That's "Mr. Rotten" to you.
If you hang around sound healing-ey people long enough you’ll inevitably bump into the discussion of spiritual music. It usually goes a little something like this.
Sound Healing-ey Person #1: If you really want to keep your vibrations high, you have to listen to music that’s spiritual.
Sound Healing-ey Person #2: Oh, definitely. Otherwise you won’t be able to see auras/channel angels/ascend.
Sound Healing-ey Person #1: Right! That’s why I stopped listening to rock ‘n roll. It’s so low vibrational. (said like they just stepped in a pile of dog crap)
Sound Healing-ey Person #2: Yeah, rock ‘n roll is totally first chakra. Eww.
Most of the sound healing-ey people I’ve met love to talk about spiritual music. How it’s basically a requirement to listen to this oh-so-spiritual music if you want to be healed. Or do healing work. Or be a spiritual person (whatever that means).
And usually this spiritual music is stuff you’d find in the New Age section your local music store. Lots of cheesy synthesizers. The obligatory panpipes. Samples of seagulls squawking over the sound of computerized oceans.
Sorry folks, but I have to call bullshit on this one.
The problem with this idea is that it’s rooted in a crazy limited definition of spiritual and a crazy limited definition of healing. Plus it’s sprinkled with a pretty hearty helping of pompous asshat-ishness too.
I mean, I’m not knocking you if Yanni’s your thing. That’s totally cool. But I give a great big thumbs down to this whole spiritual music thing.
All music can be spiritual. And all music can be healing.
Unless, of course, you define spiritual as meditation-ey and healing as calming. Then, yeah, maybe you don’t get how the Sex Pistols fit into this equation.
But they do.
Men Man In Black
By the time I hit junior high school, I was weird kooky eccentric different.
Black shirt. Black pants. Black eyeliner. Doc Martens. I did the goth/punk thing before MTV decided it was cool. To make matters worse, I rode skateboards and painted and listened to The Cure.
Did I mention that I grew up in Ohio?
So, yeah, I felt like a total outcast. And the football players that used me as a punching bag, and my paintings as a football, didn’t help matters much.
Enter Johnny Rotten
I was a kid who couldn’t find my place. I wasn’t even sure I had a place. I figured the best I could do was to keep my head down to avoid the jeers, and tuck myself in the corner to dodge the punches.
I felt broken.
But the Sex Pistols changed that. With their raucous this-is-who-we-are-up-yours! vibe, they gave me the strength to take a stand. They made it ok to be different. They gave me the courage to come out of the corner.
I spent hours and hours listening to Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols. I’d ride my bike, playing Anarchy In The UK full blast on my Walkman.
Throwing my fist in the air.
Pumping myself up.
Finding the courage to be ok with me.
Making space for me in the world.
At that point in my life, that was pretty much the most healing thing ever.
Fast forward
But this goes way beyond a self-conscious, black t-shirt wearing kid growing up in the Midwest.
A buddy of mine listens to Every Rose Has Its Thorn by Poison when he hits a rough patch in his life. He said it gives him the ability to accept what’s going on, to not get totally immersed in ack and to keep moving forward.
Another friend of mine spins stuff by The String Cheese Incident for hours at a time. The music evokes these gorgeous transcendent experiences, and they feel totally free.
Their day-to-day life is all kinds of stressful, and they’ve spent most of their life feeling crazy restricted. So freedom? That’s exactly what they need.
I have a client that came to me to find some healing after a horrific relationship left her feeling completely battered. Her self-esteem had been so shredded that, in talking to me before her session, she couldn’t find a single positive thing to say about herself.
That was heartbreaking.
She was trying to rebuild herself, and her life. But she couldn’t find her strength. And she was filled with doubt.
So beyond to the work we did together, I encouraged her to start listening to music that made her feel strong. Whatever it was.
Now every morning, she gets up and listens to Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor three times before she leaves the house. Three times.
Because this song makes her think of Rocky – his strength and his determination to win, despite the odds. She fills herself up with this mojo. And she’s healing beautifully.
Forget the rules. Go with your heart.
All music is spiritual, because every song is capable of moving the spirit. That’s one of the most amazing things about music, and about sound in general. It reaches down deep and goes straight to our roots. It helps us to remember that we have roots in those moments when we’ve forgotten.
And all music is healing too. Because healing comes in so many different forms.
Sometimes that means meditation-ey bliss induced by panpipes and squawking seagulls.
Other times it means stoking the internal fire and finding the courage to stand up for who you are thanks to a kick ass punk song.
And sometimes that means finding peace through glam rock, freedom through jam bands or strength through songs from a soundtrack.
So if you bump into one of the sound healing gurus prattling on about how you should be listening to spiritual music, tell them what they can do with their panpipes.
Forget the rules. Listen to what you dig. Go with your heart.
What music gets your spirit groovin’?
Which songs have helped you to find some healing-ey goodness?
Tell me about the music you dig.
For those about to rock, we salute you.