How to use music to boost your mood

Music is something that effects us all probably everyday. Often we see music as a creation of man. Actually, music is as normal and natural as colour and all other energy systems. But let us start at the beginning..

“In the beginning was the word…”

The Gospel according to John starts with the words above. When we trace back the meaning of the word ‘word’ through the Aramaic and Greek languages back to the father of all languages, Sanskrit, we find that the root meaning is ‘the given vibration’. In classical Sanskrit the given vibration is the Om Sum or Nard symbolised by this letter. When people use Om or Aum, which you might also hear as Amen in Christianity or Amin in Islam, as a mantra in meditation they are sounding the given vibration described by John.

The letter Om is a pictogram.
NARD
The two features at the top are the sun and the moon, these depict consciousness and unconsciousness or Purusha and Prakritti. In other systems this might be described as Yin and Yang, Sun and Moon, positive and negative and so on. It is said that when consciousness or spirit and unconsciousness or matter brush together they create the phenomenal world of experience, of cause and effect. The three prongs on the left of the Om show the basic triad that is common to all energy systems.

Colour – Primary colours Red, Yellow, Blue
Music – Major chord Tonic, Third, Fifth
Electricity – Ohms, Volts, Watts
Ayurveda – Vatta, Pitta, Kalph
Samkhya – Satvia, Rajsia, Tamsia
Christianity- Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Psychology – Thinking, Feeling, Doing
Or – Cognition, Affection, Behaviour…

… and so on, you will find these triads in all systems.

If we start with the idea that all of creation began with the vibration of sound we have the basis of music as we understand it. The entire universe is a vibrating symphony of life that starts with the Big Bang and ends only when the universe ceases to exist.

The harmonic series

“A harmonic series is the sequence of sounds where base frequency of each sound is an integral multiple of the lowest base frequency. Pitched musical instruments are often based on an approximate harmonic oscillator such as a string or a column of air, which oscillates at numerous frequencies simultaneously.” (Wikipedia)

What that actually means is that if you have a string stretched between two nodal points, say on a guitar or a cello, and you pluck it, then it will, all at the same time vibrate its whole length, half its length, a third, a quarter and so on right down to the smallest microtones. When you unpick these different micro notes and lay them out in a sequence that forms the scale that we know as…

Do Re Me Fa So La Ti Do

When we split sound in this way we create this seven fold structure. In the same way that we can also see this seven fold structure in light. When we pass white light through a prism it splits into the colour spectrum red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. The harmonic series can be seen in all systems from electricity to structural engineering.

Music in your body

In the body this seven fold system is seen in the endocrine system of gonads, adrenals, pancreas, thymus, thyroid, pituitary and pineal glands. In the Eastern system each of these organs is related to a nervous plexus which as a part of the energy system described as Chi, Ki or Prana known as the chakra system.

Chakra – Colour – Endocrine – Location – Music
Muladhara – Red – Gonads – Perineum – Do
Svadisthana – Orange – Adrenal – Sacrum – Re
Manipura – Yellow – Pancreas – Solar plexus – Me
Anhatta – Green – Thymus – Sternum – Fa
Vishuddi – Blue – Thyroid – Throat – So
Ajna – Indigo – Pituitary – Forehead – La
Saharam – Violet – Pineal – Crown – Ti

The nerves control and connect the chakras to the body system. In the energy system connecting the chakras the connection system is called meridians in the Chinese system and Nardis in the Ayurvedic system.

Ok, so if all this is making some sense then you will begin to see that that because the systems are the same music can have a direct effect on the body through resonating. You have probably seen clips where an opera singer can sing a note that will make a make the crystals in a chandelier ring in sympathy. This is what happens when we play or listen to music it has a direct effect on our body system, our brain and our emotions.

Music can energise your body system and make you want to move or dance. It can raise your blood pressure and increase your heart rate. However it can also reduce your blood pressure and decrease your heart rate. Music therapy can effect your body in healing ways, it can aid concentration and help with the recovery from disease, it can really ease anger, regales anxiety and overcome depression.

Music is so fundamental to the whole of creation that it actually is creation. In his book “The Symphony of Life” Donald Hatch Andrew explains the connections of differing energy systems and how they effect us all.

Next time you listen to music tune into your body and get to know which part of your body mind system that it is affecting.

Take care and be happy

Sean x

3 replies
  1. Christine
    Christine says:

    I humbly recommend a film called ” a good year” in it there is a scene where a wonderful French lady is doing the house work to a piece of music called” the wedding samba” by Edmundo Ros.
    Every time I hear that music now it brings an enormous smile to my face ( I sometimes break into a giggle !)
    Great film and some great French music in it
    Enjoy x
    Chr

    Reply
    • Edward Lamb
      Edward Lamb says:

      Thanks Christine – I’ve seen that movie on my Netflix suggestions so I’ll try and wathc in the coming days! Do like a bit of French music (even Air and Daft Punk, though they take things a little further). Thanks for the comment. Ed x

      Reply

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