Beyond Sound Healing: The Music Method That Rewires the Psyche
Have you ever woken up with a song on your mind? A tune you’re humming but don’t know why or even what the song is? Does the song stay with you the whole morning or night and you can’t budge it? It’s likely a message from the deep unconscious. It asks you to listen to the message that the song is speaking because a part of you seeks cantharis. I call this phenomenon Subconscious Music Therapy (SMT). This process help you understands the hidden layers of tension deep in your psyche, those responsible for moods and depressions. Experiencing them directly can aid health and well-being.
The structure of the psyche
Your psyche is a complex place. It is filled with emotions, mood, memories, thoughts, energies, desires, and regrets. We think we are one person with one personality, but in reality, we are a vessel for a whole array of personalities that move through us throughout the day. Our central ego tries to stay in charge, to centralise our experience so we feel whole and unified, yet, often other sub-personalities break through and we experience moods, uncommon thoughts, desires and yearnings, rage or trepidation. We shift between these states like sand through an hourglass, and these complexes alert us to the parts which need healing.
Our personality contains various characters that emerge at different points in our lives. We have the ego, the child, the lover, warrior, the magician, or king. These energies rise and fall through us at different moments, seeking expression unique to our character and ego personality (Jung 1980, p. 81). Jung (1980, ps.81) suggested they live in the collective unconscious, the deeper part of the psyche that is shared by all human beings and which is timeless and eternal. These types of archetypal characters are often depicted in our fairytales, mythologies, and films. They also express themselves through music, as messages from the unconscious to our ego self, seeking healing and redemption.
This is not a new phenomenon. Shamans use songs to bring back a person’s lost vitality, known as soul loss (Frazier 1950, p.114). South American shamans use sacred songs (icaros) to guide them into the invisible underworld to meet with spirits, bringing back knowledge that is helpful and healing to the client (Eliade 1964, p.509). In our Western age, where shamans no longer rule, the unconscious structures still function the same way. It seeks our attention, and we may dive deep into the subconscious to bring back knowledge. One of the ways this occurs is through Subconscious Music Therapy (SMT). This therapy uses song to understand the deeper happenings in the unconscious, enabling them to rise and be expressed to provide healing. This is a natural process that occurs spontaneously, although it can be induced. In the following section I will explain these two therapeutic modes and how they can be used to aid health, well-being, and self-development.
1. Spontaneous Subconscious Music
Spontaneous subconscious music occurs when you wake up with a song in your mind, or when you find yourself at the supermarket humming a tune. You may not know why this song has emerged, or even what the song is. Often, we ignore this ‘inner music’, but Subconscious Music Therapy tells us to treat it as a message from the unconscious. A deeper emotion is seeking expression, and uses music to connect with us consciously.
Why is this important? Carl Jung, the famous psychoanalyst, suggested that the whole purpose of life was individuation, which is to make the unconscious conscious. This means to bring into awareness those parts of us that are hidden and seek expression (Jung 1980, p.222). This is the root of shadow work (becoming aware of the hidden aspects of the psyche), and also the midlife challenge of making way for the Self. The Self is the larger part of us that wants expression and wholeness, and rewards us with power and purpose (Jung 1980, ps.10-11, 25, 27, 32). From this Jungian perspective, there could be nothing more important to our health and development that to give hidden energies expression in safe and nurturing ways.
The inner music and as powerful antidote
The song we are humming is giving us a message. So how do we work with it? The process is quite simple, but what is hardest is paying attention to the song in the first place. The song emerges from deep within, or on other occasions it may come over the radio and have deep resonance with us. It connects to us in some profound way and we notice it. Our job is to notice when this happens, which requires some self-awareness. If this is hard for you, then meditation helps us becomes more self-aware, so that when we hear that song or feel that connection, we are present to notice it. Then we are able to act on the inner message.
Once we are aware that a song has connected with us, then next step is to investigate the song. If you don’t know what the song is, track it down. Find the name, the artist, and get it on Spotify. Next stage is to find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed- this is the therapeutic part of the process. Sit with the song and play it. If it has lyrics then write these down, or sing along and become brutally present with it. Imagine the words are expression of your own inner self, a sub-personality speaking through you to your conscious ego. It is a part of you seeking expression for a part of your life you have not been able to understand fully. It may be a present or past situation, it contains emotions you have repressed.
Imagine the music being an expression of the deep emotions within you, feel them, ride them, and let them immerse your body. The good thing about SMT is that there are tangible results, we are not just imagining things, you will be rewarded by the process with cathartic release, greater self-knowledge, and a feeling of deep connection with forgotten aspects of yourself. Most often the music and lyrics will ‘hit home’, they will burst open the flood gates and result in a deep cathartic expression of emotion usually though crying and insight. This catharises will emerge with a deep sense of recognition about the deep feeling you repress, the emotion you weren’t able to feel, the memory you stagnated. Maybe you shut them off to feel strong, to protect yourself, or maybe it wasn’t safe or appropriate to express these emotions.
The outcome of SMT is like lifting a weight off your heart, removing a backpack you have been carrying for the past months or years. All of a sudden, a space emerges in you where joy and happiness can reside. You feel lighter, more in tune, more connected. This process helps you create a relationship with yourself, built on trust and acknowledgment. You become aware that there are deep aspects of you that seek expression. It changes your relationship to life, as you notice synchronicities as expressions of these energies trying to gain your attention. It encourages you to start a dialogue with these deeper aspects. Life becomes more meaningful as your connection grows and you start to know yourself better and a sense of greater wholeness emerges.
2. Induced Subconscious Music
The spontaneous arrival of inner music is powerful, because it suggests that the message from the subconscious is ripe for expression. The rewards are instantaneous if we can hear the call. But this process can be an ongoing therapy for health and well-being that we can used in our lives, helping us to understand the deeper parts of ourselves and clean up repressions before they become painful. Think of your life as a giant canvas that is being orchestrated by the subconscious. This is how Jung saw life, not as a series of random events, but as a narrative that we are unconsciously creating within and without (Jung 1980, p.10). Our job is to notice we are creators in our lives, and to become more aware and present. We can use this perspective to become more aware of the music tastes we have, at how they vary at different times in our lives. What music are we drawn to this week, this month, this year? What music excites us today? Think of these musical desires, not as random events, but as expression aided by the subconscious. We are drawn to music in our lives because something within us feels connected to them. We can explore this sinner music to become more aware of our internal narratives and dramas. We may even want to express these through art, such as painting, writing, or making music from that place. Analysis of these works gives us even more insight- this is the basis of my Sound-Soul workshops.
Summary
When you notice a song emerge, use the process described to explore the music. Explore its lyrics, tone, and mood and investigate why it resonates with you. What in the music is reflected in your current life events? What does the music’s mood say about you? What lyrical ideas resonate? We can these insights to gain a better understanding of our inner lives, liberating the pent-up emotions, repressed ideas, and depressions we are harbouring. This makes way for more space and freedom in our hearts and minds, where joy can emerge. Joy naturally emerges when we aren’t weighed down by heavy emotions or pent-up thoughts, it is the consequence of catharsis.
If you would like to know more about Subconscious Music Therapy, or would like to work with someone to explore this fascinating work, then get in touch.
References
Eliade, Mircea. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. Translated by Willard R. Trask, Princeton University Press, 1964.
Frazer, James George. The Illustrated Golden Bough. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.
Jung, C. G. Psychology and Alchemy. Translated by R. F. C. Hull, 2nd ed., Routledge, 1980.
