increased levels of the calming brain chemical melatonin.


How It Works


“Humming or singing causes longer exhalations than normal, helping to naturally eliminate toxins and acidity,” says Dr. Madan Kataria, of Mumbai, India, who has spawned 5,000 laughter clubs worldwide. “We started experimenting with


the vowel sounds and humming sound. An early unpublished humming study I did in Denmark showed that people that hummed anything for just 10 min- utes were able to reduce their systolic blood pressure by 10 to 15 points, their diastolic by four to five points and their pulse rate by 10 beats per minute.” Ka- taria found that people with breathing problems like asthma and emphysema experienced especially positive effects because it strengthened belly muscles used in breathing.


Kataria is also a fan of kirtan—Hin-


du devotional call-and-response chants often accompanied by ecstatic dancing. “Kirtan takes away self-consciousness or nervousness and anxiety,” he says. Dr. Eben Alexander, who record-


ed his near-death experience in Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife, says the “indescrib- able” cosmic music he experienced has helped him come to understand the effects of specific sound frequencies on


the brain. He now provides audio tools to help bring the brain to a higher state and help it match that higher and more conscious state. In his medical practice in Charlottesville, Virginia, he often employs music from a patient’s past to help them emerge from a brain injury or coma and even “reconnect pathways in a damaged brain.”


Alexander explains that binaural beats and other sound effects combine to create “brain entrainment” and also in theory, “monotonize” it to free aware- ness and access realms other than the physical. “It’s magical what the right type of music can do to the brain stem to free up our consciousness,” he observes.


No Talent Needed


Experts agree that people without musical talent are able to experience the same benefits as virtuosos, based on their de- gree of engagement with music. Anyone can hum, and most research confirms that benefits are enhanced in creating music rather than merely listening to it. Group singing has become in- creasingly popular, especially following the hit TV show Glee. Time magazine reported in 2013 that 32.5 million American adults sang in choirs, up about 30 percent from a decade earlier. The choice of musical genre matters. Recent data from Montreal’s McGill University shows that types of music tend to have specific effects; for


example, blues slows heart rate and calms an anxious person, rock and punk can boost energy, and reggae can help control anger.


Spirit Moves The spiritual aspects of virtually all types of music cannot be underesti- mated, says Michael Hove, Ph.D., a cognitive neuroscientist affiliated with Harvard Medical School and Fitchburg State University, in Massachusetts. His research has primarily focused on drumming to induce altered states of consciousness that shamans from diverse cultures use to bring about physical and emotional healing. What Hove calls a “boring and super-predict- able” drumbeat of 240 beats a minute induced a deep trance state within minutes in most subjects, and brain scans confirmed that it enabled them to focus intensely and block out distract- ing sounds within eight minutes. This aligns with Alexander’s view


that, “The sound of music is absolutely crucial in launching us into transcenden- tal awareness. For the true, deep seeker, sound and vibration and the memory of music can serve as a powerful engine to help direct us in the spiritual realms.”


Kathleen Barnes has authored numer- ous natural health books, including her latest, Our Toxic World: A Survivor’s Guide. Connect at KathleenBarnes.com.


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Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the


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