(Christine Stevens) From biology to the brain, rhythm seems to play a significant role in igniting the circuits that lead to transformation and awakening. Yet we wonder why humans have been drumming together for centuries, keeping together in time, moving from the individual –focus to social bonding. Could it be that enlightenment is just a few beats away?
Related Humans Are Hardwired for Music: Our Brains Appear Uniquely Tuned for Musical Pitch
by Christine Stevens, August 17th, 2019
Your Body on Drums
Since 2001, research has demonstrated the health benefits of drumming, including mind, body, and spirit. A cascade of evidence began with a seminal study performed by Dr. Barry Bittman, MD at the Mind-Body Wellness Center in Meadville, PA. Researchers took blood samples before and after a one hour group drumming program and compared it to control conditions of listening to drum music and resting. The results were surprising, given that the subjects (112) in the study had never drummed or even played music before. The study showed that drumming could modulate the immune system and reduce stress on a cellular biological level, by increasing NK cell activity and cytokine activity, orchestrators of the immune system.
Buy Book The Drummer’s Path: Moving the Spirit with Ritual and Traditional Drumming
A Prescription for Enlightenment
What made drumming so successful in creating these changes? The authors identified seven key factors woven into the drumming program;
- Laughter – Ask yourself, when is the last time you laughed? Studies show that children laugh 400 times a day and adults, a mere 4 times a day. By combining laughter and joy with the beat of the drum, we learn to stop taking ourselves so seriously. That’s why we say we “play” music.
- Camaraderie – There is a sense of togetherness generated by a shared rhythmic experience. By engaging in a group experience, total strangers began to feel a bond with each other. That camaraderie is cooperative, not competitive like a sport team. Everyone wins as the group learns to jam in rhythm, getting in sync. If you’re drumming alone, befriend your drum and you can experience a duet.
- Personal Expression – Drumming is permissive. You don’t have to worry about a wrong note or holding a tune. Rhythm allows creative expression, improvisation, as if each person is sharing their story from a unique core. Where else can you feel that freedom? How else can you transmute emotions and feel a release, without words?
- Music Making – It turns out that playing a drum is a lot easier than learning violin, taking piano lessons, or even trying to remember the lyrics of a song. Drumming is probably the easiest most immediate instrument, allowing a portal into the experience of creating music, not just being the listener or audience. This is significant.5. Spirituality – Spiritual experience and connecting to a higher power, great mystery, divine creative energy, (choose your word for sacred, holiness) has been shown to improve health
- Spirituality – Spiritual experience and connecting to a higher power, great mystery, divine creative energy, (choose your word for sacred, holiness) has been shown to improve health
- Guided Imagery – Our minds are wired for visualization. As subjects closed their eyes and drummed, they were guided in an imagery of being in nature, feeling connected with the rhythms of the earth.
- Exercise – Turns out that drumming is a workout. Researchers have shown that 4 minutes of hand drumming on a djembe from West Africa is equal to 4 minutes of exercise on an incline bicycle in terms of metabolic units burned. (METS). Our bodies are wired for rhythm. Rhythm is the medicine for the body. We cant hold still when a groove is going. That’s a good thing.
Awaken Your Rhythm
As I designed the online course, Awaken Your Rhythm for The Shift Network, I combined seven key modules focusing on learning the four elemental sounds, improvisation for self-expression, rhythm mantra for meditation, movement for rhythm embodiment, using your voice to chant with the beat, drumming for healing and learning a few world rhythms. Check out this course online and join the rhythmic symphony of awakening.
Buy Book Shamanism and Spirituality in Therapeutic Practice: An Introduction
You can also view my Drumming for Healing workshop, my YouTube channel and a free video tutorial below:
Drumming for Healing – Shift Network
FREE Video Tutorial – Four Essential Rhythms of Life
Articles sources:
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11191041 – Composite Effects of Group Drumming Music Therapy on Modulation of Neuroendocrine-Immune Parameters in Normal Subjects
- https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0151136 – Effects of Group Drumming Interventions on Anxiety, Depression, Social Resilience and Inflammatory Immune Response among Mental Health Service Users
About The Author
Christine Stevens, MSW, MT-BC, MA holds masters degrees in both social work and music therapy. She is author of Music Medicine, The Healing Drum Kit and The Art and Heart of Drum Circles. The founder of UpBeat Drum Circles, she has appeared on NBC, PBS, KTLA, and is a featured speaker in the DVD Discover the Gift. She has trained facilitators world-wide in REMO HealthRHYTHMS, worked with Fortune 500 companies, survivors of Katrina, students at Ground Zero and most recently, led the first drum circle training in a war-zone in northern Iraq.
Stillness in the Storm Editor: Why did we post this?
Consciousness is one of the most mysterious phenomena of all time. Scientists, philosophers, and mystics have been searching for the answer to the question, What is Consciousness? for most of human history. In modern times, the spiritual origins of consciousness are being replaced with a materialistic view, that awareness emerges as an additive property of electrical impulses in living things. Despite the fact this theory is assumed to be true, any self-respecting psychologist will tell you we have no idea what consciousness really is. The preceding article discusses consciousness, some of its properties, and possible origins. This is helpful to contemplate because, in the act of trying to understand the mysteries of consciousness, you develop critical thinking skills and stimulate your philosophic muscles, both which are immensely important for almost everything we do in life. Additionally, you’ll develop abstract thinking skills, the ability to explore intangible realities that govern material realms. With the power of an active mind capable of navigating the realities of consciousness, great leaps in personal attainment can be made along with preparing you for the Great Work of making this world a better place.
– Justin
Not sure how to make sense of this? Want to learn how to discern like a pro? Read this essential guide to discernment, analysis of claims, and understanding the truth in a world of deception: 4 Key Steps of Discernment – Advanced Truth-Seeking Tools.
Stillness in the Storm Editor’s note: Did you find a spelling error or grammar mistake? Send an email to corrections@stillnessinthestorm.com, with the error and suggested correction, along with the headline and url. Do you think this article needs an update? Or do you just have some feedback? Send us an email at sitsshow@gmail.com. Thank you for reading.
Source:
https://wakeup-world.com/2019/08/16/waken-your-rhythm-scientific-benefits-of-drumming-for-awakening/
We couldn’t do it without you.
Please make a donation so we can keep giving you the news and information they don’t want you to see.
Leave a Reply