Music therapy is a different approach to personalizing and customizing your medical care and your therapy. It is all about the science. At Gsus Music Therapy Services & Center, LLC, we utilize biofeedback as a baseline indicator to establish where an individual is and to help us determine how best to chart out where an individual would like to go in their therapy journey – which is just a fancy way of saying we use the data your body provides (like your heartbeat, your brainwave functioning, your pulse, even your rate of breathing) to customize your treatment to goals you identify. We do it all through music and musical elements and training based in music therapy clinical foundations, biofeedback (a medical and clinical assessment process), and HeartMath science. Through this approach, we are able to address the whole self; and as a result, healthful benefits begin happening within the mind, the body, and the spirit.
We do this because we are rhythm. Our hearts beat to a certain rhythm – our biological rhythm. We breathe to a certain rhythm – also our biological rhythm. Even our sleeping and waking cycles happen to a rhythm – our chronobiological or circadian rhythm. The human body is an incredible collaboration of multiple complex systems that layer together into a driving rhythmic force working together in the groove of life. We breathe, talk, eat, chew, sleep, wake, and move to a rhythm. We are breathing, talking, chewing, sleeping, waking, moving and grooving polyrhythmic beings. And all rhythm needs a groove to fit in to.
In music therapy, we call the process of fitting your biology into a groove entrainment. Entrainment, in the biomusicological sense, refers to the synchronization of organisms – or in this case complex body systems – to an external perceived rhythm. Essentially, we use music you prefer and we customize it to your body’s biological functions to intentionally entrain your body’s functions, from your brain to your cells, to musical stimuli and then recalibrate what is happening within your body. Sometimes this requires we speed things up; and other times, it requires that we slow things down. As we do this, we teach you the tools and exercises necessary for you to be able to take control of specific portions of your body’s health, as well as how to maintain it as part of a regular personal self-care routine. Through consistent application of the tools and exercises we will provide, as a result, a type of domino-effect begins to take place within the body day by day, leading to healthfulness.
Let’s face it, if you are going through this thing called Life, there are situations and circumstances that we all experience that throw off our rhythm and groove. Daily stressors come. Emergencies arise. Issues pop up. And over time, these all add up and begin to have an impact on our overall health; and not just the health of our bodies, but of our minds and spirits too. We are all a mind, a body, and a spirit and what we feed each of those parts of ourselves matters. Think of it as a whole-self diet. Through mindfulness meditation practice and biofeedback music therapy and assessment, we address all 3 sides of the self through individual and group sessions. Session work spans across 12-18 weeks – depending on the individual or group. In this period, we assess and then intentionally recalibrate and reset your natural groove, while we teach you the tools necessary to maintain a path towards wellness and better health.
By including biofeedback data into our music therapy assessments and interventions, along with HeartMath applications, we are able to better help an individual become more aware of their independent body systems, provide education about these things that are person-specific, and teach the process of controlling these systems voluntarily. Within the body, our systems all directly impact one another. Through biofeedback, an individual is able to gain a greater sense of awareness and understanding of what is happening within their own body. By learning to intentionally control and regulate these systems, greater wellness and health can be achieved.
Research shows us that overall cardiovascular health is impacted through these applications. There is an 1)increase of blood flow and oxygenation, 2)energy enzyme production is increased, and 3)health conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure, and cholesterol are impacted. Through consistent and intentional periods of self-regulation, research shows us that 4)individuals can also increase their blood stroke volume, which in turn serves as a catalyst that 5)increases healthy cholesterol while decreasing unhealthy triglycerides, which in turn 6)increases overall immune health.
But we did mention “from your brain to your cells”. With consistent and intentional periods of voluntary system regulation, our cells become impacted through the increase of neurotransmitter production – which is just a fancy way of saying the tools we provide will increase your brain’s production of endorphins and other chemicals that regulate and balance things like emotions, mood, memory, cognition, attention span, concentration, alertness, energy, appetite, cravings, sleep, our perception of pain, relaxation response, motor control, and our 8)ability to learn, memorize, and recall information, as well as 9)increases neuroplasticity. This takes places because our cells have to talk to each other to transfer this intentionally stimulated and released chemical information. Neurotransmitters affect every cell, tissue, and system within us. This kind of regulation also allows for the 10)regulation of brainwaves – alpha, beta, theta, delta, and gamma.
Everything we do – all of our movements, thoughts, and feelings – are the result of our cells talking with one another. Because neurotransmitters are integrated with our immune and endocrine systems (including the adrenal glands), neurotransmitter imbalances can cause a wide range of health problems such as:
- Brain fog – loss of mental focus, ADD, ADHD, impaired memory, poor decision making;
- Fatigue;
- Insomnia – difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or both;
- Pain – migraines, fibromyalgia
- Obesity – metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and diabetes;
- Mood disorders – depression, mood swings, irritability
- Anxiety – panic, obsessions, PTSD
- Behavioral disturbances – addictions, binge eating, compulsions impulsivity, gambling, autism; and
- Hormonal imbalances – PMS, estrogen dominance, low testosterone, hypothyroidism.
At Gsus Music Therapy Services & Center, LLC, our philosophy is to treat people with unconditional positive regard, and to meet them where they are to help them move to where they would like to be. We have many who come to us for music therapy treatment dealing with a wide range of needs and concerns. We do not believe an individual should be defined by their symptoms, diseases, or conditions. We believe that when an individual is dealing with an issue, all of who they are – mind, body, and spirit – is involved in the process. The tools we provide through mindfulness meditation, based on your personal biofeedback and clinical music therapy foundations, wellness can be achieved.
Do you want to make a referral for services? Would you like more information about music therapy? Are you interested in music therapy for yourself, a loved one, or group? Give us a call at 512.754.9631, message us here or on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/gsusmusictherapy, or send us an email at gsus.musictherapy@gmail.com or fill out the ‘Contact Us‘ form right here on our site.
We wish you the grooviest of days and at least moment that takes your breath away and makes your heart smile!
The Gsus Music Therapy Treatment Team
Gsus Music Therapy Services & Center, LLC 