Rachel Christensen walks slowly down the hall, strumming the harp as she goes.

She stops next to a woman who is sitting in her wheelchair in the hallway. As she strums, the woman in the chair visibly relaxes and a serene smile spreads across her face. It is as if she is the only person in the world.

Harp therapy is at work.

The Good Samaritan Society in Albert Lea began a therapeutic harp music program for its nearly 150 residents in 2008. The program began when Christensen, of Albert Lea, who has been playing the harp since she was a child, approached the nursing home with the idea.

When her stepfather, Herb Lund, was in the last stages of his life at St. John’s Lutheran Home, Christensen played the harp for him. He was no longer able to speak, but as she began to play “Jesus Loves Me,” he started to sing along. Her father-in-law, Howard Christensen, who was suffering from dementia and was also a resident of the nursing home, joined in.

“I decided I’d like to be able to do this for other people,” Christensen said.

So Christensen started studying with the International Harp Therapy Program in San Diego. The program is taught with both classroom training and home study.

As part of her training in San Diego, Christensen worked as an intern at a hospice there.

She recalled working with one woman there, who seemed very afraid as Christensen entered her room. “As I played, her whole countenance changed,” she said. “After I left, she died within 20 minutes. But she didn’t pass alone or afraid.”

She stresses that harp therapy is a complementary therapy. “It’s been shown that we can reduce pain by playing music, rather than giving a drug. Music is non-invasive,” she said.

In another instance, Christensen went to play for a woman who was suffering from both cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. The Alzheimer’s had caused her to be sharp with her husband, and he withdrew to the couch. The woman asked Christensen to play “Lara’s Theme” from the movie “Doctor Zhivago.”

The husband began to sing and put his arm around his wife. Soon they were telling stories and smiling and laughing together.

“It brought them back to the best times of their lives,” Christensen said. “That’s what music can do.”

It’s magic moments like these that carry the rewards for Christensen, who volunteers her services at the local nursing home.

“Rachel comes and she shares her talent and gives her time,” said Theresa Thorland, Good Samaritan’s recreation and wellness director. “She is such as compassionate and caring person.”

Good Samaritan’s therapeutic harp music program was recognized as a 2008 International Council on Active Aging Industry Innovators Award winner.

Thorland said Christensen works with all residents at the nursing home, from those in the hospice program to those who are more independent.

“She also plays for the staff, too,” Thorland said.

Her music is appreciated by all, especially those who don’t get many outside visitors, she said.

“When Rachel plays for them, they feel like they are the center of the earth,” Thorland added.

This week, Christensen stopped to play for resident Gertrude Wedel. She first played an Irish tune, “Carrick Fergis,” then asked Wedel what she wanted to hear. When she didn’t immediately know what she wanted to hear, Christensen began playing the hymn, “In the Garden.”

When she finished, Wedel was ready. “Can you play ‘Danny Boy’?” she asked.

Christensen did.

“It is beautiful,” a smiling Wedel said of the harp music she’d just heard. “I love that song.”

The first time she heard Christensen play, her roommate, Gladys Sigurdson, had asked the harpist to play for Wedel.

By the time Christensen finished, a group of residents gathered at the end of the hall asked her to come and play for them. And so the afternoon continued.

Christensen generally plays for people in their rooms. She’ll go to those who staff members think will benefit most from her visit — those who are isolated, depressed or not able to get out of their rooms to enjoy activities.

“Healing is not just physical, but spiritual and emotional too,” she said.

Christensen will also enter a room when she’s invited by the resident.

“I always introduce myself, and try to spent about 15 minutes with a person,” she said. “The whole process is meditative. I take note of how they’re breathing and I meet them where they are. I acknowledge them as a person.”

Then, she lets the music happen. “I can’t start with an agenda. I have to be in the moment,” she said.

“This is as good for me as it is for them,” she added.

She stresses she’s not giving a concert. It’s the one-on-one musical interaction that’s important. “I tell them, ‘You don’t have to respond to me. It’s all about you,’” Christensen said.

Improvisational skills are important for the harp therapist, so she can play the songs the residents want to hear.

“After nearly 40 years of playing, my improvisational skills are pretty good,” she said. “I never use music. It’s all in my head.”

Christensen uses a therapy harp, which weighs less than 10 pounds, to play for the residents. It was made in Red Wing, and she is able to strap the harp on to walk and play.

“It has a light, mellow tone, so it’s not abrasive in a patient’s room,” Christensen said.

“The harp lends itself in so many ways,” she said. “It’s non-abrasive and it has an archetypal image: angels and blessings, a peaceful mode.”

She said there has been a growth in the number of people playing the folk harp today. “Access to the instrument has grown, and a person can learn all the fundamentals on a harp this size.

“It’s easy playing something people enjoy,” she said. “Simple things can sound beautiful on this instrument. The musical elements have to be right, but it’s not hard to make a nice tone.”

Christensen is working toward her certification as a harp therapy practitioner. She’s quick to point out that she is not a music therapist, but what she does is provide therapeutic music. There are a couple thousand harp therapy practitioners in the United States, she said.

Christensen began playing the harp when she was growing up in Sioux Falls, S.D. “There was a harp program in the school system there,” she said.

When her mother married Herb Lund, the family moved to Albert Lea, and she continued to take lessons. Today, she has three harp students of her own.