BHOPAL: The world is waging a desperate struggle to find ways to prevent and treat COVID-19. Efforts are on to develop a vaccine for the disease and drugs are being tested for their efficacy in helping save the lives of those infected with the deadly virus.
Music is long known as a powerful therapy that can aid healing – both physical and mental. Can it help us combat the coronavirus? “Not directly”, Aarti Sinha, 56, the only ‘sound healer’ in central India told Free Press. But it can help boost immunity, improve respiratory system and battle depression – all of which are valuable aids in dealing with corona pandemic.
When the bowls are hit with a special gong, they produce sounds, according to chakra frequency and that has a healing effect.
Aarti said that during lockdown, she helped over 5,000 people in India and abroad to deal with the corona-induced stress and depression. Her therapy also helps to breathe better.
“The disease itself is only a part of the problem. Dealing with the side-effects of the pandemic is equally important,” she says. Financial crunch, loss of jobs, forced separation from loved ones, stress and anxiety are common in these times. And sound therapy can help to deal with them. “I held five hour-long workshops for about 300 NRIs living in the US who were feeling depressed because they had been stranded in that country and could not come home. They were worried about their parents or children who were in India,” she said.
Aarti said that sound therapy can also help people learn how to breathe properly. “When we are stressed, our breathing becomes shallow. Deep breathing can help us de-stress ourselves,” she said. Sound therapy can help bring down blood pressure and release ‘feel good’ hormones, she said.
