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HEALTH PRACTITIONER'S RESEARCH ON SOUND—HEALING

   From "The Sounds of Healing," by: Dr. Mitchell Gaynor:

   "Music can have a powerful salutary effect on our cardio- vascular, immune, and nervous systems, not to mention our emotional and spiritual selves."

   "Sounds permeate our systems, resonating with our essence, so that inner chaos, conflict, and dissonance seem almost immediately to be transformed into harmony."

   "I believe unequivocally - and I've seen for myself the proof - that the use of sound is among the most powerful modalities ever embraced by twentieth-century practitioners."

   "Through the process of entrainment, sound can transform negative, repressed emotions into a state of psychological equanimity that has direct and immediate effects on our physiology. Sonic entrainment can also restore harmony between our innermost selves - our essence and the universe, thus re-awakening our spiritual consciousness."

   "When properly mobilized, sound can specifically entrain the human organism toward the greater harmony and homeostasis that it requires to remain vibrant and to regenerate after injury or illness. The properties of sound medicine -entrainment, harmony and homeostasis- represent the rational AND spiritual foundation for a new movement in the healing arts and sciences."

   "Sound and music can help you develop your own intuitions which, in turn, can help you with your own healing. The human capacity for intuition and its effects on the body, on relationships, and on one's environment is not grounded on the occult or esoterica, but rather in hard scientific investigation by some of the great minds of physics and philosophy."

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   "The human organism is not only constructed according to harmonic principles, but also functions within them." ~ Gunther Hildebrandt, German physiologist

    "It has been found that the rhythmics of the human organism function utterly harmonically -- that is, the frequencies of pulse, breathing, blood circulation, etc., as well as their combined activities." ~ Rudolf Haase, German musicologist

   After meeting and hearing Margaret Tilly play for him, Carl Jung said: "I don't know what's happening to me. What are you doing?" After describing some of her case histories, he said, "This opens up whole new avenues of research I'd never even dreamed of, not because of what you've said, but what I've actually felt and experienced. I feel that from now on music should be an essential part of every analysis, because it reaches the deep archetypal work with patients." Joel Andrews' meeting with Margaret Tilly around 1963 helped to inspire him to begin his work as a music healer.

   "Music stimulation increases endorphin release and this decreases the need for medication. It also provides a distraction from pain and relieves anxiety" --from research conducted at an Austin, Texas medical center.

    "It is the task of the Chalice worker to free the physical body from literal time, burdened time, to be replaced with eternity. The music helps the body and soul unbind (but not destroy) the threads that sustain life processes by freeing patients from time. Perhaps it is the mirror opposite of entrainment; perhaps is it a micro-cosmic entrainment." ~ Therese Schroeder-Shueker, The Chalice of Repose Project, Music Thanatology -- The Extended Art of Palliative Medicine for the Dying

   "The Mozart Effect" (coined by Don Campbell) refers to the way Mozart's music can increase creativity, calm tension, and help us heal.

   "Mozart has an effect, an impact, which others do not have. Exception among exceptions, he has a liberating, curative, I would even say, HEALING power."~ Alfred Tomatis. M.D., who studied what we hear in utero, believes that hearing starts at an even earlier stage.

   "The music of Mozart may warm up the brain." ~ Gorden Shaw, M.D., physics professor who studies the structure of the cerebral cortex

   "The whole human mechanism is a resonator for sound."             ~ Hazrat Khan, Head of the Sufi Order

   "Electromagnetic energy, and perhaps other forms of energy, influence cellular function at the level of the cell receptor." ~ Beverly Rubik, leading synthesizer of research on energy medicine

   "Every human molecule has a particular corresponding musical frequency; and masses of particles behave and maneuver among themselves as if they were musical notes on the chromatic scale." ~ Joel Sternheimer, from his article, "The Music of the Elementary Particles"

   "Since the human body is over seventy percent water and since sound travels five times more efficiently through water than through air, sound frequency stimulation directly into the body is a highly efficient means for total body stimulation, especially at the cellular level. Direct stimulation of living cellular tissue using sound frequency vibration has shown marked cellular metabolism and therefore a possible mobilization of a cellular healing response" ~ Jeffrey Thompson, Director of the Center for Neuroacoustic Research at The California Institute for Human Science. (He calls his technique "Sonic Induction Therapy" and "biotuning" and he has had excellent results in the treatment of dyslexia, attention deficit disorders, and certain learning disabilities.)

   A client's report: " I really got into it. The sound entered my mind and soul, so that every part of me was filled with energy. I visualized the cancer disappearing. At the same time I used visual imagery to rid myself of the stress in my body, to find peace and harmony, and to find a way to love myself. Then it was like a cleansing that came over me."

    "Several major physiological systems responded to the simple act of sitting quietly and giving the mind a focus (such as sound or music): the metabolism decreased, the heart rate slowed, respiratory rate decreased, and there were distinctive brain waves." ~ Cardiologist Herbert Benson, M.D. Head of the Behavioral Medicine Department and Mind/Body Medical Institute at Harvard University Medical School

   "Music played before anesthesia produced higher production of alpha waves, indicating deeper states of relaxation, marked decreases in plasma levels of the stress hormones cortisol, ACTH, and endorphin. This boosted the immune system, reducing recovery time." ~ A Group of Japanese Researchers

   Mr. Andrews:  "Regular meditation and positive affirmations with the music I have created, can significantly help you deal with all the stressful challenges of life, as well as maintain your balance, well-being, and enjoyment of life. These things can help prevent disease."

   "Mozart and Vivaldi cause fetus' heartrates to stabilize, whereas rock music drove fetuses to distraction and they kicked violently." ~ Thomas Verny, M.D.

   "As medicine moves toward holistic approaches that integrate body, mind, and emotion, it becomes more like music, which has always concerned itself with a person's total beingness" ~ Helen Bonney, Pioneer music therapist, developer of Guided Imagery with Music