Music entertains us, but can it heal us?
"Music doesn’t lie. If there’s something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music." Jimi Hendrix
The medium that affects all aspects of our existence, including the physical, psychological, and spiritual, is music.
Music is the universal language of humanity, a common source of enjoyment, the agent that alters our moods, the catapult that propels us to higher emotions and experiences.
Music, according to Leo Tolstoy, "is the shorthand of feeling."
Can music heal us?
The concept of music having a therapeutic effect on behavior and health is at least as old as the time of the Greek philosophers Aristotle and Plato in the West.
Following the two World Wars, many combat veterans who had experienced both physical and mental trauma found notable comfort in hospital performances by local musicians.
This revived medical interest in music therapy.
As a result, there has been an increase in the amount of scientific study into music therapy, and organizations like the American Musical Therapy Association have established their advantages in publications like the Journal of Music Therapy and Music Therapy Perspective.
Currently, it has been observed that music therapy helps kids, teens, adults, and the elderly who have mental health needs, Alzheimer's disease and other aging-related conditions, developmental and learning disabilities, physical disabilities, substance abuse issues, brain injuries, and acute and chronic pain, including mothers who are giving birth.
So even within conventional medical practice, music therapy is now a recognized type of treatment in the West.
According to scientific research, music has a remarkable impact on people.
It may assist stroke patients to recover their motor and cognitive function, reduce depressive symptoms in dementia patients, and even make surgical patients feel less pain and recover more quickly.
Naturally, it may also be therapeutic.
According to Dr. Mirgain, "music therapy is a well-established method of treatment to assist people to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social problems."
Music lowers cortisol, blood pressure, and heart rate in the body. It reduces tension and may lift one's spirits.
The Vedic music culture in India
Music has always been an essential component of Vedic culture in India.
There is a lot of beautiful music in the "Samaveda."
According to Ayurveda, the imbalance of Vata (air), Pitta (bile), and Kapha (mucus), which is thought to be the cause of all ailments, can be corrected in one method through music therapy.
Through the use of ragas and mantras, great Indian classical music composers provided music therapy, particularly for the mind.
The notion of raga, which is exclusive to Indian music, combines musical notes with particular historical eras to either intensify or calm down emotions.
Ragas may be healing when sung properly.
Similar to this, it has been shown that mantras like the Gayatri may treat illnesses that would otherwise be regarded as chronic or deadly.
The Vedic scriptures use music therapy for a spiritual goal that is considerably more important than bodily renewal or mental tranquility.
In fact, the Vedas claim that people miss out on their spiritual potential when they are preoccupied with their physical and mental well-being.
We have a right to an everlasting, enlightened, and blissful life (sat-cit-Anand) because, as spiritual beings, we are the eternally cherished offspring of God, the highest spiritual entity.
But since we suffer from spiritual amnesia, we are always trying new things to manipulate matter in an attempt to find that fullness of existence.
The worrying effects of this regrettable mismatch between material and spiritual values are being seen across the modern world, but notably in the West.
Both on a personal level and worldwide, there is an increase in unrest, crime, violence, and terrorism.
There is also a rise in stress, sadness, addiction, and suicide.
Therefore, spiritual music therapy treats the underlying condition of spiritual forgetfulness, which is the cause of all of our mental, bodily, and social diseases.
Medical hypotheses about music
According to some emerging medical hypotheses, each cell in the body vibrates at a different frequency.
The essential energy of that cell is activated by music that resonates with that frequency, stimulating the cell's natural rejuvenation process.
Similarly, listening to spiritual music that is in tune with our soul's essence awakens our dormant spiritual potential.
Innovative types of music therapy offer considerable promise as mankind searches for natural health cures in light of the unsettling side effects of traditional drugs.
"Take a music bath once or twice a week and you will find it is to the spirit what water bath is to the body," wrote American poet Oliver Wandell Holmes.
The message that music conveys to us is "Everything will be okay in the end you just need to keep going."
It's like receiving love, but via music instead of words.
I believe it's amazing that so many teenagers turn to music when they feel like nothing else does.
You can yell, weep, or even dance in your room while listening to some tracks.
This has a lot of healing potential too.
Though music therapy has been used to treat patients since ancient times, more and more individuals are adopting it into their daily lives to reduce stress, manage pain, improve their ability to make decisions, boost their confidence, and focus.
Therefore, it's time to make a playlist, whether you enjoy pop music, rock & roll, Indian classical music, metal, rap, or opera!
You can also choose to listen to the sounds of nature if you don't like to hear traditional musical notes.
The purpose of this is to promote relaxation in your soul.
Because it might bring up great memories, such as being surrounded by nature.