Music to Soothe Your Dog's Soul... And Yours

There is nothing like music to calm the nervous system, or to revive it. It can help us increase our exercise capacity, revive us at work, and add mojo to our romantic rendezvous. We love it and we thrive on it. But what does it do for our health?

Of late, I have been using music for its calming abilities with my dog, Pansy. She has a nervous disposition, which has been worse with the seasonal thunderstorms. This month, even the trash truck can make her pace and pant. 

I’ve tried pheromone collars and “thundershirts” (like snuggies for dogs) with some moderate success. The most effective therapy by far, however, is Sara Vaughan singing “Just a Little Lovin’.” Miles Davis works too, especially his jazz standards, and Enya worked well for July 4th fireworks last month.

Take-home message: Music is a dramatic player in nervous system activity—and not just for canines. The emotionally transparent simplicity of a dog’s nervous system sheds light on human psychology. On the high side of musical stimulation, there is the well-researched marketing strategy that uses booming techno pop to sell products to teens. The same music that makes me leave a store immediately (I’m 43) excites the younger brain in a different way.  High-energy music can trip the growing brain into an ADD mode, which promotes impulsivity and improves sales.

Can we intelligently choose music that supports the healthy function of our nervous system? Didgeridoo, sacred chanting, gongs, and Tibetan singing bowls: these are some ways which musical vibration has been studied and shown to heal. 

I had an experience with a gong master at a retreat a few years ago. With a group of about 200 others, we lay on our back on our yoga mats, with eyes closed as he performed. I heard the entire universe in the vibrations of that gong. I heard babies being born, neighbors quarreling, a grandmother’s goodbye, and lovers consorting.

I created all this from the sound vibrations, which found their way to the delicate bones of my inner ear, where they were translated by my mind into a magnificent totality. 

If you accept the definition of healing as: to make whole, that experience of musical vibration brought me there.