Music therapy

I'm just amazed how much music and the human mind is related to each other.
Look at it in this way, when a baby is in a mother's womb, right from the start there's a sound that the baby develops listening to, the heart beat of the mother.
The vibrations of the heart beat thus play an important role in shaping the certain characteristics of a baby. That also might be the reason why most of the music we listen to is made of loops.
This might be the reason why certain sound and music therapies help many people dealing with all kinds of problems to recover and live a healthy life.
The Turco-Persian psychologist and music theorist al-Farabi (872–950), known as "Alpharabius" in Europe, dealt with music therapy in his treatise Meanings of the Intellect, where he discussed the therapeutic effects of music on the soul.
Robert Burton wrote in the 17th century in his classic work, The Anatomy of Melancholy, that music and dance were critical in treating mental illness, especially melancholia.

What's the difference between sound and music therapy ?

Sound Therapy is a therapy which uses various frequencies to help balance the body.It stimulates the ear by presenting it with constantly alternating sounds of high and low tone.
As the ear becomes open and receptive to high frequency sounds these are then passed on to the brain. The brain is recharged by means of sound, releasing latent vitality, obliterating tiredness, lessening the need for sleep, and inducing a permanent state of peace and relaxation.
Although sound therapy also helps those with insomnia to get sleep.

Music Therapy includes the use of mostly pre-recorded music or active participation of the clients in the process.
In fact both sound and music therapy have similar effects, sound therapy goes deeper and is used more in meditation institutes.

How does the therapy work ?

Brain Waves: Research has shown that music with a strong beat can stimulate brainwaves to resonate in sync with the beat, with faster beats bringing sharper concentration and more alert thinking, and a slower tempo promoting a calm, meditative state.
Also, research has found that the change in brainwave activity levels that music can bring can also enable the brain to shift speeds more easily on its own as needed, which means that music can bring lasting benefits to your state of mind, even after you’ve stopped listening.

Breathing and Heart Rate: With alterations in brainwaves comes changes in other bodily functions. Those governed by the autonomic nervous system, such as breathing and heart rate can also be altered by the changes music can bring. This can mean slower breathing, slower heart rate, and an activation of the relaxation response, among other things. This is why music and music therapy can help counteract or prevent the damaging effects of chronic stress, greatly promoting not only relaxation, but health.

So, music therapy can help us in many ways. Its you who decides which part of you you want to enhance or heal.

Just as I was about to end this post I saw another website which had something I had never seen before, Sound therapy with the use of tuning forks!

The website was called as acutonics, they claim that it is a energy-based non-invasive treatment that is similar to acupuncture.
Precision calibrated tuning forks are applied to specific acupuncture and acupressure points to access the body's Meridian and Chakra energy systems.
The tuning fork is struck on an Acutonics® Acuvator then placed on the body or held near the ears. The sound waves of the forks vibrate and travel deeply into the body along energy pathways, affecting human physiology and reaching places not easily accessed by traditional medicine.

These are some of the few people who have dedicated a lot of their life in the research of this therapy:
http://www.wlu.ca/soundeffects/researchlibrary/