Study – The Energizing Power
of Gregorian Chants
One group of Benedictine monks discovered an unexpected
benefit from their Gregorian chants: their chanting seemed
to energize their bodies.
In 1967 Alfred Tomatis, a French physician, psychologist
and ear specialist, studied how chanting affected the Benedictine
monks.
For hundreds of years they had kept a rigorous schedule,
sleeping only a few hours a night and chanting from six to
eight hours a day.
When a new abbot changed the schedule and cut out the
chanting, the monks became tired and lethargic. The more
sleep they got, the more tired they seemed to become. Tomatis
was called in to find out what was wrong with them.
He believed that chanting (and listening to certain kinds
of music) served a special purpose—energizing the brain
and body. He said the monks "had been chanting in order
to ‘charge’ themselves."¹
He reintroduced chanting, along with a program of listening
to stimulating sounds, and the monks soon found the energy
to return to their normal schedule.
Whether the monks knew it or not, they had discovered the
power of sound, especially spoken or chanted prayer.
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