Did my music help to heal her?

Two nights ago, my Zoom window opened to an ICU unit in Hyderabad, India. A middle-aged woman lay on the bed, her breathing shallow and quick, eyes peacefully closed. Supplemental oxygen went into her nose, under sedation. She was to be my audience for the evening.

3 days ago I was contacted by someone who had seen my presentation during the Recharge: Health summit in January. Her mother’s lungs were in bad shape, presumably from COVID, and the doctors were giving her very little hope of recovery. Her daughter refused to take that as the only possible outcome, and contacted me for a music healing session.

Overcoming thoughts of my own inadequacy, I set up a time the next evening to play for her. I would find out what would happen if I put my intention into sharing vibration through sound to a stranger halfway across the globe.

The daughter was in the room with her, masked and covered to the fullest possible extent. She showed me the monitors as technicians flowed in and out, adjusting and cleaning.

I offered a prayer and a moment of meditation, and began to play. Simple, long, peace filled notes that stretched themselves into slowly evolving melodies. I let my inner ear guide me to the next notes, one after the other. I stayed with each note until I heard the next note to play.

I’m not one to hear fully formed melodies yet, as some gifted composers are. But I’m beginning to hear where the next note should be. It’s a practice of faith. I played mostly in D major, the key that felt to me like the best to relax and open the lungs.

This is a step into the unknown for me, using intuitively guided music to offer vibrations of healing, of release, of strength and hope. Here I was, playing for a complete stranger (I hadn’t even gotten her name yet), without any way of knowing how much I was helping, if I was at all.

But as the 40 minutes went by, I realized that this whole session may not be just for the woman and her daughter. It may be more for me. I realized that this was such a gift, being able to share and offer love to a complete stranger, with no strings attached. This was a chance to explore my own capacity for sharing the healing power of love, of connection, and a chance to practice intention, to offer the vibration of healing, of home, of oneness through sound.

We set up another appointment for Sunday morning (last night here), and the mother showed signs of improvement. So again I entered into the warmth of experiment, diving deep into my own self to find the most helpful vibrations, offered through my sound.

I don’t know what the outcome will be. I’ve asked her to keep me posted. But I do know how much this opportunity has helped me connect on a deeper level to my own source of healing: an ocean of love, of solace. The vibration of true home, of oneness with the Divine.