Thursday, February 3, 2011

Meditation, Music, and "Toning"

Pythagoras, the founder of the music-therapy concept in the west, is said to have sung soothing melodies to his disciples based on the principal that melody and rhythm cannot fail to restore harmony to the human soul.  Surviving letters explain that in the evenings with his lyre and voice, he “released his followers from the cares and stresses of the day, purified their intellect, and rendered their sleep quiet.”  And in the morning, “he freed them from nocturnal heaviness, relaxation, and apathy” through particular songs and rhythms.  He believed that music is essential to spiritual and physical health and is capable of producing the most beneficial correctness of human life and behavior.  And from ancient times to the present, there have been countless other scholars who agree.  Read more . . .