Abstract (eng)
Shamanic Journeying with music versus Relaxation with music. Are there different effects on emotional states and salivary cortisol concentration?
Abstract:
In the present study I explored the emotional cognitive and biochemical effects (salivary cortisol concentrations) of listening to musical excerpts for about fifteen minutes, on the one hand using instructions for listening to music and on the other hand instructions for shamanic journeying, with two different musical styles (shamanic drums and New Age music), for a total of four different experimental conditions. None of the participants was experienced in shamanic journeying.
The main hypotheses were that after sound exposure participants would report increased feelings of wellbeing and relaxation and a decrease in salivary cortisol. In comparing lis- tening to sound versus shamanic journeying a stronger effect for shamanic journeying was predicted, based on subjective experiences during shamanic journeys (deep relaxation) as reported in the literature. Instructions and sound samples were played with laptop and loud speakers to minimize the experimenter effect (“Versuchsleitereffekt“). The participants (n = 39) had no shamanic experiences.
Results: The analysis of the cortisol was done using a repeated-measures ANOVA.
The time factor was significant but we found no significant effect of music style or instruc- tions. Different results between the groups were found at emotional states and subjective experiences.
Taking a look at all results together it seems that exposure to shamanic drums together with instruction for shamanic journeying may lead to relaxation of the body and to experi- encing dreamlike states of mind with typical contents as reported in narratives of shamanic journeying.