Sound and Emotion

Have you ever noticed how intimately sound andare create. My Research has shown me that
emotion are connected? Have you ever hurtwhen emotions are expressed ' which is to say
yourself without saying 'ouch!' or something like it?that the biochemicals that are the substrate of
Have you noticed how well one of the infamousemotion are flowing freely ' all systems are united
'four letter words' accompanies anger, frustrationand made whole. When emotions are repressed,
or rage? Celebrating just isn't the same without adenied, not allowed to be whatever they may be,
yippee! Or hooray! And what about an 'oooooo'our network pathways get blocked, stopping the
when pleasantly surprised, or a scream whenflow of the vital feel-good, unifying chemicals that
terrified? Laughter is accompanied by all kinds ofrun both our biology and our behavior. This, I
emotions, even attempts to cover up emotions.believe, is the state of unhealed feeling we want
Have you ever burst into spontaneous song (orso desperately to escape from. My research has
humming) when absolutely thrilled or excited?shown me that the body can and must be healed
Emotions move us. If you look at the word likethrough the mind, and the mind can and must be
this, e-motion, notice that most of word is motion.healed through the body. Your body is your
Emotion needs to move through us. But this isn'tsubconscious mind and you can't heal it by talk
always the case. Sometimes emotions arealone."
repressed and get stuck in our bodies.We are all familiar with the adrenaline (a peptide)
So let's take a look at the biology of emotions.charge we experience with certain situations,
Candace Pert's work gives us a clear picture ofespecially if we perceive them as threatening. As
how emotions work and move in the body. In herwe repeat the story of this experience to
book, "Molecules of Emotion" she states:ourselves (over and over) and to anybody else
"The point I am making is that your brain iswho will listen, we continue to experience the
extremely well integrated with the rest of yourcharge. The body does not know the difference
body at a molecular level, so much so that thebetween the real experience and the imagined
term mobile brain is an apt description of theone. Not only that, Ms. Pert's research also shows
psychosomatic network through which intelligentthat maintaining a barrage of emotional (peptide)
information travels from one system to another.charge in the body can alter the peptide
Every one of the zones, or systems, of thereceptors. That means not only that this
network ' the neural, the hormonal, theemotional charge becomes addictive, returning the
gastrointestinal, and the immune ' is set up toreceptors to their normal state can be challenging.
communicate with one another, via peptides andThe movie, "What the Bleep do we Know," has
messenger-specific peptide receptors. Everyan enlightening animation of how this happens.
second, a massive information exchange isSo we end up with our thoughts creating
occurring in your body. Imagine each of theseemotional blocks, stuck patterns and possibly
messenger systems possessing a specific tone,disease. If you get to the stage where you
humming a signature tune, rising and falling, waxingdecide to create a change, there is good news.
and waning, binding and unbinding, and if we couldAlthough most of this information network works
hear this body music with our ears, then the sumat an unconscious level, we can enter it
of these sounds would be the music that we callconsciously at will. And it will respond. Sound,
the emotions. As we have seen, theparticularly your voice, and sound with visualization
neuropeptides and their receptors are thework at the level of mind, body and emotion
substrates of the emotions, and they are insimultaneously. The "story" never needs to enter
constant communication with the immune system,the picture.
the mechanism through which health and disease