Heather Aranyi is a musician, neuroscience researcher, and professor of entrepreneurship and innovation whose career has taken her from the halls of Northwestern University to global stages. A child development specialist with a deep love of music, she has worked on U.S. State Department projects, spoken at international summits—including a keynote in Saudi Arabia for global leaders—and was named one of Fortune’s 125 most powerful women worldwide.
Her life’s work lies at the intersection of science, song, and soul. Aranyi studies how music can physiologically and neurologically heal the body and mind. Her findings reflect what Judaism has intuitively understood for millennia: music heals.
“As a society, we know that music has the power to evoke emotion and deep reactions,” Aranyi said. “You could be listening to a song and suddenly become overwhelmed with emotion, or be infused with a sudden burst of energy.”
While many accept this anecdotally, Aranyi wanted to understand what was actually happening in the brain and body. She delved into research revealing that music strengthens neural pathways, lowers cortisol, regulates heart rate, and aids trauma recovery. But what excites her most is the unknown: the vast, interconnected healing potential of music that science is only beginning to uncover.
Her passion intensified after several extraordinary encounters.
Music That Awakens
Early in her career, Aranyi worked with adults on the autism spectrum. One patient—a woman who was temporarily nonverbal—responded to Heather’s singing by singing back in full words. That transformative moment revealed that music was accessing a part of the brain untouched by language.
Heather Aranyi
Similar patterns emerged with patients suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia. Though they had lost the ability to speak, they could still sing songs from their past.
“This finding points to a deep and resilient connection between music and memory. Music activates parts of the brain that speech alone can’t reach,” she said.
She also found that carefully chosen music helped children, especially those affected by pandemic-related trauma, regulate their emotions and recover neurologically. She has seen comatose patients respond physically to music—moving previously unresponsive body parts. In some cases, repeated exposure to familiar songs even seemed to catalyze their path back to consciousness.
One woman, intubated with pneumonia, had no memory of her time unconscious—except for when a rabbi came and played guitar, singing prayers. She had no memory of her sister’s visits, yet the music remained.
Music as Medicine
A breakthrough moment came while Aranyi was running a program at Northwestern. A student, feeling stuck on her project, revealed that she used to play piano but hadn’t touched it in years. Aranyi encouraged her to play again—just for herself. After one hour at the keys, the student returned the next day full of creative energy and innovative ideas.
“Our bodies have deep physiological needs,” Aranyi explained. “Music accesses those needs through sensory experience. Science is finally catching up to what our prayers, our rituals, and our souls have been experiencing for thousands of years.”
“The body responds to music—not metaphorically, but literally. Songs sung or played at the right pace (60–80 beats per minute, to be exact) help regulate the nervous system, lower stress hormones, and even promote healing at the cellular level.”
Many traditional Jewish prayers—like Avinu Malkeinu, Kol Nidre, Eliyahu Hanavi, and Ein Keloheinu—naturally fall within that same rhythm range. That’s no accident. Studies even suggest patients may need less anesthesia before surgery if calming music is played beforehand.
Healing Through the Polyvagal Theory
Much of Aranyi’s research centers on the Polyvagal theory, a theory which describes that the specific nerve is a major component of the autonomic nervous system responsible for regulating stress and healing. Music powerfully influences this system. While researchers are still uncovering the precise mechanisms, advanced imaging and physiological tracking are helping paint a clearer picture.
When we experience stress or fear—whether it’s major trauma or everyday anxiety—the sympathetic nervous system activates, triggering fight, flight, freeze or fawn responses: quickened heart rate, shallow breathing, and mental fog.
But music, particularly at 60–80 beats per minute, activates the parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for calm, safety, digestion, and healing. Breathing slows. The heart rate evens out. The body begins to repair.
“When people sing together, their heart rhythms literally align. Their pupils dilate in sync. Their bodies begin to heal—together,” Heather shared.
In Jewish tradition, this mind-body connection is intuitive. Chant and melody are central to our rituals. Science is just beginning to affirm what Jewish prayer has embodied for generations.
From Lullabies to Lament
We instinctively use music to regulate others. When a baby cries, we rock and sing. It’s deeply encoded. Music also supports emotional release during grief. Sometimes, when words fail, melody carries the healing forward.
“Music provides a healing ‘circuit closure’—like an emotional steroid shot,” Aranyi said. “The physiological systems prepare to release, and music completes that process. We are wired to respond this way, and our traditions, especially within Judaism, intuitively incorporate it.”
Aranyi notes that music touches nearly every part of the brain—auditory, motor, emotional, and even decision-making centers—making it one of the few whole-brain activities. That’s why it’s such a powerful tool for healing.
When she works with children who’ve experienced trauma, she doesn’t begin with words. She begins with melody.
“Music accesses the brain in a way that bypasses language and goes straight to regulation,” she says.
She has seen shut-down children begin to speak, laugh, and connect—all through song.
And that’s not just anecdotal. Brain scans confirm that music activates multiple regions of the brain at once: the auditory cortex, motor areas, the limbic (emotional) system, even the prefrontal cortex (where we solve problems and make decisions). Music is one of the few activities that activates the whole brain — making it a powerful tool for healing and growth.
Photo from https://www.tourmorgantown.com/four-therapeutic-benefits-music/
Beyond the Classroom
In addition to her therapeutic work, Aranyi teaches entrepreneurship—previously at Northwestern and University of Illinois Chicago. There, she found that traditional approaches emphasized mindset, but ignored sensory and nervous system functioning. So she created a new curriculum that integrated music and sensory regulation—and students at Northwestern voted her the most impactful professor on campus.
Today, she consults widely on how music can support optimal emotional and physiological health in both individuals and organizations.
Collective Healing Through Ritual
Across cultures, she sees a common pattern following communal trauma: storytelling, followed by shared rhythmic or musical experience. Judaism mirrors this in rituals like the Passover Seder—where narrative and melody together reinforce memory and healing.
Jewish prayer is filled with moments of communal song, often performed in healing rhythms. This may even explain why a minyan is required for certain prayers—not just for spiritual reasons, but because the collective voice offers literal, somatic healing through rhythm, connection, and breath.
“We instinctively sing when we pray. We rock our babies with lullabies. We use melody to mourn,” Aranyi said. “Even in great distress—think of Acheinu Kol Beit Yisrael during wartime, or Mi Shebeirach for the ill—our tradition turns to song.”
Because in a world of trauma, overstimulation, and anxiety, healing might not be far off. It might be in a melody, in a grandfather’s song or in the Shema whispered at bedtime.
“When wrapped in meaning, community, and Jewish tradition,” Aranyi said, “music becomes even more powerful.”
Heather Aranyi’s work affirms Judaism’s understanding that music isn’t just art—it heals.
“I believe, as a matter of faith, that we each have a Divine light we’re meant to bring into the world,” she said. “My job is to help people bring that light forward.”
