Have you ever been driving along in your car and on the radio you hear a song that suddenly pulls your mind in an unexpected direction? A feeling or a memory pops into your head because of a song you hear in passing? Have you ever found yourself tapping your toes to the beat? Then, You have probably already experienced the therapeutic effects of music.
Most people go about our everyday listening to music to keep us calm, grounded, maybe more focused or clear-headed while we work. But, what if you could learn to understand more about yourself and your emotions through your favorite music? What if exploring different types of music could tell you more about your motivations (or lack of)? What if you and your loved one could find a way to communicate your opinions and feelings through songs? At Balance, we believe that music therapy is an important part of holistic wellness and now have a board certified music therapist available for individual and group sessions.
So what is Music Therapy?
According to the World Federation of Music Therapy “Music therapy is the professional use of music and its elements as an intervention in medical, educational, and everyday environments with individuals, groups, families, or communities who seek to optimize their quality of life and improve their physical, social, communicative, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual health and wellbeing. Research, practice, education, and clinical training in music therapy are based on professional standards according to cultural, social, and political contexts (WFMT, 2011).
At Balance Stress Management and therapy, our Board-Certified Music Therapist is qualified to complete an assessment of your emotional well-being, your general physical state, your social functioning, communication skills, and cognition using musical activities, sound, instruments and improvisation. Then based on your needs, music therapy sessions are designed to target your specific goals for wellness and functioning. Music therapy sessions can involve a mix of live and recorded music, various musical instruments, singing and vocalizing and sometimes even silence. In fact, you don’t even have to like music or know anything about music to have it be an effective medium for therapy. Our bodies are musical and through music we can connect our bodies to our minds. Therefore, music is a great tool for awareness on multiple dimensions. Perhaps this is why music therapy sessions are so successful. Music is easy to enjoy and for the most part easy to use.
During music therapy sessions, you will have the opportunity to engage with the music therapist using music improvisation, receptive music listening, song writing, lyric discussion, music and imagery, music performance and more. During music therapy treatment, music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs. Music therapy treatment plans are designed specific to your needs but can be implemented in group or individual settings. The addition of music therapy can help you embrace your wellness goals in ways that add purposeful music into your daily life. Clients report leaving music therapy sessions with a better understanding of how music works with their brain and body to support their holistic wellness journey. I think most readers would agree, music greatly improves quality of life.
Music Therapy does more than improve quality of life.
Music therapy at Balance is designed to help you reach a variety of goals besides just stress management and relaxation. Music therapy can also be used to deal with challenging and complicated medical or mental health cases. Specific mental health needs including anxiety, depression, personal identity issues and grief can be addressed with the addition of music wellness routines. Physical rehabilitation and pain management protocols can also be greatly enhanced with the addition of music therapy. Families living with special needs like Alzheimer’s, developmental delays, attention and behavioral challenges and more can benefit from music therapy. Veterans and their families who live with the daily impact of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Individuals living with developmental and learning disabilities can benefit from the holistic approaches of music therapy that target both developmental goals like attention and communication but also encourage appropriate social interactions, awareness and self-expression. It’s been reported that Doctors (are) Now Prescribing Music Therapy for Heart Ailments, Brain Dysfunction, Learning Disabilities, Depression, PTSD, Alzheimers, Childhood Development and More.
Skills and strengths gained in music therapy sessions are transferred to many other areas of life, providing great therapeutic benefit across the lifespan. For more information about music therapy at Balance, click here.
Stay tuned for more blogs on specific music therapy techniques like songwriting in the treatment of anxiety and depression, music listening for stress management, and music supported imagery for pain relief.
To request an assessment to determine if music therapy is right for you, contact Balance Stress Management and Therapy today! Or call: (847) 450-0524.
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