All posts tagged: healing drum

Finding Your Rhythm

Published by dmcblog

By Christine Stevens Christine Stevens leads Healing Sound Retreat, along with Silvia Nakkach, August 29–September 1  The following is an excerpt from Music Medicine, the Science and Spirit of Healing Yourself with Sound (Sounds True, 2012) We use the language of rhythm all the time. I feel “off-beat.” Happiness is called “up-beat.” We talk about feeling like “we got our groove back.” But dive deeper into this rhythm metaphor to the deep pulsing heartbeat that defines life itself, and you’ll discover that rhythm exists within and all around you. Playing drums and percussion can become a sacred invocation of this healing life force. Four Rhythms of Life We all have rhythm within us. This rhythm is so natural that we hardly notice the drum of who we are. The following are just a few examples of four rhythms we know from being alive that define the movement of life. 1. Heartbeat. The heartbeat rhythm is primal—the mother of all rhythms and the rhythm we first heard inside our mother’s womb. The groove of life ranges …

Meditation with Rhythm

Published by dmcblog

by Christine Stevens Ever since I heard world-famous sound healing expert Jill Purce say, “The purpose of sound is silence”, I have been asking myself: What could meditation and drumming possibly have in common? In meditation, placing our attention on the breath occupies the mind. In drumming, the rhythm becomes a mantra that captures our attention. You can’t drum while thinking. Both act as mind sweepers; to clear the mental space of worries and negative thought patterns. Both help us get out of our heads and into our hearts. Meditative states are quite natural and simple, but not easy. Both meditation and drumming are practices that focus on remembering rather than learning.  Within the rhythm of the drum, we remember our heartbeats in the womb and rhythms our bodies long to express. Meditation and drumming are both tools to connect with spiritual realms and the non-physical. We travel along both the silence and rhythm paths as portals into the spiritual space where we breathe deeply, relax and re-connect with the heart and soul. However, drumming just may be better suited …