#20 Poornamurti: Viewing Music Therapy through an Ayurvedic Lens

The Healthy Peaceful Podcast

Welcome to this presentation by Poornamurti (Greg Stein) as he reveals the connection between Ayurveda and music therapy. Poorna is a music therapist and teacher of Vedic astrology (Jyotish). A passionate proponent of holistic health since his teens, he utilizes the power of music along with the depth of understanding that Vedic astrology offers to help individuals experience greater well-being in their lives.

The ancient wisdom and science of Ayurveda leads us to discover what is conducive to our happiness and unhappiness. We come to view music therapy (or any therapy for that matter) through an Ayurvedic lens. In Ayurveda, we learn about the gunas – the qualities in nature that describe our experience. The twenty gunas are composed of ten qualities and their opposites. With the gunas, we encounter the principle of “like increases like.” For instance, if you are feeling spacey and drink coffee which has the qualities of light and dry, it will increase your spaciness. The therapeutic principle of "opposites balance" may be more effective.
When you learn about the gunas, you start to view your life through “guna goggles.” The gunas impact us through our sensory experiences – our tanmantras. The tanmantras move from gross to subtle. Music therapy relates to the tanmantra of sound. For instance, heavy metal music may may have a hot quality. When something is hot, it can agitate our nervous system. Ayurveda is not a black or white science, our subjective experience is important and we can be creative with it.

The idea is how to create more balance in our lives thorugh music – by becoming aware of the qualities of a particular piece of music in relation to our own nature. If a client is depressed, Ayurveda identifies the quality of slowness. Lively, stimulating music may be effective in bringing the client out of his dullness - an example of the principle "opposites create balance."

The music therapist formulates goals for the client after completing an assessment and music is applied therapeutically to create a shift. In yoga, we talk about personal goals or different things we want to cultivate. Music can be used to cultivate the same qualities.

Poornamurti was inspired to share a quote by Swami Satyananda Saraswati. “Music has a great power. It is the greatest power that man has discovered. You should make use of it. Through kirtan, you can reach the highest pinnacle of spiritual experience, neither by yoga nor any other means. By kirtan, you can have the vision of the divine, the vision of yourself, the vision of God, the vision of Christ, the vision of Mary, the vision of Krishna, the vision of Rama. It is possible. Music does the important groundwork by taking away the “self” (meaning ego self) from you.” The yogis are always speaking of the importance of music. Because of its subtle nature, they consider it to be very powerful.

When you meet the client where he or she is, there is more opportunity for progress. Not judging and practicing unconditional positive regard – both are important - for clients and ourselves. “Unconditional positive regard” means seeing the client at his or her best. When you listen to rap music with teenagers, they feel accepted. If it’s a song that is reinforcing aggressive behavior, however, the first step is to help them understand if this is something they want in their lives. While they may resist a different style of music, they may accept rap music wi

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