Well I took the plunge and has started a couple of groups here. One for musicians and one for a drumming circle. Needs to get back into the flow.
This is a drum meditation that I created that I need to post so I can get back into it again..
HEALING DRUMS OF THE BARD
Below is a story/guided visualization which will take you through a forest and introduce you to the idea of drumming vibrations as a healing and cleansing energy. The source of this is based in a mix of shamanic/bardic celtic and eastern meditation disciplines. I realize it is hard to do this type of medium in a cyberspace without sound. Yet if you use your imagination and intent I feel you will be able to get a taste of it. So let us go for a walk shall we?
You enter a Pine forest. The trees creak gently all around you. The pungent clean smell of pine needles tickles your nose. You breathe in the scents and smells of the forest . As you look ahead a small furry denizen of the forest darts down a tree, her eyes meet yours briefly before she darts off further into the forest. As if teasing you gently to follow. As you breathe you notice your own heart beat. Pumping life throughout your body. For a moment you think you heard an echo of your heartbeat way off in the forest. You listen again. … and behind the rustle of the leaves, the sigh of the wind , the creaking of the trees and the sounds of creatures in the woods; you are certain you hear the faint sound of your heartbeat coming from deeper in the forest.
Intrigued you move further into the forest. As you move deeper into the forest your everyday concerns and issues release from you as every step you take the forest infuses your body and being and you move further away from your every day life into the realm of the forest and nature. As you move deeper into the forest the beat coming from in the forest gets louder. The sound starts echoing within your body and pulsing within you like a wave.
You come to a clearing within the forest and it seems that it is here that the drumming is emanating. You stop and look into the clearing. In the centre of the clearing is a fire burning bright. Off to the side of the fire sitting on a log is a middle aged man. His hair haloes his head and cascaded in a wave down his back. A short beard frames his long face. A pair of piercing hazel green eyes look at you in welcome.
He is wearing a green robe. On the robe it seems is a forest of leaves and branches. Berries frame his sleeves and hood. In one hand is held a single sided frame drum. There are drawings scribed on the skin of the drum which you can vaguely see. In the other is a drum beater which is hitting the centre of the drum in the exact beat of your heart. His eyes open wider and he bows towards you. The drum beat seems to arise from the very ground herself. Smiling gently he stops drumming , however the beat is maintained. It echoes and resounds in your body. "My name is Forestmuse" he says in a deep modulated and slightly musical voice. What you are feeling is the heartbeat of the drum. I have been playing the beat of your heart which is like a unique signature that is yours alone. If you would like to learn some more and enter my clearing I need to ask you if I may smudge you. The forest you are in has already released some of your everyday issues and centred you a bit further within yourself. I would like to use the elements to cleanse you further. If it is ok with you please step between those two pine trees in front of you put your arms to your sides and relax. You are there good.
I move up to you picking up a bowl with a mix of herbs in it. I drop a hot coal into the bowl which produces a fountain of smoke. From my belt I take some bound feathers. Starting at your feet I scoop the smoke across the bowl top. The smoke curls up your body cleaning and purging you. As is reaches your nose you can smell sage and pine and hints of benzoin and some other herbs you cant quite identify. Your head clears. The bowl moves up the front of your body and as it passes your nose you get a concentrated whiff. Then I move the bowl down your left side up your back and down your right side. Then I walk around your body in a gentle spiral beginning at your feet and ending at your head.
"You have now been smudged I say smiling. In short it is a tribal way of purifying your body and cleansing it. Would you like to enter my clearing.?? " Come and sit down by the fire.
I take the drum up and start drumming the beat of your heart. Stop for a moment and listen to your own heartbeat. Touch a pulse and feel it. Imagine that sound coming out of a drum. A deep sound and one that goes on echoing through your body and through the forest. I drum four beats to north, south, east and west. Four beats to the sky above and four beats to the earth below. I ask you to stand in a relaxed position with your hands by your sides. I start at the front of your feet and the beat of the drum moves like a wave over your feet and up your ankles, your legs, torso and up past your head and down your back to your feet. As the beat moves through your body you find any tense spots relaxing and the sound of the drum filling you expanding outwards like the ripples from a stone thrown in the water. Your tense areas soak up the drum beat and soften and relax. After all your body is mostly water and is resonating to the beat of the drum. Meanwhile the drum has moved to your left side at your feet and has moved upward over your head and down the other side. Your body is now encased in sound that is expanding your own heartbeat and seems to also be coming from the earth herself. The drum now moves in a spiral starting at your feet and the beat moves faster. As it moves upwards it takes your tenseness , worries , issues and concerns with it . It moves beyond your head and then shoots the energy at the sky above where is dissipates . I hit the drum four times and clear it. Then I hit one long resounding beat from your forehead to your toes. A second from your left ear to your foot. A third from the back of your head to your heels. A fourth from your right ear to your foot. You feel grounded to the earth mother.
I smile at you again and thankyou for sharing a short journey with me. I reach down beside a log and come up with a small pottery drum and place it in your hand. When you wish to centre just play your heartbeat on this drum… When you find your beat falters you will find a new beat and when that falters another. It is the start of an adventure. I wish you joy in it. I guide you to the edge of the clearing and bid you farewell until next we meet, for this planet is such a small place..
You walk away and after a few steps you hear a haunting tune which swirls around you bringing a smile to your lips and a tear to your eye at the same time. You find your foot tapping a beat. I smile at you and bow in your direction a twinkle in my eye. You walk onwards from whence you came.
