Beyond Clinical Walls Podcast

Healing Harmonies: Yuval Ron on the Therapeutic Power of Music

• Dr. BCW - Dr. Curry-Winchell, M.D. • Season 1 • Episode 10

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When the harmonies of healing intertwine with the melodies of life, transformation begins. Join us for an intimate conversation with the enchanting Yuval Ron, an Oscar-winning composer whose mastery of music transcends entertainment, delving deep into the realms of health and well-being. From the echo of nature's chorus in his youth to the pulsating beats that earned him cinematic acclaim, Yuval unveils the narrative of his musical voyage and its poignant intersection with therapeutic science. As a practitioner who's no stranger to the soothing cadence of a well-chosen track, I share my personal experiences with the subtle art of prescribing rhythms and harmonies that mend the mind and rejuvenate the spirit. 

Witness the democratization of healing as we navigate the liberating decision to release 40 Hz music therapy into the public domain, a step towards bridging gaps in health equity. Our discussion spotlights the Inspired Sound Initiative, a beacon of hope for at-risk youth and underserved communities, fostering an environment where music, dance, and storytelling aren't mere acts of expression but tools for empowerment. As we bid farewell, I extend heartfelt thanks to you for embarking on this auditory journey with us, reminding you to stay tuned for future explorations that promise to enrich your heart, mind, and soul, here on Beyond Clinical Walls.

Thank you for Listening to Beyond Clinical Walls Podcast.
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Speaker 1:

Hi everyone. It's Dr BCW. I am so excited to introduce you to my next guest. His name is Yuval and he is just an amazing individual who has done so much just in general in his life. But the reason why I'm excited to introduce you is the work that he's putting forward in respect to music and healing and all of the internet workings that can happen in that space he's doing, and so I'm going to just read a little bit about him and then, of course, let him introduce himself as well. So Yuval Ron is an award-winning composer who has been involved in the world of music therapy since a commission in 1990 from researcher Robert Monroe of the Monroe Institute for Hymny Sync Music Composition using binaural beats.

Speaker 1:

He has collaborated with multiple neuroscientists as well as he's the founding director of the record label Meta Mindfulness Music, which produces quality intentional healing music for use in clinics and treatment centers worldwide. He has been invited to perform meditative music for the Dalai Lama, as well as numerous master musicians around the world. He has also been invited to speak at numerous schools, including Yale, john Hopkins, ucla, middlebury College, mit and Berkeley College of Music. When I talk about just all of the things that he puts forward in respect to music, it really spans not only movies, television, but also, as I mentioned before, he is intentional with wanting to share music and put it forward in a way that can help people heal, and also his music has been really transformational in making change in people's lives in respect to certain illnesses and ailments and diseases that they're dealing with. I am so excited for you to meet you all. Welcome to Beyond Clinical Walls. It is a pleasure to have you.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, dr BCW. I'm happy to be with you and with the audience. I'm very excited about finding out about your work, which that's the big bonus for me and talking with you and sharing with you and your audience about the work that I do. So, thank you, thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1:

When we connected, I was just really excited to meet someone who you know. When we talk about music and we know that it can be, as I mentioned before, vital in so many different areas, and what you are doing to ensure that it's available in different mediums to help people, I think is fantastic. The first question I always ask is for you to share why you do what you do. I think that is just always powerful for the listeners to hear.

Speaker 2:

Yes, you know, the work that I do starts from being in love with sound. As a little kid I fell in love with the sound of the classical guitar and I also loved the sound around me, the sound of birds, sound of even machines. Even in a gas station I would listen to the pumps, the people putting the pump back and it's, and then clack, clack, and I would hear those rhythms. So I would tune into rhythms in nature, in the industrial world, in the urban environment, and I was just in love with sound and that's really what drew me in to be a musician and for music to be my life. And then I found that I had a gift for writing music for the theater. I did the first music for theater when I was 19. And it really transformed the play and I realized, wow, there's, there's power and magic for the music. It makes the play better, it makes the acting seems more engaging, it makes the audience more engaged emotionally. So I sensed the power of music in the theater.

Speaker 2:

And then I wanted to go into movies and films and TV. So I came to Boston. I was raised and born in Israel and I came to Boston in 1985 to study music for films Because I thought that, just like the power of music in theater, there is power of music and films and TV, and I wanted to know how I can help the directors make the audience really feel deeply the emotions of the story. So I learned how to do that and I started practicing that and writing music for film and TV, and that brought me to Hollywood, to Los Angeles, and I've written a lot of music for films and TV and I won an Oscar for a film in 2007, west Bank Story.

Speaker 2:

And along the line I met some doctors and neuroscientists and they asked me if I would be interested to compose music for them, for their patients, for, just like I do in movies and TV, in engaging the emotions, how would I do that? In order to invoke or bring in the energies or the relaxation or the boost of the immune system with music, and that was a great creative challenge for me. So I love the idea of doing something that could help people on one basis, just one patient at a time. Each person that listened to the music could be affected, and then I could, through that, contribute to making the world a better place, so having more inner peace, more health, more relaxation, more meditative mode and better sleep and all those things. So it's very rewarding. You know, when people write to me all the time notes and comments and emails about how the music affected their life and well-being, it's the most rewarding thing really. So that's what I do. That's why I do what I do.

Speaker 1:

I love that and for my listeners, they know when we talk about Beyond Clinical Walls or Dr BCW, it's about delivering healthcare in a non-traditional format and really embracing that. That health can be of different elements and I think it's important that we look at those options because it's not a one-size-fits-all. We are all different flavors, different makeups, and whatever we can do to help someone, whether it's their physical and mental health, which I believe there is cross-pollination there we should really honor those different opportunities to help our inner soul. And I think music is so vital and is often not utilized as much as it should be. And in my practice a lot of people have heard me say Yuval, that I use that as a prescription.

Speaker 1:

I share that with my patients, that I think it's so important and it's a part of my practice. And not only is it a part of my practice, but when I'm in clinic those who have seen me in my little office I always have music going on, and so I think it's something that should be weaved into our fabric throughout our lives, and so I love that you have not only helped the world through, of course, the amazing movies and television shows, but also through that individual piece of helping people in different times of their lives through the music that you create, and so one thing that I want to have listeners hear about is your work within the 40-hert space and how you've been able to really identify changes that can happen in cognition from that. So can you share with the listeners about that?

Speaker 2:

Yes, this is a very exciting breakthrough in brain science and in sound therapy science and it started in New York in one of the universities. They observed that people that are older and have cognitive impairment, when they start losing memory and all that they noticed that their brain does not vibrate anymore in a very high range of brainwaves called gamma, which is the highest, fastest vibration, which is connected with when our brain goes to intuitive mode, like when we are in our intuition. When we, let's say, have to go to a foreign city and find our way without a map, we just have to feel where the train station is. We can ask people, but we don't really have any map and we've never been there before. We have to kind of use our animal sense and our animal intuition to get by and our brain goes to that. Some spiritual, meditative activities relates to that and that is a very fast vibration in our brain, our brain pulsating very fast. It's faster pulsation than when we are now conversing. We are in our intellectual brain mode and that's called beta and gamma is much faster. So the tricky thing was that the gamma pulsation wave is between 30 hertz, which means 30 pulsation a second, to 100 hertz, which is 100 pulsation a second and between 30 and 100, there are 70 frequencies, 70 speeds of brain activity. And they didn't know, the researchers didn't know really, okay, which is the magic bullet, which is the magic vibration that he really makes a difference for the cognitive. They just knew that these people that start losing their memory, their brain just didn't vibrate anymore in that range. But they didn't know really. Where is the concept? Was that maybe we can give those vibrations back to those people and get their brain to recall memory again. But they didn't know which frequencies 30 to 100.

Speaker 2:

So MIT team, a laboratory in MIT, took on that challenge and they start testing mice that had a particular memory of where the food is and then they, the memory got impaired and they nailed down. In MIT they nailed down the frequency to 40 hertz, which means 40 pulsation a second. And they found that when they fed that pulsation to the mice through their eyes, through pulsating light, light that is pulsating 40 times a second. She's very fast. You just look to us like a bright light. We don't see even the 40 pulsation because it's so fast and also there's audio pulsation. So 40 pulsation through audio it just sounds like a bass tone. So they fed those pulsation to the brain of the mice and they saw that their memory ability, the cognitive function, improved, was amazing breakthrough Through that.

Speaker 2:

They found that that 40 hertz vibration is starting again, the cleaning crew that cleans up the memory pathways in the brain from the plaque, from just junk stuff that sits on those memory pathways. And we, our normal brain, have the capacity to clean. All the time they are cleaning crew, especially when we sleep. Our cleaning crew in our brain takes care of this little plaque that falls on our memory pathways when we get older. Some of us, many of us. Unfortunately, that cleaning crew stopped working. We don't know why.

Speaker 2:

The 40 Hertz sound and light pulsation restart the cleaning crew and the plaque is being cleaned from the pathways. It's also found that it increased blood flow in the brain, which is very important for healing from trauma. So now they use that 40 Hertz for helping people heal and recover from brain traumas, to recover from cognitive decline in the early stages and people who suffer from chronic pain, fibromyalgia, and it's also contributed to focus and concentration. And so this is all the information that I got from the scientists and they said to me look, we are just putting people in headphones for an hour a day listening to that Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Couldn't you possibly compose music in that key that will be harmonizing and featuring that tone of 40 Hertz and make it into a beautiful music that people could enjoy listening and receiving that medicine of that, basically a massage. It's a brain massage at 40 pulsation a second, which is found to be very healthy and beneficial.

Speaker 2:

So that was the challenge and the very exciting entry for me into that particular front of sound and the brain and I've been working on creating music in different musical styles and we found out that 40 Hertz, 40 pulsation a second, that tone does not exist on the piano. It falls in between the keys. Our piano, all of our music, is tuned. We tune our instrument in a way that 40 Hertz is just not part of the sounds that we have on our Western instruments, which is a system that was just created 200 years ago of how to tune instruments, and so I had to tune the instruments lower so the strings are looser and the sound tend to be warmer and looser sound and that yield the correct tuning for that 40 Hertz sound to be part of the music and I compose music that is all around that tone and we created so far three albums of. One is it's called the healing power of 40 Hertz, volume three it's all jazz piano ballads, soothing jazz piano ballads in that style, in that key of 40 Hertz. Then we created kind of Eastern music, world music with Indian instruments and Persian instruments. We created some new age music and now we work on a classical piano album and a vocal choral singing album which I'm going to record in January at Brigham Young University in Utah, which have incredible choir and they're gonna sing the world premiere of the very first as far as I know, the very first choral piece ever composed at 40 Hertz and gonna be recorded. And then we could release it so people could use it.

Speaker 2:

And the beautiful thing about the usage of it my colleague and the initiator of this project, dr Richard Gold of Metamind, from this music he told me that he would like to democratized the use of music for healing.

Speaker 2:

He wants to.

Speaker 2:

So I asked what do you mean by democratizing it?

Speaker 2:

And he said that everybody could get the music and use it.

Speaker 2:

So it's available, not as a pharmaceutical, expensive product where we build the music into a big plastic machine that distribute the music and you have to pay a lot of money for that device, that music is only in that device and basically. So we released this music everywhere on Spotify and YouTube, on Apple music, everywhere on the internet that people could listen to it. It's also available on MetamindfulnessMusiccom and they give it, they let people download it in high quality where it's higher quality than what you get on YouTube and on Spotify and Apple music, which is a streaming quality. And so the approach is rather than you see, dr Gold and MetamindfulnessMusic could have approached this whole project and the other medical healing sounds project as a product, a pharmaceutical product, as a medicine that we have to charge a lot of money for and we make it exclusive, or they could have taken the route which they did choose is to release it as music, just like a music artist release music which is very low cost and it's available for everybody and everybody can apply it to their own life.

Speaker 1:

I think that is so powerful. You know, democratizing it, sharing it. Often I talk about new developments, different things that are available in healthcare, but often what isn't socialized is we talk about these new developments but we forget that it's not always available to everyone. And when we talk about equity within health, how can we share these new developments, these new things that can really make a difference in someone's health, mental status, everything? And that really comes down to making it accessible, equitable to everyone, and that was an important piece of why I wanted you on Beyond Clinical Wells, because I love that intent of being able to share that with everyone, Because that's how we're going to move that needle when we come, when we talk about helping and addressing inequities and disparities. Here you have this amazing finding. Our instruments at this time do not. They're not able to achieve that 40 hertz, and so you took it a step further and you were able to get it and then find a way to package it in a way that is available to everyone, and that is so amazing.

Speaker 2:

Right yeah, because the tricky thing is, if you give this music to a company that makes devices for improving memory or something and they tell people, I'll plug the headphones to that device and pay a few hundred dollars for that device and you can get the music only on that device that you pay a lot of money for, they would disallow us to release it anywhere else. It would not be available on YouTube and on Apple Music, on Spotify and on everywhere on the internet for as a listening music. It would not be available as music. They would define it as medicine. And we chose the route to release it as music, as a song and not tied to an exclusive device that is available only for one company. You see, and that was a big decision, it was a big decision for the record company and they chose to treat it as music and they see it as the democratic choice to release it as music and make it available everywhere that music is available in the world. And so you know we still have some obstacles. For example, you know logistical obstacles, you know you need headphones, you need a digital phone or computer or stereo system, or you know you need to be able to get the music from the internet and listen to the music no-transcript, but that is a lot, a lot, a lot more millions of people than if it would be locked into a device that you can buy only from one pharmaceutical company. So so it's a big, big step and that's really inspired by dr Gold.

Speaker 2:

This is was his leadership. You know, I was just thinking about how exciting this music is that could do these things in the brain, and I was just in the creative challenge of how can I do music in 40 Hertz? And Dr Gold thought about the concept. You know the concept that he wants to democratize it. He doesn't want to limit it and make it a patent or make it a this or that, you know. So that's, that's where we are, and I think it's interesting that you know you really champion that direction of democratizing medicine, and so I'm very glad that we are talking about this. This is real example, you know. So anybody can look it up, you know. They can look my name, you Val, and and 40 Hertz. They can look at the power, the healing power of 40 Hertz, volume 3, volume 2, volume 1. They can just Google it and they're gonna find it. They can listen to it right away.

Speaker 1:

Which is amazing, the fact that you know, we hear about new developments and different things and sometimes it's like, oh, it's gonna be a couple months or a year, but everyone listening right now has the opportunity. Please check it out, it's available on on demand and it's a way to give yourself a gift of Healing mental, just all of those pieces that you can give towards yourself and your whole family, because Sometimes we forget when we do listen to music, it's everyone around us that gets to hear that. But the other pieces, the after Effect, where whatever you have been able to receive from that music and what, whether it's your, your mood, your, your outlook on life all of those things are able to come forward With the interactions and the people that you meet, moving forward and so it's a ripple effect that can help so many people, even just in your everyday life, and you know those that you may meet weeks or years to come and.

Speaker 1:

I think that is so special. Well, I also wanted you've all free to take a couple of minutes to talk about your nonprofit and what you do in that respect, as far as sharing music as well.

Speaker 2:

Yes, thank you for asking about this. This is another baby you know that I cultivate and it's called inspired sound Initiative. Inspired sound initiativeorg. It's a foundation that I started in 2016 to bring inspiring, empowering music and dance and storytelling to youth at risk and communities that are Improved and cannot really Get these kind of educational music and dance Activities that they're no longer able to. You know, buy tickets to the symphony hall and and go and see Some great master musician that may inspire them. What we do is we raise money from grants and from sponsors and we pay master musicians to go to neighborhoods that would not be able to afford those kind of great, great musicians and dancers and to educate and to inspire and to empower the kids and the adults, the family members, with these music and dance, and and we do that Mostly in Los Angeles, but also in Colorado and Boston, in New York.

Speaker 2:

We've done also projects in Armenia and in India, in in places you know. I'll give you an example of school in India, where you know it's so sad that you know the parents don't want their kids to go to school and the only way the school can get the kids To come to school is by offering them meals, three meals a day, and then the parents agree. Yeah, that was the way that they. They got the parents to agree and then the kids got education Thanks to that, you know. So it's, it's, it's, it's.

Speaker 2:

We went there and we did a workshop there with the children, and People was so inspired that the spiritual, the mayor, came and and spiritual leaders from all different Tradition came to my workshops and after they came to me and said we have to bring you to Kashmir, you know, and Kashmir is a place of war between India and in Pakistan. It's a, it's a, it's a region that has a lot of tension, a lot of Conflicts, and and they said, oh, we should, we should bring this workshop to Kashmir. They saw it as such a healing experience for their community. The day they said you know, let's take you to the, the hardest place in our country, which is Kashmir. And I said you know, let's do it, let's talk and work on that, and and so that's what we do We'd inspired sound. So, you know, if people want to get involved with this, they can look it up.

Speaker 2:

Inspired sound, initiative. And we are, we're all volunteers, including myself and all my board members. We, you know, we all volunteers. We pay Only for the teaching artists. The educators are the one who gets paid and we sell that. We have no, no other Costs. Everything goes to the educators and we pay reasonable rates. So in a way, we support the educators and the artists While also empowering and inspiring youth at risk and underserved communities.

Speaker 1:

And as a health equity advocate.

Speaker 1:

Yuval, when I hear that story about how you mentioned in India, how you had to have you know, the meals for the families to allow their children to come, and I think that's an important piece to mention I have often shared.

Speaker 1:

You know, when we talk about being able to combat mistrust or different things that might be barriers in certain families and communities, different countries, we have to take a step back and think about why that community or that group is not able to participate, even if you have the most robust program, the best access and so forth. It's taking that that step and thinking, ok, why, why is this not successful? What is preventing certain groups from participating? And I think if we could all be more intentional in looking at those areas, that's how we're really going to meet people where they are. It's listening, identifying those things that are barriers, because maybe that family doesn't have enough money to feed and so they need to have their kids work, and so you took that step to allow you know the delivery of this opportunity and I think that is so powerful, and it's a message that should resonate through so many different things.

Speaker 1:

So I just want to thank you for joining me today on Beyond Clinical Walls. Of course, I'm going to have some links in the comments and so forth to share with everyone. You can definitely find you ball at MetaMindfulnessMusiccom, as well as the MetaMindfulnessMusiccom Leksha's Brain Health and you ball of raw music and of course, I'll have the entire links so you can find it easily. In closing, I just want to again say thank you for all the great work that you're doing in the space of health music and really giving back to communities and the opportunity to get to know music, because that part can be so important. I grew up listening to music from the morning to the night and I did the same with my family, and that stem from my father who made sure it was just a part of my everyday life, and I think it's an amazing gift that everyone should be able to enjoy. Thank you again, yuval, for joining me. Thank you and oh, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

I just want to mention that MetaMindfulnessMusic it's with double T, yes, thank you. Double T, metamindfulnessmusic. And my last comment I can't resist by just telling you that I think that your father, with all the good things that he contributed, also the music, the fact that he surrounded you with music, I feel just my intuition that it contributed to your joy, that you really have an inside joy that just is always there and I think the music has part of that.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, yuval. I appreciate that. That touches my heart. There's so many songs and different things that I can I think about him and for most people who are listening, they know my father recently passed away, but he breathes. He lives in me with music and different memories and there's definitely an overlay, a very strong overlay, there. That is a part of my heart and soul. So thank you for bringing that forward.

Speaker 2:

I am grateful.

Speaker 1:

So, in closing, as everybody knows, I always like to lean into gratitude. I appreciate everyone just taking the time to listen and hear Yuval's story and all of the great work he's doing and, as always, thank you for watching and listening to Beyond Clinical Walls. This is Dr BCW. Have a wonderful day. Don't forget to subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss my next upload, and if you found this information helpful, please hit the thumbs up. It really helps the channel. As always, thanks for watching and thank you for your support.

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Dr. Bayo Curry-Winchell, M.D.

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