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Dr. Orli Peter |
Dr. Orli Peter Ph.D., BCIA-EEG is the Director and Founder of the Center for Accelerated Psychology in Los Angeles. She is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 20 years of experience as a director, practitioner, researcher, and educator at prestigious institutions including the University of California at Berkeley, RAND Corporation, and Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles. She is also certified in neuroscience, and is passionate about using innovative neuroscientific techniques to increase the efficacy and efficiency of traditional and cutting edge psychotherapies.
Dr. Peter treats a variety of mental and physical conditions, including mild and severe anxiety manifestations, depression, sleep disturbances, and post-traumatic stress. She has helped restabilize survivors and witnesses of 9/11, Iranian refugees, Israeli victims of terrorist attacks, and families who have fled war-torn countries. Dr. Peter is a volunteer for Disaster Mental Health at the Red Cross, and in 2003 she received certification as a psychologist in Homeland Security by the American College of Forensic Examiners. Dr. Peter has also published numerous research articles and book chapters, and been a contributing columnist to the Los Angeles Times.
Brain Music Therapy was brought to the United States two years ago by Dr. Galina Mindlin, M.D., Ph.D. and Dr. Orli Peter was the first West Coast provider to offer this new neuroscientific technique. For further information, please see www.drorlipeter.com |
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Many of us enjoy listening to music to relax, to drift off to sleep, and even to help us wake up the next morning. From soothing tunes to induce slumber or more upbeat tracks to kickstart the day ahead, music plays an integral role in helping us transition from alert to relaxed, from wakefulness to sleep.
‘Brain music therapy’ takes this a bounding step further. It involves having your brain waves recorded and digitally translated into a unique musical composition using a special algorithm. By listening to these compositions before bedtime or when you wake up in the morning, you can efficiently move your brain into relaxed or alert states. Brain music therapy is increasingly being used as a non-pharmacological treatment for people experiencing sleep difficulties or sleep disorders such as insomnia. Recent studies suggest it is as powerful as using sleep medication to help foster slumber.
According to Dr. Leonid Kayumov, Director of the Sleep Research Clinic at Toronto Western Hospital and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, brain music therapy creates meditative conditions in patients by influencing brain neurophysiology.1 It has intrinsic healing qualities.
Brain ‘music’ is a form of neurofeedback. It consists of fast and slow rhythms and changes in tempo, volume, octaves, chords and other musical variances. The predominance of slow rhythms or waves corresponds to a relaxing, soothing mindset. The predominance of fast rhythms or waves corresponds to an energized, motivated mindset.
Brain ‘music’ sounds a bit like classical piano, but it is more effective than simply shuffling Beethoven or Bach on iTunes. Research shows that every person's brain produces its own unique ‘music’ and responds most readily to these familiar rhythms. This is analogous to the difference between responding to your mother's voice and a stranger's voice. Your brain ‘music’ is uniquely yours and your brain recognizes and responds to it as such.
The procedure to record your own brain rhythms involves filtering and capturing your relaxing brain wave patterns and recording them using EEG (electroencephalogram) equipment. These recordings are then processed using a special algorithm and digitally translated into music. Two types of waves – relaxing and activating – are extracted and recorded onto a CD for you to listen to at home, preferably on a headset so that you can stimulate simultaneously both hemispheres (you can even transfer the music onto your iPod or Mp3 player). When you play the ‘relaxing” track on your brain music CD, your brain responds by moving more efficiently into relaxed states than it would through listening to just plain relaxing music, or even someone else's brain music.
So next time you sit back and relax with regular music as a way of helping you to unwind and hopefully nod off to sleep, imagine what it would sound like if you were listening to your own beautiful brain music to help you greet the Sandman!
1 http://www.neuropsychiatryreviews.com/sep02/npr_sep02_brainmusic.html |
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