Cancer Fighters Thrive is a quarterly print and online magazine bringing readers practical, innovative and inspirational information about cancer treatment and survivorship.
Issue link: http://cancerfightersthrive.epubxp.com/i/259111
spring 2014 | cancer fighters thrive 9 cf thrive. com "While you're drumming, you're not thinking about treatment or cancer," she says. "I forget that anything is wrong with me. I just get lost in the moment." HEALING VIBES A former Dominican friar, international recording artist and trained therapist who often uses music to help people deal- ing with diffcult life changes such as can- cer, Kelly Walker believes that music has a powerful vibrational energy that can be transformative and touch the soul in unique ways. "Bioenergetics would say that energy that is not expressed goes somewhere. It is important that any negative energy be moved for healing," Walker says. "By sounding that energy, whether through drumming or humming or chanting or even using the 'om,' it can help us relieve fear, tension, sadness, rage." Walker believes that even the simple act of humming can have a healing effect, as those vibrations are able to reach parts of the human body that no other medium can touch. As a therapist in private prac- tice, Walker has encouraged patients to try various types of music therapy, including chanting, singing and humming, as a way to heal. He describes musical vibration as a "salve" for the soul. "Music becomes a tangible thing through vibration," Walker explains. "The sound vibrates into us and through us and thus lifts up our spirits or calms our soul. Some- times it leads parts of us that have been frightened or damaged to dance again." Walker says that live musical perfor- mances, whether improvisational or com- posed, activate the air, surrounding both the performers and the audience with a unique spiritual energy that is embod- ied as a total experience. "Music creates a bond that goes beyond words, and it can create a community of healing and a community of hope," he says. Walker believes that performing music in a communal setting can also be a lib- erating experience, especially for those who have been unable to share their feel- ings in other ways. "Participants are able to express their feelings in a crowd of people who are going to be accepting of those feelings because they are doing the same," he says. "It can help them mani- fest some of the things that are going on inside of them, whether it's anger or fear or sadness. Music can take them by the hand and lead them to places they would have never thought of going otherwise. It can help people rise up and stay alive in their spirit." Andrew Ecker and Juanita Acosta cftSp#23vky.indd 9 2/3/14 11:10 PM