{"id":203,"date":"2009-02-26T00:03:12","date_gmt":"2009-02-26T05:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/?p=203"},"modified":"2014-11-17T16:49:57","modified_gmt":"2014-11-17T21:49:57","slug":"music-and-coma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2009\/02\/music-and-coma\/","title":{"rendered":"Music and Coma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Musicians set the tone for healing<\/a><\/h3>\n
The many applications of music for healing: hospice settings, coma, stroke and rehab of all kinds. Enjoy this fabulous story:<\/p>\n
Anna Jenkins wears a solemn expression while she gracefully plucks the strings on her harp. The notes fill the room and coat it with an aura of peace.
\nNext to her, in a hospital bed, a patient is dying.
\nJenkins is one of a handful of music therapists who volunteer at St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way.
\n\u201cI usually am serious because I\u2019m playing for people that are very sick,\u201d Jenkins said.
\nThe notes are dream-like and seem to float from the harp, following no recognizable melody. To play a song a person recognized would hold them in reality, Jenkins said. An unfamiliar song helps people let go.
\n\u201cThey can just listen to that and drift off,\u201d she said. \u201cMusic helps people to let go and if they\u2019re actively dying, their hearing is the last thing that stays with them.\u201d
\nJenkins doesn\u2019t only play for those who are dying. She also plays to relax those who are critically or chronically ill. She plays for children and the elderly as well as patients just coming out of a difficult surgery. Music helps heal, Jenkins said.
\nShe recalled a story from two years ago. She was playing the harp at a comatose patient\u2019s bedside while the family gathered around singing hymns. The man suddenly awoke from a coma.
\nIt could have coincidentally been his time to wake up, but Jenkins likes to think otherwise.
\n\u201cI couldn\u2019t help but wonder if the love from all his family there somehow reached him,\u201d she said.
\nFor those who are dying, Jenkins spends a considerable amount of the afternoon playing her harp at their bedside. A story in the Bible mentions angels playing the harp at a person\u2019s death.
\n\u201cThere are rare occasions where it\u2019s a little scary for people,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cThey say \u2018Oh no, I\u2019m not ready for that.\u2019\u201d
\nAlthough Jenkins insists she is not an angel, she said there is often a spiritual presence in the room when she plays.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve had people comment that they\u2019ve been touched by the spirit. I don\u2019t want to imply that it\u2019s me, but it\u2019s something that happens in the room at the time,\u201d she said.
\nSoothing music reduces a patient\u2019s blood pressure, relieves anxiety and affects the heart rate, said Renee Krisko, a chaplain at St. Francis. Krisco assigns Jenkins and other music therapists to patients who would most benefit from the music.
\n\u201cI believe there are medical healing effects to this,\u201d she said.
\nJenkins said she\u2019s watched a person\u2019s heart rate go down on the monitor while she\u2019s playing. She was trained in music therapy as part of the Music for Healing and Transition program.
\nAlthough most people will never have the opportunity to hear Jenkins play the harp, all visitors to St. Francis could meet Bonnie Knight-Graves.
\nGraves volunteers to play the piano in the lobby and in the mental health ward at St. Francis several days each week.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s serving the public, actually,\u201d Graves said of her work. \u201cIt\u2019s setting the tone for people coming into the hospital.\u201d
\nMusic is healing because it relieves a patient\u2019s anxiety, Graves said.
\n\u201cIt frees the mind of stress and gives them a more relaxed approach to life so they can heal themselves,\u201d she said. \u201cThe body can heal itself if it\u2019s not loaded down with stress.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve all known someone in a coma. The question is always “can they really hear me or hear music playing?” My answer, based on hundreds of anecdotal accounts is a resounding “yes!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[147],"yoast_head":"\nMusic and Coma - Healing Music Enterprises Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/healingmusicenterprises.com\/blog\/2009\/02\/music-and-coma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Music and Coma - Healing Music Enterprises Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We've all known someone in a coma. 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