Music As Medicine

It is a time for healing. Since COVID, we've all been through a lot, some more than others. Whether directly or experienced vicariously through our news feeds, life has been stressful. Music is a modality that offers us much.

When modern music therapy was discovered during the Second World War, nurses documented wounded soldiers healing much faster when music was part of their process. They also noted a reduced dependence on morphine.

Many cultures knew the healing power of music. Of significance are the ancient Greeks, including Hippocrates, the father of ancient Greek medicine, honored by our present-day system of Western medicine.


It is fascinating that as far back as 400 BC, around the time of the Upanishads, Hippocrates was inspired to use music as part of the treatment for ailments. And it wasn't just the physical dimension that was addressed through music. Hippocrates realized that mental health was integral to overall health and that music could "heal the mind."

In the Yoga of Sound: Tapping The Hidden Power Of Music and Chant, I mention Hippocrates having his patients exposed to musical modes in the healing temple of Asclepius. Music was used to restore the body's natural harmony, and disease was understood to be a loss of the body's music.

In researching for the book, the seminal work of molecular biologist Candice Pert reinstated what Hippocrates had discovered. Candice's thesis presented a similar restoration of the vibrational empathy between molecules in the human body. This process echoed the restoration of the body's natural music on which Hippocrates based his system.

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Research suggests that music can:
Reduce heart rate and blood pressure
Lower cortisol in the body
Ease anxiety
Improve mood
Help stroke patients recover motor and cognitive function
Reduce symptoms of depression in patients with dementia
Help patients undergoing surgery experience less pain and heal faster