Have a sound bath

Apr 30, 2010, 12.00am IST

Dilip Nadkarni.

I remember that day in the second year of my MBBS course when I was studying Pharmacology. Countless drug names had to be learnt by rote along with information of their actions and side effects.

Time was short and the pressure, enormous. To de-stress I tried taking a nap, but woke up with a horrible dream that I had missed the examination. Pacing the floor, I chanced into my parents’ room, where my mother was practicing Raag Kalavati on the harmonium. I felt that the melody was familiar, somewhat similar to that of a Hindi film song. I asked my mother if I could try my hand at the musical instrument.

The moment I touched the keys and pulled the bellows of the harmonium, a fantastic feeling of calm filled me. My mother taught me the basic sargam and I got hooked. After an hour of experimenting and playing staccato notes, I knew I had found my stress management tool for life. Yes, that hour spent in the company of the musical instrument had driven away all the exam stress. I was refreshed and ready to face any challenge in Pharmacology.

From that day onwards, I would take regular breaks from my studies and play the harmonium. After a week of trial and error I finally got the basic notes of the song “Kahe Tarasaaye Jiyara ... ” based on the raag Kalavati. Then on, the harmonium has become an integral part of my life. All the fatigue of the day, laden with surgeries and clinics, vanishes after a session on the keyboard.

In many clinical studies music ranks as the Number One stress buster. Whether it is listening, learning or performing, music has the capacity to produce calm and peace. Listening to the right kind of music at the right volume can be beneficial to mind and body. One can reach a meditative zone listening to music. Listening to soft music set to a tempo lower than 72 beats a minute, can induce deep breathing and a lower heart rate, consistent with relaxation. Music can act like a “sound bath” and help you wash away all your worries.

Learning to sing or to play a musical instrument can have therapeutic benefits. When you are in the process of learning the intricacies of melody and rhythm, you are completely in the moment. As you start developing “an ear” for music, you begin to enjoy facets of music you never thought existed. And when you workout a musical phrase or improvise a tune, it works wonders for your self-esteem.

Some composers are convinced about the use of Binaural Beats to provide stress relief. They say that when musical sound is presented to the two ears at separate frequencies, it influences the brain in creating a sense of relaxation. The difference in the frequencies is very small and hardly perceptible even to a highly trained ear. Binaural music also termed “digital drug” helps you enter theta state of mind. This type of music helps your brain release "happy chemicals" -- endorphins, encephalin, endogenous opiates and serotonin. More research is needed to confirm the efficacy and safety of this genre of music.

I am now convinced that music has “pharmacology” of its own. In fact music is one of the most efficient mood elevators and tension tamers and it is easily available.

(Excerpt from Calm Sutra, the Art of Relaxation, a Times Group Books publication.)