How You Can Use Music to Heal and Feel Your Best

When the going gets tough, put on your favourite beats and let the worries fade into oblivion. If you believe in the power of music to turn around a bad day, musician Shivali Bhammer shares how you can harness this energy to be more positive:

Music is simply energy. It stems from the universal sound of Aum and represents the infinite movement of consciousness. When you listen to music you tap into that flow, and you find yourself letting go and accepting the natural order of things. Many of us might find it difficult to deal with our fluctuating emotions, which may be heightened during the pandemic. Music allows our emotions to pour out of us into the world. It expresses our joy, pain, sadness, anger, in ways we may find hard and leaves us feeling uplifted. 
 
Music has always been a way to commune with the higher energy and evokes emotions and healing. The reason why I decided to be a bhajan singer is because music has the power to influence your mood and unleash your emotions. Devotional music of any kind, in any faith, gives you the opportunity to silently surrender through sound. It also provides you with a vessel to carry the emotions that are burdensome on your shoulder, and through the musical notes and various intonations, you find yourself emptying that vessel out of your mind and into the ocean. That grace and surrender music naturally gives you without the need for conscious prayer is what can alleviate the pain and stress we feel. Anyone can think of a time of difficulty they have gone through and recall the album that gave them some solace.

Also read: Musician Shivali Bhammer Shares Her Spiritual Playlist to Put You in a Good Mood

Music is also playful and soothing because a melody is similar to the natural flow of a stream. It doesn’t require any conscious study, thought or energy. It simply allows you to trace and follow it, and that creative movement frees you from the things that have us stuck and troubled. Music lives loftily above an ego infused world. You’ll find someone in East Asia feeling the same way about a song as someone else on the other side of the world. Or you can go to a classical concert, and regardless of an individual’s background, they find themselves identifying with the music. This brings you closer to spirituality because it is breaking boundaries and barriers that we have formed within ourselves. And if the point of spirituality is to feel oneness then music enables that. 

People don’t always connect with reading, or podcasts, religion or places of worship. However, I am yet to meet a human who doesn’t enjoy listening to music. Perhaps it is because of the way sound vibrates and when we listen to it we tune in to that particular frequency which gives us a sense of connection and belonging. Music that particularly helps in healing are mantras, the rhythmic patterns can give you a boost of energy and are designed to open your chakras and still the mind. During Covid times, I have particularly taken to Durga mantras and find them very empowering and uplifting – they make you feel invincible. 

Also read: How to Deal with Stress and Overcome it, According to Your Zodiac Sign

Music won’t necessarily make you more mindful, mindfulness is only something you alone can commit to. The right kind of music can raise your vibrations and enable an atmosphere that is more conducive to you being mindful. The work is ours and ours alone, music just like any other tool can either be used to raise us up or pull us down.

Be conscious of the kind of music you listen to, what are the lyrics, how is it making you feel? If your objective is to be mindful then that means emptying the mind of negativity and replacing it with positive thoughts – so make sure whatever you listen to has you smiling and as they say in song ‘feeling gooood’.