Among the Turks, therapy through music and movement has found its place not only as a historical reality but also as a therapeutic option in modern medicine. The figures carved into the Gobustan rock formations in Azerbaijan 14,000 years ago bear witness to a deeply rooted tradition.

The tradition of healing through Turkish modal music—which originated in Khorasan and has been evolving for a thousand years, featuring the pentatonic (five-note) scale, known as the oldest form of musical performance—has been documented in the works of scholars and artists. Using this tradition, music therapy has been practiced in Seljuk and Ottoman hospitals since nine hundred years ago. Today, through various laboratory tests made possible by modern medicine, the connections between emotions and organs as described in this ancient knowledge and the musical modes have been confirmed.

The Tümata (Research and Promotion of Turkish Music) Group—which carries out these activities, secures and preserves traditional musical repertoires, rhythms, and instruments, and provides training—is committed to presenting and implementing these activities worldwide under the leadership of ethnomusicologist and music therapist Assistant Professor Dr. Rahmi Oruç Güvenç. In addition, educational activities in this field have been ongoing in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Spain since 1980.
Within this framework, the activities conducted during the seminars are as follows:

• Baksi dance: In ancient times, healers known as kam and baksı used music and movement in their healing practices. Today, this dance—known as the Baksı dance or karacorga and practiced by kam and baksı (Central Asian Turkic-Islamic shamans)—is perhaps the oldest surviving example of music and movement therapy. The seminar provides information about the Baksı dance, explains how it is performed with examples, and involves participants in practicing it together.
• Archetypal movements: Archetypal movements—which can be described as the performance of certain movements derived from the Baksı dance and semahs, accompanied by a specific musical repertoire—aim to both release energy blockages and facilitate emotional transformation through movements that begin in the hands and spread throughout the entire body. Archetypal movements are practiced together with participants, accompanied by explanations of the movements.
• Imagery Therapy: For nearly twenty years, this practice has been conducted to the accompaniment of music that is largely improvised—a style that has been observed on numerous occasions to facilitate the perception of specific images. The goal is to release negative patterns that have become entrenched in the mind. A melody with roots in ancient practices is presented anew, unchanged in its essence, from the same source. This practice, in which participants lie down and rest while taking part, is a form of receptive (passive) therapy.
• Maqam music and receptive therapy: Maqam music flourished in the culture of Khorasan 1,000 years ago. The use of this music in treatment became a very important branch of medicine at that time, and scholars and scientists such as Ibn Sina, al-Farabi, Abu Bakr al-Razi, Safuyiddin Urmevi—artists and scholars of the time—identified and studied the connections and relationships between the maqams and the organs, time, ailments, the four elements, the four humors, and the zodiac signs. About forty of these maqams have been documented in the literature. During the seminars, information on the subject is provided, and—depending on the participants’ circumstances—a receptive music therapy session is conducted in a selected maqam, following the method used in the hospitals of the past.
• Pentatonic music and receptive therapy: Pentatonic (five-note) music, which dates back thousands of years, is described by Ahmet Adnan Saygun as the hallmark of Turkish music. It is said that this music increases alpha and theta waves in the brain, facilitates a trance-like state, and fosters self-confidence and determination. This session, in which participants lie down and rest, is a form of receptive (passive) therapy.