Tag: healing

Healing Power of Sound: Recovery from Life-Threatening Illness Using Sound, Voice, and Music

Healing Power of Sound: Recovery from Life-Threatening Illness Using Sound, Voice, and Music[rating:5/5]

It is often nearly impossible to find good books on the use of sound for healing that are not filled with a bunch of new age garbage (as a rule, I’ve found most of those types of books to be so filled with shoddy “research” that I tend to shun them entirely). This book, however, was written by an M.D., and a respected one at that. While The Healing Power of Sound is really a collection of Dr. Gaynor’s anecdotal experiences using such things as Himalayan Singing Bowls, he provides readers with a cogent and coherent overview of the use of sound as an ancient and highly effective treatment modality. Of particular interest is the fact that Dr. Gaynor in an oncologist and works with terminally ill patients who are often in tremendous pain.

With luck, others in the medical and helping professions will read this book (and; hopefully, with an open mind) and begin to learn about the very effective ideas that Dr. Gaynor describes.

Power of Sound: How to Manage Your Personal Soundscape for a Vital, Productive, and Healthy Life

Power of Sound: How to Manage Your Personal Soundscape for a Vital, Productive, and Healthy Life[rating:4/5]

The Power of Sound was, overall, an interesting book on psychoacoustics. Written by a musician, the author describes many of his personal experiences and with the use of sound for healing and describes many fascinating stories regarding those who advocate for the use of sound and music as therapy. Overall, Joshua Leeds does an excellent job and his book leaves one wanting to learn more. Just the same, my own personal biases prevent me from fully endorsing this book as some of his references are, at best, weak. Most notably are those pertaining to Don Campbell and the “Mozart Effect.” Campbell’s book lacks substance and essentially plagiarizes (and bastardizes) the legitimate work of Gordon Shaw, I cannot fully accept the work of those who endorse Campbell.

I would; however, recommend this book to those who are willing to read it with a critical eye and find that it has a great deal of heuristic value.