Therapeutic Guitar Lessons

Therapeutic guitar lessons offer a unique way to discover new ways of being. For example, teenagers use the process of learning guitar in these therapeutic lessons as a vehicle to develop responsibility, accountability and healthy self esteem. These lessons are good for teenagers who enjoy and are interested in music, have a need for therapy, but have trouble benefiting from a traditional counseling model.

Therapeutic guitar lessons for adults focus on learning the guitar, as well as how to use music to help the cope with stress or depression and/or develop a connection to their inner creative side.

With teenagers and adults, I focus on your specific needs for the lessons. Sometimes this is learning specific chords and songs to help create certain moods; other times the lessons are about helping you write songs that express and cope with emotions that would be difficult in regular therapy. Sometimes the lessons consist of us jammin’ on songs together, releasing stress and learning how to be musically creative.

Therapeutic Music Sessions

These sessions use music to help cope with stress, anxiety, trauma, depression or a feeling of internal emptiness. If you play an instrument or sing, I will help you either learn or create music that helps you cope with how you are feeling. If you are struggling with trauma, we will work on using music to help express yourself in ways that reduces tension and trauma symptoms. If you do not have any prior musical experience, we will find ways (singing, body movement, drumming) to help express and resolve your concerns.

Here is an example of how I use music to get in touch with creativity and flow. I picked up the guitar and began playing free form without editing, composing or any other goals. My intent was to turn off the right side of the brain (structure, forms, evaluation) and use music to tune in to my left brain (creative, intuitive side). In the music sessions, I help you tune in to your creative flow, whether through individual improvisation, or us jamming together.

Music Meditation

Many people sign up for music meditation for some of the following reasons:

• relieve stress,
• develop a sense of peace,
• find their internal spiritual and emotional center, or
• a desire to learn how to meditate even if they do not connect with traditional types of meditation.

No musical experience is needed to participate in these sessions.

I offer music meditation sessions for individuals and groups. In individual sessions, we find melodies and songs that you feel connected to and evoke emotional or peaceful responses. We will use this music as a basis to meditate on. Instruction will be given on how to meditate (if needed) and how to use the concept if intention to deepen your meditative experience.

Musical Meditation Group

Learn to use the power and beauty of music to reduce stress, reduce anxiety and much more!

This group will use wordless melodies as a form of meditation. I facilitate the music with my vocals and guitar. Specific melodies will be picked to sing in the group to help the process of meditation and connection with inner spirit. The goal is to use this music to gain a sense of peace, relaxation and connection with core parts of our self.

Instruction will be given on how to meditate on the music with intention, in order to use music as a vehicle to transform our state of consciousness. In this experiential group format members can meditate with the music in the form they feel most comfortable with, such as singing, body movement, light drumming, active listening, etc. Members will process their experience as a group about their experience with the music, and how specific songs, melodies and rhythms affect their meditative state.

To Register: Call me at 630-418-9484. If members would like to bring their own instruments to the group, please mention this when registering.

 

Since 2013, I have facilitated an ongoing musical meditation class in Oak Park, Illinois. This class currently meets once a month on Monday evenings. We sing Nigguns, (wordless melodies in the Jewish tradition, similar to lullabies) and discuss as a group how each particular melody affected us spiritually. This class is very similar to the group classes listed above but used traditional Jewish Niggunim for the music.

Here are some samples of wordless melodies/nigguns.

Feel free to contact me if you are interested in this class or any of the above offerings.