Ragas are closely related to different parts of the day according to changes in nature and development of a particular emotion, mood or sentiment. For those with insomnia, Raga Bihag and Bahar have a wonderful effect. Bhairav is sung an hour before dawn, Ramkali at dawn, Vilavali at sunrise, Sarang at noon, Nata and Malava in the afternoon, Gaudi in the evening, Kalyan at night, Kedara, Chandra and Bihag late in the night.
Our Vedic texts are the source of information on music to be used in healing. One of the oldest recorded manuscripts, Gandharva Veda, mentions the use of music in replicating nature’s rhythm and harmony. There are many instances where music has been used for healing disorders.
Music therapy can be practised in many ways. For instance, the therapist and the client may compose music, lyrics and songs to express particular feelings. One may learn to play the sitar or the piano to improve fine motor skills, while another may use instruments to improvise unspoken emotions.
However, knowing how to play or sing is not a necessary factor to undergo therapy. Simply listening to the music is sufficient. And if you are into a self-help session, you can surely carry that on by listening to music from your collection of favourites.
Vyjayanthi Kasi, a Bangalore-based dancer, has been doing research on dance and music therapy for the past five years and has treated physically- and mentally-challenged patients. She has also dealt with the visually and hearing impaired with the help of dance and music therapy.
“My students have changed remarkably for the better after I started teaching them dance and music,” says Vyjayanthi, who conducts free workshops for such students in association with special schools. “It is a challenging task,” she says, “to handle mentally-challenged students since each student is different from the other.
First, I identify their needs and stimulate and inspire them into a character and then assign them the role they have to portray. Along with that, I play the music that balances their roles in the play. For example, if a child is short-tempered, then he becomes Rama in the show. That is to portray a calm and composed look.”
Vyjayanthi also receives cases of girls who are abused and ill-treated by their in-laws. “I give them lessons in dance so that they can channel their thoughts away from their present and release their tensions,” she says.
Vyjayanthi also receives e-mails from distressed parents with requests to treat their children for various disorders. Requests can range from increasing the child’s appetite to developing concentration and memory power etc. A number of people also approach her art institute for therapy. According to her, music therapy has been used from the beginning of time. “People have been using music as therapy without even realising it.”
Then there’s Dr Sadanand Sardeshmukh, who has achieved great feats in music therapy and has been practising in India for over three decades. Patients visit his Pune and Mumbai clinics from all over India for his excellent diagnosis.
Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji from Karnataka, who has a following both within and outside the country, conducts spiritual music concerts for meditation and healing (Nada Chikitsa) in India and abroad. He prescribes ‘melodious medicine’ in his music recordings and concerts for many ailments and disorders, be it coma, cancer, migraine or depression.
He believes in combining music therapy with Ayurveda, Psychology, Gemology and Astrology. “There is no complication about it, once you are in tune with the modus operandi,” he says. “Listen with your heart and not with your intellect. Both the healer-musician and the listener should concentrate.” Listening, he says, is a special technique of sense control.
Swamiji has identified 72,000 nerves and 14 important nodes that play a vital part in health problems ranging from palpitations to alcoholism.
Music therapy also has other adherents among renowned singers like M. Balamuralikrishna, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan and Pandit Ravi Shankar. Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan was the director of the Raga Research Centre in Chennai where the musicians and physiotherapists work together to probe the benefits of music in healing.
In India, music and its benefits have been known to every generation. But there are very few who actually cure disorders and ailments. Here, music is given the Status of being sacred and has not yet reached the purist’s echelons of academia and research centers.