Music is a language, just like words. It can be
used to create and maintain different states of consciousness, from highly
alert and energized to sleep, as well as the
all-important relaxation/meditation
state where stress
becomes yesterday’s news.
You know that music can energize you, relax you,
help with learning and aid in healing. It can strengthen emotions or change
them. But have you ever wondered just how music can do all this?
It begins with rhythm.
Rhythm is an important aspect of music’s ability to
influence the mind and body. Rhythm tends to organize the body’s own rhythms –
the heartbeat, breathing and limb movement. If you’ve ever had the urge to
start dancing to certain music, you know exactly the power of music to create a
different state of being in terms of the listener’s activity and energy levels.
Music can take you from relaxed to energized (like at a dance club or aerobics
class) or it can relax
you and even put you in a hypnotic trance.
The rhythm (or the frequency) of the music causes
the brain to want to follow along to the beat. In this way, music can change
the electrochemical activity in the brain – the brain’s “following response”
activates whenever there is consistent rhythm; fast music increases the
frequency of brainwaves, and relaxing music slows this frequency.
Physical responses to the effects of music are
easily detected and measured. Baroque music causes a relaxation response and
dance music is energizing. People who listen to baroque music while studying or
working report increased focus and ability to maintain concentration for long
periods. This can be measured using EEG, since areas of the brain associated
with focus become more active.
People often turn to classical music to help with
creativity and relaxation, learning and memory recall. Albert Einstein played
the violin. He often worked while listening to Mozart of Bach, his two favorite
composers. It can be argued that classical music is in part responsible for
Einstein’s genius since classical music has been shown to activate both brain
hemispheres for better information processing.
But of course you wouldn’t want to be in an
aerobics class that uses Baroque music!
How does the brain
respond to music? The left hemisphere is stimulated by the volume and the
rhythm, while the right hemisphere is more stimulated by the beauty of the
music. The left brain can listen to loud, repetitive music and be happy,
regardless of the musician’s virtuosity. It loves rhythm and volume. The right
brain, on the other hand, values the whole musical experience. The right brain
loves the message of the music, in other words the emotions elicited by the
music.
The Most Effective
Relaxation Music
When it comes to relaxation, though, any
softly-played music won’t do. Most relaxation music
relaxes the mind – in other words it relaxes and de-stresses your thinking; but
it doesn’t necessarily relax the brain. A relaxed brain shifts from the normal
waking beta pattern of brain activity into alpha. This is a signal to the body
to begin its “rest and digest” operations as opposed to beta’s “fight or
flight” response.
But the brain doesn’t just flip a switch. It takes
several minutes for the brain to entrain or synchronize with a particular
frequency. The challenge becomes finding relaxation music that maintains that
alpha frequency for an extended period of time. Even soothing music such as
Baroque music won’t put the brain into alpha for more than a few seconds, and
rarely minute. This is because the music is constantly changing. Fluctuations
in pitch and tone are enough to keep part of the brain in the beta state of
alertness.
The point of relaxation music is to get you out of
beta into the stress-free alpha, and keep you there – and the Silva Method has
the solution.
The Silva Method uses the “Alpha Sound” to relax
both the mind and the brain. To really get the brain out of beta and into alpha
– and stay there – a constantly repeated frequency is necessary. The brain
quickly synchronizes its activity with the beat and relaxes into alpha. It’s
the repetitive monotony that puts the brain into alpha.
This is why ancient rhythmic drumming and chanting
is so effective at creating altered states of consciousness in the listener,
and why it’s so easy to fall asleep on long road trips. The monotony literally
prompts the brain to shut down its normal waking operations!
So what does the Alpha Sound sound like? Actually,
it is not a sound in the sense that it can be picked up with the ears. Alpha is
measured at 10 Hz, or 10 cycles per second. The hearing range of humans is
20-20,000 Hz. The frequency is picked up by the brain, though, causing the
brain to entrain, or synchronize even if we can’t hear or otherwise perceive
the sound. The entire brain responds to this as the two hemispheres both
synchronize with the Alpha frequency.
What this means is that listening to the Alpha
Sound ensures you will get into Alpha, and maintain that consistent frequency
for the entire time you listen to the track. Result? Deeper, longer relaxation!
#Fresco.ent
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