Alternative Therapy
Alternative therapies often provide the patient or client more with choices for treatment. One popular choice is music therapy. Music can be an effective part of alternative therapies or complementary therapies, as they are often called.
As an alternative therapy, music can be used for deep relaxation. A music therapist may try using different types of music or sound sequences that may deepen or hasten relaxation. Different guided imageries can also be tried, asking the client for feedback on the most helpful combinations. These combinations of music and imagery can then be recorded so that the client has their own alternative therapy “medicine” in the form of a tape or CD to aid relaxation.
Music therapy is a good addition to other alternative therapy options, which include acupuncture, acupressure, homeopathy, therapeutic touch and mindfulness-based stress reduction. The purpose of alternative therapy is to make use of the mind-body connection in order to aid healing. Music is one of the oldest mind-body connections. Music therapy makes use of the ability of music to increase our awareness of emotions, to decrease our stress levels and perception of pain through soothing music, and to energize us through energetic music.
The processing of music is tied to our brain’s basic emotional and motor centers, the amygdala and the cerebellum Recent studies show much more of our brain is involved in processing music than had been known before.
By using music therapy as an alternative therapy, the powers of music to help soothe and calm, as well as to reduce perceived pain levels can be added to the available alternative therapies to help heal.
For more information about alterative therapy and music get a copy of the book Still a Minstrel.
"Readers will enjoy the struggles of a garage band to the bandstand with local and world-renowned legends. Suess guides us through those years as the music changed us and we reflected those changes in our music"
- Doug Spartz, Founder,
Minnesota Rock/Country Hall of Fame