By JUDD MATSUNAGA, Esq.
Throughout human history, ancient cultures strongly believed that specific resonant frequencies could produce healing effects and venerated the act of creating sounds. Ancient mythologies looked at sound not merely as pleasurable entertainment but also as a healing and therapeutically energetic force.
Though we can’t see it, everything in the material world vibrates at a frequency. Sound is vibration in space and time. We’ve all seen the opera singer shatter a glass by singing a note at the exact pitch that resonates with the glass. Musicians tune their instruments to a specific pitch in order to literally be “in tune” with each other.
The idea that targeted frequencies can have a resonant effect on us, physically and psychologically, is not as outlandish as it may first sound. I grew up watching “Star Trek” (the original series with George Takei playing Sulu, helmsman of the starship USS Enterprise). You might remember, that practically every episode had Dr. McCoy, “Bones,” waving an electrical device that made a sound pitch at various frequencies over the patient’s body to heal it.
Evidently, microscopically, cells emit sounds, as if they’re singing to their neighbors.“By using an atomic force microscope to listen to the specific sound that a cell emits, we can identify its unique sonic signature,” says Dr. James Gimzewski of UCLA. This research, called “sonocytology,” finds unhealthy cells through their sonic signatures, and then plays their own destructive sounds back to them until they are destroyed through the law of resonance.
According to an article called “The Sound of Healing: Sound Used as a Therapeutic Treatment” (www.theepochtimes.com, Dec. 29, 2023), the use of sound as opposed to chemotherapy and more invasive surgery would truly be a paradigm shift in cancer treatment. Dr. Anthony Holland, in his TEDx talk called “Shattering Cancer With Resonant Frequencies,” said:
“I believe the future of children’s cancer hospitals will be a different place. They will be a place where children gather and make new friends, they probably won’t even know they are sick. They’ll draw pictures, color in their books, and play with their toys, all the while unaware that above them a beautiful blue plasma light is emanating healing, pulsing fields shattering their cancer painlessly, and nontoxically, one cell at a time.”
“But Judd, that’s too far into the future. Can music help me now?” YES. It turns out that listening to music can also be considered an exercise for the mind. Music is actually one of the most powerful stimulants to the brain, and when you’re listening to music, your brain is highly engaged in the sound.
Music is even more important if you want to prevent premature aging of the brain. Many people think they only need to worry about memory once they’re older, but because of their habits and diets, they might start noticing memory problems way too soon. Listening to music can help prevent memory problems and improve your hearing. Good news since we know hearing loss can happen as we age.
Dr. Masaru Emoto, a Japanese scientist and author of the best-selling book “The Hidden Messages in Water,” discovered that water can be encoded with vibrational information. Dr. Emoto pointed out that the human body is mainly water, and apparently, water loves beautiful, harmonious frequencies.
“I believe that music was created to bring our vibration back to its intrinsic state. It’s human nature to create music that readjusts the vibrations distorted by history. That’s why I’m so certain that music is a form of healing before it is an art,” Dr. Emoto said. “It can become a matter of life and death if we allow our ‘life force’ to become compromised by the chaotic noise and toxicity of the modern world.”
One of his studies, called “The Wisdom of Water,” demonstrated how different types of sound produce different crystalline patterns in water. When exposed to Mozart’s Symphony No. 40, distilled water samples produced ornate and geometrically symmetrical crystals. On the other hand, distilled water that had been exposed to heavy metal music produced distorted formations.
The “Mozart effect” truly exists, said Dr. Kiminobu Sugaya, head of neuroscience at the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences. In experiments with local community residents, he found that when this type of classical music was played, “we saw a 50% increase in brain function.” (Source: The Epoch Times, “Classical Music Alters the Brain,” May 8, 2024)
Music promotes the brain’s secretion of endorphins, enkephalins, dopamine, and serotonin. Mr. Sugaya mentioned that attending a classical music concert is ideal for dates because dopamine released in the brain can make you appear more charming to your partner. Also, beautiful music can also increase oxytocin, a love hormone.
In another study, 144 participants listened to different music categories for 15 minutes, filling out the same questionnaire before and after listening. The results showed that classical music significantly reduced feelings of tension. Contrastingly, New Age music, while reducing feelings of tension and hostility, also lowered people’s mental clarity and vigor. Rock music not only significantly increased feelings of hostility, fatigue, sadness, and tension but also reduced people’s mental clarity and vigor and their feelings of caring and relaxation.
So, sound waves can be both good and bad for you. A recent Harvard-led study found that noise exposure may raise risks of cardiovascular problems. Long-term exposure to transportation noise from cars, trucks, trains, and planes may raise the risk of cardiovascular disease (Source: www.harvard.health.edu, Dec. 4, 2023). Earlier studies also linked noise exposure to short-term changes in blood pressure, heart rate, and blood vessel narrowing.
You can also use music to reduce stress! Stress is one of the main causes of memory loss! When people are stressed and frustrated, they tend to have difficulty creating short-term memories, which will then damage the ability to create long-term memories. Just like music helps reduce stress levels, it can also improve your mood.
Music can play a role in mood, learning, brain development, and even your health. Neuroscientists used to believe that music only impacts the right hemisphere of the brain. However, recent findings show us that music affects regions throughout the entire brain. Research has shown that listening to music can reduce anxiety, blood pressure, and pain as well as improve sleep quality, mood, mental alertness, and memory.
When you listen to music you enjoy, a state of excitement and pleasure is triggered because of this dopamine release. When listening to your favorite part of a song, you experience around the same pleasure as you would from eating food, doing drugs, or having sex. If you’re already having a good day, listening to music can amplify that happiness. Listening to music also produces oxytocin, increasing your emotional understanding and creating peak emotions.
Music can affect our exercise because as our body becomes tired and wants to stop exercising, our body sends signals to the brain to stop and take a break. Listening to music competes for the brain’s attention and can help us overcome those feelings of fatigue. Not only does music help us exercise longer and harder by helping us push through the pain, it can actually help us use our energy more efficiently. A 2012 study showed cyclists who listened to music required 7% less oxygen to do the same work as those who cycled in silence.
Music is actually one of the most powerful stimulants to the brain, and when you’re listening to music, your brain is highly engaged in the sound. If you play instruments, even better! By playing an instrument, you’re exercising not only the brain but also the body. It is a stimulator for both your visual and motor functioning and can improve your brain’s ability to adapt.
If you want to keep your brain engaged throughout the aging process, listening to or playing music is a great tool. A stereo system puts out vibrations that travel through the air and somehow get inside the ear canal. These vibrations tickle the eardrum and are transmitted into an electrical signal that travels through the auditory nerve to the brain stem, where it is reassembled into something we perceive as music.
Scientific research shows that Solfeggio frequencies (based on the white keys of a piano) will calm people and one will heal better and faster when they are relaxed and calm. Solfeggio frequencies are ancient tones that can be used for many purposes including stress management, healing the body, emotional issues, spiritual development, manifestation, and many other aspects.
The best frequency for sleep is in the low- to mid-frequency range. Some studies have found that 432 and 528 Hz have a de-stressing effect on the brain, possibly reducing cortisol levels and raising oxytocin. 174 Hz. Known as the healing frequency, 174 Hz has been found to have the greatest potential effect on the physical body when compared to the other frequencies and could alleviate pain and stress, improve concentration, and give the organs in the body a sense of security.
According to one website I found online, music tuned to 396 Hz helps eliminate subconscious fears, worries, and anxieties. It also helps eliminate subconscious feelings of guilt. 174 Hz – for healing pain and relieving stress; 285 Hz – for healing tissues and organs; 417 Hz – to facilitate changes in life; 528 Hz – for transformation and DNA repair; and 639 Hz – for healing relationships. (Source: www.psychreg.org/solfeggio-frequencies-stress/)
Music is so powerful, and doing something as simple as listening to it can boost your memory and prevent years of struggle. Go find a teenager that will help you make a playlist of Solfeggio music that you can download to your smartphone. If you want help sleeping, get 432 Hz music. If you want physical healing, get 285 Hz music, etc. Then get a small portable speaker with Bluetooth capabilities. If your spouse doesn’t want to listen to the music, you’ll need to get wireless earbuds.
Finally, if you want a playlist that lasts 8 hours, covers multiple Hz for multiple benefits (e.g., sleep, stress, healing, etc.), and starts with a 15-minute relaxation session to turn off the excess “chatter” in your brain, call me — that’s what I’m making for myself. If water responds positively to certain music, and our bodies are mostly water, then it’s logical to assume that listening to music at certain frequencies will be good for both our minds and bodies as well.
Judd Matsunaga, Esq., is the founding partner of the Law Offices of Matsunaga & Associates, specializing in estate/Medi-Cal planning, probate, personal injury, and real estate law. With offices in Torrance, Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Pasadena, and Fountain Valley, he can be reached at (800) 411-0546. Opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Rafu Shimpo.