Waking the Spirit: A Musician's Journey Healing Body, Mind, and Soul

"The amazing power of music strikes again!" according to Greg S.. Disclaimer: I have been friends with Andrew for a long time. We lost touch about 12 years ago and then we reconnected on Facebook in late 2009 - just months after Andrew had surfaced from his medical crisis, as I would later discover. It was business as usual discussing music, dogs, guitar, life, etc., until I read read posts by Andrew discussing the details of the crisis. Needless to say, I had no idea that this had happened and was a bit shocked and reminded just how tenuous the thread between life and death can be.I am glad that his wife Wend. "An amazing story of a professional musician and a near-death experience." according to Peter Argondizza. Waking the Spirit: A Musician's Journey Healing Body, Mind, and Soul is an amazing story of a professional musician who, after experiencing a near-death experience, literally returns 'to life' and playing music by the healing power of music. Moved by this transformative experience, the author tells how he, was compelled to return later to ICU to heal others through performing live music at patients' bedsides. Supported by scientific information from experts in neuroscience medicine and references to recent research in the field of music and medi. Carole said A Journey Well Worth Following. Waking the Spirit is simply wonderful! It’s the perfect antidote to today’s depressing political scene, is full of hope, and inspirational. Andrew Schulman is a professional guitarist who finds himself in an induced coma in the SICU at Beth Israel Hospital in New York, the most desperately ill patient in the unit. As each hour elapses, he worsens and is given almost no chance of survival…until his wife reaches into her handbag and finds his iPod programmed with his favorite music, beginning with Bach’s St. Matthew’

With a winning combination of anecdotal bedside stories, personal experience, and the research of neuroscientists, neuromusicologists, and fellow musicians, the author offers evidence of the calming, stabilizing, and synchronous ('entrainment') physical effects music therapy can have on a patient’s nervous system, pain, and overall health. A must read.” Kate Edgar, Oliver Sacks Foundation“Waking the Spirit is full of hope and wonders. By healing others, he healed himself. Andrew Schulman has as light a touch with his pen as he does when he picks up his guitar. His own journey began years earlier when, at 57, he was admitted to the same ward as a terminal 'Code Blue' patient with circulatory collapse following a routine pancreatic tumor excision. "Earnest but affable memoir.He talks with neuroscientists and psychiatrists and explores the legacy of Pythagoras

ANDREW SCHULMAN is the resident musician in the Critical Care Units at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City and Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He is also a solo guitarist and has appeared at Carnegie Hall, The Royal Albert Hall in London, the White House, and the Improv Comedy Club. He

In Waking the Spirit, you’ll learn the astonishing stories of the people he’s met along the wayboth patients and doctorsand see the incredible role music can play in a modern hospital setting.Schulman expertly weaves cutting-edge research on neuroscience and medicine, as well as what he’s learned as a professional musician, to explore the power of music to heal the body and awaken the spirit.. Against the oddsand with the help of musiche survived: a medical miracle.Once fully recovered, Andrew resolved to use his musical gifts to help critically ill patients at Mount Sinai Beth Israel’s ICU. An Oliver Sacks Foundation Best Book of the Year Selection, Finalist for the Books for a Better Life "Best First Book” Award, and a People Magazine Pick in Nonfiction.The astounding story of a critically ill musician who is saved by music and returns to the same hospital to help heal othersAndrew Schulman, a fifty-seven-year-old professional guitarist, had a close brush with death on the night of July 16, 2009