“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice.” —T.S. Eliot

The effects of dementia are devastating to individuals and their families. Researchers are keen to find ways to ease its symptoms and restore abilities and memory. Studies on music and dementia have shown promising findings. Did you know that the area of the brain associated with musical memory tends to be least affected by dementia? Music therapy may help reduce cognitive decline while improving the memory of people with dementia. In one study, test subjects performed better on memory tests when they listened to music. It has also been found that the emotional content of music can bring back emotional memories.

In the unfolding of the Human experience, we are in a constant interplay of cause and effect, of outer events and our reactions to them. This unfolding is complex and unique to each one of us. Throughout our lives we may bear injuries and/or illness (short, long term or chronic,) and have an ongoing flow of experiences to some of which we may have challenging emotions. Whether you’re seeking relief from struggles in the physical body, in difficult thoughts and emotions, or (often) both, a Yoga Therapist works with you to create an individualized practice that empowers you to support yourself through recovery, in creating greater ease and/or in establishing meaningful transformation.

In the spectrum of nutrition, berries rank near the top, and among berries, none are more nutritious than the Aronia berry. That’s because powerful antioxidants (proanthocyanidins) in Aronia berries remove harmful free oxygen radicals from cells. Research shows that in diabetics, Aronia berry juice reduced blood glucose, and its extracts reduced inflammation and improved immunity. An extract of Aronia berries injected into highly malignant brain tumor cells killed malignant cells within 24 hours without harming healthy cells. And in hard-to-treat cancers, combining Aronia with chemotherapy improved the effectiveness of conventional drugs.

Brain-imaging techniques have revealed the brain’s plasticity and have identified networks that music activates. The brain areas activated by music are not unique to music. These networks also process other functions. Musical and non-musical functions share systems. For example, motor control and executive control share circuits with music. Music can activate and drive complex patterns of interaction between the other two, so that a stroke patient and someone with Parkinson’s increases movement, and someone with traumatic brain injury increases cognitive functioning, such as problem solving or decision making.

Interspecies Communication. Since the 1970s, Damanhur—a Federation of Communities with its own constitution, culture, music, currency, school and uses of science and technology has researched communication with the plant world. They created an instrument that perceives the electromagnetic variations from the surface of plant leaves to the root system and translates them into sound. Each variation is given a different musical note value. When connected, the musical instrument digital interface turns the value into an audible note of music. Plants can create 4 to 5 octaves of music and upward of 120 different sounds. Music of the Plants allows people around the world to connect with plants’ innate intelligence to expand their awareness.