Can Gurmat Sangeet or Sikh Raag Music affect the way you feel ?

Yes definitely! It deepens the understanding of self and all our emotions and it also helps us to gain another perspective on our thoughts & emotions. Doing Kirtan or reciting Gurbani enhances our mood if it is sung in the prescribed Raags because these raags are made by a set of rules of how to build a melody that ignites a certain mood in the reciter & listeners. As written in Guru Granth Saheb ji different shabad(Divine hymns) have been written in different Raags to be sung to let us feel the essence & its meaning more clearly which eventually helps us to settle down our day-to-day life challenges. Moreover, it has the power to affect our mind & soul deeply through different sounds having different effects.  Playing Sikh Tradition instruments or just listening to them can bring about multiple benefits & harness the healing effects of their sound., one can instantly feel good as it soothes our mind and release all the negative energies from our body. In Gurmat Sangeet, there are 60 raags of which 31 are the main ones written in Guru Granth Saheb ji. Each Melody sets a particular mood for the shabad, adding a deeper meaning to it. 

How can one start to feel the healing effects?

The answer to this is, just to allow yourself to feel your feelings and learn the art of Sikh music(Kirtan) which is accessible to everyone with no boundaries and limitations. It has its own healing modality, one can have many benefits including this in their routine. It lets you learn to communicate to your mind and body using Shabad and Raags. Sikh Raag Music is a meditation practice that evokes inner healing by releasing all the negative energies and vibrations from your body and gives you feelings of happiness, fulfillment, and contentment. It eventually reduces the stress level and boosts our immune function. Some people who have engaged themselves in the truest form experience deep healing as it leads to a renewed sense of purpose and well-being by releasing the stuck energy inside us.