Raga Time with Autism
Music is something that we all can groove to anytime anywhere.
Well, now how can Autism are linked to the Indian ragas.
ASD is characteristic of neurological aberrations which mean that levels of neurotransmitters LIKE DOPAMINES, SEROTONIN, ENDORPHINS and OYTOCINS are altering.
Music in form of ragas evokes emotions and hence can thus be regarded to work on social – emotional communication in autism
Thus music is a persuasive tool, and thus helps in synchronising various brain functions in a neurodivergent individual
Research says when a brain is exposed to happy music inform of Indian ragas , the brain parts like insular , temporal lobe , caudate put amen get super activated and emotional awareness is created . Thus it a building block to initiate some social communication either in form verbal gestures or body language or social cues like smile, clapping etc
Now let’s gear up for the “SWARA EFFECT “
The frequency at which a swara is played to form an entire raga has a dominant role on making the raga a happy and cheerful one. for e.g. more shuddha swaras in a raga is directly proportional to make is a cheerful one while more of komal swara could make the raga a sentimental one and evade out sorrowful emotions
Thus music can create a mood of compassions and calmness and hence playing Indian ragas for an autistic child should never be ignored
Even the rhythm of the raga will also have an attribute on outcome from the child if the rhythm is fast , a hypoactive child would get more reactive and would show good automaticity
While on the other hand if a slow and feeble rhythm of raga is played the child might be less aroused and would also show poor attending skills and just be very relaxed and little detached
We should keep in mind out intension behind the playing of the ragas
A raga with it frequency and rhythm can have varying affect and this should be importantly noted
A RAGA CAN BE USED BOTH FOR STIMULATING AND SOOTHING EFFECTS FOR THE NEURODIVERGENT WORLD
Well we our humans and we can’t let go off the circadian rhythm of body. Thus for an autistic child, a raga played at a specific time of the day can be more effective than any other time of the day. This is another observation that should be payed attention
If you look back to our heritage and history, there are specific ragas for specific season and this definitely has a good logic backing it
This surely coincides with the point I just made
Well this is something I wanted to touch upon that ragas might be underestimated but may no longer after reading this blog of mine.
Don’t forget to appreciate a fabulous artwork representation of music and raga by CreativeSaathi associate Morpheus Nag.
Thank you; hope you liked this piece of writing and the artwork!
Creative efforts and music lover – Heena Sahi