Dance and Music therapy are forms of therapy wherein the participants are taught to channel constructively and express their thoughts and feelings. These are very helpful in individuals, young and old, who feel that they are unable to truly let other people know who they are inside and what they feel by just using speech and writing.
Dance and Movement Therapy
Human beings have the innate capacity to communicate and express thoughts and feelings through physical movements and body language. Dancing is common to all tribes and races of the past and present. Young children are able to express in this way without oral communication and without inhibitions. Unfortunately however, as people grow up in our modern society, they are bogged down by rules, etiquette and norms that discourage this kind of free verbal and physical expression resulting in pent up feelings. These hidden emotions can often lead to physical manifestations and illnesses.
This form of therapy can be applied to any individual from any age group who is willing. Dance and movement therapy's goal is to enable the person to discover the physical movements he is capable of. This therapy is also intended to help individuals express and hopefully resolve deep-rooted problems through communicating and relating to others through the medium of physical movements and dance. It helps people recognize, understand and come to terms with these repressed emotions and communicating them to others at the same time.
Dance movement therapy can help relieve psychological, emotional and stress-related disorders. It can also help people who are anxious and depressed, people with addictions, problems pertaining to physical, sexual, or verbal abuse and even learning disabilities. It has been observed that children who respond strongly to this therapy are often found to have physical, mental, behavioral and intellectual problems like autism. This form of therapy is said to be most beneficial to those with psychological and emotional disturbances and those who are intellectually challenged.
Dance therapy sessions are most often done in certain day-care and 'drop-in' centers and hospitals. In these sessions, the therapist may suggest movements but encourages participants to take the initiative and make their own. Eventually, the participants learn to express their feelings constructively, talk recognized problems over and learn how to resolve them better.
Music Therapy
Making music has always been an essential part of all cultures as leisure, as a mode of communication as well as a medium for expression. Music is a very powerful tool and has shown great effects on human beings. Music can entice, captivate and excite. It can also stimulate feelings of sadness, fear, joy and serenity. Because of these reactions, the experience of making and listening to music can be very beneficial when used as a form of therapy.
In music therapy, the participants make music as a mode of communication and as an expression of their deepest emotions. In a session, they make use of different instruments as well as their own voices to create music. Music therapy can help people with various disorders but is especially helpful in children and adults with intellectual and learning disabilities. This can also help those who are physically limited in some way by improving breathing and muscle coordination.
These sessions are often done in certain hospitals, in residential homes and schools. Trained therapists with a qualification in music are required to conduct the therapy.
Music and sound healing is not a new concept. Cultures throughout the world have used music to empower, energize, heal and soothe the body, mind and spirit since time immemorial. It is no accident that Apollo, the Greek god who is credited as being the father of medicine, is also the father of music and the inventor of the lyre.
Music and healing are part of each other, and current research is pointing to that more and more. Recent studies have shown that music can slow down and help balance brain waves, reduce tension and stress by affecting endorphin levels, reduce physical tension by changing the vibrational frequency of cells, and even evoke feelings of love and inner peace.
Of course, if music can slow down your body's rhythms and effect soothing, peace and healing, it can also have the opposite effect. A well-chosen set of music can help energize you and prepare you to work hard and be creative. Studies have also shown that athletes working out and practicing to music use more energy, stretch themselves further and burn more calories than those who work without music.
There's a great deal of information available now about music and healing. Sound healing, music therapy, and the power of sound to effect changes in the mind, body and spirit are becoming more and more accepted. It's sometimes difficult to tell how much is true and how much is marketing hype.
I became interested in the healing power of music as a by-product of trying to produce the most beautiful music possible. Years back, Leonard Bernstein invited me to perform as concertmaster in the world premiere his production of Mass. While there, he invited me along to speak with management and producers in the recording industry. I learned from them, to my surprise, that the violin, the instrument that I consider the most beautiful and evocative of any, was not considered by the recording industry to be a marketable sound - that people would not buy recordings that featured the violin.
That piece of news amazed me. To me, the violin is the most beautiful, evocative and versatile instrument ever created. In the hands of a skilled musician, the violin can gloat, laugh, exult or cry. It can express nearly any emotion that humans can feel in their hearts and souls. I challenged myself then to produce works of music that presented the violin as I know it - the evocative and expressive voice of the soul.
That was the beginning of my own music label and catalog, LiSem Enterprises. As it grew, I began to hear from those who work in the fields of healing, both the traditional hospitals and doctors' offices, and those working in CAM (complementary and alternative medicine), telling me that they were using my music in their practices, to enhance meditation, focus awareness and evoke emotions.
Perhaps the most potent, powerful story that I heard was that of a teenage boy diagnosed with schizophrenia who did not speak at all, but who, while listening to my CD Fragrance of a Dream, looked up and said, "This music is so beautiful it breaks your heart."
Those stories and touches from others led me to begin exploring the world of healing with sound and music, and what I find both amazes me and confirms my own belief that music is one of the most potent healing tools the world has ever possessed. I am still very much a student, a pilgrim on a quest to learn all that I can about the ways that different tones, vibrations and sounds can affect the body and attune with the emotions and the spiritual. It is a wonderful journey, and one that I intend to share with as many people as I can. As a beginning of that sharing, here are some things that I have learned, and that I believe about how music helps to heal and regenerate the body.
1. Your body will heal itself if you give it the right tools. I believe that some music can help your body to heal by helping it to realign its balance. At the same time, it is far too early in the research for anyone to tell you which musical selections will heal a specific medical condition. I would be irresponsible if I recommended that music replace other more traditional forms of healing and therapy. Music is a complementary way to give your body the tools that it needs to help itself heal.
2. One of the most important and effective things that you can do for your body is to help it relax into a meditative state. There is a great deal of research to support that a state of meditative calm inspires your body and your mind to renew itself.
3. Sound is one of the best tools for inspiring the meditative state in which your body is receptive to healing and renewal - but it is important to choose your music carefully. Some music - classical music in particular - seems to go there instinctively, but most music was not designed to relax you.
We are barely beginning to understand the ways that music affects us and effects healing in us. The research is exciting and ongoing, and I spend a great deal of time working with different bodies of healers in various fields to aid this research in all the ways that I can.
I incorporate what I have learned into the production of the titles and arrangements chosen for every new LiSem Catalog release in the hopes that this wonderful gift that I was given, the gift of making music, can become a gift to others - one that helps heal and refresh and renew, and in the process becomes part of a positive change in the world.
Both Michael Russell & Alien are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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