The Transformative Power of Sound

Sound is more than just an auditory experience; it is a powerful force that can heal, inspire, and transform our minds, bodies, and souls. From ancient civilizations that used chants and drums in their rituals to modern scientists studying the therapeutic effects of sound waves, the significance of sound in shaping human experience is undeniable. Whether through music, nature sounds, or carefully crafted frequencies, sound has the capacity to alter consciousness, enhance well-being, and connect us to something greater than ourselves.
 

The Science of Sound and Its Impact on the Brain
 

Sound is a form of energy that travels through vibrations, affecting everything it touches--including our brains. Neuroscientists have discovered that different frequencies and types of sound can activate various neural pathways, influencing mood, cognition, and even physical health. Studies show that listening to music can trigger the release of dopamine, the brain's "feel-good" neurotransmitter, leading to improved mood and reduced stress.
 

Additionally, brainwave entrainment, a phenomenon where rhythmic auditory stimuli synchronize with brainwave activity, has been shown to induce states of deep relaxation, heightened focus, and even altered consciousness. Binaural beats, a form of auditory illusion created by playing two slightly different frequencies in each ear, can encourage the brain to enter specific states, such as alpha waves for relaxation or theta waves for meditation and creativity.
 

Sound Healing and Its Ancient Roots
 

Long before science began studying sound's effects, ancient civilizations recognized its power. The use of sound in healing rituals can be traced back to Egyptian, Greek, and Indian cultures. In Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine, mantras and specific sound vibrations are used to balance the body's energy centers, or chakras. Similarly, Tibetan monks have used singing bowls and overtone chanting for centuries to promote meditation and spiritual enlightenment.
 

One of the most well-documented sound healing techniques is the use of Solfeggio frequencies--specific tones believed to possess healing properties. For example, the 528 Hz frequency, often called the "Love Frequency," is associated with DNA repair and positive transformation. These frequencies have been incorporated into modern sound therapy practices to promote emotional healing and personal growth.
 

Music as a Tool for Transformation
 

Music is perhaps the most universal and accessible form of sound therapy. It has the ability to evoke emotions, stimulate memories, and create profound shifts in consciousness. Certain types of music, such as classical compositions or ambient soundscapes, can induce relaxation and enhance concentration, while upbeat rhythms can energize and motivate.
 

Music therapy has been increasingly used in clinical settings to aid patients with neurological disorders, anxiety, and depression. For instance, Alzheimer's patients often experience memory recall when exposed to familiar music from their past, demonstrating music's deep connection to the brain's memory centers. Additionally, rhythm-based therapies, such as drumming circles, have been used to help individuals process trauma and express emotions non-verbally.
 

Nature Sounds and Their Restorative Effects
 

Beyond human-made music, the sounds of nature have a profound impact on our well-being. Studies have shown that listening to natural soundscapes--such as ocean waves, rustling leaves, or birdsong--can significantly reduce stress and promote a sense of tranquility. This is because nature sounds have an inherent ability to mask jarring noises, lower cortisol levels, and activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for relaxation and recovery. 

 

Shinrin-yoku, or "forest bathing," a Japanese practice of immersing oneself in the sounds and sights of the forest, has been found to have numerous health benefits, including reduced blood pressure and enhanced mood. This underscores the idea that sound, even in its most organic form, plays a crucial role in our mental and physical health.
 

The Role of Sound in Meditation and Spiritual Practices
 

For centuries, various spiritual traditions have used sound to deepen meditation and enhance spiritual experiences. Chanting, toning, and singing bowls are commonly employed to help individuals reach altered states of consciousness. The repetition of sacred sounds, such as "Om" in Hindu and Buddhist traditions, is believed to attune the body to the vibrations of the universe, fostering a sense of unity and inner peace.
 

In modern meditation practices, guided sound meditations and sound baths have gained popularity. Sound baths, which involve being enveloped in soothing sounds from gongs, crystal bowls, or tuning forks, can facilitate deep relaxation, emotional release, and even profound spiritual experiences. Many people report feeling a sense of weightlessness or transcendence after such sessions, further proving sound's ability to alter perception and elevate consciousness.
 

Using Sound Intentionally in Everyday Life
 

Given sound's transformative potential, incorporating intentional sound practices into daily life can be profoundly beneficial. Here are a few ways to harness the power of sound:

• Create a Personal Sound Sanctuary: Dedicate a space for relaxation with soothing music, singing bowls, or ambient soundscapes.
• Use Binaural Beats or Isochronic Tones: Experiment with brainwave entrainment for focus, relaxation, or meditation.
• Engage in Vocal Toning or Chanting: Using your own voice to produce vibrations can be a powerful tool for self-healing.
• Spend Time in Nature: Listen to the sounds of water, birds, or wind to restore balance and calm the mind.
• Play or Listen to Music Mindfully: Instead of passive listening, actively engage with music, paying attention to how it affects your emotions and body.
  

Conclusion
 

The power of sound is undeniable--it shapes our emotions, influences our physiology, and connects us to deeper aspects of ourselves and the world around us. Whether through music, nature sounds, ancient healing practices, or modern therapeutic techniques, sound offers a gateway to transformation. By consciously incorporating sound into our lives, we can harness its ability to heal, inspire, and elevate our consciousness. In a world filled with noise, learning to listen intentionally can be one of the most profound tools for personal and collective transformation.

Healing with Sound

In today's fast-paced world, people are constantly searching for ways to restore balance, reduce stress, and find inner peace. While meditation, yoga, and mindfulness have gained popularity, another ancient practice is now finding its place in modern wellness routines: healing with sound. This holistic approach harnesses the vibrational power of sound frequencies to promote physical, emotional, and mental well-being.
 

Sound has been used as a healing tool for thousands of years, spanning cultures and traditions. From Tibetan singing bowls and shamanic drumming to chanting and modern sound baths, sound therapy offers a unique way to achieve harmony within the body and mind. But how exactly does sound healing work, and why is it so effective? Let's explore the science, history, and benefits of this transformative practice.
 

The Science Behind Sound Healing
 

At its core, sound healing is based on the principle of vibration. Everything in the universe vibrates at a specific frequency, including the human body. When we are healthy, our cells and organs vibrate at their optimal frequencies. However, stress, illness, and emotional trauma can disrupt these natural vibrations, leading to imbalance and dis-ease.
 

Sound therapy works by using specific frequencies to restore harmony and alignment within the body. This concept is backed by the science of entrainment, which refers to the tendency of a weaker or disordered vibration to synchronize with a stronger, more stable one. For example, when a tuning fork is struck and held near another tuning fork, the second one begins to vibrate at the same frequency. Similarly, sound healing instruments can help recalibrate the body's energy fields and bring them back into balance.
 

Research supports the therapeutic effects of sound. Studies have shown that sound frequencies can lower cortisol levels (the stress hormone), slow heart rate, and stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system--responsible for the body's "rest and digest" response. Sound waves also have the potential to penetrate deep into the body, promoting relaxation and reducing tension in muscles and tissues.
 

The Ancient Origins of Sound Healing
 

The use of sound for healing and spiritual purposes is as old as humanity itself. Ancient civilizations recognized the power of sound to influence the mind, body, and soul. Here are some examples of sound healing traditions:

1. Tibetan Singing Bowls: For centuries, Tibetan monks have used singing bowls during meditation and healing ceremonies. These bowls produce harmonic overtones that create a sense of calm and clarity, making them a powerful tool for reducing stress and balancing chakras.
2. Mantras and Chanting: In Hindu and Buddhist traditions, chanting sacred mantras like “Om” is believed to resonate with the universal vibration and promote inner peace. These repetitive sounds have a meditative effect, quieting the mind and aligning the spirit.
3. Shamanic Drumming: Indigenous cultures around the world use drums in their healing rituals. The rhythmic beats are thought to mimic the heartbeat of the Earth, grounding individuals and inducing a trance-like state for spiritual healing.
4. Ancient Egyptian Temples: Archaeologists have discovered that ancient Egyptian temples were designed with acoustics in mind, suggesting that sound was used in sacred ceremonies to elevate consciousness and facilitate healing.
   

These time-tested practices continue to inspire modern sound healing techniques.
 

Modern Applications of Sound Therapy
 

In recent years, sound healing has gained traction as a legitimate therapeutic practice, with practitioners and wellness centers offering a variety of sound-based modalities. Some popular techniques include:

1. Sound Baths: During a sound bath, participants lie down in a relaxed position while being enveloped by soothing sounds from instruments like gongs, crystal singing bowls, and chimes. The immersive experience is designed to help release tension, reduce anxiety, and promote deep relaxation.
2. Binaural Beats: Binaural beats involve listening to two slightly different frequencies in each ear. The brain processes these frequencies and creates a third tone, known as a binaural beat, which can induce specific states of consciousness, such as relaxation, focus, or improved sleep.
3. Tuning Fork Therapy: Practitioners use calibrated tuning forks to apply specific sound frequencies to different parts of the body. This technique is believed to release energetic blockages, improve circulation, and enhance overall well-being.
4. Voice and Vocal Toning: The human voice is a powerful healing tool. Chanting, humming, or vocal toning can help release emotions, clear energetic blockages, and strengthen the connection between mind and body.
   

Benefits of Sound Healing
 

The benefits of sound healing are as varied as the techniques themselves. While experiences may differ from person to person, many individuals report profound physical, emotional, and spiritual improvements. 

Here are some key benefits:

• Stress Reduction: Sound therapy is highly effective at reducing stress by activating the parasympathetic nervous system and lowering cortisol levels.
• Enhanced Mental Clarity: The meditative qualities of sound can quiet the mind, improve focus, and increase creativity.
• Emotional Release: Deep vibrations can help release pent-up emotions and trauma, fostering emotional healing and resilience.
• Better Sleep: Many people find that sound therapy helps them relax and fall asleep more easily, improving sleep quality.
• Pain Relief: Sound waves may reduce physical discomfort by relaxing muscles and tissues, as well as by stimulating the body's natural healing processes.
• Spiritual Connection: Sound has the power to deepen one's connection to their inner self, the universe, and a higher consciousness.
  

Incorporating Sound Healing into Your Life
 

Sound healing is accessible to everyone, regardless of experience or background. Here are some simple ways to incorporate sound into your daily wellness routine:

• Listen to Healing Frequencies: Explore music tuned to healing frequencies, such as 528 Hz (known as the "love frequency") or 432 Hz (associated with harmony and balance).
• Use a Singing Bowl: Invest in a small singing bowl to create soothing vibrations during meditation or mindfulness practices.
• Practice Vocal Toning: Spend a few minutes each day humming, chanting, or singing to experience the calming effects of your own voice.
• Attend a Sound Bath: Look for local sound healing events or guided sessions to immerse yourself in a restorative sonic experience.
• Try Drumming: Drumming is perhaps the oldest form of active meditation known to humanity. It is a simple and effortless way to still the chatter of the mind, thereby inducing altered states of consciousness. It is one of the quickest and most powerful ways I know to open the heart and connect with a power greater than ourselves.
  

Final Thoughts
 

Healing with sound is a gentle yet powerful way to nurture your body, mind, and spirit. Whether you seek stress relief, emotional balance, or a deeper spiritual connection, sound therapy offers a pathway to harmony and well-being. As science continues to uncover the profound effects of sound on the human body, this ancient practice is becoming a cornerstone of modern holistic health. So, take a moment to listen--to a song, a bowl, a beat--and let the power of sound guide you on your healing journey.

Understanding the Four Elements and Directions

The cardinal directions, North, East, South, and West, represent more than just navigational tools. Each direction has a deep meaning that is tied to one of the four elements of life: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. The interplay between the elements and the cardinal directions is a concept that has fascinated humanity for centuries. Each direction is associated with an element of the natural world, and represents some part of our human nature as well. Understanding how we relate to the four elements and directions can teach us a lot about ourselves, help us to grow and can support us through life's many changes.
 

The four elements, as shown in the accompanying diagram, are charted around a cosmic compass or wheel of life. The cosmic wheel is a mandala, a symbolic blueprint or map of reality. It represents a multidimensional, interwoven web of relationships that are in constant communion with each other. The sacred wheel exists simultaneously in a horizontal and vertical axis, as well as in the unfolding continuum of time--past, present, and future. The cosmic wheel serves as a portal to consciously enter the cyclic, time-space unfolding of the universe through a practice of reverent, harmonious relationship. It is based on the belief that the universe is alive, sentient, and constantly communicating its wisdom to who ever makes an effort to listen.
 

The cosmic wheel represents the archetypal journey each of us takes in life. This journey has four stages, each associated with a cardinal direction. To move around the wheel and develop a relationship with each direction is to step onto a path of learning and fulfillment. Each direction and its associated element has qualities and attributes that help us spiral toward completion on the wheel of life. All creatures walk the circumference of the cosmic wheel, experiencing the four stages of human life: birth, youth, adulthood, and death. After completing a cycle of learning on the sacred wheel, each of us returns to the source at the center or heart of the circle.
 

Attributes of the Elements and Cardinal Directions
 

1. Air/East
 

Air is the element of the East, connected to the soul and the breath of life. Air signifies intellect, communication, and freedom. It is the element of thought, representing the mind and the power of ideas. Air's qualities include lightness, movement, and expansiveness. It is associated with clarity, insight, and the ability to connect with others through language and expression. In many traditions, Air is seen as the breath of life, essential for mental and spiritual well-being. Though the qualities attributed to each of the four cardinal directions tend to vary from culture to culture, the energy of the East is typically associated with spring, morning, birth, beginnings, illumination, knowledge, learning and intellectual curiosity. The East represents new life being brought into the world. It is the direction of the sunrise, heralding the start of a new day and the promise of opportunities. In many cultures, the East is seen as a place of renewal and vision, where one can gain insight and inspiration. It encourages openness, curiosity, and the pursuit of knowledge.
 

2. Fire/South
 

Fire is purifying, masculine yang energy associated with the South, and connected to strong will and energy. Fire represents energy, transformation, and passion. It is the element of action and drive, associated with the sun and the spark of life. Fire's qualities include warmth, intensity, and the ability to consume and regenerate. It is often seen as a catalyst for change, symbolizing both destruction and rebirth, and is connected to creativity and the willpower to achieve goals. The cardinal direction South is related to summer, midday, logic, youth, trust, and expansion. The South represents youth and adolescence--a time of growth, learning and development of the self. From the South rises the vital energy of renewal, regeneration, and growth. From the South we learn to plant seeds of good cause. We learn that our thoughts and actions create our reality. It is a place of action and movement, encouraging individuals to pursue their goals with enthusiasm and determination.
 

3. Water/West
 

Used for healing, cleansing, and purification, Water is a feminine yin energy associated with the West. Water is essential to life; it flows through all plants, people, and wildlife. Water embodies fluidity, emotions, and intuition. It is the element of change and adaptability, capable of taking various forms and influencing all it touches. Water is linked to the subconscious mind, dreams, and the ebb and flow of feelings. Its qualities include flexibility, continuity, depth, and the ability to cleanse and purify, making it a vital component of spiritual and physical renewal. The cardinal direction West is associated with fall, twilight, the moon, and the emotional self. In the West, we are drawn into the experience of our emotions. It is a direction that calls us to self-reflection and self-understanding. The West represents adulthood and meeting the fulfilment of life as we find our meaning and place. It is the direction of the setting sun, signifying the end of a cycle and the transition into reflection and rest. It is a space for understanding and integrating experiences, fostering emotional growth and wisdom.
 

4. Earth/North

Connected to the North, Earth is considered the ultimate feminine element, often associated with the Goddess. Earth is widely associated with stability, grounding, and the material world. It represents the physical aspects of existence, including the body and the tangible environment. In various traditions, Earth is considered the foundation upon which all life is built. Its qualities include form, solidity, endurance, and fertility, making it a symbol of sustenance and growth. The cardinal direction North is typically associated with winter, night, introspection, death and completion of the life cycle. This is the place of wisdom and of imparting the knowledge gained from a lifetime of living in the physical world to the younger generations. It is a time of reflection, rest and increased understanding of the aspects of the spiritual world. In the North we assimilate our life experiences before we exit the realm of physical experience and join into vast levels of experience in the spirit worlds of light, or we choose to return and walk again the sacred wheel of life.
 

The Building Blocks of Nature
 

The four elements are the building blocks of nature and interact with humans in the creative process. The elements are living energies, which change and move as we think, and then take the form of our thoughts. Thought is the tool of the mind that shapes physical reality. Every thought, idea, or image in the mind has form and substance. Everything that we perceive began with a thought, for it is the blending of thought forms with the elemental rhythms that shape physical reality. It is the consciousness of humanity that holds the present physical form of all that we perceive. It is the mind that determines the destiny of forms. We are mind. Our Earth is mind. We live in a universe of mind. From photons to galaxies, life is conscious intelligent energy that can form itself into any pattern or function.
 

The key to understanding the creative process is to realize that the universe is made of vibrational energy: that it is a single, flowing, rhythmic being. According to quantum physics, everything in the universe, from the smallest subatomic particle to the largest star, has an inherent vibrational pattern. The entire universe is created through vibration and can be influenced through vibration. T'an Ch'iao, a Taoist adept of the tenth century, expressed this potential when he wrote, "When energy moves, sound is emitted; when sound comes forth, energy vibrates. When energy vibrates, influences are activated and things change. Therefore it is possible thereby to command wind and clouds, produce frost and hail, cause phoenixes to sing, get bears to dance, make friends with spiritual luminescences."(1)
 

The compass or circular arrangement of the elements illustrates the sequence of development in the process of manifestation. Born of the silent emptiness of the center, vibration cycles around the periphery of the circle. Moving from East (Air) to South (Fire) to West (Water) to North (Earth), vibration bonds the elements, and then reverses its rotation toward emptiness to begin the cycle anew. The unmanifest essence of vibration precipitates this bonding sequence in order to manifest a desired form. The energy of vibration is alive and, because it is alive, it seeks ways in which to express or manifest itself. As Ute-Tiwa shaman Joseph Rael concludes in his book, Being and Vibration, "Apparently materialization occurs because vibration is seeking to purify the center (heart) of its newly formulated form."(2)
 

Conclusion
 

In the Native American traditions, the wheel or sacred hoop of life defines all that is the Great Mystery, the source of all creation. The Great Mystery reveals itself as the powers of the four directions and these four powers provide the organizing principle for everything that exists in the world. There are four elements, four winds, four seasons, four phases of the moon, four stages to humanity's spiritual evolution, and so on. We are here on Earth to experience and realize the mystery. The vision of that mystery is ever present within each of us. When we mindfully connect with the elements and cardinal directions, we begin to realize the sacred vision. We orient ourselves in the living web of life, yielding greater awareness and perspective. We develop a meaningful understanding of the natural world and our place within it.

1. Thomas Cleary, Vitality, Energy, Spirit: A Taoist Sourcebook (Shambhala, 1991).
2. Joseph Rael and Mary Marlow, Being and Vibration (Tulsa: Council Oak Books, 1993), p 185.

Healing with Acoustic Resonance

Drumming is a profound way to promote healing. Through acoustic resonance, drumming helps restore the vibrational integrity of body, mind, and spirit. Acoustic resonance is the ability of a sound wave to impart its energy to a substance such as air, wood, metal, or the human body, making it vibrate in sympathy. For example, when you tap a tuning fork in proximity to another one of the same tone, both will vibrate. Acoustic resonance is an important consideration for instrument builders, as most acoustic instruments use resonators, such as the strings and body of a violin, the length of tube in a flute, and the shape of a drum membrane. A single-headed frame or hoop drum works best for acoustic resonance healing--the larger the drum, the greater the resonance.
 

The drum is a powerful tool for healing. As we play the drum, the drum then plays our bodies. The various frequencies of the drum interact with our own resonant frequencies, forming new harmonic alignments. Through the natural law of resonance, the sound waves produced by the drum impart their energy to the resonating systems of the body, mind and spirit, making them vibrate in sympathy. When we drum, our living flesh, brainwaves and spiritual energy centers entrain or synchronize to the sound waves and rhythms. This sympathetic resonance has the following key effects:
 

1. It produces deeper self-awareness by inducing synchronous brain activity. Research has demonstrated that the physical transmission of rhythmic energy to the brain synchronizes the two cerebral hemispheres. When the logical left hemisphere and the intuitive right hemisphere begin to pulsate in harmony, the inner guidance of intuitive knowing can then flow unimpeded into conscious awareness. The ability to access unconscious information through symbols and imagery facilitates psychological integration and a reintegration of self. Drumming also synchronizes the frontal and lower areas of the brain, integrating nonverbal information from lower brain structures into the frontal cortex, producing feelings of insight, understanding, integration, certainty, conviction, and truth, which surpass ordinary understandings and tend to persist long after the experience, often providing foundational insights for religious and cultural traditions.
 

2. It releases negative feelings, blockages, and emotional trauma. Drumming can help people express and address emotional issues. Unexpressed feelings and emotions can form energy blockages. The physical stimulation of drumming removes blockages and produces emotional release. Sound vibrations resonate through every cell in the body, stimulating the release of negative cellular memories.
 

3. It accesses the entire brain. The reason rhythm is such a powerful tool is that it permeates the entire brain. Vision for example is in one part of the brain, speech another, but acoustic resonance penetrates the whole brain. The sound of drumming generates dynamic neuronal connections in all parts of the brain even where there is significant damage or impairment such as in Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). According to Michael Thaut, director of Colorado State University's Center for Biomedical Research in Music, "Rhythmic cues can help retrain the brain after a stroke or other neurological impairment, as with Parkinson’s patients...." The more connections that can be made within the brain, the more integrated our experiences become.
 

4. It induces natural altered states of consciousness. Rhythmic drumming induces altered states, which have a wide range of therapeutic applications. A landmark study by Barry Quinn, Ph.D. demonstrates that even a brief drumming session can double alpha brain wave activity, dramatically reducing stress. The brain changes from Beta waves (focused concentration and activity) to Alpha waves (calm and relaxed), producing feelings of euphoria and well-being. Alpha activity is associated with meditation, shamanic trance, and integrative modes of consciousness.
 

5. It helps us to experience being in resonance with the natural rhythms of life. Rhythm and resonance order the natural world. Dissonance and disharmony arise only when we limit our capacity to resonate totally and completely with the rhythms of life. The origin of the word rhythm is Greek meaning "to flow." We can learn to flow with the rhythms of life by simply learning to feel the beat, pulse, or groove while drumming. When drummers feel this rhythmic flow, especially at a slower, steady beat, they can shift into a state of deep relaxation and expanded awareness. It is a way of bringing the essential self into accord with the flow of a dynamic, interrelated universe, helping us feel connected rather than isolated and estranged.

How Rhythm Shapes Our Lives

Simply put, rhythm is a strong repeated pattern of movement or sound, generally considered to be an ordered alternation of contrasting elements. As regular and natural patterns of change, rhythms are everywhere--in the cycle of seasons, the tides, the phases of the moon, waking and sleeping, day and night, ebb and flow, yin and yang. In fact, rhythm is the very pulse of the universe. According to quantum physics, everything in the universe, from the smallest subatomic particle to the largest star, has an inherent vibrational pattern. Everything has a unique vibrational frequency--a pulsating rhythm that belongs only to it. Within the heart of each of us, there exists a silent pulse of perfect rhythm that connects us to the totality of a dynamic, interrelated universe.
 

Rhythm interconnects everything in the natural world. All living things share in the common experience of being plugged into the electromagnetic grid of the planet. All life pulsates in time to the planet’s extremely low frequencies, which are concentrated at about 7.83 Hz (cycles per second). This so-called Schumann resonance is produced and maintained by more than eight million global lightning strikes a day. Every lightning bolt discharges a large amount of energy and so contributes to the Earth’s background base frequency or "heartbeat." This alpha rhythm is the primary frequency in the web of life. All life forms are innately connected to this primary frequency.
 

Beyond natural manifestations, rhythm characterizes human expression and is inseparable from speech, music, dance, and all forms of art. Rhythm plays an important role in how we perceive and connect with the world. Rhythm plays a role in listening, in walking, and in language. More importantly, rhythm is the underlying foundation of human sociability and interaction. Consider the broad range of biological rhythms in the human body, fast and slow, transmuted and integrated by the complex interdependence of the somatic, autonomic and endocrine nervous systems. The results of this synthesis of movement and sound act directly on us, spatially and temporally differentiating our interactional patterns.
 

Indeed, the very universality of rhythm is a compelling argument for the existence of biological processes governing the perception and production of rhythm. Rhythms in the brain have been identified as a basis for consciousness itself. According to neuroscience research, rhythm is rooted in innate functions of the brain, mind, and consciousness. As human beings, we are innately rhythmic. Our relationship with rhythm begins in the womb. At twenty two days, a single (human embryo) cell jolts to life. This first beat awakens nearby cells and incredibly they all begin to beat in perfect unison. These beating cells divide and become our heart. This desire to beat in unison seemingly fuels our entire lives. Studies show that, regardless of musical training, we are innately able to perceive and recall elements of beat and rhythm.
 

It makes sense, then, that beat and rhythm are an important aspect in music therapy. Our brains are hard-wired to be able to entrain to a beat. Entrainment occurs when two or more rhythms come into sync and begin to beat as one. If you are walking down a street and you hear a song, you instinctively begin to step in sync to the beat of the song. This is actually an important area of current music therapy research. Our brain enables our motor system to naturally entrain to a rhythmic beat, allowing music therapists to target rehabilitating movements. The better we understand the biological basis of rhythm, the better we will be able to employ rhythm--in all its guises--to improve communication and to better understand ourselves.

Drumming in the New Year 2023

Season's Greetings! I want to thank all of my readers for their continued support. It has been quite a year. My blog reached a milestone surpassing 685,000 pageviews. My most read post was "Signs of a Shamanic Calling." I am humbled by the interest and engagement of readers since launching this blog in 2010. This blog is part of my effort to create an empowered global shamanic community for the sake of our future generations. My mission is to create a vibrant international community devoted to shamanic drumming as a vehicle for healing, consciousness expansion and community building.
 

As 2022 comes to a close, I will be celebrating New Year's Eve by drumming out the old year and drumming in the New Year. Drumming in the New Year is a great way to set the tone and intention for 2023. It is also a good time to reflect on the year ending to see where you have erred and reform those beliefs, attitudes, and strategies no longer applicable to the New Year unfolding. It is an opportunity to feel gratitude for all that has been received and accomplished throughout the past year. Such a fresh open-minded approach will broaden your perspective and start you out on the right track. What will you be "drumming" into your life for 2023?

The Drum and the World Tree

In world mythology, the World Tree is the axis mundi or central axis of the Cosmos. The World Tree could be considered the core fractal of creation which serves to manifest the Universe. Images of the World Tree exist in virtually all cultures, and represent the world center and/or the connection between heaven and earth. The axis mundi links heaven and earth as well as providing a path between the two. Many ancient cultures incorporate the myth of the World Tree, Tree of Life, or Tree of Knowledge as it is also known.

Shamans believe that this cosmic axis and the Cosmos it unites exist within human consciousness. According to shamanic cosmology, there are three inner planes of consciousness: the Upper, Middle, and Lower Worlds. The roots of the World Tree touch the Lower World. Its trunk is the Middle World and its branches hold up the Upper World. Humans did not invent these inner realms; they discovered them. Far from being a human contrivance, these archetypal worlds are inherent in the collective unconscious, the common psychological inheritance of humanity. They are woven into the matrix of the psyche, for we are a fractal of creation. They are a part of our psyche, a part of us whether we choose to become aware of it or not.  

Through the sound of the drum, which is invariably made of wood from the World Tree, the shaman is transported to the axis within and conveyed from plane to plane. As Tuvan musicologist Valentina Suzukei explains: "There is a bridge on these sound waves so you can go from one world to another. In the sound world, a tunnel opens through which we can pass, or the shaman's spirits come to us. When you stop playing the drum, the bridge disappears."

The inner axis passes through an opening or hole through which the shaman traverses the inner planes in order to mediate between the needs of the spirit world and those of the material world. It is an inward spiritual journey of rapture in which the shaman interacts with the inner spirit world, thereby influencing the outer material world. In the shaman's world, all human experience is self-generated. Experience is shaped from within since the three realms or resonant fields that define our experience of reality exist within each of us.

The cosmology of the drum

In the shaman's world, the drum is a most sacred instrument. The double-headed drum is believed to embody the sacred forces of the Cosmos through its sounds, structural features, contents, and connection to shamanic trance. The various parts of the drum also symbolize the structures of the world. Cosmologically, the drum depicts a microcosm of the Universe with its three zones -- the Upper, Middle and Lower Worlds. The two drumheads symbolize the Upper and Lower Worlds.

The rim of the drum symbolizes the Middle World and is connected to the World Tree through the wood of the frame and its association through all trees back to the First Tree. Like the World Tree, which links the earth and sky, the rim links the two sides of the drum -- the yin and the yang. A double-headed drum unites the sacred feminine and masculine aspects of the Universe within itself. It restores the balance of these polar, yet co-creative elements.

The two drumheads also symbolize the two states of existence -- unmanifest and manifest. When a double-headed drum is vibrated, it produces dissimilar sounds which are fused together by resonance to create one sound. The drumbeat is the tuner sound, the sound that fuses the unmanifest and manifest aspects of vibration into one resonance. The sound thus produced symbolizes Nada, the cosmic sound of AUM, which can be heard during deep meditation.

From a shamanic perspective, caretaking the drum and playing it properly during ritual fulfills the destiny of the human spirit -- to sustain the order of existence. In the rapture of ritual drumming, the shaman brings the World Tree into existence, opening a path of communication with the world above and the world below. Materialized in the drum, the trunk of the tree goes through the Middle World; its roots plunge to the nadir in the Lower World, and its branches soar to the zenith in the highest layer of the Upper World. The drum becomes the axis mundi or central axis through which the shaman maintains the world's equilibrium.

Rhythm Healing

The key to understanding the shaman's world is to realize that the universe is made of vibrational energy. According to quantum physics, everything in the universe, from the smallest subatomic particle to the largest star, has an inherent vibrational pattern. The entire universe is created through vibration and can be influenced through the healing vibrations of shamanic drumming. The shamanic drum is a tool for altering the vibrational state of the shaman and/or the healee or a particular situation in the community. To put it simply, shamanic drumming is an ancient form of rhythm healing.

Rhythm healing is an approach that uses therapeutic rhythm techniques to promote health and well-being. Rhythm healing employs specialized rhythmic drumming patterns designed to influence the internal rhythmic patterns of the individual and harmonize those which are thought to be causing the illness or imbalance. When administered correctly, specific rhythms may be used to accelerate physical healing, stimulate the release of emotional trauma and produce deeper self-awareness. This technique has been used for thousands of years by indigenous cultures around the planet to treat a variety of conditions.

Rhythm healing relies on the natural laws of resonance and entrainment to restore the vibrational integrity of body, mind and spirit. In resonance, the sound waves produced by the drum impart their energy to the resonating systems of the body, mind and spirit, making them vibrate in sympathy. When we drum, our living flesh, brainwaves and auric energy field entrain to the sound waves and rhythms. This sympathetic resonance forms new harmonic alignments, opens the body's energy meridians, releases blocked emotional patterns, promotes healing, and helps connect us to our core, enhancing our sense of empowerment and stimulating our creative expression. A single-headed frame or hoop drum works best for rhythm healing -- the larger the drum, the greater the resonance.

Finding the right rhythm

A rhythm healer may have a repertory of established rhythms or improvise a new rhythm, uniquely indicated for the situation. Determining the right rhythm in each case is a highly individual matter. No predetermined formulas are given. The rhythmist needs to create a dialogue between the sounds he/she produces and the responses of the person being treated. The drumming is not restricted to a regular tempo, but may pause, speed up or slow down with irregular accents. The practitioner may stop playing altogether, or suddenly hoist the drum skyward and bang it violently, throwing the disease into the heavens, returning it to the spirit world.

Tuvan shamans, for example, often improvise sounds, rhythms and chants in order to converse with both the spirit world and the healee. The sounds produced by the shaman and the drum go out and certain frequencies and overtones are then reflected back. Information is generally received as subtle vibrations, which the shaman then interprets as sounds, images or as rhythms.

To find the right rhythm, invoke the spirit of your drum, and ask it to come to you and become your ally. State your intention -- what you desire or expect to accomplish -- in a clear and concise manner, and then sit and meditate with your drum for a few minutes. By stilling the mind, you will be able to connect with the spirit of the drum. When you feel ready, pick up your drumstick and begin to play whatever feels appropriate. When you focus on the spiritual intention or the energy of what is being played, it allows the music to become very loose, spontaneous and innovative.

I learned that when I trust my intuition to play the appropriate rhythm, which I do not know in advance, I cannot go wrong. I know that when I open up and play what I feel, the drumming is fresh, different and spontaneous each time. Rhythmic improvisation is a musical expression of the soul. It is a way to let spirit work through you for the purpose of healing and helping others.

Rhythm healing is about finding the right rhythm. Rhythm and resonance order the natural world. Dissonance and disharmony arise only when we limit our capacity to resonate completely with the rhythms of life. The origin of the word rhythm is Greek meaning "to flow." We can learn to flow with the rhythms of life by simply learning to feel the beat or pulse while drumming. It is a way of bringing the essential self into accord with the flow of a boundless, interrelated universe, helping us feel connected rather than isolated and estranged. To learn more, look inside The Shamanic Drum: A Guide to Sacred Drumming.

Experiencing Rhythms in the Body

Rhythm is a universal vibrational language. We respond to rhythm whenever we sense it and seek it out when it is not present, for we are innately rhythmic. Every rhythm has its own quality and touches you in a unique way. To experience this for yourself, try playing some different rhythms. Whether you drum or merely tap your fingers, learn to "feel the beat" by allowing it to sink into your body and consciousness. Notice how your body responds to each pattern. Keep in mind that the manner in which you play or shape a rhythm will affect your response. One of the paradoxes of rhythm is that it has both the capacity to move your awareness out of your body into realms beyond time and space and to ground you firmly in the present moment.
 

Begin by playing a steady, metronome-like rhythm with uniform time intervals. A clockwork drum beat generates a dynamic energy that is yang, creative, and expansive in nature. Dynamic energies are ascending forces that carry consciousness into higher realms. At a rapid tempo of three to four beats per second, a steady, rhythmic pattern, or "eagle-beat," will arouse and vitalize you. It creates the sensation of inner movement, which, if you allow it, will carry you along. As you continue to drum, you will become more ecstatic. You and your drum will seem to merge. You may speed up or slow down. That is perfectly normal. Shamanic trance is characterized by its range and flexibility, so don't get hung up on trying to maintain a certain speed. It can be distracting and your hands may get tired. Follow your inner sense of timing as to both tempo and duration.
 

After drumming the eagle-beat, simply relax and bathe in the sonic afterglow of physical and spiritual well-being. When the final drumbeat fades into silence, an inaudible, yet perceptible pulsation persists for a brief period. This silent pulse is ever-present within each of us, but our awareness is rarely in sync with it. Sense this silent pulse resonating within your body. You may experience the sensation of every particle in your body pulsing in sync with the rhythm you just played. This inner pulse entrains to the rhythmic pattern as soon as you begin to drum.
 

Next, try playing the steady pulse of a heartbeat rhythm. A two-beat rhythm produces a different sonic experience. The soft, steady lub-dub, lub-dub of a heartbeat rhythm has a calming and centering affect. It reconnects us to the warmth and safety of the first sound we ever heard -- the nurturing pulse of our mother's heartbeat melding with our own. According to Ted Andrews, author of Animal Speak, "a rhythm of two is a rhythm that helps connect you to the feminine energies of creative imagination, birth, and intuition." At a more rapid tempo, the heartbeat rhythm stimulates a downward flow of energy within the body. It generates a magnetic energy that is yin, intuitive, and receptive in nature. Magnetic energies are descending forces conducive to great healing, mind, and regenerative powers.
 

These two simple drum patterns are the healing rhythms I use most often in my shamanic work. Moreover, they are rhythm archetypes representing yin -- the form giving principle of energy, and yang -- the principle of life and consciousness immanent in all phenomena. Yin and yang are the binary elements that generate between them the totality of existence. A binary progression underlies the structure of reality. At a fundamental level, the laws of the universe are written in a binary code. The binary mathematical system forms the basis of computer languages and applies to nearly everything from crystalline structures to the genetic code. The binary basis of the genetic code is formed by the plus and minus strands of DNA.
 

The human experience is a microcosm and reflection of binary progression. The archetypes of rhythm are the fundamental patterns that underlie our resonant field of reality. Entraining to these archetypal rhythms, we experience them directly and discover our rhythmic interconnections. Each pattern pulsates specific qualities of energy that give inherent structure and meaning to the possibilities of being. They exist in every human being from the moment of conception to the final breath. Each human being is an integral composite of the archetypes of rhythm. Each of us is a series of rhythmic patterns summed up as a single inner pulse, the essential aspect of our being.

"The Shamanic Drum" July eBook Sale

Mark your calendar! I am taking part in the 14th annual Smashwords July Summer/Winter Sale, taking place Friday, July 1 through Sunday, July 31 2022. For the entire month of July, all of my ebooks are 50% off list price: The Shamanic Drum: A Guide to Sacred Drumming, I Ching: The Tao of Drumming, Shamanic Drumming: Calling the Spirits, Shamanic Drumming Circles Guide, The Great Shift, Riding Spirit Horse: A Journey into Shamanism and Shamanic Journeys: An Anthology. Choose from multiple file formats including .epub, .mobi for Kindles, and PDF. Click on the following link to my Smashwords author page and you will receive the 50% discount automatically by adding my books to your cart: Smashwords July Summer/Winter Sale.
 

Why does Smashwords call it "Summer/Winter"? Here in the Northern hemisphere, it's mid-summer. Readers are loading their e-reading devices for summer beach reading and long-awaited vacations. South of the equator, readers are now in the middle of winter. They're ready to curl up in front of the fireplace and enjoy a great read too! Smashwords is the world's largest distributor of indie ebooks. They make it fast, free and easy for any author or publisher, anywhere in the world, to publish and distribute ebooks to the major retailers and thousands of libraries. The Smashwords Store provides an opportunity to discover new voices in all categories and genres of the written word.

The Seven Principles of Hermeticism

Hermeticism is an ancient religious-philosophical tradition based primarily upon writings attributed to the mythical Hermes Trismegistus, an amalgamation of the Egyptian God Thoth and the Greek God Hermes. Hermeticism was largely a product of religious syncretism, drawing together themes from Judaism, Hellenistic philosophy and mythology, and classical Egyptian religion. The surviving writings of Hermeticism are known as the Corpus Hermetica, which is composed of a series of letters from Hermes Trismegistus, wherein he tries to enlighten his disciple. These letters were lost to the western world after classical times, but survived in the Byzantine libraries.

Throughout its history, Hermeticism was closely associated with the idea of a primeval, divine wisdom, revealed only to the most ancient of sages. In the Renaissance, this developed into the notion of an ancient theology, which asserted that there is a single, true theology which was given by God to some of the first humans, and traces of which may still be found in various ancient systems of thought. As a divine fountain of writing, the Hermetic texts contain the natural laws of the Universe. Knowing these principles will broaden your viewpoint, expand your horizons, and aid you in the pursuit of fuller, happier, more meaningful life. The Seven Hermetic Principles are:

1. The Principle of Mentalism: All is mind, the Universe is mental. The structure of our Universe is thought, mind and consciousness. Consciousness determines the form of our experience. Consciousness is the "theater of perceptual awareness." It is the collective consciousness of humanity that shapes physical reality. We are the Universe made conscious to experience itself. We are mind. We live in a Universe of mind. From photons to galaxies, life is conscious intelligent energy that can form itself into any pattern or function.
 

2. The Principle of Correspondence: As above, so below; as below, so above. Humanity is a microcosm of the macrocosm we call the Universe. Each human being is a hologram of the Cosmos, a weaving together of universal information from a particular point of view. Essentially, we are the Universe experiencing itself in human form.
 

3. The Principle of Vibration: Nothing rests, everything moves, everything vibrates. The Universe is made of vibrational energy. Everything in the Universe, from the smallest subatomic particle to the largest star, has an inherent vibrational pattern. The entire Universe is created through vibration and can be influenced through vibration.
 

4. The Principle of Polarity: Everything is dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of complementary opposites; like and unlike are the same. A dual or binary progression underlies the structure of reality. At a fundamental level, the laws of the Universe are written in a binary code. The binary mathematical system forms the basis of computer languages and applies to everything from crystalline structures to the genetic code.
 

5. The Principle of Rhythm: Life is a rhythmic existence. Polarity gave birth to the pulse of life. Pulsation gave birth to time and material form, while the intervals of pulsation remained timeless and formless. All things are born of rhythm and it is rhythm that holds them in form. Rhythm and resonance order the natural world. Dissonance and disharmony arise only when we limit our capacity to resonate totally and completely with the rhythms of life.
 

6. The Principle of Cause and Effect: Every cause has its effect; every effect has its cause. Nothing happens by chance. Everything that we see in our world is a result of causes. For every effect in your life there is a specific cause. The intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect).
 

7. The Principle of Gender: Gender is in everything; everything has its masculine and feminine principles; gender manifests on all planes. In the Hermetic texts, masculine energy is described as active, projective, expansive and corresponds to spirit. Feminine energy is described as passive, receptive, nurturing and corresponds to matter.

Joseph Rael's Sound Peace Chambers

Joseph Rael, whose Tiwa name, Tsluu teh koy ay, given to him as a child at Picuris Pueblo, means "Beautiful Painted Arrow," is widely regarded as one of the great Native American holy men of our time. He was born in 1935 on the Southern Ute reservation to a chief's granddaughter and a Tiwa-speaking Picuris native. At about age 7, shortly before his mother's death, he went to live in Picuris near Taos, NM, where his visionary powers were developed until, at about age 12, he began to assist the village holy man in curing practices.
 

He was educated both at Santa Fe Indian school and public high school before getting a BA in political science from the University of New Mexico and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For a number of years he worked in various capacities in Indian health and social services in both New Mexico and Colorado.
 

At age 45 he quit his social services job to devote full time to teaching and following his visions wherever they might lead. In 1983 Joseph had the vision to build a Sound Peace chamber, a kiva-like structure where people of all races might gather to chant and sing for world peace and to purify the earth and oceans. He built the first such chamber at his then-home, a trailer park in Bernalillo, NM, and shortly like-minded people began to build Sound Peace chambers in other locations.
 

At present, Sound Peace chambers have been built around the globe. Writes Joseph, "My vision is that through sound we will bring about peace and other important vibrations. Sound can teach us a way to create without destruction." Meanwhile, Joseph began leading ceremonial dances, based on his visions, with participants from all races and nationalities. "When you dance you are expanding the vibrations of insight and manifestation," he writes. "I created three dances -- the long dance, the sun-moon dances and the drum dance -- for these spiritual gifts."
 

Joseph teaches that "Every dance, every ceremony, is both for you and for the cosmos." In 1999, Joseph retired from active leadership of the dances he had begun, turning them over to a new generation of his students. Joseph Rael is the author of a number of books, including Being and Vibration, Sound: Native Teachings and Visionary Art and his autobiography, House of Shattering Light. He is also an artist. His paintings, like his ceremonies and teachings, are based on his visions. They have been called "portal" art, because they open a doorway into alternate dimensions of reality. As a Native American elder, Joseph Rael has spoken before the United Nations and addressed a conference of military officers at the Pentagon on the role of the warrior in the modern world.

Our Milky Way Galaxy Vibrates Like a Drum

According to astronomers, our Milky Way galaxy is warped and vibrates like a drum because of the influence of two companion galaxies. Astronomers say peculiar drum-like vibrations in our Milky Way galaxy may explain why it is warped, and similar explanations may apply for other warped galaxies. The researchers said the effect is due to the most prominent of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies, a pair of galaxies called the Magellanic Clouds. They are stirring up with the Milky Way's dark matter, an invisible substance that is thought to make up more then 90 percent of the weight of the universe. The interaction creates a warp in the galaxy that has puzzled astronomers for half a century. The warp, most obvious in the thin disk of hydrogen gas permeating the galaxy, extends across the Milky Ways 200,000-light year width. A light year is the distance light travels in a year.

Leo Blitz, professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues charted this warp and analyzed it in detail for the first time, based on a new galactic map of light given off by the  hydrogen gas. They found the gas layer is vibrating like a drumhead, and that the vibration consists almost wholly of three notes, also called modes. These notes would be unimaginably deep by human standards some three million octaves, or scales, below the note called middle C on a piano. This means that if a piano could play these notes, it would require a keyboard about the width of Iceland to do so.

It's not uncommon for astronomical objects to exhibit some sort of regular vibrations, like musical instruments, so that they can be said to be playing notes. Which note depends on the vibration speed. A study last summer found that a violent quake on the surface of a compact type of star called a neutron star left it playing the note of F sharp.

Although the Milky Way's warp has been known for almost 50 years, astronomers previously dismissed the Magellanic Clouds as its cause because the galaxies combined masses are only 2 percent that of Milky Way. This mass was thought too small to influence a massive disk equivalent to about 200 billion suns during the clouds 1.5 billion-year orbit of the galaxy. But Martin D. Weinberg of the University of Massachusetts joined Blitz to create a computer model that takes into account the Milky Ways dark matter. The motion of the clouds through the dark matter creates a wake that enhances their gravitational influence on the disk. The wake stirs a vibration at the center of the dark matter blob pervading the galaxy. This in turn makes the embedded galactic disc oscillate. When this dark matter is included, the Magellanic Clouds, in their orbit around the Milky Way, closely reproduce the type of warp observed in the galaxy. The model not only produces this warp in the Milky Way, but during the rotation cycle of the Magellanic Clouds around the galaxy, it looks like the Milky Way is flapping in the breeze.

The Rainbow Bridge

As a rhythm seeker, I spent much of my life exploring the rhythms of many of the world's shamanic and spiritual traditions. As I learned the drum ways of various world cultures, I found the same rhythmic qualities underlying all of them. Like the colors of the rainbow, each culture has its own hue or identity, yet each is a part of the whole society. Although the focus or intent differs from culture to culture, rhythmic drumming invariably has the same power and effects in all traditions. The resonant qualities and attributes of these rhythmic phenomena are universal and come into play whenever we drum.
 

The universal power of rhythm is the effects it has on consciousness. Recent studies have demonstrated that rhythmic drumming produces deeper self-awareness by inducing synchronous brain activity. The physical transmission of rhythmic energy to the brain synchronizes the two cerebral hemispheres. This shared resonance integrates conscious and unconscious awareness. The ability to access unconscious information through symbols and imagery facilitates psychological integration and a reintegration of self.
 

The ethereal rainbow arching high into the heavens symbolizes this harmonious union of intuition and intellect. In her book Voices of Our Ancestors: Cherokee Teachings from the Wisdom Fire, Dhyani Ywahoo states, "We are the rainbow, each of us. When we speak of rebuilding the 'Rainbow Bridge,' it is to bring into harmony the left and right hemispheres of the brain, to renew the flow of our intuitive mind." Regarding rhythmic stimulation, she says, "Chanting and drumming were also a significant part of the learning, balancing activity of the right and left hemispheres of the brain."
 

In his book Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing, anthropologist Michael Winkelman reports that drumming also synchronizes the frontal and lower areas of the brain, integrating nonverbal information from lower brain structures into the frontal cortex, producing "feelings of insight, understanding, integration, certainty, conviction, and truth, which surpass ordinary understandings and tend to persist long after the experience, often providing foundational insights for religious and cultural traditions."
 

Brain hemisphere synchronization connects us to the guidance of our own intuitive knowing. Intuition reveals appropriate action in the moment for a given set of circumstances. Synchronous activity appears within consciousness as the most natural thing to do. One can readily perceive what aims are in accord with the cosmos and not waste energy on discordant pursuits. By allowing the intuition to lead the body, one attains clarity in movement. So long as one follows one's intuitive sense, one's actions will be in sync with the true self and ultimately the cosmos.

The Resonance Theory of Consciousness

The resonance theory of consciousness postulates that synchronized vibrations are central not only to human consciousness but to all of physical reality. Resonance is the ability of a vibrating object or sound source to transfer its energy to another object, making it vibrate in sympathy. The term resonance originated in the field of acoustics, particularly the sympathetic resonance observed in musical instruments, e.g., when one string starts to vibrate and produce sound after a different one is struck. All things in our universe are constantly in motion, vibrating. Even objects that appear to be stationary are in fact vibrating, oscillating, resonating, at various frequencies. Resonance is a type of motion, characterized by oscillation between two states. And ultimately all matter is just vibrations of various underlying fields. As such, at every scale, all of nature vibrates.

Something interesting happens when different vibrating things come together: They will often start, after a little while, to vibrate together at the same frequency. They "sync up," sometimes in ways that can seem mysterious. This is described as the phenomenon of spontaneous self-organization. For example, fireflies of certain species start flashing their bioluminescent fires in sync in large gatherings of fireflies. If two pendulums, swinging at different rates, are placed next to each other, they will gradually entrain until they are locked in perfect synchronization. They entrain because it requires less energy to pulse in unison than in opposition. Nature always seeks the most efficient energy state. 

This synchronization is a kind of physical communication between entities. Synchronized vibrations allow an exchange of energy and information. In the human brain, synchronization, in terms of shared electrical oscillation rates, allows for smooth communication between neurons and groups of neurons. Large-scale neuron firing can occur at specific frequencies, with human consciousness thought to be commonly associated with various kinds of neuronal synchrony. This shared resonance through specific neuronal electrochemical firing patterns creates an electromagnetic field that may itself be the seat of macro-conscious awareness. 

Consciousness through shared resonance takes panpsychism as its metaphysical starting point. This philosophical perspective suggests that all matter has at least some associated consciousness, albeit highly rudimentary in the large majority of instances. In other words, consciousness did not emerge at some point during evolution. Rather, it's always associated with matter and vice versa; they're two sides of the same coin. It is all about vibrations, but it's also about the type of vibrations and, most importantly, about shared vibrations. The more complex the synchronization is, the more complex the consciousness. So, for example, the billions of neurons that fire in the brain together to make a decision and form our experience of the world are extremely sophisticated, yielding a rich and dynamic sense of self or perception. To learn more, read "The Neuroscience of Drumming."

Drumming at Sacred Sites

Earth, human and solar processes are interwoven through a vibrational resonant network around the planet. The lines and intersection points of this energy grid match most of the Earth’s seismic fracture zones and ocean ridges as well as worldwide atmospheric highs and lows, paths of migratory birds, gravitational anomalies, and the sites of ancient temples and megalithic structures. The early geomancers (Earth diviners) discovered that this numinous web is the planetary counterpart to the acupuncture meridian system of the human body. Humans, they realized, were created in the image of Mother Earth. The acupuncture and node points of the human body correspond to those of the Earth Mother.

At the intersection points of the planet’s energy web exist holy places, power spots, or acupuncture points. According to the Hopi, the world would fall apart without these nodes of concentrated vitality. These sacred places are like nerve centers that distribute vital energy throughout the surrounding natural systems. When a human being goes to a power place, the attention of the Earth Mother is drawn to that area and energy begins to flow to that spot because our bodies, like hers, are electromagnetic. Like acupuncture needles, humans are capable of maintaining the harmonious flow of the planetary energy meridians by making an Earth connection at power places.

Great healing can be accomplished by drumming at sacred sites. Earth and humans exist in a reciprocal, bioresonant relationship. Through the planet’s resonant web, we affect our environment; our environment, in turn, affects us. By interacting with sacred places, we are capable of generating a world of peace and harmony. Power sites are places that call out to the soul; they can have a collective calling or be unique to an individual. Seek out power places. Your power spots can be identified by your desire to go to them. Their significance to you is always revealed by your planned or accidental presence at them. And when you are there, your vibration feels higher, stronger, more joyous and free. Every square inch of the Earth Mother is sacred and a potential connecting place for someone.

Mountains, rivers, and waterfalls are powerful places to drum. Indigenous people believe that mountains are inhabited by powerful spirits that watch over the people. Each mountain has its own spirit, its own name and its own domain which they protect. Mountain spirits are called upon for assistance, blessings, and protection. Mountainous regions charge you with energy and counteract imbalances or negativity. Mountains are generally electrical (yang) and projective in nature, emanating great spiritual power. Mountains are places of spiritual renewal where Heaven and Earth meet and from which all directions emanate. They are good places to drum for planetary healing.     
 

Rivers, lakes, and ocean beaches are magnetic (yin) and receptive in nature. Being near a body of water is soothing and relaxing. Magnetic fields influence the pituitary gland, which is related to the brow chakra (chakras are vibratory energy centers located along the center of the human body), otherwise known as the third eye or mind’s eye. Bodies of water expand and clarify inner vision, sharpen telepathic abilities, and stimulate the flow of healing energies. A close proximity to water helps cleanse the body, mind and spirit. Rivers, in particular, are good places to drum, for the healing energy generated will flow downstream. Water is a profound conductor of energy.

Waterfalls are electromagnetic in nature. The water itself in magnetic. The falling water produces electrical energy. The two forces combine to form electromagnetic energy. Such energy is of a balanced, harmonic nature. Waterfalls are places of spiritual power that can truly expand our spirits. The spirits and energies of waterfalls are especially suited for balancing and recharging your personal life force. And when the sun is right, waterfalls generate misty, iridescent rainbows.

You can create a powerful vortex of energy in your own home by setting up an altar where you can pray, meditate and drum at least once a day. An altar is any structure upon which we place offerings and sacred objects that have spiritual or cosmological significance. It represents the center and axis of your sacred space. A sacred space can be any location in your home where you can be by yourself and be fully self-expressed. A simple altar can be created with a cloth, a candle and other symbols that mean something to you. Like the ancient temples, such a sanctuary space serves as a drawing point for the healing energy needed by the planet.

Milford Graves, Visionary Drummer, Dead At 79

Drummer, scientist, educator and improviser Milford Graves died in his Queens, N.Y. home around 3 p.m. on Fri., Feb. 12. He was 79. Lois, his wife of sixty-one years, confirmed that the cause was congestive heart failure. Mr. Graves was surrounded by Lois, his five children (four daughters and a son), his beloved granddaughter, Tatiana, and a cross-section of students across generations who had bestowed him with the honorific "Professor," a nod to his guidance in music, botany, martial arts and metaphysics.

 

Milford Graves was Professor Emeritus of Music at Bennington College in Vermont, where he taught the power and aesthetic of Black Music as a faculty member from 1973-2012. He used his platform there to express his many ideas, most well beyond the confines of the performance stage, operating instead as a kind of shamanic artist and teacher, whose emotional and intellectual connection to traditional music he fused with scientific inquiry and study.
 

Graves graduated from the Eastern School for Physicians' Aids in the 1960s, and worked in a diagnostic veterinary lab for two years. He purchased an album of stethoscopic heart recordings during a lunch break in 1973, and its content led him to pursue the path of his life's work: He began to record heartbeats and transcribe them into music notation. What started as a rudimentary documentation on reel-to-reel tape increased in sophistication with the adoption of advanced computing technology, culminating in Mr. Graves's use of algorithms to create visualizations and sound data that plotted the human heartbeat and its varied electrical states for the purpose of healing. His discoveries led to a patent for preparing non-embryonic stem cells from a tissue derivative, subjecting those cells to vibrations from a heart sound to control the degree of differentiation into several other types of cells. He once said, "Drumming should be taught in medical school. Know your beats. There are subtleties in the heartbeat that cannot be picked up through electronic imaging," and his scientific rigor on heart rates informed a non-linear approach to playing rhythm.
 

Graves was a prominent jazz drummer and percussionist from the 1960s New York avant-garde and free-jazz movements. New York City in the 1960s was an artistic cauldron, and the ideas of freedom and struggle coursing through the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements began to manifest in an expansive view of improvisation and music-making. The avant-garde, or New Thing, loosened certain strictures and gave improvisers like Graves an opportunity for wide-open self expression, and even established artists like Coltrane seemed to be drawing from the same creative well. "Milford played how he felt music should sound related to what was around him," says longtime friend and collaborator, drummer and composer Andrew Cyrille. The music felt like a departure from tradition, and some writers derided the striking new music with withering criticism. Meanwhile, Graves was transforming the role of the drums. He viewed his holistic approach to drums as an extension of how he lived with "outside forces having less control of you, allowing you to have more flexibility, more freedom and listening to the vibrations of the earth, that nature gave you."
 

Graves also began exploring martial arts in the late 1960s. He created a new form called Yara, from the Yoruban word meaning "nimble." He followed a teacher's interest in the praying mantis as a model. He subsequently bought and released these insects into his own garden, followed their movements and developed his own martial arts study based on their natural behavior. This inspired the title of a 2018 documentary on Graves, Full Mantis.
 

When his grandmother died, in 1970, Graves moved into her modest 20th-century home at the corner of Brinkerhoff Avenue and 156th Street in Queens, just blocks from the South Jamaica Houses he once called home. He personalized the lot and dwelling with a distinctive flair, adding stone and ceramic architectural elements to the exterior structure in a playful style akin to Antonio Gaudi. He created an organic garden to promote healing arts and added a dojo to teach Yara. Inside there's murals, sculptures and drums from around the world; a downstairs laboratory includes dried herbs and botany research, elixirs, Eastern medicine texts and acupuncture practice juxtaposed with electrocardiogram machines and computer monitors. And books. Lots of books. Graves was a generous polymath who openly shared his knowledge.
 

Mark Christman, artistic director of Ars Nova Workshop, has been measuring and curating aspects of Graves' immense contribution to music, science, botany and martial arts over the last several years. The collection spent four months at Philadelphia's Institute for Contemporary Art, with a five-week pause due to pandemic restrictions. The exhibit, A Mind-Body Deal, drew more than 2,000 attendees and over 5,000 participants to its many virtual events, including a solo performance from Moran. "Milford Graves offers a perspective that isn't limited by the way we've been forced to learn," says Christman. "That linear way of study doesn't allow a mixture or mash-up of thoughts and decision-making. That's why he's adored, and people looked to him for answers."

To learn more about Milford Graves, read “Taking Rhythm to Heart.”

Working with Shamanic Drums

As a drum circle facilitator, I get asked a lot about how to work with shamanic drums. Drums are an essential part of shamanic work; we use them for journeying, healing and celebration, both for ourselves and for the community. Additionally, the shamanic techniques of extraction, soul retrieval and divination can all be performed with the drum. Yet many people I meet who acquire a drum say they want to work with it but they are not sure how to.
 

Before shamanizing with a drum, sit and meditate with the instrument for a few minutes. By quieting the mind, you will be able to connect with the spirit of the drum. When you feel ready, pick up your drumstick and grip it with the thumb at the side and the fingers curled underneath. Hold the stick with a tight, relaxed grip and start playing at the rhythm the spirits direct you to use. Remember to "stroke" the drum, rather than "beat" it. Never vent your frustrations by pounding on a drum. One should always "drum the beat," rather than "beat the drum."
 

Always begin a drumming session by softly stroking the drum, and then gradually increase the intensity of your playing. It is not necessary to hammer the drum to bring out its unique voice and resonance. It is best to stroke the drum firmly, producing ringing tones and overtones. Use short strokes with a minimal amount of motion to pull the sound out of the drum. Keep your arms and shoulders relaxed, breathing slowly and deeply as you play. By playing the drum in this manner, you will have greater precision and endurance.
 

When a stick hits a drumhead, it rebounds in the opposite direction. The drummer who plays with too much tension, or hammers the stick into the drum, will find that the direction of the stick continues to move downward contrary to the upward push of the rebound. Rather than bouncing off the head, the stick is forced into the head by a hand still pushing down on the stick after it should have changed direction. The result is a loss of speed, control and clean, distinct strokes.
 

The less tension there is in the muscles of the arms and hands, the easier it is to respond to the bounce off the head. Moreover, by incorporating the energy coming off the drumhead into the upstroke, the drummer's playing will become quicker, more fluid and relaxed. That way the energy circulates, comes back and you can use it again. The key is to focus your energy to that point on the drumhead's surface that you are striking, not beyond it. Transfer your energy and intention into the drum, using a smooth, relaxed stroke. With practice, you learn just how much energy to send out to achieve a desired result and how much to retain so that you don't tire.
 

Move the drumstick around the head of the drum as you play, allowing the various tones and overtones to resonate through you. You will find the higher tones around the outer edges of the drumhead and the deeper sounds toward the center of the drum. If you can, find the sweet spot--that place where the drum begins to hum and sing. The drum has to sing in order to reach its full potential for healing and empowerment.
 

When playing a drum, life force energy flows between the drumhead and the drumstick. With practice, you should be able to feel this subtle force pushing and pulling on the stick. Allow this force to guide your drumming in order to draw out what is already within the drum. Shamanic drumming is about transposing already existing harmonics into sound by stroking them from the drum.

Weaving Music into Art

The Shipibo are a tribe from the Amazonian rainforest in Peru credited with holding the traditions of the powerful entheogenic brew ayahuasca ("vine of souls"). This ancient tribe is known both for their beautiful geometric textiles and for their long history of using ayahuasca as an entheogen. This plant sacrament induces visual and auditory stimulation for the purpose of self-revelation and healing. In the Shipibo culture, shamans -- called curanderos -- work as plant-based healers of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual disorders. Their knowledge and healing power are said to come from the plants themselves.  

Shipibo shamans have a custom in which a they live for months in isolation and ingest different plants in order to connect with the spirits of the plants. According to Shipibo shamanism, each plant has a different personality, just like people. Once a plant is ingested, the shaman may be inspired to write a song. These songs, known as icaros, are then used in healing ceremonies, and eventually translated into geometric patterns in order to adorn tapestries with their messages. Each song and corresponding pattern embody the energy of a specific Amazonian plant. The colorful designs are a woven visualization of each plant's song, almost serving as a musical score.

Shipibo textiles reflect the tribe's culture and cosmology. Largely geometric in nature, the designs feature the square, the rhombus, the octagon and the cross, which represents the southern Cross constellation. Other symbols featured in the designs are the Cosmic Serpent, the Anaconda and various plant forms, notably the caapi vine used in the preparation of the ayahuasca brew. Shipibo patterns are believed to heal physical, mental, emotional and spiritual ailments, with each design carrying its own meaning. Some are said to bring wisdom or protection; others attract abundance. The textiles are worn as skirts, placed on tables or beds, hung on walls or used in ceremony.
 

There is an fascinating connection between the visual and aural in Shipibo art: the Shipibo can paint the pattern by listening to an icaro, or they can inversely hear the song by simply viewing the design. Shipibo shamans, under the influence of the psychedelic affects of ayahuasca, undergo a sort of biological feedback mechanism which affects the visual cortex, allowing the music to be seen, and then translated into artwork. Known as synesthesia, this is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway, in this case seeing by hearing, or hearing by seeing.
 

After discovering cymatics, the scientific study of geometric patterns created by sound vibrations, Irish artist Tanya Harris traveled to Peru in 2014 to explore the "visual music" of Shipibo art. Harris discovered cymatics while studying for an MA in Textile Futures at Central Saint Martins in London. Harris spent a month with the Shipibo and participated in ayahuasca ceremonies. During one of her last ceremonies, she received insight from ayahuasca that she should ask a shaman if she could record her singing a particular song and also get from her the geometric tapestry translation of the song. 

 

So, using a handy video recorder, Harris carefully recorded the shaman's icaro about a plant called marosa. Harris found striking visual similarities between the shapes created by her cymatic patterns and the designs created by the Shipibo as illustrations of their songs. For Harris, it was simply confirmation that "sound is a primordial, creative force." Her experiences with the Shipibo are described in this short video, Consciousness Resides in Geometry.