Music and Acupuncture – to play the treatment

"Of the three elements – harmony, rhythm and melody – which have such a profound influence on tonal music, harmony is perhaps the most important, because it is the most potent."- (Daniel Barenboim)

Music has a deep influence on our lives. Each of us is naturally drawn to a different style of music. Different periods of our life are characterized by the type of music we listen to. Various composers expressed feelings, seasons and complete stories through their music. When I turned to Chinese medicine in order to gain a basic understanding of this concept, I discovered many interesting ideas. It seems that in Chinese classical music, a musical scale exists similar to the one we use in the West. The music was described with a very close connection to the seasons of the year and the biological clock. (In Chinese medicine, every two hours is connected to a certain energy quality), so that, in effect, it is possible to influence the physiology of an individual through music.

I decided to delve deeper. The starting point is the relationship between the different sounds and their influence on humans. The individual, of course, is the beginning point. The part of us that produces sounds is our voice and it also is an exact expression of our level of energy at any given time. When I say energy, I refer to the behaviors that occur at a given time- chemical, metabolic, electrical actions, etc.

The first examination was done with a device that measures the electrical charge at the points of acupuncture – EAV. One long sound was played and I measured the change in current at the acupuncture points. We did find there was a change and at this point, I saw the green light in beginning to understand the influence of sound on the human body in a more specific manner.

It appears that it is possible to look at the human body as a collection of building and tearing down processes. The building processes we will call the rising musical scale

(lower to higher pitches) and the tearing down process, a descending musical scale.

It is possible to know where to the processes are halted in the body by listening to the pulse- a typical Chinese diagnosis technique.

Another discovery is that different musical steps will influence the body in different ways. For example, a relatively small musical step will produce a gentle, building motion, whereas a larger musical step will produce a stronger motion.

In almost every treatment I have done, it seems that harmonial music causes a strengthening of the base and building blocks in the body. In general, the treatment is very relaxing.

Presently, treatment is conducted with the use of tuning forks which were used in the past to tune musical instruments. The use of tuning forks allows treatment through the acupuncture points by natural, exact sounds that are pleasant to the body. (The ends of the tuning forks are placed on specific points of the body which are adjusted for each individual).

I have developed and continue to develop this method today, on the basis of models from classical Chinese medicine.