Enhancing daily life with systrum, frame drum & dance, we rekindle a natural sacred state of well being.

The rhythmic patterns and dance movements of traditions steeped in antiquity, steeped in women’s ancestry renew self-esteem and self-confidence and daily affairs become less stressful and more manageable.

by Tahya originally written September, 1999*

A devotee of Danse Orientale for over 25 years, I consistently find this ancient and enduring art a great source of inspiration. Connecting movement with rhythmic drumming expands our imagination, creativity, individual growth and fulfillment ~ important components to recovering a personal spiritual connection to well being.

Feeny Lipscomb, a drummer, writer and entrepreneur who lives in Taos, New Mexico, is the founder of the All One Tribe Foundation , which disseminates research on the physical, psychological and spiritual benefits of drumming. In her article “As We Drum, We Are One” (For full article, see below), she writes:

Modern society’s loss of its rituals has caused psychic fragmentation–literally, the state of being disconnected from our deeper selves. The result is a sort of soul starvation–a deep, non-specific hunger which we’ve tried desperately (and unsuccessfully) to feed with food, drugs, sex, alcohol, shopping, gambling, work.

We now know that stress is a cause of 98% of all disease. Not only heart attacks, strokes, immune system breakdowns, but every disease known–with the exception of two viruses–has been shown to be caused by or exacerbated by stress.

*In January 2005 Joan Borysenko, PhD, who wrote a “staying centered – alternatives” column in Prevention Magazine. In “The Power of Intention” she listed “4 secrets of smart goal setters” including #3. Go for a group ritual.

Drumming and dance provide accessible tools for healing and besides, these are invigorating and fun activities vitalizing the senses promoting improved health and well being.

When afforded the privilege of my first time working with a mastectomy patient, I was able to witness the transformation in this person’s range of movement and flexibility as well as heightened sense of body image. Over the years, I have witnessed this transformation in nearly all the participants in my classes. This is, indeed, a healing ritual and I have been encouraged to now create a video introduction to my “Healing Dance” program. For more information on that, please visit Danse Orientale ~ A Healing Dance.

In her book, Why People Don’t Heal and How they Can, Carolyn Myss, Ph.D. also emphasizes this concept of a “healing fire that lies in wait deep within the human spirit which will guide you to the right healing steps.” Reading this book, I am encouraged to continue creating rituals and invocations to boost personal energy and connect with the inner Source of creativity and healing.

I find practicing my frame drum and in particular connecting it to movement affords me the privilege of remembering, recovering, refreshing, and realizing the Source residing within. In fact, I have been so inspired to invite other women to gather at my home to form a percussion ensemble. Glen Velez’s “Handance” and the work of Layne Redmond, author of the book,“When the Drummers were Women” have been most influential. Bringing together the sounds of riqq, finger cymbals, dumbek and bell, we have created a percussion processional, in tribute to ancient rituals when women were drummers.

Women in antiquity were the sacred time keepers and the rituals of dancing and drumming were offered in community ceremony for all occasions — seasons changing, rain, harvest, birth, moon cycles — not the least of which was for healing physical and/or mental dis-ease. The Zar, for example, is a dance and drum ritual practiced in the Middle East. A recent National Geographic documentary, entitled “Cairo Unveiled” shows footage of the Zar; the narrator alludes this ritual is practiced, for example, when someone is depressed.

In addition, women’s spirituality, wisdom and sexuality were affirmed through rituals involving dancing and drumming. Some of the oldest depictions “representing the human figure in a specific activity,” illustrate a goddess with upraised arms, a gesture interpreted as conveying prayer or invocation.

Invoke blessings of good health. Return ritual to your daily life. Recreate the oldest known dance: the ritual act of walking a circular path. Our current high-speed lifestyle dismembers our body/mind/spirit connection; remember the connection via these centuries-old movements as we dance in reverence of the sacred garment we are provided for this lifetime’s journey.

As we rediscover the communal and healing powers of rhythm and movement, we are establishing a bridge between these ancient traditions and our modern lifestyle. Incorporating drumming and dance in our daily lives heightens our awareness of passionate soulful existence. A positive esprit is generated which we can, in turn, bring to our families and into the communities in which we live.

– Tahya

As We Drum, We Are One

by Feeny Lipscomb (1945-2011)

“The drum is emerging as the transformational tool of our time.”

The United Nations has declared 1994–2004 the “International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.” Indigenous cultures have always drummed in ritual at births, deaths, weddings, harvests and rites of passage. These cultures, with their natural sense of Earth wisdom and awareness of the sacred in all things, seem always to have understood that human beings are coded for ritual.

What does that mean? A writer friend of mine recently shared this profound insight,

Modern society’s loss of its rituals has caused psychic fragmentation–literally, the state of being disconnected from our deeper selves.

The result is a sort of soul starvation–a deep, non-specific hunger which we’ve tried desperately (and unsuccessfully) to feed with food, drugs, sex, alcohol, shopping, gambling, work. Many healers believe that this psychic fragmentation is at the root of stress.

We now know that stress is a cause of 98% of all disease. Not only heart attacks, strokes, immune system breakdowns, but every disease known–with the exception of two viruses–has been shown to be caused by or exacerbated by stress.

Interestingly, it now appears that

the most accessible tool for reconnecting with ourselves may be the drum, a gift from the indigenous world.

Recent biofeedback studies show that drumming along with our own heartbeats for brief periods can alter brain wave patterns and “meditate” us, dramatically reducing stress.

A recent study by Barry Quinn, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist specializing in neurobiofeedback therapy (NBT) for stress management, indicates that drumming works on even the highest-stress clients. Dr. Quinn operates a neurobiofeedback clinic called the MindSpa Place in Colorado Springs, CO, and for nearly nine years has been working with how a variety of techniques affect the brain waves.

One of Dr. Quinn’s patients, a Viet Nam veteran who has long suffered from high stress, hypervigilance and chronic sleep problems, regularly produced almost no Alpha in his brain wave patterns. (Alpha is a mental relaxation state missing in nearly 40% of the population.) During a single, 30-minute session of slow, gentle drumming using a one-sided handdrum and a beater, this patient nearly doubled his Alpha brain waves.

No other technique used (including a sound and light machine) in a series of 15 stress reduction sessions had been able to produce any Alpha in this client. Until drumming, in fact, no technique used in the nine years of Dr. Quinn’s research had been able to bring a significant return of this relaxation brain wave in any client. He calls the effect of brief drumming sessions “by far the most amazing results I’ve encountered thus far in my work.”

Music therapist Barry Bernstein, whose use of the drum with Alzheimer’s patients and in corporate settings has been widely publicized, believes strongly that drumming is “the healthiest, most accessible and fastest way to reconnect with ourselves. Bernstein’s KansasCity-based company, Healthy Sounds, offers a variety of programs for schools, care centers, and corporations, all using the drum as a tool.

The growing drumming movement in this country suggests that people are beginning to reclaim their rituals and reconnect with themselves as they drum.

The drum is emerging as the transformational tool of our time. And because the drumbeat is a universal, vibrational language which communes with the Earth and all Her creatures, the drum has come to symbolize our Unity as Earth-family citizens.

The non-profit All One Tribe Foundation is coordinating a global event for world peace which honors the world’s indigenous peoples. Called “Drumming In the Year 2000,” the event takes place on December 31st, 1999, when people in cities and villages around the world will drum together as the midnight hour arrives in each time zone.

The event will be covered by satellite and broadcast worldwide. Rituals for healing and for peace will be enacted in many locations. When the year 2000 has arrived in the final time zone, there will be one hour of focused, simultaneous drumming across the globe. “As We Drum, We Are One” will be sung in many languages of the world.

The event’s coordination is taking place on a grassroots level, with local groups and individuals organizing in their cities and towns. With internet presence since 1996, the event has been covered widely in the media and has coordinators worldwide.

The research into the healing effects of this ancient ritual practice is ongoing. For some, the concept that the wisdom of the indigenous world might offer relief from stress, the most pervasive and pernicious result of late 20th-century “progress,” is a fitting prospect just now, in the midst of the “International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.”

Feeny Lipscomb was a writer, language teacher of Spanish, ESL and French and a real estate agent in Taos NM and Baja Mexico.