Drumming may be the Oldest Form of Active Meditation Known to Mankind

What could meditation and drumming possibly have in common?

First, both meditation and drumming help us get out of our heads and into our hearts. They just go about it in different ways. 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.

Second, both meditation and drumming are practices that focus on remembering rather than learning. Meditative states are quite natural and simple, but not easy. Drumming is similar. Within the rhythm, we encounter remembering of heartbeats in the womb and rhythms our bodies long to express.

Third, both meditation and drumming are 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.

But there is one difference.

Drumming just may get you there quicker. Drumming just may be better suited for hyper, over-active, ADHD types of people.

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Christine Stevens, UCLA

About The Autor

Christine Stevens, MSW, MT-BC, MA holds masters degrees in both social work and music therapy.

She is author of Music Medicine, The Healing Drum Kit and The Art and Heart of Drum Circles.

The founder of UpBeat Drum Circles, she has appeared on NBC, PBS, KTLA, and is a featured speaker in the DVD Discover the Gift.

She has trained facilitators from more than twenty-five countries in the evidence-based REMO group drumming HealthRHYTHMS program.

Christine has worked with many Fortune 500 companies, survivors of Katrina, students at Ground Zero and most recently, led the first drum circle training in a war-zone in northern Iraq.