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 …