UCLA Doctors
Revive the Ancient Technology
of
Sound Healing
By Mischa Geracoulis
We live on a rhythmic, vibrational planet where everything is energy, vibrating at
frequencies that produce sound — even if imperceptible to the human
ear. According to NASA, if humans had antennae instead of ears, we’d be able to
hear Mother Earth’s symphonies.
All that exists — from planet
Earth to all who live upon it — has a calculable electromagnetic radiation
field. The Earth’s frequency, which measures between 7.8 to 13 hertz, is also
known as her “heartbeat,” and corresponds to the frequency of the Sanskrit word
“Om,” the word “amen,” and the Native American drumbeat.
UCLA Research Psychiatrist,
Daniel Dickerson, D.O., M.P.H., explains, “The drumbeat represents the
heartbeat of Mother Earth, of the Nations, and of the Native peoples. In that
respect, drumming is a natural phenomenon. For example, when little babies are
at a pow-wow, men can be singing and drumming five
feet away and babies are peacefully sleeping. The drumbeat has a naturally
soothing resonance.”
Another example of the
well-being induced by resonant sound is found in the teachings of Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi who was know to have given each
practitioner a specific sound mantram, one that
resonated with that person’s unique frequency. As the Maharishi explained to
his students — including the Fab Four — the purpose
of chanting mantra was to help restore the individual to her or his proper
frequency, improving health and expanding consciousness. For thousands of
years, Traditional Chinese Medicine has also used “toning” — certain sounds
repetitively chanted — to increase chi, or life force, of a particular organ or
organism in sum, and to balance yin and yang.
What the indigenous peoples,
the ancient practitioners of yoga and Chinese medicine have always known,
modern medicine is finally coming to grasp. When an organism is “out of tune,”
immunity and well-being are destabilized, exacerbating vulnerabilty
to physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health problems.
Just as an instrument can be
tuned to correct standards of pitch and tone, similarly an individual can be “tuned”
for the restoration of physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual
harmony. To find resonance with Om or other mantra, Native American drumming,
or other resounding music is to positively change the biological rhythms that
will eventually strengthen and balance the immune system and overall sense of
wellness.
Dr. Daniel Dickerson is of
Native American/Alaska Native heritage and works predominantly with the urban
Native American population on issues of addiction. Dickerson conceived a
12-week substance-abuse treatment program that uses Native American drumming activities
as a core component. He expands on the program’s background.
“For Native Americans and
Alaska Natives, singing always accompanies drumming, as does the sharing of
traditional faith stories that illustrate a purpose or moral within the song
and drumming.
Our cultural leaders and
elders emphasize that education must be provided alongside drumming so
individuals understand its sacred nature. It is crucial to understand the
meaning of every practice, song and drumming activity. We’d never just beat a
drum for the sake of beating a drum.”
More than an art form and
means of self-expression, music and sound can act as a doorway to the healing
power innate within everyone. Healing, ultimately an inside job,
is at the heart of tried-and-true sound and music technologies offered today.
Raffi Tachdjian, M.D., Allergy, Clinical Immunology and Pediatrics,
began a practice in pediatrics including children with life-challenging
illnesses. Dr. Tachdjian, a musician himself, delved
into the possibility of healing through music after a young cancer patient
responded to none of the multiple treatments he was being given.
Realizing the patient’s love
of guitar, Tachdjian was determined to see what would
happen if he put a guitar into the hands of his young patient — as well as the
hands of many of his other patients who were also dealing with severe illness.
Inspired by the positive
results, he founded the Children’s Music Fund to continue delivering the
healing power of music to children with serious medical conditions and
developmental disabilities.
Describing the process of
music therapy, Tachdjian says, “It’s interactive. A
music therapist goes into a patient’s room or home and gives them either an
instrument or engages them in a final product, such as a song or CD. One of my
more challenging situations was with a child who cannot use his limbs. We
taught him to make clicking sounds with his voice, various intonations and
rhythms. In doing so, he became an essential part of production, and was
motivated to keep up.
Is that distraction [from
pain]? Sure. And I want to go above and
beyond distraction to literally rewire the pain-to-brain signals. For example,
if your toe is hurting and you’re getting constant pain messages, as tired as
you may get from that pain, you can not just shut it
off. You must work on the downward signal.
Either bring that “elevator”
back down — the one that’s express shipping the pain up to your “penthouse”
(the brain), or block it and use another “elevator shaft.” What is that other elevator? It’s you making
music. It’s like rebooting yourself.
Music therapy aims to reduce
pain and anxiety and the need for medication thereof. Active engagement with
musical instruments and music making, in some cases, actually prevent the need
for pain and anxiety medication. We also hope to shorten hospitalizations, ease
the transition from a hospital stay back to home, and facilitate the healing
process.”
Dickerson’s Native American
drum-assisted recovery therapy has shown promising results.
“We found a trend toward
de-creased depression and anxiety. When we interviewed participants, they
reported feeling more motivated to stop using drugs and alcohol. Based on a
general spirituality questionnaire that’s used in research literature, we found
a trend toward enhanced spirituality from participating in the culturally-based
drumming activity. Participants reported feeling more spiritually connected.”
In conventional health care —
mental or physical — addressing the spirit is often beyond the scope of
practice. Thus, instituted treatment of the human being as something more
mechanical than alive is the accepted norm. So doctors like Dickerson and Tachdjian are on the forefront of medicine, challenging
reductive models and tired standards of practice not simply by calling the
human spirit into the equation, but by treating spirit as the entryway and
focal point. Each of their programs has garnered significant support based on
hypotheses and evidence, demonstrating what music lovers already know — that music truly is therapeutic.
Mischa Geracoulis is a freelance journalist in Los Angeles. With a
background in political and social sciences, her body of work reflects issues
of identity, myriad paths to truth and justice, and the multifaceted human
condition.