The Healing Power of Music and Performing Arts
People will tell you how much happier and energized they feel after they have watched an incredible performance. Chinese medicine has a theory that may explain how the performing arts can be healing and nurturing to human life. The human body is an open system, so everything we see and hear may affect our health. Chinese medicine sees the organ system as an energetic network centered on the five major organs—liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys—which correlate to the five elements—metal, wood, fire, water, and earth. Visualized at the energetic level, the human body is an open system that constantly interacts with energy from the environment. Therefore, everything we see, hear, and feel will have an effect on the vitality of our organs and will also influence how we think and act in our daily lives. Music for Healing In ancient China, one of music’s earliest purposes was for healing. It was believed that music had the power to heal the heart, enrich the mind, and harmonize a person’s soul. The Chinese character for medicine 藥 is very similar to the character for music 樂. Research shows that listening to some types of music lowers blood pressure, stabilizes heart rate, relieves depression, reduces pre-treatment anxiety, enhances concentration and creativity, and lessens the need for sedatives and painkillers during and after surgery. When Yo-Yo Ma was asked about the healing power of music, he responded simply, “Isn’t it all that music is about?” Watching Shen Yun May Heal Meditation is an essential part of daily training for Shen Yun musicians and dancers. According to Chinese tradition, the artists who cultivate virtue celebrate the divine and nurture goodness. With each performance, Shen Yun artists emit positive energy that heals the body, elevates and refreshes mind and spirit, and inspires kindness. This connection between music, performing arts, and healing may explain why some audience members who watch Shen Yun report a healing effect from the performance. Dr. Jingduan Yang is a faculty member at the University of Arizona’s Center for Integrative Medicine, former assistant professor of psychiatry and director of the Oriental Medicine and Acupuncture Program at the Jefferson-Myrna Brind Center for Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University. He completed a research fellowship in clinical psychopharmacology at Oxford University, residency training in psychiatry at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, and a Bravewell Fellowship in integrative medicine at the University of Arizona. You can find out more about Dr. Yang at his website www.YangInstitute.com.
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People will tell you how much happier and energized they feel after they have watched an incredible performance. Chinese medicine has a theory that may explain how the performing arts can be healing and nurturing to human life.
The human body is an open system, so everything we see and hear may affect our health.
Chinese medicine sees the organ system as an energetic network centered on the five major organs—liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys—which correlate to the five elements—metal, wood, fire, water, and earth.
Visualized at the energetic level, the human body is an open system that constantly interacts with energy from the environment. Therefore, everything we see, hear, and feel will have an effect on the vitality of our organs and will also influence how we think and act in our daily lives.
Music for Healing
In ancient China, one of music’s earliest purposes was for healing. It was believed that music had the power to heal the heart, enrich the mind, and harmonize a person’s soul. The Chinese character for medicine 藥 is very similar to the character for music 樂.
Research shows that listening to some types of music lowers blood pressure, stabilizes heart rate, relieves depression, reduces pre-treatment anxiety, enhances concentration and creativity, and lessens the need for sedatives and painkillers during and after surgery.
When Yo-Yo Ma was asked about the healing power of music, he responded simply, “Isn’t it all that music is about?”
Watching Shen Yun May Heal
Meditation is an essential part of daily training for Shen Yun musicians and dancers. According to Chinese tradition, the artists who cultivate virtue celebrate the divine and nurture goodness. With each performance, Shen Yun artists emit positive energy that heals the body, elevates and refreshes mind and spirit, and inspires kindness.
This connection between music, performing arts, and healing may explain why some audience members who watch Shen Yun report a healing effect from the performance.
