We often think of music as song or melody, but what if there was no beat?  I don’t have the answer but I do have some ideas on the subject. Digestion (peristalsis), blood pumping through our veins (heart) and the breath of life (lungs) are just a few of the functional rhythms inside us that we rely upon to live. These were part of the symphony of sounds and motion that surrounded us as we formed inside of our own mothers. Is it a wonder, then, that humans have an intrinsic relationship with rhythm? We are always feeling the beat. Our bodies even anticipate the beat. When we are unwell, we sometimes say that we are feeling a bit ‘off’, ‘out of sorts’, ‘out of it’… It is a bit like losing one’s rhythm. We know when we have found it again. We feel more ‘in the groove’. Music therapy can be helpful in re-discovering that intrinsic rhythm when retrieving it seems a struggle.

Shiri Music Therapy, www.shirimusictherapy.ca