical, mental, emotional and spiritual
selves require music.
Universal Language
Music is a universal
language that bridges cultures and continents.
It touches the human spirit like nothing else.
The familiar opening chords of Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony vibrate in common human
understanding: Dah dah da DAH, Dah dah da
DAH. We catch our breath. Our pulses
quicken in anticipation. We are as one, caught
in the rapture of the sound.
A multitude of sounds
engulfs us every day. What is it about music
that is so enticing? Is it the resonance?
Certainly, anyone who has heard Massenet's
Meditation from Thais knows its calming
effect. The melodious song of the violin
soothes us. The electrical impulses in our
brain have shifted to what is called the Alpha
State. The entire system relaxes. Conversely,
a rousing John Phillips Sousa march moves us
to step in time to the rhythm. We can be moved
from sedation to stimulation in a matter of
minutes.
In an entirely different
setting, Tibetan monks chant three times a day
to a critically injured snow leopard that
gradually and miraculously heals. Or is it a
miracle? Perhaps music is the one force that
binds together all living creatures. Both
clinical research and historical experience
teach us that music heals and helps us to
relax. It stimulates immune function. It
allows us to step lively and to die in peace.
How profoundly it influences our lives! Alfred
Nietzsche, the German philosopher wrote in
1889, "Without music, life would be a
mistake." Choosing life, then, means learning
how to appreciate music.
Music as Healer
Trained healers use music
as a pathway to the deepest part of us. They
know that a rosebud unfolds with its own
distinctive sound, similar to one of the lower
notes on a pipe organ. All living systems emit
vibrational tones. The human organism is no
exception. When we choose life we hum with an
inner harmony. It is essential to our health
and wholeness that we learn how to rediscover
such a place of balance.
How music heals relates to
vibrations. When sound waves reach the human
body, their pulsations resonate throughout the
various tissues. The physical body is much
like the sounding board of a piano. Not only
the ear, but the whole system vibrates in
sympathy with the sound waves that strike it.
Whether or not these sounds are beneficial to
us involves the quality of the vibrational
sound and the sensitivity of the receiving
body.
The delicate mechanisms of
the ear reproduce the vibrations they receive.
These travel through the auditory cortex of
the brain to be interpreted as tones, rhythms,
and melodies. Deep in the mid-brain, the
pleasure centers of the limbic system happily
recognize tempos that harmonize with the
heartbeat. The rhythm of a waltz will send a
flood of good feeling hormones, called
endorphins, coursing through the bloodstream.
Musical sounds that clash with the natural
rhythms have just the opposite effect. They
can cause fatigue and pressure headaches.
Music & Western Medicine
Music for physical healing
is an exciting addition to the holistic health
model and the self-empowerment health
revolution. Neurological disorders, such as
Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, and
autism all show promising response to music.
Musical rhythm, using flat hand-held
instruments, helps people with some dementias,
including the Alzheimer's type, to organize
their time and space. They can also dance and
move in rhythm to familiar music. The same is
true for severely psychotic patients.
It is fascinating to note
that when those parts of the brain controlling
cognition, language and judgment begin to
degenerate, the parts that respond to music
remain intact. If people with dementia could
communicate with us, they would say, "Speak to
us through music. That is how we can
understand you."
In some cases, patients
with Parkinson's Disease relax their rigid
muscles in response to musical tones. Their
hands will roam over the keyboard of a piano
even though they are frozen when attempting to
feed or dress themselves. Creating sounds on
the piano fills them with well being and their
usually sad countenance blossoms into a smile.
This can be a frustrating
experience, too, especially if the patient was
once proficient in piano playing. However, the
risk is worthy because of the miraculous
response for those whose spirits are uplifted
through the music. For a few precious moments,
they regain their wholeness and dignity.
Many autistic children have
learned to speak through music therapy. Their
difficulties in verbal expression are thought
to relate to a dysfunction in the left side of
the brain. This is the last of the two sides
to develop and the one that controls language
expression. Building on an autistic child's
ability to mimic, the music therapist creates
a bridge into the child's consciousness by
mimicking their sounds. In the next stage of
this slow and deliberate process the teacher
bridges their sounds into whole notes. Once
the child can mimic the musical tones, the
transition is made to word sounds.
In the treatment of
illness, music is gaining more and more
credibility as the research continues. There
is a story about Pablo Casals, the great
cellist who used the piano as a therapeutic
intervention. Each morning he awoke, wheezing
from emphysema and stiff with arthritis. With
swollen fingers he laboriously dressed himself
then sat down at the keyboard.
As he focused on his music,
Bach, Brahms, or Mozart, he would feel his
body tuning itself to the pure sounds of the
piano. Gradually his fingers unlocked, as did
his spine, his arms, and his legs. His
breathing deepened. Soon he was able to stand
upright and go for his morning walk. Upon his
return, he was ready for his beloved cello.
Only from this place of physical, mental, and
spiritual tone could he achieve what he did
with the cello.
Pain Management
Music is known to be highly
effective in pain management. There is a
principle of physics called entrainment
whereby two pendulums will gradually fall into
parallel motion. This phenomenon seems to work
in the human body as well. Some of the body's
rhythms will gradually synchronize with the
rhythms of the music. Changes most commonly
measured are the breathing, heart rate, and
blood pressure. These rhythms increase when we
experience pain and decrease when we interrupt
its perception or its cause.
In order to reduce the
perception of pain, we begin with familiar
music that seems to equal the passionate
intensity of the pain. The choice can be
classical, jazz, pop hits or Country Western.
Any type of music is suitable as long as we
feel that it echoes the pain itself.
This part of the experience
can involve listening, singing or playing a
musical instrument. If your head is pounding
with pain, and you like Strauss waltzes, you
might begin with the Blue Danube. Raise the
volume so it reflects the potency of the pain.
Gradually lower the volume so the entrainment
principle can occur. It is a matter of first
matching the vibrations of the music to the
pain, then slowing and softening them. The
throbbing vibrations of the pain will
correspondingly diminish.
You can add visual imagery
to the process by closing your eyes and
watching a river shift from a raging torrent
to a tranquil current. If you are a classical
music lover you might begin with Suppe's Poet
and Peasant Overture, loudly at first, then
gradually reducing the volume or switching to
a Chopin Nocturne. Sensations of music and
pain are both processed in the mid-brain.
Perhaps this is why entrainment is so
effective for pain control.
Music has also proven a
healthy distraction from pain. By focusing
intently on each note, or tapping out the
rhythm, we can keep our mind busy. We have the
ability to literally tune out the pain. This
is a very difficult process for some people.
Those who have applied themselves in other
life disciplines such as martial arts, sports,
dance, or painting find it much easier. The
same skills of concentration apply.
The Relaxation Response
Listening to music also
decreases the lung's resistance to the flow of
air. This is another reason why Pablo Cassals
played the piano; it loosened his contracted
joints and relieved his shortness of breath.
Music has been shown to
raise or lower blood pressure. It can change
the electrical conductivity of the skin as
demonstrated in the technique called
biofeedback. Music is also used to reduce
anxiety during dental work and to relax a
woman during labor. It also helps minimize the
discomfort of nausea associated with
chemotherapy and to relax people before and
during surgical procedures.
One study demonstrates that
musically sedated patients require up to fifty
percent less anesthesia during their surgery.
Another indicated that when seriously ill
patients in coronary care and intensive care
units listened to meditative music they were
less agitated, slept more soundly, and needed
less pain medication.
Choosing Music, Choosing
Life
Music is a gift of the
universe that heals us, motivates us, calms
us, and softens us. It keeps us company. It
helps us to grieve and to rejoice.
Participants selectively use music to enhance
life. Bystanders haven't given it much
thought. Because music is such a powerful
force, we need to be conscious about it. Not
all music is good for us.
Sounds can make us sick.
Insipid music nauseates the system. It is
otherwise called, elevator music. Too much
Country Western music fills the mind with
negative thoughts: "the dog died, the woman
left, the man cheated, and the heart is
broken." Music has been used to express all
manner of pain and suffering. Be judicious in
your choices of popular music. Many lyrics
expose life's darkest side. Catchy, repetitive
tunes can run around inside your head for
days, making focus difficult. It is important
to avoid these vibrations that poison the
system. We cannot tune music out the same way
we can tune out conversation.
Rigid people find jazz too
disorganized. Others find it relaxing. Our
taste begins at point A and will stay there
unless we do something about it. We can
experiment with sounds that seem strange at
first. If they match our personal rhythms we
will know it, for a feeling of well being soon
comes over us. We can enhance our repertoire
of pleasure music by consciously listening to
unfamiliar composers. We should give new
sounds a chance. It may take another person to
help us hear the rhythm or phrasing. Getting
to point B is part of choosing life.
Peppy music will help you
get the chores done. Soothing music will let
you relax. Whatever you are choosing to do, be
it work or play, music can enrich the
experience. There is music in all of life. The
sounds of the ocean are music to some, while
the rhythm of a cat's purring will lull
another to sleep. Music will both heal and
entertain.
There is a wonderful story
in the Old Testament of the Bible. It concerns
a fellow by the name of Job whose life was in
a mess. Moreover, Job had a bad habit of
whining and complaining about it to God.
As the story goes, God got
fed up with Job's attitude and took him to
task. In essence, He said, "Now see here, Job,
what gives you the idea that you know so much
about how things should be? Were you there
when I created the earth? Were you there
'while the morning stars sang together, and
all the angels shouted for joy'?"
Sometimes we are much like
Job. We complain about our circumstances
rather that choosing a means to change them.
We can learn to choose life in many ways,
music being one of them. If we live
consciously and set our intention toward fresh
beginnings we will hear the morning stars. We
will have chosen life.
 This
article is excerpted from Choose Life! by
Beverly M. Breakey, ?2000. Reprinted with
permission of the publisher, Ashar Press,
www.asharpress.com
Info/Order this book.
About The
Author
Beverly
Breakey has been involved in the field of Holistic Health for over
twenty years. She is a Registered Nurse, educated in Canada with a
specialty in pediatrics and she holds a Masters degree in Clinical
Holistic Health. She has a California license as a Marriage and Family
Therapist and is the clinical director of the InterGenerational Health
Center in San Jose, where she also has a holistic counseling practice.
She is presently among the faculty of the Touching For Health School of
Professional Bodywork in Stockton, California, where she writes
curriculum and teaches the interrelatedness of emotion and the physical
form. She is also adjunct faculty for the John F Kennedy University's
Department of Holistic Studies. She and her husband, Richard Russell,
live in San Jose.
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