EP 21: The Healing Power of Sound With Music Therapist Andrea Cortez
Episode Length: 1:10:50
This week’s episode is an incredibly fascinating conversation about music and sound with Andrea Cortez. Andrea is a board certified music therapist, sound artist and sound meditation instructor. She specializes in studying the effects of music on the brain and body to help people rehabilitate from brain injury and neurological disorders. She founded the Mind Body Music center whose mission is to utilize and promote music’s inherent therapeutic and healing qualities in order to elevate the minds, bodies and hearts of others. Her work has brought her to playing music for animals and even with plants using a fascinating device called Plant Wave that detects electrical variations in plants and these variations are then translated into pitch messages that play musical instruments. Be sure to listen to the end of the episode to hear more about how Andrea composes music with plants. Throughout the conversation you’ll also have a chance to hear samples of music that Andrea has composed with plants and compiled into her Secret Song of Plants album. If you want to learn more about Andrea, her teachings, and journey into the world of sound, tune into her podcast called Sound Meditation Radio.
“We are wired for sound.” - Our Nature x Andrea Cortez
“We take in sound through our ears and we take it in through our body.” - Our Nature x Andrea Cortez
“There is music in nature and there is nature in music.” - Our Nature x Andrea Cortez
“Nature has intrinsically in it–harmony, rhythm, pulse, melody.” - Our Nature x Andrea Cortez
“We are made of the elements in nature. We have harmony in us.” - Our Nature x Andrea Cortez
“We are music. Our breathing is rhythmic. Our heartbeat is rhythmic. The brain waves that run on cycles are rhythmic. Everything has to be harmonized inside of us to properly sync.” - Our Nature x Andrea Cortez
Resources
Show Notes
Andrea’s definition of music therapy
Andrea’s relationship with music as a child and how her Mexican heritage shaped her future
The difference between sound therapy and music therapy
Why you don’t need sound healers to be able to heal
The benefits of sound therapy on the physical and emotional body
What sound does to your nervous system
How the voice is the most powerful instrument because it resonates so deeply within us
A quick exercise that uses vowels to calm our bodies
The history of chanting in different cultures
Why some sound baths have traditionally been jarring for some people
Why Andrea plays for the most sensitive person in the room
The role that music has played for our ancestors and what it can teach us about evolution
The instruments Andrea uses in music and sound therapy
Ways to hear healing sounds without going to a sound or music therapy session
How cymatics studies variations in liquid
A mindfulness practice of sitting in nature
The mathematical difference between noise and sound
Andrea’s collaborations with plants and animals
All about the Plant Wave device
The reason why plants respond to our touch
The last five questions
Connect with Andrea:
Connect with The Our Nature Podcast:
Sign up for the Our Nature Newsletter: www.ournaturepodcast.com
The Last Five Questions
What is your favorite place in nature?
Hawaii, Maui–the beach...swimming with the turtles.
What is the animal, mineral or plant that resonates with you the most?
Horse.
What is one thing we can do right now to connect with the natural world and bring more harmony into our lives?
Learn how to listen deeply in nature.
What’s the greatest lesson nature has taught you?
Nature is a reflection–a mirror. It makes me feel vast and expansive and that’s what its going to give me every time I connect.
Complete this sentence: Nature brings me…
Peace.
Gratitude List:
This podcast would not be possible without the group of talented individuals below. I offer them my sincerest thanks and love.
Graphics by: Tim LaSalle
Music by: Nick Ceglia