Music is a powerful, versatile tool. We use music as a tool for inner work to facilitate learning, self-care, and healing of the mind and spirit. Learn how to maximize the use of music.
The law of vibration is one of the 12 ancient laws dating back to Hermetic philosophy. It explains why vibrational frequency is a fundamental part of the universe. Everything in our physical universe is in motion. The electrons of atoms vibrate at specific frequencies. Music is one of the technologies we can use to link directly with our Essence.
Music as a tool for Inner Work
Everything in our universe has a unique energy wave signature. That means you and I are a musical vibration. So, all musical frequencies are vibrations. This concept underscores our use of music for exploring the fabric of consciousness. Our very lives are melodies in motion.
Sonar is a form of music (1). Scientists use sonar to explore the oceans. Whales and dolphins use sonar to navigate and hunt via echolocation. Each sonar sound wave made by these creatures is a unique vibrational signature. We can tell individual whales and dolphins by their songs.
Music, as a tool for inner work, is the umbrella for healing, self-care, learning, and relaxation. It has many practical uses, and we will explore several of these:
1) Music as a tool for healing the mind and spirit
2) Using music for self-care
3) Using music for brain breaks
4) Using music as a learning tool
Inner Work with Vibrational Energy
Inner work involves everything we do to get below the superficial level of the mind. Inner work is for fathoming the depths of consciousness.
There’s more to music than meets the ear. It is a unique tool to investigate the properties of our subconscious mind and memory. Rhythm and melody as vibrational energy are essential tools for spiritual exploration.
Rhythm is probably the first tool for spiritual exploration. Using a stick on a log produced a vibration. Almost immediately, our ancestors began exploring the use of rhythm patterns and voice. The earliest songs recorded were chants.
The Hurrian Hymn No. 6, (2) is the world’s earliest melody, about 3400 years old. This hymn is on a clay tablet written in the ancient Hurrian language. This Cuniform table is from Ugarit in Syria.
Another example is a musical composition from the first century A.D. It is a Greek tune known as the “Seikilos Epitaph.” It comes from an engraving on an ancient marble column for a woman’s gravesite in Turkey.
Here are some of the key technologies which employ the use of vibrational energy and music:
The Shamanic Journey uses rhythm and imagination to enter a unique partition of awareness. You can use a drum, rattle, singing bowl, or symbol to regulate your heartbeat. Adding creative visualization allows you to explore this spiritual realm. One of its essential purposes is to heal the mind and spirit.
Exploring memories is a technique that helps us understand how memories influence our current thinking and values. Music and sounds are a common thread in memory.
The Enneagram of Personality uses songs that resonate with the nine personalities and three instinctual types. Playing songs that resonate with these typologies is another way to understand who we are, why we think, what we think, and why we value what we value.
Meditating or chanting mantras and sutras is a profound way to align our vibrational energy with specific qualities and energies. It’s the reason soundtracks to movies use music to heighten specific emotions. Many people relate to the emotional effect of the soundtrack to movies like “Jaws.” (3)
Inner Work is Dealing with your psychological and spiritual growth. It’s all about exploring the connection you have with vibration. The Essence of inner work is dealing with your psychological and spiritual growth. We heal, repair, and prepare the mind, body, and soul.
“Music bypasses the conceptual mind. Music does not give you food for thought…” — Eckhart Tolle
“Loving yourself is like listening to one of your favorite songs. The undivided attention you give it feels like a walk in the park on a beautiful sunny day.” ― Nikida Taste
1) Music as a Tool for Healing Mind and Spirit
Healing is one of the main ongoing processes of mind, body, and spirit. Stuff gets damaged, worn out, and weakened. So, we are in a constant state of repair. Since we are a form of musical vibration, it makes sense to use music for healing.
All of the spiritual technologies listed above have components that address the need for healing in one area or another.
The Shamanic Journey is the primary healing process found in cultures around the globe. It uses our imagination and the rhythm of a musical instrument to open a different level of consciousness. Michael Harner calls the Shamanic State of Consciousness.
Many societies were interested in finding ways to heal and explore the mind. The body of work from India produced a system of vibrational formulas we call mantras and sutras. There are specific mantras for facilitating physical, mental, and spiritual healing. They all activate the energy centers down the spine known as chakras.
Our Connection Spiritual Energy Centers
Healing is facilitated when repairing and harmonizing the body’s energy. The vibration of a melody is a mechanism to connect with and engage the mind’s more instinctive aspects, which helps us transcend the Ego. We can use specific sounds to resonate with the body’s energy centers, called chakras.
Different musical vibrations affect our chakras. Each frequency and rhythm cultivates different energies. Many indigenous cultures use instruments, drums, singing bowls, and rattles to explore the relationship between vibration and consciousness.
The quality of the voice, melody, tempo, and musical accompaniment are critical ingredients to the song’s spiritual energy. This inner work aspect helps heal the mind, body, and soul.
Music as a Tool for Exploring the Subconscious Mind
Remember, all music is spiritual, even the music that doesn’t resonate with you. The music is “off-key” or in a genre or style that you don’t like and probably has no association with your memory. Once we associate it, the mind can accept it as something we like.
The more you explore different music, the more you find that you like it. Over time, your taste in music may also change. These are clues to what’s going on inside. It is worth investigating with the Automatic Writing practice noted above. Using vibration through drums and music is probably the first community-building tool.
2) Using Music for Self-Care
Self-care is a type of healing. It’s doing things to help us regain and maintain balance in our lives. You must do the right thing at the right time to get the most out of self-care. Find the vibrational frequency you want to use, such as a healing mantra. Then determine your readiness to use it.
Investigate Your Subconscious Mind
Here is a simple but effective way to investigate your connection to music. You will need your spiritual journal with several blank pages. Some people prefer a larger art sketchbook or even easel paper.
Start your favorite music and then begin writing. Some people don’t even watch the page while they are writing. Let your hand write what you feel, words, pictures, etc. Once you access this creative and intuitive part of the mind, it is very freeing. Some refer to this as Automatic Writing.
Determine Vibrational Frequency
So, why go through the trouble of finding your frequency and bandwidth? The answer is simple and will provide you with a great deal of information about your current state. It’s not as hard as you think. All you need to do is ask yourself some questions, which will help you pick the right mantra or sutra and the right time to use it.
For example, if you want to achieve calmness but enjoy listening to punk music. You’ll need to find the right time when you are receptive to using a claiming mantra. It might mean listening to your favorite punk songs until you’ve had enough. Then your mind will be more receptive to the claiming mantra. Otherwise, you’ll waste your time. You’ll think the mantra doesn’t work; when it’s not the mantra, your mind won’t accept it.
If we use music as a tool for healing, we must apply the proper technique at the right time. The mind and spirit are complex instruments.
First, we must realize that your vibrational frequency changes depending on several factors. So, asking some questions is the best way to determine your vibrational frequency and width.
1) What music resonates with you right now?
2) What emotions does the music conjure?
3) Does your location or time of day change your musical taste?
4) Do you listen to various music genres, or do you stay within the boundaries of one style?
5) Do some artists trigger different emotions?
6) What music or song can you listen to and do other things,
7) What songs capture your attention?
Ask the above questions and write your answers in your spiritual journal. Wait a day or so. If you can, pick a different time of day from the first time you answered these questions. Ask yourself the same questions, then compare your answers.
Then wait about a week and ask the same questions. Again, hopefully, at a different time of day and another location.
Wait another week, and then do the exercise the fourth time. You’ll probably see that your answers will vary. It’s common, especially if you listen to various music genres. Now you are ready for some analysis of the data. You can determine the bandwidth of your vibration with this data. You’ll see how it changes based on the level of different emotions music triggers.
“Deeply listening to music opens up new avenues of research I’d never even dreamed of. I feel from now on music should be an essential part of every analysis.” — Carl Jung
3) Using Music for Brain Breaks
Your mind needs time not only to rest but to normalize connections. It does this in a variety of ways, like daydreaming and contemplating. Music is another excellent tool to facilitate this level of healing.
As a Time Machine
Music is our time machine. It connects with our consciousness in unique ways to create memory pathways. It resonates with significant times, places, people, and the emotions we associate with them. Music enables us to re-live moments that cultivate strong emotional reactions. In other words, it’s a time machine.
“Part of the joy of music is listening to lots of different kinds of music and learning from it. Specifically for me, I like writing songs that move me, and what moves me are beautiful songs on the piano or the guitar and really, really heavy music.” — Ryan Adams
Break out your spiritual journal again and doodle while listening to your favorite songs. Write about the images and feelings it produces. It leads us to the emotional links of music.
The Emotional Link
As mentioned above, rhythm and melody are powerful linking devices. These tools have a vibrational quality that connects directly to our emotional center; that’s one reason it is such a force in our society. Every culture uses music to express its mission. National anthems are artistic statements. They are tools that reinforce the mission statement of the entity.
You can use music to reinforce your mission statement, set, or change your mood. Music is a spiritual vibration, and each genre, tempo, and volume affect our minds, body, and soul. Music as a tool for healing is effective because of this emotional link.
Music Links to the Planet
Nature sees music as a tool to create relationships between different life forms. We know the earth has a vibrational signature. Music helps us realize our connection to the planet. You probably have felt a connection to certain places. Or, you may have felt certain areas emit positive or negative energy.
4) Music as a Learning Tool
Learning is a process for increasing knowledge and understanding.
If you need help learning something, listen to music. Create lyrics to your favorite songs using the information you want to learn. Now your song becomes a mnemonic learning device.
One of the best examples of learning complex knowledge systems is the practice of the martial art Silat. Our teacher would play gamelan music and sing crazy lyrics and intricate movements. He encouraged us to do the same. I can recall complex movements and applications by bringing the song to mind.
Now create your learning routine with music as a learning tool.
In Conclusion
We enjoy our favorite music but rarely think of its many uses. However, music is one of the most effective psychological tools humankind has ever created to fathom the depths of mind and spirit.
You may not have considered yourself spiritual vibration, but that is what we are. May your song be sweet to those in your sphere of influence. May you find new ways to use music as a tool to explore your inner world.
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References
(1) Sonar, Wikipedia
(2) Hurrian Songs, Wikipedia
(3) Jaws (film), Wikipedia
