Life is complex, and often times we forget about some of the simplest forms of good medicine available for ourselves and our comm(on)unity. Music and Art are languages of the heART and as such, are common to the human experience. This points me towards a pillar of my practice, a core and basic philosophy that when we are aware, open and willing, the archetypal energies, voices of nature and the universe itself can express themselves through our music, our art and our dance, our WErds and lives as individuals that support collective wellbeing.
The ancient roots and connection of music and healing touches all cultures of the eARTh. Yet many modern people have forgotten the purpose and presence of healing that lies within the source and soul of music.
i invite all who are willing to cultivate a practice of Music as Medicine. From playing solo by the water and/or offering a blesSING to the WErld, and/or instigating groups to raise the vibration thru song, and/or dancing ecstatically to your favorite groove…..when people come together, or when one gives music in service of another’s wellness, we get to actively explore the inspiration, motivation and pARTicipation in a co-creative expressions of community through music and art.
When this happens “Food for the Soul”, is served!
The music becomes the medicine.
The medicine helps the people feel good in their bodies, in their minds and in their spirits.
The musicians and the active listener are both inspired.
Long utilized and relied on, in the healing and nurturing of the mind, spirit, body and heART, Music as Medicine isn’t forgotten, it has just took a back seat while modern culture/medicine figured itself out….and now many of us are returning to the roots, and remembering that humans making music is really a form of biomimicry.
If you listen to the birdsong just before dawn, or the night sounds in the summer, you know that the eARTh sings. You know that the sounds of nature are soothing and healing. WE have actively practiced music as medicine – as a planet – for a very long thyme.
The universe supports us to be happy and well, and wants to collaborate with us. The modern world, not so much.
my personal experience says that the universe will respond and communicate with us thru synchronicity, guiding our paths to find each other and become an orchestra for the WErld. We just have to ask, and believe that peace is possible…..
As we co-create together, we touch the archetypal levels of the heART, and this enhances the energetic capacities of our presence (both human and universal) to sense what is “rite” and to make room for that which naturally assists harmony to emerge. This is a deep practice and (imo) influences all aspects of life.
Music brings us closer to our wholeness and wellness, by tapping us into a dance of light, propelling us to fly higher, dig deeper or inspires us to remember that we are of BOTH the spiritual and the natural world.
When intention, and prayer is utilized with music, the musicians replicate a frequency where harmony resides. Where harmony resides, health does too. Shamanic and ceremonial people still remember and practice music as a form of medicine. From a rapid drum beat, to the songs, rhythms and dances of First Nations people, it is clear to me that people of the planet have utilized (and continue to utilize) music as a way to help the people heal. Music is a way to bring more light to the WErld….a way to dismantle paradigms of power over…perhaps most important to me is that music is a way to build bridges and help us grow as humans.
The rhythm, melody and frequency that is inherent in ceremonial, First Nations or intentional music builds relationship between the ones present, the ancient ones and the ones yet to be. When these realms of KINnection are remembered, practiced and honored, healing happens:
In my personal practice, Music as Medicine is a place where Miracles and Magic happen. WErking with people one to one – or in groups – while holding a specific pitch or rhythm or song-can catalyze a moment of radical transmutation. With large (or small) groups of people, there is a greater capacity to focus the collective energy on a specific purpose, we simply have to make it a priority to practice like this.
I sing to the moment, I work with people to honor and support the intentions of the life at gatherings, at blesSING Ceremonies, at opening or closing ceremonies. As a facilitator and a witness, I participate in the werk, knowing that this is one of the ways music expresses itself as medicine in my life.
In its simplest form, this is how music is a form of energy medicine, and a few thoughts about how + why music is effective as medicine. Music that is played with intention can help us find soul-utions of the body, mind and spirit. Listening and responding to the invitation of music, a perspective shift of harmony awakens in us which uplifts us into the FREEquency of the universe.
May these Rhythms, this Art and Music we make have the ability to soothe a person and heal a culture, that is weary, wounded and wondering ways of seeking wellness, and balance in the body-mind-soul experience of being a human, in the modern WErld.
Peace Matters:
Mz. imani