The Cat’s Purr and Other Sounds that Heal
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Elizabeth stumbled upon these ideas by accident (which is true of most inventions and discoveries!). She had been working with tigers at a facility where there were also many other wild cats. It seemed odd to her, while passing by a chervil one day, that it was purring.
Later on, she read in National Geographic about this researcher who had put chickens on a vibrating plank for twenty minutes a day and their bones grew. She thought that was weird. So she called him and asked what the anabolic frequencies for bones were. He said that they were anywhere between 20 and 90 hertz, but that there is evidence suggesting that between 25 hertz and 50 hertz are the best frequencies.
The next day, she got up, went into the living room, grabbed her big tomcat, Spot, began petting him, and turned on the microphone. Then she ran the recording through the computer. And guess what? Oh, my God.
After that, she started doing a search in the literature, and found that 25 hertz is the fundamental frequency. In other words, it’s the first, or primal, frequency. After the first frequency, there is something called harmonics. Harmonics are always a multiple of the fundamental –meaning that if the fundamental is 25 hertz, the first harmonic is 50, then the second harmonic is 75, the third harmonic is 100, and so forth.
She started recording the wild cats. Then she grabbed every domestic cat from her friends and other people: “Excuse me. Can I record your cat?”
Then she took accelerometers— used to measure vibrations — to find out where on the body the sound is the strongest and weakest. The research revealed that the vibrational signal is at its weakest at the extremities. Interestingly, it’s rare for cats to get bone cancer, but when they do, it’s almost always in the distal end of the extremities — the paw — and that’s also where the vibrational signal is the weakest.
What are the odds that in six out of seven species of cat, their purrs are identical in frequency and amplitude? All of these cats come from a geological evolution that is different — South America, Africa, Asia. Yet the sounds they make match exactly –in both amplitude and frequency –to the frequencies that have been found to be healing. And not just for the healing of bones.
I’ve had healing experiences with my own cats. I had one cat that slept with me every night, and it always felt so good and peaceful to have her next to me. And of course, she purred loud and long until we both fell asleep. So, I wonder –is it helpful for people to hold their purring cat close to their bodies?
Elizabeth says that from a scientific standpoint she would have to say she doesn’t know since there is no evidence. She goes on to say that for something to be scientifically therapeutic, it has to be exactly the right strength, loudness, and amplitude. However, she did say that as a “healer,†she says “yes, it absolutely†can be helpful to sleep with you cat.
Those of you who have cats may have noticed that when you’re not feeling well, your cat will often come up to the part of your body that’s aching and start to knead you with their paws, purr, and get that meditative look in their eyes. They could be trying to help.
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