Good news about music

And so music invites us to be joyful and to heal our hearts. It's always gratifying to learn about research that proves what we already know. I wonder why, in this study, it is recommended that you only listen to the most joy producing music for yourself every two weeks. Too much of a good thing? I remember years ago Baba Ram Dass saying something about how we human beings can only stand a limited amount of ecstasy at a time.

Here is a synopsis of the study. More information is available at www.PhysOrg.com

Joyful music may promote heart health
Listening to your favorite music may be good for your cardiovascular system. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore have shown for the first time that the emotions aroused by joyful music have a healthy effect on blood vessel function.
Music, selected by study participants because it made them feel good and brought them a sense of joy, caused tissue in the inner lining of blood vessels to dilate (or expand) in order to increase blood flow. This healthy response matches what the same researchers found in a 2005 study of laughter. On the other hand, when study volunteers listened to music they perceived as stressful, their blood vessels narrowed, producing a potentially unhealthy response that reduces blood flow.
The results of the study, conducted at the University of Maryland Medical Center, will be presented at the Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association, on November 11, 2008, in New Orleans.
"We had previously demonstrated that positive emotions, such as laughter, were good for vascular health. So, a logical question was whether other emotions, such as those evoked by music, have a similar effect," says principal investigator Michael Miller, M.D., director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center and associate professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "We knew that individual people would react differently to different types of music, so in this study, we enabled participants to select music based upon their likes and dislikes."

First Blog Entry

“Let the music take you where you need to go.” These are the words that Helen spoke to me before she turned on the stereo cassette tape recorder. And as the music began, I stepped into an envelope of musical sound, and my inner perceptions opened. Visual images, emotions, memories… it all came flooding to me, and on the rhythms and dynamics and sounds of the music. The carefully crafted music program that Helen had chosen to play was at times disarming… challenging… and it never left me. It stayed with me the whole time. At times, Helen would make a gentle suggestion, a supportive gesture, and I continued to travel into my inner world.

This first time that I experienced the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) from the inside, I came to understand that music and I could have a new relationship. And this was a relationship of such intimacy that I really never believed could happen. As a lay person, not a musician, I’d always been a little bit on the outside with music. But I came to find, with GIM, that music was no longer outside of me; it was something that really was a part of me.

As I open this blog, I invite you to share with me how music has invited you into deeper meaning, adventure, creativity, healing. Let’s celebrate together this gift we share whether we are highly disciplined musicians, casual strummers, or open-hearted listeners.