The Power of Music (Pillar #11)

Music is magic. Music is mysterious, healing, uplifting, contagious, therapeutic, and amazing company.  Music is the scientific art of manipulating harmony, melody, rhythm, and form through the use of instruments and the voice. Music is celebrated across the planet as an emotional form of expression to convey ideas that cannot be expressed with only words. Music is something that we listen to with our ears, but feel with our hearts. Music provides a creative outlet for both the performers and the listeners. Its uniqueness cultivates a type of beauty that certainly elevates vibrations and that is why music is the 11th pillar of the Elevate Your Vibration series.  

Music is the Great Connector

Music threads its way through our whole being.  It permeates our physical, mental, and energetic bodies. While music does amazing things like stimulate the brain and relieve stress, its greatest gift to humanity is its creation of social cohesion. Music simply brings people together.  Whether you are in a dive bar with 50 other people watching and listening to a local punk band or in a packed stadium for a Red Hot Chili Peppers show, you feel intimately connected to all of those at the performance.  Music is instrumental in connecting people and providing a sense of belonging. It is a beacon of light that draws us together like an  incandescent light bulb draws moths on muggy summer evenings. I remember when I went with a group of friends to a festival in Barcelona in 2007. There were 4 stages and after seeing the first band, I somehow lost my group of people. We were all planning on going to see The Flaming Lips. I got to the floor before the show started and kept an eye out for my group. I panicked a bit because we had planned to see this band together for months. Then the music started and I realized that everyone was there for the same reason and we were all watching, listening, experiencing the same thing. So I stayed in my place, introduced myself to the people who filled in around me and danced like a maniac. The band played for a touch over an hour and finished with the song, Do You Realize? The people around me were jumping and singing and laughing. I was jumping and singing and laughing and when the song finished and the lights came up, I hugged and cried with all the people around me, who I’d never met before but felt a deep connection with due to the musical experience. I found my friends right after the show.  

The Bliss of Listening to Music

Research has shown that listening to music can improve your mood, sleep quality and memory, while decreasing your anxiety and blood pressure.  Music can improve your mood by first distracting you from the monkey mind’s complaints and then amplifying your emotions so that they can be liberated. There are as many genres of music as there are human emotions. Music therapy suggests choosing a genre that matches your emotion to fuller enhance your mood. When dealing with stress or anger, listening to “angry” music can help process the anger or stress.  The same can be said for expressing feelings of joy or bliss and how they can be enhanced by putting on “happy” music. Listening to music can evoke emotions like gratitude, transcendence, and bliss.  

Playing an Instrument

Similarly to listening to music, playing an instrument can help with things like mood, sleep, and anxiety. Playing an instrument or singing can also help the physical body through exercise and deepening the breath.  Singing or playing a wind instrument requires diaphragm breathing, which increases the amount of oxygen in your blood as well as strengthening your lungs and whole respiratory system. Playing the guitar, drums, or piano all increases the muscle strength in your arms and back. Music is a completely different language. And learning or practicing a new language is a mental workout that helps improve mental performance and memory, and offers different perspectives to everyday life. Playing an instrument helps improve your coordination and concentration as you are focused on staying in a rhythmic balance while hitting the correct key or chord. Creativity is expressed while playing an instrument as each song tells a different story. The door is opened to meet new people and create a sense of achievement by playing an instrument. Whatever instrument you decide to practice, it will boost the physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.  

Music and Dance

Music and dance compliment each other like nectar and bees. Some say life is a dance of atoms, while others say that life was created by the dance between shakti and shiva. Dance is deeply embedded in the history of human consciousness.  

Dance, like music, is an inspiring scientific art that tells a story that can’t be communicated with words.  Dancing is a type of energy sharing that can’t be exchanged in any other way. The energy created by a group of people all gyrating and jumping to the same music at the same time and space is intimate and unparalleled.  

Dance is a full body and mind workout. As a physical activity, dancing helps the heart rate, the blood pressure, and lungs. It strengthens muscles, improves coordination and increases flexibility. Dancing makes you sweat, which releases harmful toxins from your body, adding to your overall health. Dancing also helps you mentally and emotionally. It is known to minimize stress and fight depression. Science states that dancing releases dopamine, oxycontin, serotonin, and endorphins. The combination of these hormones being released together is the recipe for happiness. So if happiness is what you are after, make sure you get dancing into your routine. My family and I often turn on music in my home to prepare dinner and all dance together. We are all left with smiles on our faces and heat in our bodies when we are done.  

Conclusion

In conclusion, music in all forms delivers a positive buzz to the system. Whether you are listening, playing, or dancing to music, it will contribute to the uplifting of your complete health. So as you travel down the healing path of personal growth, add music (and dance) to your routine to ensure you consistently elevate your vibrations.