The Healing Power of Music
- Singer-songwriter LeAnn Rimes, 40, recently used her “healing voice” to sing music from her new meditative chant album inside the Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles.
- Rimeswho has been open about living with psoriasis (a rare skin condition that causes red, itchy patches to develop on the skin that does not have a cure)performed along with a pianist, sounds bowls, a sting quartet, and Alchemy Crystal Tones Singing Bowls on August 4.
- Art therapy, like painting, dancing, and music creating it, and listening to it can help been shown to have a colossal impact on one's emotional and mental health.
- Music has been shown in studies to improve heart and cardiovascular health, reduce depression, improve sleep, enhance memory, and aid in speech recovery.
Surrounded by dozens of candles, Rimeswho has been open about living with psoriasis (a rare skin condition that causes red, itchy patches to develop on the skin that does not have a cure) performed inside the Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles.
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“This was literally my dream come true and I can't wait to do more of these! #amen (name of the chant).”
She shared the post from Sacred Sound of the Soul’s Instagram page, a group which played the alchemy bowls.
The Sacred Sound of the Soul’s commented, “Can’t tell you how fortunate I felt to participate in such a special event! Thank you @leannrimes for using your unparalleled voice for healing in this way and visualizing this concert!
“@darrellbrownmusic thank you for making all the music come together, uplifting us all, and for trusting the bowls would be beautiful! @orchidquartet and @takuhirano total honor to be present with you as your devotion and skill as musicians is so admirable! @the_realslimshamus and @joshuahwhite thank you for the love with the sound setup! @candlelight.concerts you are doing the most beautiful and accessible events!”
Meanwhile, a fan of Rimes shared the singer’s “What I Can Not Change” excerpt from the Candlelight Concerts event by Fever.
YouTube user Yvonne Petersen, wrote alongside the footage she uploaded, “I went to my 1st Candlelight Concerts by Fever, at Immanuel Presbyterian Church, and sat in the front row, feeling so grateful.”
Petersen continued, “LeAnn Rimes was divine. She sang from her album “Chant: The Human & The Holy” live for the first time, and also from “God’s Work”.
“It was a blessed experience. My soul was restored. I wish I could have recorded the whole thing, but I was too moved to use my phone too much. Thank you LeAnn from my heart!”
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Art therapy, like painting, dancing, and music creating it, and listening to it has been shown to have a colossal impact on one's emotional and mental health.
“Just listening to music activates more brain regions simultaneously than any other human activity,” Dr. Alexander Pantelyat, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins, previously told SurvivorNet.
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A study published last year in the journal Parkinson's Disease researched the effects music had on the brain. It found music can help reduce anxiety for patients. Dr. Serap Bastepe-Gray, who co-founded the Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine with Dr. Pantelyat, led the study.
“The guitar, which is portable, affordable, and one of the most popular instruments in the U.S., has potential as a motivational therapeutic tool both in the clinical and community settings,” Dr. Bastepe-Gray said.
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Music therapy is a resource cancer patients turn to during treatment. Music therapy includes "creating, singing, moving, listening and/or relaxing" to the sounds of your favorite songs according to the National Cancer Institute.
This form of therapy can help relieve depression, stress, anxiety, and pain.
Music has also been shown in studies to improve heart and cardiovascular health, reduce depression, improve sleep, enhance memory, and aid in speech recovery.
"Many people are surprised to learn that they can sing familiar songs after a stroke, even if they are unable to produce fluid speech," the Institute for Music and Neurological Function explains.
Singer-songwriter Bianca Muniz, who battled cancer twice, turned to music amid her experience with ovarian cancer at age 11 and breast cancer at 22 years old.
Luckily Muniz reacted to her diagnosis with optimism and perseverance, never letting her diagnosis get in the way of what's most meaningful to her music.
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“This experience has had two different effects on my creativity and my music, so I've gotten a lot of inspiration from it,” Bianca told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview. "But also the side effects of treatment, of chemo, and surgery have definitely had a little bit of a negative effect on my voice. Then again, I love performing. I always feel happy after I've performed."
Pancreatic cancer survivor Joel Naftelberg can also attest to the power of music, as he found the support he needed from his music family.
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"The people that were my heroes in entertainment and rock and roll have been my friends and have been some of the most supportive people that I've had in my life," he told SurvivorNet.
Naftelberg describes his cancer as a "monster." It's "attacked every facet of [his] life," but that doesn't mean he's let it get the best of him. Music has been his saving grace.
"I have found music and rock and roll to be transformational," he said. "Doesn't necessarily solve anything, but it does let us dance on our problems for at least an hour or two. Nothing better on a Friday afternoon than to hang with your friends and listen to beautiful music."
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Similarly, breast cancer survivor Marquina Iliev-Piselli discovered a unique way to utilize her love for music during chemotherapy treatments air guitar.
“Without air guitar, my treatment would have been incredibly sad. Air guitar was the thing that brought me through,” Marquina said during an interview with SurvivorNet. “I recommend it highly. I air guitared in my chemo, and that saved my spirit. It makes it so that I don't look back on that time of fear.”
LeAnn Rimes’ Psoriasis Journey
LeAnn Rimes who appeared to have clear skin as she sang inside the church last week, was diagnosed at age 2. By the time she was 6, about 80% of Rimes' body was covered in painful red spots.
Rimes did everything she could to hide her condition from the world and find a treatment that worked. Eventually, she discovered an injectable treatment in her 20s that kept her skin clear, however, the stress of the Covid pandemic caused the psoriasis to show up again.
Understanding the Different Types and Symptoms of This Rare Skin Condition
“Stress is a common trigger for psoriasis, and with so much uncertainty happening, my flare-ups came right back,” she previously wrote in an article for Glamour.
Rimes has decided to own her psoriasis and share details about her journey to educate about the chronic condition
“I hope anyone who also kept themselves small has the courage to step outside of that cage," she wrote for Glamour. “When we allow ourselves not to be held in, our lives come back to us.”
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What is Psoriasis Disease?
Psoriasis is a skin condition that causes red, itchy patches to develop on the skin. It is a chronic disease, which means that it does not have a cure.
Fortunately, symptoms can often be managed with different treatment options as well as lifestyle adjustments. And only about 2% of the U.S. population suffers from it, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. Still, there have been major developments in recent years when it comes to the treatment and management of psoriasis.
“Psoriasis is a chronic, auto-immune skin condition where you have red, scaly patches on the skin,” Dr. Saakshi Khattri, a Dermatologist/Rheumatologist at Mount Sinai Health System, previously told SurvivorNet. “It is a long-term condition, which can ebb and flow. You can have good days and bad days.”
Dr. Saakshi explained that while anyone can develop psoriasis, the disease is more common in people between the ages of 30 and 50. Researchers believe genetics, as well as environmental factors, may play a vital role in the development of this disease.
Dr. George Han, a Dermatologist at Northwell Health/Lenox Hill Hospital, told SurvivorNet that psoriasis is also connected with many internal comorbidities.
“The most obvious of which is psoriatic arthritis, which is inflammatory arthritis that if left untreated is quite debilitating…as well as a number of other comorbidities that we are learning more and more about, such as inflammatory bowel disease and metabolic syndrome,” Dr. Han explained. “So, there are a lot of different connections, also with psychiatric comorbidities.”
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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