The Healing Qualities of Music

Published by admin on October 12, 2008

Dr Alfred Tomatis (1920-2001), a French physician said “the ear is designed to energise the brain and body and is not just for hearing!” He claimed that many forms of stress and mental disturbances occurred when the central grey nuclei cells in the brain had become low on electrical charge and they were not recharged by the body’s metabolism, but by sound.

As a therapist, who was also once a professional musician, I can fully understand what Dr. Tomatis was saying. I can feel irritated, bored or depressed, but when I sit down at my piano and begin to play, within minutes I can alter my mood with type of music I choose to play.

As a Zen practitioner, I aim to feel whatever I am feeling in its totality, but sometimes my conditioning creates blocks as my mind may subconsciously flash back to my childhood, to such phrases as “buck up now!”, “pull yourself together”. If I play the appropriate music, I can “dig out” my true feelings and exorcise them.

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