Good Vibrations
Spa goers interested in the latest therapeutic techniques might be surprised to find that one of the newest might really be one of the oldest.
"One of the functions of therapeutic music is to provide a slow rhythm that encourages the breathing of the listener to slow to the same pace. " At Toskana Therme Bad Sulza in Th ringen, Germany, one might almost believe oneself returned to the sea from whence life came or drifting in the weightlessness of outer space. Immersion in warm salt pools, accompanied by the sounds of whale songs, the gongs and chimes of the East, and frequently the addition of live music, can feel almost primitive or downright space-age, yet eminently soothing moments outside of time as colored lights play in otherwise darkened venues and even fragrances in the air vary.
At Anicca Relaxation, a spa in Windhoek, Namibia, clients are treated to massage on sound tables made by Stephen Deuel of Inner Soulutions in Hot Springs, Arkansas, that are designed especially to transmit the vibrations from music and other sound sources.
And at Spa Illuminata in London, England, a room specially designed to optimize the use of sound and light, and equipped with Inner Soulutions sound tables, allows clients to experience massage and relaxation on a music bed to the accompaniment of harmonic vibrations.
According to Melinda Minton, executive director of the Spa Association, Spas are doing all sorts of things with light and music therapy. (Such treatments are) working on your brainwave patterns, she says, whether through the rhythm of the music, hidden (subliminal) messages in the music, or other factors. (Such things can affect) how your neurons are firing and how you react. While in the United States such treatments are more often found, she says, in resorts and spa centers than in day spas, they are a growing new trend. Anyone in search of such an experience can choose from a number of variations in the way treatments are administered, and seek out something a bit deeper to complement a salt scrub or a lush facial experience. Clients are seeking out such options as immersion in warmed saltwater tanks or pools or relaxation on vibrating tables, with or without massage, all to the sounds of instruments, voice, or synthesizers and often to music especially composed for its therapeutic value.
Music has been used as a therapeutic tool for centuries, however, and was even composed especially for patients in the healing temples of ancient Greece. Ailments, or dis-eases, were thought to be caused at least in part by being out of harmony with the Universe not being in tune with the music of the spheres. It s not really surprising, then, to find that music and the vibrations of sound are now considered valid tools for healing, with a burgeoning field of research to support that function.
Ludo Vanhees at Anicca says that the use of sound in conjunction with an oil massage and sometimes a Sirius audiovisual machine that uses both sound and light allows the client to relax more easily and more deeply. Vanhees, who had himself considered modifying massage tables years ago with the addition of a guitar or strings to deepen the client s massage experience and experience another state of being, has found that using the vibroacoustic table facilitates the client to breath more deeply; it helps to release those deeper tensions that normally we hold onto. This deep breathing occurs now more spontaneously. In fact, says Vanhees, actor Danny Glover received several sessions at Anicca with the sound table and the Sirius, which he promptly bought for his personal use, then before leaving for Cannes, called to tell Vanhees how much he appreciated the system.
What kind of sound might a client expect to find during one of these treatments? That varies widely, depending on the spa and the needs of the client. Vanhees uses music that carr[ies] well through the table, mostly with low frequencies and also uses singing bowls applied directly to the body rather than run through the sound system. (Singing bowls can be made of metal or crystal, and they are often used as an aid to meditation as well as for therapeutic purposes. The vibrations can be quite intense.)
Bad Sulza regularly brings in live musicians, and even dancers, with the music piped into the baths for a waterborne musical experience. But numerous other spas have experimented with the use of live music, even if they don t use it on a regular basis. At European Body Concepts, Spa Naturelle in East Texas, Pennsylvania, harpist and psychologist Sarajane Williams has used her large harp to play outside treatment rooms for an additional relaxation factor for clients. Williams uses her harp in her psychology practice as well, amplified through a Somatron vibroacoustic chair.
Stephen Deuel, maker of the vibroacoustic table used by Vanhees, uses harp as well as various CDs; some of his other client practitioners, he says, use instruments that range from didgeridoo and the human voice chanting (a practitioner in Sedona) to Hawaiian slack key guitar (a practitioner who works with Huna elders in Hawaii) and drumming. Deuel began crafting the tables after his wife, a sufferer from dystonia, a muscle movement disorder, found relief from a table that the Deuels encountered in the late 90s a model substantially different from those he now builds. Deuel s tables are in spas on several continents, as well as in the hands of private practitioners and individuals who tried them and found them beneficial.
Some of the music Deuel recommends for use with his tables is composed by David Ison, who has worked with music as a therapeutic tool since the 1980s. Ison s company TheraSound provides music composed by Ison for use at spas, by health care practitioners, and by individuals and the music for these categories is not interchangeable.
According to Ison, there are two basic types of music suitable for spas: that composed for use in public spaces, which must be appropriate for continuous play without growing tedious through repetition, and that composed for actual therapeutic use. The former, he says, create[s] an environmental atmosphere that welcomes the customer into the spa and creates a sense of safety, security, and of course relaxation. The latter which has several levels of intensity makes use of the technique of entrainment, in which two disparate rhythms are gradually brought together. One of the functions of therapeutic music, according to Ison, is to provide a slow rhythm that encourages the breathing of the listener to slow to the same pace. This breath rate mimics that of a person in meditation, and brings with it many benefits demonstrated in studies at the National Institutes of Health.
Ison s therapeutic music entrains the breath so that the pulse rate drops, blood pressure is lowered, and the listener experiences a warm, welcome feeling and a sense of inner peace and harmony done, in Ison s compositions, by not placing emphasis on the melody. If a listener is focusing on the melody, he says, that listener is less relaxed than if the melody is not prominent. So Ison composes a melody that is very subtle and hi
d
den inside chords, and then adds nature sounds, blending instrumentation and harmonic content that continue to enhance the relaxation experience. The music is also three-dimensional: The way Ison mixes it during the engineering stage, birds will fly from one end of the room to another; a waterfall will come from the ceiling down to the floor.
Therapeutic music can be composed for yet a deeper level, says Ison, one more appropriate for use by health care practitioners. This music allows the release of stagnant energy that has been retained within the body as memories of emotional and physical trauma. Over time, he says, this stagnant emotion turns pathogenic and creates disease and psychological disorder. While he composes music to facilitate release of this stagnant energy, he feels that such releases are inappropriate for a spa atmosphere, although he says that individual practitioners often purchase this music for use with their clients. (This is the sort of work that Williams does with her harp and vibroacoustic chair in private practice.)
The atmosphere provided by spas for sound tables and sound baths can be quite heady. Spa Illuminata, situated in an old restored Victorian, offers a Jasmine Steam and Purifying Clay Treatment, as well as a CrystalGlow Salt Purifying Steam Treatment that combines soothing scents with steam and heat; music completes the relaxation package. But the music plays a starring role in Tactile Sound Therapy, in which an Oriental Tranquility Head and Neck Massage is administered on a sound table that provides harmonic vibrations throughout the treatment. And of course manicures, pedicures, and similar services are offered, using products and processes from Decl or Paris and Carita Paris as well as massages using warmed volcanic pebbles and aromatic balms.
Anicca provides traditional Thai, deep tissue, and Oriental hand and foot massage, as well as Indian head massage. But services don t stop there, as staff members also offer reflexology, consultations on Bach flower remedies, stress management, and kinesiology.
Bad Sulza and its companion spas, Toskana Therme Bad Schandau near Dresden and Liquidrom Therme Berlin, use temples amazing structures filled with light and space, particularly in Bad Schandau, where the thermal bath lies under a planetarium-like dome with a 360-degree projection of lights and colors designed by video artist Tina Zimmerman. There the bath is also constructed as a concert hall with emphasis given to the quality of hearing under water. Body-workers provide gentle manipulation of bathers who give themselves over to the near-weightless experience of floating in a warm sea of sound, color, and even scent provided by a programmable aroma system. This, in addition to such enticing, although perhaps more conventional, spa treatments as Magic Honey or Chocolate Treatment, is enough to soothe the most stressed nerves.
Those who take advantage of any of these all-encompassing treatments may be singing the blues before they begin. But in the care of one of these cutting-edge spas, once they ve had a chance to tune in to what music and sound therapies have to offer, they ll find themselves more in harmony with life.
0 Comments