Feeling grateful for my life and work. Loving working with oncology patients, caregivers and survivors through the Integrative Care Program at Women & Infants Hospital. Feeling oh-so-blessed. Appreciating the beautiful space I am living in where I am able to give private sessions and offer workshops for small groups. Excited about the workshops I have coming up in May and June and the possibility of being able to have participants stay here. Excited about the possibilities that have opened up through the article that was published by the Providence Journal in January. (If you haven't read the article, see below.*) Love the fabulous connection I have made with the hospital to offer programs to their corporate donors as well as with The Cedars, a really lovely nursing home in Cranston, where the administrators are open to and excited about complementary holistic therapies to assist their residents and caregivers. I had a fantastic meeting with their Assistant Administrator, Spiritual Director and a young woman who works with their dementia patients as well as doing private sessions using reiki, reflexology and CranioSacral Therapy. I will be giving a sound journey there on April 22- Earth Day- which I am super excited about. The same week I am doing a Sound Journey at the World Citizen's Cafe in Framingham, MA, also celebrating Earth Day.
Lots of very exciting stuff!
And again, for those who may not have seen it, here is the link to the video posted on Providence Journal's website.
http://videos.providencejournal.com/providencejournal/vljjcu?v=default&e=default&opn=below_article_ticker
*The Sound of Healing
Women & Infants group among those adopting the 2,500-year-old practice of sound therapy
Meghan Kavanaugh
Special to The Journal
PUBLICATION: Providence Journal (RI)
SECTION: RI Special Sections
DATE: January 24, 2016
Artist and start-up consultant Shin Ae has always been interested
in the intersection of science and art. It’s what led her to her first
job, working in a cancer research laboratory, and it is ultimately what
led her to explore the healing power of sound when she was diagnosed
with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer more than a year ago.
“Music has always been a really big part of my life, so it made a
lot of sense,” says the 42-year-old Hopkinton resident who goes by her
first name professionally.
Sound healing, in which therapists create certain tones and
rhythms to try to match and restore balance to the body’s internal
energy, can be traced back more than 2,500 years to the days of
Pythagoras. The practice continues today, with Women & Infants
hospital, in Providence, expanding its Integrative Care Center offerings
last month to include the service, making sound therapy
available to cancer patients and survivors, their caregivers and the
public at locations in Providence, Middletown, South Kingstown and Fall
River, Massachusetts.
Shin Ae has thus far chosen the holistic treatment over more traditional ones.
“I haven’t yet opted for standard chemo and radiation, even though I was
diagnosed at stage 4, because my test results and quality of life are
proving that the integrative wellness modalities are helping me return
to health, little by little,” Shin Ae says. “Everyone wants to know if
sound therapy works or whether I’m being foolish, but it’s up to
every person to choose what tools they take with them, and trust them to
work.”
Shin Ae has been working with Rosie Warburton, a licensed massage
therapist and sound therapist with 25 years of experience, who leads
Women & Infants’ private sessions and small group classes. Rather
than using music to supplement treatments by playing it in the
background during Reiki or massage sessions, Warburton makes it the
focus of the healing process, using objects like tuning forks, Himalayan
singing bowls and didgeridoos.
“I feel like the sound is more effective than the touch alone,”
Warburton says, explaining that particular tones have been shown to
reduce anxiety and slow heart rates and respiration.
A tuning fork carrying a certain frequency can even activate the body’s
naturally occurring nitric oxide, she said, which stimulates the immune
system and brings more oxygen to red blood cells.
“There are effects that are universal. … No matter who I use that on,
they’re going to experience a spike in the nitric oxide,” Warburton
says. “It’s so, so powerful for people.”
Warburton stays grounded within the science and reasoning of the treatment, says Shin Ae, who explains that sound therapy helps her locate the physical places within her body where she needs healing.
“The chills I experience listening to Bach’s cello suites and Rosie’s
acoustical therapies are restorative moments,” Shin Ae says.
And while she stops short of recommending any treatment as a solution
for all cancer patients, Shin Ae acknowledges music’s ability to
transcend language, experiences or diagnoses.
“It’s one of the great things about using music for people in pain or
people with depression or cancer: It affects you whether or not you want
it to, and it affects you in a really good way.”
Women & Infants’ group sound-healing sessions are held monthly. For
details, contact Jessica Barletta at (401) 274-1122, ext. 47285.
Copyright © 2016 Providence Journal, All Rights Reserved.
