Music and Healing

I just read an article in my newspaper about the healing power of music. It cited several studies of the effects of music on healing.

One, done at Stanford University, studied brain function of people who listened to a particular obscure classical musical composer vs pseudo-music–sounds containing some elements similar to music, such as rhythm and off-key tones.

“The imaging showed that several auditory structures in the midbrain and thalamus showed significant synchronization with the music, but little or no response to the pseudo-music,” the newspaper reported.

They cited another study, done in Japan, on mice. This study showed that the responses of the immune systems of mice to music could reduce their rejection of heart transplants. Both opera and classical music could increase the time before transplanted organs failed, but “exposing them to single-frequency monotones or New Age music provided no benefit.”

Yet another study was done on people in the ICU who were given either a playlist of their favorite music, noise-cancelling headphones, or nothing.

Those who heard music lowered their self-assessed anxiety levels by 38 percent. Those with noise-cancelling headphones showed some improvement, but not as much as the music group. The group who received standard care were not mentioned.

Conclusions? Actual music that you like, that is closest to classical, seems to have the best healing effects.

That’s why I like using Elio’s Music for the Healing Codes so much. Elio is a classically-trained musician who has a unique way of blending classical and contemporary styles. I love his music and believe it’s the kind of music that would test out as being just as healing as the music that was tested.

If you haven’t sampled Elio’s Music for The Healing Codes–which contains prompts so you’ll know when to change Healing Code positions–go here.

I’ve interviewed Elio and written up a review page with links and information about his music, so just go to www.healingcodescoaching.com/elio.html if you want to know more. I really like his Music for The Healing Codes, both Part 1 and Part 2, and The Return. We can test his offerings ourselves and share the results below.