Sound as Medicine?
Sound will be the medicine of the future!
Edgar Cayce, known as the father of holistic medicine, predicted this back in the 1940’s. The biggest mistake people make is minimizing or dismissing the powerful effects that sound and music have on us.
I don’t know why it’s so hard to believe this, because we all have experienced the heart lifting effects of a favorite song or the sound of the ocean, or the sweet chirping of crickets on a moonlit night.
There is a wealth of scientific research that has been done and is currently in process to prove that there is a scienfic basis for why sound can be used to heal us, physically, emotionally and spiritually.
In 2003 the University of Rochester Medical Center found that using music therapy for bone marrow transplant patients resulted in less reported instances of nausea, pain, and a faster recovery time. In 2008, the journal Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, published a review of 20 studies that found that brain-wave entrainment is an effective in treating cognitive deficits, stress, pain, headaches, and PMS.
Another study in 2016 found that singing bowl meditation reduced stress, anger, depression, and fatigue. A 2017 study showed that music therapy can be more effective than prescription drugs in reducing anxiety levels before surgery.
A Professor of Chemistry at UCLA, used an atomic microscope to reveal that every cell in our bodies has a unique sonic signature and ‘sings’ together with its neighboring cells. Each cell have hairlike projections called cilia like little antenna that take in sound as nourishment.
Sound as a therapeutic practice is growing in leaps and bounds. The growing body of research shows healing at physical and psychological levels. While the scientific research may be new, sound as a healing art has been practiced for centuries. Even though, given our understanding, we are not fully knowledgeable about the healing powers of sound and vibration, I believe with all my heart Edgar Cayce’s prediction will come true - that sound will be the medicine of the future!
