For Health Professionals…
Sound Feelings audio programs are greatly enhanced when used under the guidance of health professionals. Health practitioners will find it useful to integrate our sound healing music into a more comprehensive treatment plan. The following guidelines should assist with this goal.
Background Information.
Our healing music programs can be greatly enhanced when they are used under the guidance of supportive health professionals. These guidelines are given to inspire the therapist rather than limit. Please feel free to develop your own nuances in using the tapes. In fact, if any of the suggestions do not work for you, do not be limited by them.
Because of the “entrainment” process, some of the music may not please the ear. But these tense passages gradually transform into calmer ones. This is why it is so important to listen responsively, all the way through, without interruption, so the resolution in the music might be realized by the listener. Therefore, the health professional’s role begins with an education process — to explain that this is special music, and that it requires a new way of listening.
PLEASE NOTE: these guidelines for health professionals should be referenced for usage ideas IN ADDITION to the basic listening suggestions associated with each title.
Guidelines for Support.
- Listening before a therapy session can have the effect of relaxing the patient, thus making him or her more receptive to other treatment/therapy.
- Listening after a therapy session can have the effect of a non-verbal adjunct to help integrate what was just discovered in the therapy session.
- Listening during a therapy session can be effective because a sympathetic therapist can prepare the listener to confront a certain block/challenge/stress. This will be seen/heard/felt in the music and as the music transforms, a corresponding transformation can be experienced in the listener. The advantage of having a therapist immediately there is to help process anything that might have come up for the listener. Please be sensitive to the individual nature of each patient. Some people are visually oriented, aurally oriented, or tactilely oriented. In other words, the big advantage in this approach over guided imagery tapes and the like, is that some people just cannot “visualize” things. Here they are free to feel them or hear them instead. The unique process of the individual should be encouraged and respected.
- Group listening is very powerful because there is a feeling of safety in numbers. This can be an occasional component to a listening program. The disadvantage is that you cannot give as much individual attention. Also, some of the biggest breakthroughs occur when the patient is completely uninhibited, and there may be a bit of embarrassment in a group setting.
- Listening alone gives the patient this opportunity to be uninhibited. Yet, longtime fears of expressing oneself may still prevent him or her from being able to react freely in response to the music.
- Alone, with the therapist, therefore, may be the most powerful combination in the long run. But since it takes time to get used to the music, many listenings are suggested and this is why each patient should have his or her own tape in addition.
The frequency of listening as indicated in the listening suggestions has an importance and should be observed if possible. (Usually once a day for 30 days.) This is because a kind of large-scale “rhythm” is established in the amount of times the music is heard and this has the potential to complement the music itself.
A lot of people assume that headphones are the best for music-listening. This will be fine for this, but we actually recommend playing through speakers, so that the whole body can “hear” the sound.
What to Expect.
Please explain to the patients that this is an active process. It is not all intended to be necessarily pleasant. So, as the music triggers thoughts or feelings, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO LET THESE OCCUR. Tell the patient that It is not important to concentrate on the music, or to try to relax. just experience without resistance. Some biofeedback studies show that DURING the music, the stress level may go haywire. But AFTER listening, there is usually a big change. Understand that the music does not have a direct effect. It is only the catalyst. The transformation will occur through the listener’s response to the music.
If parts of the music seem irritating or boring, it can be considered to be a mirror of an irritant, or a habit within the listener. It in fact may be very painful to hear these sections, but as the music changes, shifts will occur in the listener. Tell the listener prior to listening that these sections will resolve and that they should just “hang in there” and go with the music.
It is OK, and even ideal if the listener falls asleep while listening. Remember, it is not important to concentrate on the music itself. Consider the use of Sound Feelings entrainment music as a non-verbal adjunctive complement to enhance your work.
In regard to the mind/body connection, some stresses or blocks may have begun in the body and have now affected the patient’s emotional state. Or, the block could have originally been emotional which led to a physical problem. Often the music can trigger a release of an old memory or pain. As a therapist, observe if the patient has a physical response to the music or an emotional response to the music. This might suggest or indicate the original source of the problem, and might assist you in your follow up work.
