Benefits of Music Therapy

Introduction

“Music has charms to soothe the savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.” This quote, hypothesized  by an English dramatist of the 17th century, William Congreve was surpassing his own time when he wrote this, or maybe he would have been the first music therapist. Long before acoustics was a subject of study in Europe, Indian civilizations and other continents were already familiar with the therapeutic role of vibrations and sounds. While music was well acknowledged for its entertainment value, so the Indian civilizations had come forward to look for the therapeutic aspect in music.

This article of Planet Ayurveda helps you to know more about music therapy, how it helps in improving mental health, and its effects on mental health.

What is Music Therapy

Music therapy is the usage of music to convey the physical, emotional, social needs of a group or individual and cognitive needs. It consists of a variety of activities like playing instruments, writing songs, drumming, listening to melodies, and guided imagery. Music therapy is applicable for people of all ages, even if they’re tone deaf or struggling with illnesses.Music therapy touches every part of our body like the brain, mind, and behavior. Music can influence our behavior by slowing the rhythms of the body, providing a distraction for the mind, and altering our mood. Trained and certified music therapists employed in healthcare and educational purposes are helpful to people who are suffering from emotional issues like anxiety, grief, and depression.

The sessions of music therapy are designed with particular factors in mind such as physical health, cognitive skills, communication abilities, emotional well-being, and interests. Following the assessment of these criteria, the therapist will decide whether to use a creative or receptive approach. In the creative process, the therapist and client will work together to create a piece of music. In the receptive process, music listening experiences are offered by the therapist like using music to relax a group. Clients then may discuss feelings, thoughts, or ideas evoked by that music.

Benefits

Researchers support its effectiveness mainly in six areas: emotional, spiritual, psychological, cognitive, physical, and social.

• Emotional: Music can help us to release repressed emotions. It helps us to lessen the feelings of isolation. As a result, it improves mood, decreases the depression state, and reduces anxiety. It also helps us to express ourselves, and manage stress.
• Spiritual: Music can help you to open the door for spirituality and allow your family to explore more on spiritual beliefs. Therapy involves helping other people since you take care of yourself.
• Psychological: Music helps to improve our cognitive performance by listening to background music while focusing on another activity. Music helps to reduce stress, eat less, improve memory, manage pain, sleep better, improve motivation and mood, reduce symptoms of depression, and improve endurance and performance.
• Cognitive: Music helps you to prove an increased state of sense control. It helps to lessen or reduce the effects of dementia. Improves coping skills like engaging in physical activities, spending time on your hobbies.
• Physical: Music affects the body by lowering blood pressure and respiration rate, and changing your heart rate. It helps to improve motor development like people with Parkinson’s disease and relaxation resulting in improved sleep. It can help to stimulate unconscious or conscious body movements. Reduces asthma difficulties, distraction & management from pain, helps premature infants to gain weight and sleep.
• Social: Music is the majority of people’s hobby, so it can bring people together by socializing, not like parties or weddings like large gatherings but in a more informal way. It helps autistic children a lot to improve their communication.

The Effects of Music Therapy on Children’s Health

Music is a very effective instrument in helping children with coping up with their diagnoses. It can help decrease the pain, improve the vital signs of a patient by relaxing the body and relieving stress. The great outlet for children experiencing big emotions but aren’t able to express them through words is the beauty of music. Music can help crack the emotions that are wide open to help children feel controlled again. It is a powerful instrument to help parents process difficult emotions. It can also help in supporting bonds and healing the child after he leaves the hospital. To take advantage of the benefits of the music, you don’t have to face a difficult time in the middle of a hospital stay. And you don’t have to be a musician to make a love of music to your family.

The Effect of Ayurvedic Classical Music Therapy

Living systems are sensitive to specific radiant energies like magnetic, acoustic, or electromagnetic. It can be used as a tool to control the psychological, physiological, and social activities of patients since the impact of music can be easily determined on emotions and thereby on the mind. Indian classical music or of two forms: kalpita sangita and manodharma sangita. Kalpita sangita is a composition that is previously practiced, memorized, and conceived. Manodharma sangita is improvised and performed.

The Avarohana (descending notes) in a raga creates inward-oriented feelings and the Arohana (ascending notes) creates upward mobility. Thus, the frequent use of arohana content is more lively and uplifting for the music played for dancers and soldiers. Similarly, the avarohana is used for depressing people as melancholic songs. Although it’s not a rule, that Western tunes are based on the major keys playing joyful notes and minor keys playing serious or melancholic.

Raga Chikitsa: Raga Therapy In India

Raga is a selective combination of a sequence of selected notes having appropriate emotion or mood. The basis of the musical application is that the quality of raga can influence or sharpen the joy or sorrow, peace or violence. Therefore, a wide range of nuances and emotions can be seized and communicated within certain melodies and rhythms.

According to ancient Indian text, Swara Shastra, 72 melakarta ragas control seventy-two important nerves in the body. It is believed that, if a person sings it with due devotion, adhering to sruti shuddhi (pitch purity) and raga lakshana (norms), the raga will affect the particular nerve in the body. Some ragas have the power to move the listeners both physically and emotionally. Even the involuntary movement of limbs, head, or body can synchronize with the lifting of tunes played. Certain ragas like Kamaj, Kanhada, and Pooriya help in decreasing mental tension. Ahir Bhairav, Todi, and Pooriya are prescribed for those suffering from hypertension. Carnatic ragas like Sahana and Punnagavarali etc are used to control anger and violence.

Conclusion

The growing awareness about ragas says that it’s a safe alternative for several medical interventions. This becomes a necessity in making an assembly of Indian ragas with medical experts which helps to evolve a scientific system of therapy in raga in many common illnesses like stress, and related disorders, hypertension, etc. In case of any query kindly visit www.PlanetAyurveda.com . For more queries, you can send your queries to our email id herbalremedies123@yahoo.com.