How Music Heals and Beautifies

“What is music?”

“What is healing?”

“What is beauty?”

When I stopped to feel the essence of these questions, I traveled to a place deep inside myself, to a place beyond time, to where everything was pure energy. In this expanse, imagine all possibilities existing as unexpressed vibrations, humming at the sub-atomic level, inaudible but nevertheless emitting a unique vibrational signature, a tonal structure within the Universe. Suddenly, from this womb of all possibilities, an impulse of energy ignites a spark of light, and a sound is expressed.

For me, this is the essence of music – a unique expression of vibrational sounds traveling from the field of all possibilities into this dimension for us to experience. In fact, I feel this is the essence of all life – everything and everyone is a unique expression from this vibrational field of all possibilities. Call it what you will, but a name, concept, or label cannot contain this essence from which we are all created.

I feel this ocean of possibilities as the place from which emanates the “Music of the Spheres”, a writer’s muse, divine inspiration, and the melody that wakes you up at night. Can you imagine this field containing the possibility of everything and yet nothing exists until it’s expressed through someone in some form?

Components of music such as notes, rhythms, key, harmony, melody, tuning, scales, instruments, are building blocks musicians use to create their compositions – their highways of sound between the field of possibilities and the listener.

Now, here’s the million-dollar question, “What travels on or through this highway of sound that heals?”

Merriam-Webster defines “heal” as “to make sound or whole, to restore to health, to restore to original purity or integrity.” It’s interesting that within the definition of heal is “to make sound.”

Expressions of music are as diverse as the musicians who play it.

We (I’m including myself) create highways of sound that reflect life from our perspective. Society categorizes music in genres to help identify the aspects of life reflected in that sound – classical, rap, new age, metal, rock, blues, country, etc. Yet, within each genre, no two songs are alike. Even if the same song is recorded by several different musicians, it won’t feel the same because each expression is unique to the musician who performs or records it.

How does music heal?

I want to acknowledge that what follows are scientific principles used in a metaphoric representation.

As humans, we’re full of unique energy signatures that include our cells, organs, blood, bones, thoughts, emotions, memories, beliefs, and everything that exists inside of us.

Let’s get back to our field of possibilities and agree that everything is energy and everything has its own unique vibrational signature that identifies its unique expression from this field of possibilities. We’ll call this unique signature a “resonant frequency.” As humans, we’re full of unique energy signatures that include our cells, organs, blood, bones, thoughts, emotions, memories, beliefs, and everything that exists inside of us. We’re like a harp with all these strings that resonate at different frequencies inside of us. When we’re “in tune” we feel healthy and strong. Some days we resonate in the middle of the instrument; some days we resonate more in the lower register, and some days we resonate in the upper register. However, all of the strings make up the wholeness of who we are.

Since everything has a frequency, and human beings have a full range of vibrational frequencies inside of us, we are affected by everything and everyone around us through sympathetic resonance.

This is my favorite part – when two objects of the same frequency come into close proximity to one another, they begin to sympathetically resonate or “sing” together. For example, when you strike one tuning fork and place another tuning fork of the same frequency next to it, the 2nd tuning fork begins to sing or resonate with the first one. Since everything has a frequency, and human beings have a full range of vibrational frequencies inside of us, we are affected by everything and everyone around us through sympathetic resonance. Sometimes it feels great and sometimes it’s a very heavy feeling but it’s always a vibrational experience. The key thing to remember is we wouldn’t be feeling or experiencing anything if we didn’t have those same frequencies inside of us! Sympathetic resonance can only happen with vibrations of the same frequency.

Life Happens

From the time we’re conceived we’re experiencing the vibrations of life, the music of life: our mother’s heartbeat, the muffled sound of her voice, cries of hunger, calming lullabies, nursery rhymes, church hymns, high school dances, music lessons, and so on, all intimately connected to the music expressed by musicians sharing their highways of sound, reflecting life from their perspective. The energy of their life experiences, stories, intentions, flow through their music and sympathetically resonate those frequencies within the listener.

We sympathetically resonate with music that reflects how we’re experiencing life and are often drawn to music that moves us emotionally, physically, spiritually, creatively, mentally, or culturally, because it makes us feel a certain way, awakens memories, or inspires dreams. Other times we’re drawn to listen to music that’s unfamiliar, creating new internal experiences of resonance.

Full Circle

Let’s bring this back to the definition of “heal” – “to make sound or whole, to restore to health, to restore to original purity or integrity.”

Our bodies are a symphony of vibrational systems humming in harmony. When life experiences throw us out of balance or out of tune, we often seek an external reminder of that harmony, wholeness, or original state of purity. Music is one such reminder and you get to decide what, when, how, and why to listen.

Remember, music moves through the musician and reflects their unique expression of life. No two highways of sound are alike.

Whose expression resonates with you? When used in this conscious way, any genre of music can help bring balance back into our lives.

How does music heal? It’s your choice – and that’s what makes it so beautiful. You get to choose what music makes you feel sound, whole, healthy and restored to your original purity or integrity.

What music will you listen to today? Whatever your choice, enjoy!