The Brief

It’s a common belief that music soothes the soul. But some researchers and healthcare companies say it can be used to heal the mind — and maybe the body.

Several popular apps claim to help relieve anxiety through music, meditations and mindfulness. A company in Los Angeles takes that idea further: It’s seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration to prescribe music treatments for specific mental health conditions, such as generalized anxiety disorder.

A recent study out of UC Irvine found that listening mindfully to improvisational jazz was linked to a decrease in pain and anxiety for some patients.

Sean Young, lead author of the study, told LAist that just as doctors prescribe opioids for chronic pain, “you could imagine that prescribing something like jazz or certain sounds might be in the future of what we can do in helping patients with pain or other kinds of clinical, mental, behavioral health issues.”

Alpha brain waves and ‘restorative music’ 

Sona Labs, an L.A.-based company that bills itself as “music as medicine,” is seeking FDA approval for its music treatment so that mental health professionals can prescribe them for conditions like generalized anxiety disorder.

Sona’s founder, Neal Sarin, said music compositions created with the company’s proprietary technique have been shown in tests to increase alpha waves in listeners’ brains.

Alpha waves are a type of electrical activity in the brain that are typically present when a person is calm — like when they are meditating or daydreaming. There are five common types of brainwaves: gamma, beta, alpha, theta and delta, with gamma associated with high alertness and concentration.

Sarin, a musician and former music executive, said he gives musicians certain parameters, like keeping beats per minute below 65 and using soft tones, in order to produce music he said increases alpha brain wave activity.

The result is dulcet soundscapes with transitions that ebb and flow like ocean waves.

The concept came to him around 2015, Sarin said, when he was experimenting with his own musical compositions. His idea was to make music that could bring on the calming effects he’d experienced with his meditation practice, just by listening to it.

By 2019, he had composed roughly 10 minutes of serene music.

“You know, I was feeling kind of sedated after listening to it. But it was also having that effect on family and friends as well,” Sarin said.

Sarin developed a proprietary, 10-step composition process he said can consistently yield what he calls “restorative music” that increases alpha waves in the brain. He and his team built an app where users can listen to his specialized music.

The app uses artificial intelligence to recommend music to users, but all of the compositions are created by humans, Sarin said.

In 2022, the FDA approved Sona’s plans for clinical trials, and Sarin is trying to raise money to see that through, he said.

Does it work?

Dr. Robert Knight, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at UC Berkeley, conducted a study at Sarin’s request to try to measure what was going on in the brain when people listened to Sona compositions.

Knight study used electroencephalography — a process in which electrodes attached to the scalp measure electrical activity in the brain.

The study showed that alpha brain waves were increased when a group of people listened to Sona music over a selection of pop music. The alpha brain waves were increased by 13% in the group listening to Sona music over the other group.

“It definitely worked,” Knight said.

He said there is some precedent for what might be called digital medicine, software and app-based interventions that aim to treat mental-health-related or other symptoms. He points to a San Francisco-based company that received FDA approval for a video game designed to treat ADHD symptoms in children.

“So you’re seeing this, I guess it could be ‘digital-ceuticals’ if you will. ‘Electro-ceuticals’ in some ways.’ ... So it’s not out of the question,” Knight said.

According to Knight, products like the ones Sona produces could meet a real need if they can show scientifically that the music is helpful for people with specific conditions, including anxiety.

“Which is very pervasive in the modern world and, in my experience, only getting more intense, anxiety in general,” Knight told LAist.

According to a report last year from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of American adults with anxiety symptoms saw a “significant increase” between 2019 and 2022, to 18.2%, from 15.6%.

Daniel Levitin — author of the book “I Heard There Was A Secret Chord: Music As Medicine” and a neuroscientist who lectures at UCLA — said research has shown that music can alter heart and breathing rate.

“There’s a lot of evidence that music — even when you control for all the other factors, you try to parcel out the placebo effect — music relieves anxiety, stress, muscle tension. It leads to better mood. It can relieve depression ... not every person and in every case,” Levitin said.

Still, Levitin said he’s skeptical of any person telling you a certain song will relax you. Or an app that’s one-size-fits-all.

The UC Irvine study found that mindful listening to improvisational jazz, like “Have You Met Miss Jones?” by the Oscar Peterson Trio, was linked with a decrease in pain and anxiety for patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Young, lead author on the study, said that although the results of the study were clear, we don’t really know why the mindful jazz listening group had decreased pain and anxiety.

“There haven’t really been many studies prescribing certain types of sounds and testing that, or prescribing certain types of music,” Young told LAist.

The musician will see you now 

Nailah Hunter, a Los Angeles-based harpist who has composed music for an app that aims to help people reduce anxiety.

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Ben Kalra

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Sarin said he’s worked with more than a dozen composers to produce music for Sona, including L.A.-based harpist Nailah Hunter.

Hunter said there’s been a lot of crossover between the music and wellness spaces in the last several years.

“Ever since COVID, it just kind of burst, and it’s because people need it,” Hunter said.

It’s not just Sona, companies like Calm offer a vast library of music intended for users to improve their wellbeing.

German-based Endel uses artificial intelligence to generate soundscapes to help users chill out. Spotify has playlists like “Stress Relief” and “Relax and Unwind.” And Angelenos have a wide array of local soundbaths and ambient music experiences they can attend on any given day.

Hunter said she wouldn’t mind living in a world in which someone dealing with anxiety is prescribed a musical experience.

“I think that’s beautiful. ... We are always kind of self-prescribing music. But it would feel nice to have it be respected and kind of upheld by the medical institution,” Hunter said.

“Because it does work.”

For the last three years, the record store and music venue Healing Force of the Universe has been operating on a sleepy street corner not far from Pasadena City College. Nearby businesses include a shoe repair store, a nail salon and several auto shops.

“We're kind of in a dead corner,” owner Austin Manuel said. “No offense if anybody lives here, but not a very foot-trafficked area, kind of a hard place to have a store.”

In spite of the location, Manuel said Healing Force has become a home away from home for musicians and music fans. One of them is Bobby Bradford, a jazz trumpet legend who lost his house and personal archive in the Eaton Fire. He performs regularly at the venue. (Healing Force has also partnered with LAist on fire recovery events.)

Its current location is set to close this month, but Manuel and his team are already raising funds to cover a move to another space: G-Son Studios in Atwater Village. The repurposed ballroom was the Beastie Boys' home base when they recorded their classic albums Check Your Head and Ill Communication. Run-DMC and Biz Markie stopped by at one point, and Beck also laid down tracks for his album Odelay there.

Inside Healing Force's space in Pasadena.

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The vibe

Healing Force sells records, of course, but these days it’s more of a nighttime performance space. Manuel said he wants people to feel comfortable striking up conversations after a show.

“I grew up in the church in the South, and I was like, ‘How do I design this so that it feels like a Southern church lady could come in here and feel welcome?’" Manuel said. “ I didn't want it to be too cool.  I wanted it to feel kind of suburban in a way.”

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Though the name might call to mind a cult slogan — and Manuel said they lean into that aesthetic on purpose — it’s actually a reference to the 1970 album Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe by saxophonist Albert Ayler.

At the venue, “people can kind of get … into a meditative zone,” Manuel said. “After the [January 2025] fires, it felt so good to come back together in this room and feel the healing of community.”

Healing Force's stage setup.

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The performances

The shows Healing Force puts on share a common thread: They’re meant to promote peace and relaxation, as well as deep, careful listening on the hi-fi sound system. But they’re an eclectic mix of genres. On one night, you might see L.A. spiritual jazz band Phi-Psonics, who turned a residency at the venue into a live album, Expanding to One.

On another night, you might catch a spaced-out electronic set, an up-and-coming singer-songwriter or a group of session musicians who’ve played with the likes of Paul Simon, Elton John and Lucinda Williams.

About the fundraiser

With the new space on Glendale Boulevard, Manuel said, Healing Force would triple its capacity for concerts, get a bar space and be closer to other venues in Northeast L.A.

“If 1,000 people gave $25, we would get there,” Manuel said – though he also said most people have been giving more.

You can read more about the fundraiser and donate at Healing Force’s GoFundMe.

See the Pasadena space before it closes

The venue is still open at 1200 E. Walnut Street and is holding events through this Halloween weekend. You can see their events calendar on their website.

The racist DNA of Jim Crow discrimination may be embedded in your housing documents.

The language in housing documents that restricts sale or use of a property only to a person of the white race is called a “restrictive covenant,” and in California the practice goes back to the 19th century and continued into the mid-20th century. While housing discrimination persists, the practice was found unconstitutional in 1948.

California counties are reporting mixed progress in meeting the demands of a 2021 law to excise the language from property records.

According to Sylvia Manzo, deputy recorder in the Orange County Clerk-Recorder’s office, the county finished the job in March of this year, removing racist language from more than 27,000 property documents with the help of computer software.

This 1924 property document from Bakersfield includes racist language limiting use of the property in question to people of "the white or Caucasian race."

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L.A. County is far from done. It says that with the help of an outside company hired in 2024, 50 million pages will be examined yearly, which would take about 10 years to finish the job.

Public agencies could use the public’s help.

Language examples

Here’s a 1924 example from a property in Bakersfield. The text reads, “That the lands herein conveyed shall never, at any time, be sold to or rented to or occupied by any person not of the white or Caucasian race.”

Or this language from a 1936 document relating to a Costa Mesa property: “That said premises shall not be sold, conveyed, rented, or leased to, or occupied by any person of African, Mexican, or Asiatic descent.”

How to get it taken out

The Restrictive Covenant Modification Form is at the heart of the effort to remove the racist language from housing documents. Each county has its own process. Some charge a fee; others don’t. Some require a notary certification for the signature; others don’t.

L.A. County:

Registrar-Recorder officials recommend these steps:

• Highlight or underline the unlawful provision on the recorded document
• Complete the Restrictive Covenant Modification Form
• Submit the form and the recorded document by email: RCM@rrcc.lacounty.gov or in person at the Norwalk headquarters at 12400 Imperial Highway in Norwalk
• Mail instructions are here.

Orange County:

The Orange County spokesperson says there may be some properties not caught by its software and urges the public to report them. Here’s the form

Riverside County:

Here’s the Riverside County form

San Bernardino County:

Here’s the San Bernardino County form

San Diego County:

Here’s the San Diego County form

Santa Barbara County:

Here’s the Santa Barbara County form

Ignoring the racist language in property documents, some say, reinforces the legacy of segregation, while taking steps to remove restrictive covenant language is a way individuals and organizations can repudiate policies that sought to discriminate.