Sweet Medicine Drums

[songbird]

For thousands of years tribal cultures from all over the globe have used the drum to heal people. Tribal societies, both eastern and western have long recognized the connection between drum energy and their physical & emotional health. In the same way, we can use the energy of drumming to help us make the changes we need in our body, mind and soul.

Many tribes and cultures can attest to the power of vibrational energy and the Healing Drum to transform and relieve physical and emotional maladies. It's no surprise that science is now finding measurable positive immune system changes as a result of drum healing and otehr sound therapies. Everyday, people are using the sound vibrations of the drum to make positive changes in the body and heal did-ease. Sound combined with other therapies enhances the healing effects of many other treatments and therapies and sound alone can perform miracles.

Drum Healing, like the power of a Mother's heartbeat to a new born child, can heal like no other sound can heal. 

Jamie Sams:

When we have made our desire for union known by reclaiming our passion for life, the drums of our hearts call out to others. When we find joy in commonplace, meeting each day with genuine excitement, others are drawn to us. The gift of a positive point of veiw is a sure magnet that creates a curiousity in others who want to discover that kind of happiness. The heart drum is playing a melody that cannot be denied when there is lightness in our steps and a twinkle in our eyes.

The Ancestors called this state of being Walking in Beauty. When a person walks through life in this joyous manner, he or she has found union with the self and can share that love with others. That person's heart drum will call to others who can recognize the spirit of the happy heart's song.

When we are down, we can change our hearts sad melody by finding things to admire and appreciate about our lives. By changing our viewpoint to gratitude, we will not draw negative people to us. Our heart drum cannot call sad or miserable souls to us when it is full of praise.

Jamie Sams
Earth Medicine p. 193

Drumming not only assists with physical health, but your emotional, mental and spiritual health are included in this process. Drum therapy can provide healing and make the changes needed to experience a healthier life on many levels.   If we fully embrace its power, it can enhance and heal many areas of our lives.


If we focus the Divine energy of mind and spirit along with the energy of the drum toward what is affecting the physical body, then, we are likely to truly heal!

[songbird]

Native Americans and most of the indigenous peoples of the Earth have known for thousands of years that drumming is a powerful spiritual tool. Only in recent years, though, has the scientific basis come to light.

Michael Harner, an anthropologist and founder of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, did pioneering work in studying the effects of drumming in the 1960s and '70s, outlined in his book, The Way of The Shaman (Harper; San Francisco; 1990).

According to Harner, the beat of the drum, as used to transport native peoples into shamanic states of consciousness, closely approximates the base resonant frequency of the Earth, which can be measured scientifically.

In recent years, Gregg Braden, a geophysicist and author of such works as Walking Between the Worlds: The Science of Compassion (Radio Bookstore Press; Bellevue, Wash.; 1997), has continuously measured this frequency, which has led to his hypothesis that the Earth is going through great changes, with profound implications for its inhabitants.
Ancient Prophecies
This measurement, he concludes, coincides with the ancient prophecies of the Egyptians, the Hopis, the Aztecs, the Mayan, and others around the world, including the Christian Bible, saying that the Earth will go through a time of awakening, transformation and renewal during these "end times" -- beginning to occur now -- as a result of these changes.

The physiological effects of sound, particularly regarding altered states, have also been well documented, shown to produce alpha, beta, and theta (psychic) states in the brain. (See: Mitchell L. Gaynor, M.D., Sounds of Healing: A Physician Reveals the Therapeutic Power of Sound, Voice and Music, Broadway Books; New York; 1999).
Inducing Meditative States with Sound
Of course, the ability of sound to induce meditative states was well known thousands of years ago to ancient Hindu and Buddhist cultures, which used rhythmic chanting, singing bowls, finger chimes and other methods to transcend ordinary consciousness, as well. Drumming, by combining the vibrational tones of meditation and the 180-cycles-per-second beat approximating the base resonant frequency of the Earth itself, thus, becomes not only a powerful meditation tool, but a way to tap into our psychic inner ability to travel over vast distances, effect cures, and know -- and affect -- the future.

Drunvalo Melchizedek in his books, The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life," Vols. 1 & 2 (Light Technology; Flagstaff, Ariz.; 2000), explains the effects of being in contact with "all-time-no-time" in time and space through defining the human energy field as a "permanent merkaba" in the shape of a star tetrahedron. That energy field or the human aura, he says, extends 27 feet in each direction in its most dense form, but it also extends through space and time and other dimensions.
Shamanic Journeying
Through shamanic journeying, using the drum, we can travel along our energy field lines through those dimensions -- in "ordinary," 3-D reality, or the non- ordinary "middle world, in shamanic terms, or elsewhere, anywhere on Earth or in other universes. Remember in the movie "The Best And The Brightest" when an Australian aborigine, told that the space program's goal was to reach the Moon, was unimpressed? He said, "I've been there."

In Dreamtime, you can go anywhere. We all have psychic ability. This is shown by Dean Radin, Ph.D., writing in Psychology Today (July/August 2000). She tells of an editor of a well-known magazine who came to her clinic asking if there really is a sixth sense, or ESP, abilities that transcend the usual boundaries of space and time.

She had the woman sit before a blank computer screen, hooked up to monitors measuring skin resistance and blood flow and showed her sequences of randomly selected images. Afterward, they compared the readings.

"This bump shows that your body responded to emotional pictures before the computer selected them. And this flat line," she said, pointing to the other line, "shows that your body did not respond before calm pictures were shown. You see? Your body was responding to your future emotion before the computer randomly selected an emotional or calm picture."

She added: "We can now demonstrate in the laboratory what at some level we've known all along: Many people literally get a gut feeling before something bad happens. Our viscera warn us of danger even if our conscious mind doesn't always get the message." Although in most of us, psychic ability is fleeting and often haphazard, it can be induced and sustained through such techniques as drumming.

Shamanic drumming gives access to a doorway that can be opened and closed, at will. And anyone -- anyone! -- with supervision, can learn how to do it. The Foundation for Shamanic Studies holds workshops around the country and in other parts of the world teaching this technique (see: www.shamanism.org).
Therapeutic Drumming
The therapeutic effects of drumming are becoming more widely documented, as well (see: the journal, Alternative Therapies - Jan. 2001, for article: Composite Effects of Group Drumming Music Therapy on Modulation of Neuroendocrine-Immune Parameters in Normal Subjects).

But shamanic or Native American style drumming is most powerful as a prayerful device, as a way to touch your sacred circles of loved ones, family and friends in a unique and powerful way. A shamanic journey, using the drum, is just "visualized prayer." And it is a powerful ancient technology only now being rediscovered by many in the 21st century.

[songbird]

Listen to a 15 mnute Shamanic Drumming MP3 here

Or watch here:

Shamanic Drumming and Chanting

[songbird]

Drumming and Stress Management

Stress is basically a disconnection from the earth, a forgetting of the breath...It believes that everything is an emergency. Nothing is that important. -Natalie Goldberg

How does the drum help to relieve stress? There are numerous ways this occurs. When people drum, they are generally having fun. It is difficult to be in a playful mode and be stressed at the same time. Also,  the drum has the capacity to release negative feelings-of which stress is clearly one. When one hits the drum, he or she is placed squarely in the here and now. Some of our stress is created from past or future thoughts of fear, worry, or regret, but it is very difficult to be stressed and be in the present moment.

Drumming increases our Alpha brainwaves, those brainwaves associated with feelings of well-being and euphoria. There are benefits associated with Alpha waves, such as the ability to relax and keep the mind on idle when it is not focusing on a specific task. Alpha is associated with a general feeling of well-being and euphoria. Individuals who have very high amplitude of Alpha brainwaves have been found to be able to experience more "lucid dreams." People with lower than normal amounts of Alpha or no Alpha have much more mental stress than other people.

[songbird]

For centuries, drumming has been a central part of indigenous cultures worldwide. Drumming has been commonplace at wedding ceremonies, births, deaths, harvests and rites of passage. It is used by peoples to connect to the Earth and to one another. As a universal, vibrational language, the drumbeat communes with the Earth and all her creatures. In recent years, major articles describing the healing effects of this ancient practice have appeared in newspapers and magazines such as The New York Times, Yoga Journal, The Wall Street Journal and Newsweek.

Drumming is now being used successfully in programs to aid Alzheimer's patients, autistic children, and emotionally disturbed teens as well as by large corporations to help employees focus attention and improve the spirit. Medical researchers now testify to the stress reducing effects of this ancient art. According to current medical research, stress either causes or exacerbates 98% of all disease. The brain's fundamental need for rhythm has long been known in the field of music therapy. Studies indicate that drumming for brief periods can actually change a person's brainwave patterns, dramatically reducing stress.


New Dawn: A Frame Drum Song to Center and Clear with Leslee Jo Klinsky
Beckon: A Frame Drum Song to Travel Worlds by with Leslee Jo Klinsky

10 minute Shamanic Drumming mp3
This session helps you to enter the altered state of consciousness through repeated binaural beats



The drum is an easily accessible tool for reconnecting with our deeper selves. Our hands connect with a drum that vibrates with our energy and vitality. In turn this calms us, centers us, and reconnects us with ourselves as well as with the world around us. Drumming is one of the oldest healing rituals known to man. Drumming the HEART BEAT RHYTHM can be done with little or no previous musical background or training. This is an experience accessible to all people. The ability to drum is alive in all of us.

[songbird]

I highly recommend, for anyone that has healing they would like to do, be it emotional or physical or energetic blockages-- to try using drums as therapy.  I really can't describe the power available to us when  listening to a drummer drumming.   Incredible.  A sacred drum healing can send a subtle voice to the unseen worlds and pierce the veil between them.


Not only will the drumming take you to other places, away from your worries of everyday life and allow you to be free from stress and worry, but the vibrations that will flow thoroughout your mind and body facilitate the deepest kind of healing.  Though Shamans and Healers have always known   this, medical research on the healing power of drumming now shows that drumming can ease pain, cure headaches, relieve anxiety, relax body and mind, and improve health.    For drummers. the drum is not just a symbol of healing and peace but a living spiritual being with powers of healing and rebirth.

The relaxation achieved by drumming helps us to see, feel and know our connection with the Universe, with all of life, and with each other. Because of this, it naturally awakens our creativity and mental capacity, and helps to expand our heart.   The sacred and deep power of the drum is a tool for personal transformation, growth, and healing -- You will feel the lighter, healthier and uplifted after the first session. 




**Remember**

As always, when healing ourselves, the process may stir a muddy pond.  If the drum healing awakens issues that are confronting and challenging, be prepared to talk this out with others who are supportive of your path and healing.   

We are here to listen.

[FunkyPlasma]

Listened to the shamanic drumming link twice yesterday

I liked it

Thank-u


Love,

Michaelwoof

[FunkyPlasma]

"Throughout history, some sounds have come to be regarded as sacred and healing, the drumbeat being one of these. Drumming for meditation and relaxation has its root in prehistoric times. Stone Age man found that the drumbeat changed the way he felt and helped him gain a form of control over his environment. For thousands of years drumming has been a deep and sacred part of indigenous cultures worldwide. The Celts, British, Irish, Native Americans, Siberian Tuvans, Laps, North African Arabic Tribes and Mongolians have all known that drumming is a powerful spiritual tool and drumming has been customary at weddings, births, deaths, harvests and initiation ceremonies the world over.

Reiki is a system of natural healing which has also been in use for many thousands of years. Rei-Ki means spiritual energy or universal life-force energy. At an atomic level everything which exists in the Universe is made up of energy vibrating at different rates. Humans are also comprised of electromagnetic energy and in healing Reiki acts holistically, affecting all the energies comprising the human body, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Reiki is non invasive and has been shown to effectively stimulate the relaxation response.

Combining Reiki and Drumming creates the Reiki Drum Technique, a method of utilising the drum to introduce Reiki energy into a person’s energy field to bring about deep relaxation thereby releasing deep seated tensions and achieving homeostasis. The drum rhythm reminds the body of its optimal vibration.

There have been many scientific research studies conducted to discover the effect sound and drumming have on the human body and psyche. Research has indicated that even drumming for a short period of time can induce an alpha state, brainwaves associated with wellbeing and euphoria. Drumming helps people express and address emotional issues, aiding in the removal of blockages and producing emotional release. Studies have linked drumming with positive effects on Alzheimer’s and Dementia patients, emotionally disturbed teens, recovery addicts and trauma patients. "

source: http://www.reikidrum.co.uk/


Love,

Michaelwoif

[FunkyPlasma]

"Research demonstrates that drumming accesses the whole brain, synchronizing the two cerebral hemispheres, engaging both logical left brain and intuitive right brain. It has been shown to generate dynamic neuronal connections in the brain, even when there has been significant damage such as after stroke or with Parkinson's Disease. Other studies have noted that IQ scores have improved with control groups after playing drums.

 
On a physical level drumming in studies has shown to alter endocrine and immunologic response in a person. Scientific research demonstrates that cortisol levels, blood pressure readings, heart rate and blood flow are all postively affected, natural killer cells are more active and drumming aids the production of endorphins and endogenous opiates assisting in pain control.

On a spiritual level, the vibrations of the drumbeat encourage mental, emotional and spiritual energy bodies to realign and chakras to become balanced, resulting in emotional and mental harmony. Our consciousness shifts and we are able to reach our true spiritual selves.



The Reiki Drum Technique incorporates three methods:-
•A Reiki Drum Healing Session lasts for a shorter period of time than a normal Reiki session. The practitioner gently drums over the body of the client. The drumming is followed by normal hands on Reiki to help integrate the Drum Healing.

•Reiki Drum Mental Reprogramming is a way of treating negative habits or natural tendencies. The technique can be used to overcome bad habits, to focus the mind on something important or for achieving a goal. Drumming facilitates the energetic shift necessary to positively affect the subconscious mind. The client focuses their mind on the issue in question whilst the practitioner drums gently over their body. After a period of time the practitioner incorporates normal hands on Reiki to integrate the healing.

•The Reiki Drum Journey is a technique to facilitate altered consciousness for the client to access information for change in any area of their life. It can be used for healing personal issues, career concerns, relationship problems, accessing the client’s inner wisdom and tuning into spiritual guidance. This technique can be exceptionally empowering and healing on all levels"

source: http://www.reikidrum.co.uk/home2.html


Love,

Michaelwoof