Soul Healing with Music

Music we listen to, connects us either with our memories, present moments or we visualize our imaginations which may be futuristic or just fantasies.

Music has healing powers. It can take people out of themselves for a few hours. We know many more proverbs and facts which reflect that music has a great impact on our mind, mood, and soul.

Have you ever thought about the mechanism behind the fact that music heals?

When it comes to the specific sound or music, the mechanism works on waves - rhythmic fluctuations of voltage between parts of the brain resulting in the flow of an electric current, the evidence of electrical activity produced by our brain. When a group of neurons sends a burst of electrical pulses to another group of neurons, it creates a wave-like pattern. We can trace these brain waves through EEG, electro-encephalon-graph is an electrophysiological monitoring method to record electrical activity in the brain. Our brain waves occur at various frequencies. Some are fast and some are slow.

The five classic names of these brain waves are:

Gamma Brainwaves

 “Gamma brainwaves have been observed to be much stronger and more regularly observed in very long-term meditators including Buddhist Monks.”

Beta Brainwaves

It is the state that most brains are listening and thinking during analytical problem solving, judgment, decision making and processing information about the world around us.

Alpha Brainwaves

They can also often be found during activities such as:

• Yoga & meditation
• Just before falling asleep
• Being creative and artistic

Theta Brainwaves

• Frequency: 4-8 Hz
• State: Creativity, insight, dreams, reduced consciousness

According to research, theta waves indicate deep relaxation and occur more frequently in highly experienced meditation practitioners.  It is seen in connection with creativity, intuition, daydreaming, and fantasizing and is a repository for memories, emotions, and sensations. Theta waves are strong during internal focus, meditation, prayer, and spiritual awareness. It reflects the state between wakefulness and sleep and relates to the subconscious mind. 

Delta Brainwaves

These are the slowest of all brainwaves and are strongest when we are enjoying restorative sleep in a dreamless state. This is also the state where healing and rejuvenation are stimulated, which is why it is so crucial to get enough sleep each night.

This is the mechanism where when we are listening to specific soothing varieties of sound or music form with sacred chants, prayers, yoga-meditation, it affects our brain, mood, feelings resulting in a calm composed mind, body & soul.

Have you heard about binaural and isochronic beats & tones used for healings nowadays?

 Binaural beats utilize two tones (one played into each ear), isochronic tones use just one tone. These tones repeatedly turn on and off in a pattern (more like pulsating), with the speed depending on the frequencies used. It's believed that syncing your brain waves to a certain frequency might be able to induce various mental states:

Stress or Anxiety Relief –Low beta or alpha frequency tones will help to lower your dominant frequency, reducing feelings of stress or anxiety.

Listening to sad songs makes us cry sometimes which relieves us from suppressed depression.

Meditation and Relaxation – Sometimes, it can be hard to relax, and it can be even more difficult to reach a deeper state of meditation, especially for those, who are new to meditation.  Using low alpha and theta frequencies tones, light music will help to guide your brain to these deeply relaxing and sometimes enlightening mental states.

Increase Focus, Cognition and Memory – When it's time to study or work, our brain isn't always firing on all cylinders and ready to focus.  If you are feeling tired, unmotivated, and distracted, these tones in the beta range will elevate your brainwaves up to a more optimal highly focused state and keep your mind there for a while.

Research has shown that Alpha stimulation can also be helpful in improving your ability to memorize and retain information.  So, it has become very popular among students, who listen to it while revising and memorizing information for tests and exams.

Improving Sleep and Power Nap – When you're struggling to sleep, it's very likely that your brain is producing too much beta activity.  Brainwave entrainment tones can be used to reduce beta activity and increase more in the low delta frequency range.  Helping you get to sleep faster.

Energy and Motivation – Increasing the amount of higher beta and gamma brainwave activity can help boost your energy levels, and make you feel more alert.  It's a great chemical-free alternative to caffeine and alcohol.