Let's face it, you can not learn Shamanic Drumming from books. You CAN learn by experimenting, which can include playing the drum with your hands or with the mallet. So in this entry, I will ONLY be providing you with my own experiences that happened because i was willing to fully listen to my drum and hear what it had to tell me in its personal language of sound. So with these experiences I hope to provide you with INSPIRATION to take up this practice. Your experiences will vary as much as there are species of birds, grasses, trees and flowers! I would advise those light-workers (and/or non-musician) who are not even sure where to start in this process to read the story near the end of the entry. I would also like to recommend that starting ASAP, and with the mindset that there really are no mistakes. It is more about listening to what the drum is telling you to do rather than what you KNOW already or do NOT KNOW already. It is a great way to connect with your inner child because you are tapping into the ALL that IS and fields of INFINITE possibility. You can use drumming as a tool to UNLEARN, rather than LEARN. Meanwhile you will see you have entered a paradox, because as a result of being fully open and not having dire expectations, you WILL THEN LEARN!
Here I will attempt to recount some recent experiences with drumming on a deer skin drum with mallet. However I can also tell a story that happened with my Serpentbird 7 group back sometime in February of 2012.
Most recently, I have moved to Dracut, Massachusetts 30 miles North of Boston. I have been using my drum more often, because I have several pockets of woods around where I live, where I can be alone, and get myself centered and peaceful. I had an intention one day to take the drum out and drum over my own body, to receive guidance from Spirit, or from my guides. I couldn't seem to receive what I was looking for, so I concentrated more so on, getting familiar with the range of sounds I can produce on the deer skin. Within the organic design of walnut stain atop the face of my drum, I can see that there are varying pockets of sound to play. There is a shape on the drum face which resembles a 5 pointed star. As I played that day, I clairsentiently knew that the drum called me to play a rhythm of 5 beats. (I don't even know how to describe this with musician lingo, since I don't claim to play instruments like a classically trained musician.)
I hear sounds from the personality of the drum or perhaps the SPIRIT of the animal connected to this drum. I hear first and then connect to the drum predominantly through my 2nd chakra. AHA! According to Suzanne Bovenizer, The 2nd chakra is where women hold their “Seat of Power”. The belly connects to, self-healing, aspects of Self and communing with the Goddess.
After I connect to the drum by listening to the sound created with my mallet, I put the sound over my body. I scan my body with my eyes closed and use all of my senses then hover the drum over whichever chakra is calling to be healed first. The sound can bounce toward my body and then I can get a mental picture of where there is blockage. I can feel the size of my crown chakra. In this session I learned that my crown's opening and crystal cord is massive! I knew this by playing the drum over my crown, and then I could get a mental picture of a large expanse of white light.
After years of trying so many forms of meditation, perhaps 10 years, I have found nothing like this process of using sound to track and explore the quality and depth, dimention of my chakra system. By using the sound and breath, I can facilitate my own healing. The sound provides clarity on what the state of health is in areas of my body. I can relate this to you as a metaphor. If you beat a drum as it faces toward a small stick, very little sound travels back to you. If you beat the drum as you are facing a large wall you will get more sound bouncing back toward you. It is in this way, that I gather information about the expanse of a chakra. In the case of my crown chakra, I discovered the expanse of light because the sound of the drum "told" me through a mental picture what IS there.
Here I will attempt to recount some recent experiences with drumming on a deer skin drum with mallet. However I can also tell a story that happened with my Serpentbird 7 group back sometime in February of 2012.
Most recently, I have moved to Dracut, Massachusetts 30 miles North of Boston. I have been using my drum more often, because I have several pockets of woods around where I live, where I can be alone, and get myself centered and peaceful. I had an intention one day to take the drum out and drum over my own body, to receive guidance from Spirit, or from my guides. I couldn't seem to receive what I was looking for, so I concentrated more so on, getting familiar with the range of sounds I can produce on the deer skin. Within the organic design of walnut stain atop the face of my drum, I can see that there are varying pockets of sound to play. There is a shape on the drum face which resembles a 5 pointed star. As I played that day, I clairsentiently knew that the drum called me to play a rhythm of 5 beats. (I don't even know how to describe this with musician lingo, since I don't claim to play instruments like a classically trained musician.)
I hear sounds from the personality of the drum or perhaps the SPIRIT of the animal connected to this drum. I hear first and then connect to the drum predominantly through my 2nd chakra. AHA! According to Suzanne Bovenizer, The 2nd chakra is where women hold their “Seat of Power”. The belly connects to, self-healing, aspects of Self and communing with the Goddess.
After I connect to the drum by listening to the sound created with my mallet, I put the sound over my body. I scan my body with my eyes closed and use all of my senses then hover the drum over whichever chakra is calling to be healed first. The sound can bounce toward my body and then I can get a mental picture of where there is blockage. I can feel the size of my crown chakra. In this session I learned that my crown's opening and crystal cord is massive! I knew this by playing the drum over my crown, and then I could get a mental picture of a large expanse of white light.
After years of trying so many forms of meditation, perhaps 10 years, I have found nothing like this process of using sound to track and explore the quality and depth, dimention of my chakra system. By using the sound and breath, I can facilitate my own healing. The sound provides clarity on what the state of health is in areas of my body. I can relate this to you as a metaphor. If you beat a drum as it faces toward a small stick, very little sound travels back to you. If you beat the drum as you are facing a large wall you will get more sound bouncing back toward you. It is in this way, that I gather information about the expanse of a chakra. In the case of my crown chakra, I discovered the expanse of light because the sound of the drum "told" me through a mental picture what IS there.
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