Last year I was struck down with a bad case of sciatica. Perhaps ‘struck down’ sounds dramatic but down was certainly my only direction under the circumstances.

Of those of you who have experienced pain that stops you in your path and incapacitates you, you will be able to sympathise with the inability to be able to do many things that previously you were able to do almost without thinking, such as turn your bedroom light off, or even, in many cases, think of anything other than the pain you are experiencing.

On one occasion I was laying across my bed, half in, and half stretching to get a book to try to take my mind off my pain when I grabbed my mobile and thought about some of my own music that I had transferred onto it a month or so ago.

I lay back and started to listen to some of the more flowing sounds within one of the tracks and started to feel myself go somewhere else. The fact I was going anywhere was so helpful because where I was, in pain, was somewhere I really didn’t want to be.

On reflection I realised how useful it had been to me to have music to help me through a bad time. I couldn’t have believed it unless I experienced it myself, its not as if the music stopped the pain, but was able to draw me away from focusing on the pain, thus allowing the rest of my body to relax.

So, for me, loosing myself in the music was a therapeutic experience in itself. Add this type of experience with a therapy and the results can clearly be fantastic.

Not Any Type of Music…

Someone I know experienced a Country and Western ballad as part of their massage recently. Perhaps to Country and Western fans this is the ideal combination but we have to understand this may not be the case generally (although a country and western ballad is probably a better choice that something with a faster tempo!!).

I experienced the result of a poor choice with music in a meditation group in the past. The leader reached over and turned on her CD player. After a few chords the whole group started to look at each other to see if we were all thinking the same thing. The music was similar to the organ style and sound of old English Picture Rooms, a little sticatto (stabby) and very , very corny. We all looked at the group leader and shook our heads. Fortunately for us (and her) she chose to stop the CD and reconsider her approach to creating the perfect meditative ambience.

As a therapist, if you have switched on to using music within your therapeutic environment, either before, during or after your session with your client you can find it hard to locate new and fresh music that does not provide your clients with music that is predicable and old fashioned. For example, not everyone finds New Age Music, pan pipes, shakuhachi and whale calls relaxing, indeed these types of recordings can be comical so some as they do have their own stereotype.

So, wind forward to the new world of contemporary and alternative therapy. A new and exciting place where new therapies are becoming more available and providing great choices for people in need and wanting to look after themselves.

As the therapies become more specialised, so does the music to support it. Ambient Music Garden’s ambient relaxation music is organised into a range of categories, which are growing regularly in number and contents. We are speaking to therapists on a daily basis and, as some of us are therapists too, we are developing new compelling musical pieces to meet the needs of the therapy market today.

If you want to know more about us and our music, please go to Ambient Music Garden and check out the music under each category.

Thanks for reading.

Guy

Music Within Therapy Part 1

This page is intented to give you some ideas of how to use music within your therapy.

Music as we all know can guide our feelings and moods. F4b music is new and unheard that has a combination of sounds that sooth and calm and will enhance any therapeutic journey.

If you are a therapist looking for music for therapy the best thing to look for to start with is music that matches the duration of your therapy so you dont have to stop the therapy session to change tracks or have empty gaps that will have your client wondering what will happen next.

Also, consider using a 5 to 10 minute track for introductions and talking to your client when he or she enters your therapy room and takes some time to relax and talk to you about how they are, if they are an existing client, or talk to you for perhaps longer if they are a new client coming for their evaluation session.

Then for the session, choose a piece that is exactly the same length as your session, or longer if you are happy to turn down the volume when you choose to finish. You may choose a longer length piece to enable you to work with your client in a less structured way, enabling you to have the option of continuing with them for as long as you feel is right for that session.

The exact length pieces you choose will be more useful as you set out a session plan that is structured around 30 or 40 minute therapy lengths.

The additional benefit of music to support you through this timed therapy is that it will help you keep track of time.

Look additionally for pieces of music that have a time marker on them, for example a bell chime every 5 minutes that helps you to keep track of time but also move onto another part of your therapy process.

Additionally, a more distinct chime or other sound (but still subtle and in keeping with the music and the therapy session) would aid you with confirming the last part of your therapy is coming up so that you can begin to raise your client out of the session and begin to connect with their surroundings again.

In part 2 I will talk about sound design and composition.