"My daughter refused to accept what she was being told and sat by my side, tapping and singing softly. She sang my Hebrew kindergarten songs, one after another, continuously without pause. These were the songs I sang to her when she was small. She sang instinctively, as if her body knew something before her mind did. As if she understood, without explanation, how to bring her mother back to life."
"While in this state of total bodily collapse, after an undefined time, my adult nervous system began to respond to my daughter's spontaneous singing of Hebrew childhood songs. The rhythm mirrored an ancient memory, the cadence of breath, and the steady pulse of a heartbeat. My nervous system leaned toward it instinctively, the way an infant turns toward a familiar voice. The songs wrapped around my chest and abdomen, gently gathering the scattered parts of me back into one place."
A patient experienced prolonged autonomic shutdown after valve repair surgery, lying motionless and without sensation for 36 hours. Medical staff feared the worst while family attempted stimulation. The patient's adult daughter sang Hebrew kindergarten songs continuously at the bedside, tapping and singing instinctively. The familiar cadence and rhythm resonated with the patient's nervous system, which began to respond as if drawn toward an infant's familiar voice. The melodies reassembled scattered bodily sensations, providing incremental energy and regulation. The voice acted like an umbilical cord, demonstrating how early attachment, cultural memory, and embodied vocal rhythms can influence healing and intergenerational transmission.
Read at Psychology Today
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