Sacred Tones Healing

Humans are social species, and we all love a good beat. And guess what? Being able to feel rhythm and beats is part of our social make-up. The first sound we all have ever heard was the sound of our mother’s comforting heartbeat. So, our relationship with rhythm began in the womb. We are intrinsically rhythmic, and this is a potent source of well-being.

Drum therapy promotes healing and finding inner balance by practicing various rhythms on drums. It may sound like a modern practice, but in fact, drums and their rhythms have been at the center of different cultural and social activities all over the world from the earliest times. Virtually, the ritual use of rhythmically beating a drum is one of humankind’s oldest practices. Every culture that existed on Earth has practiced some form of drumming.

Even now, drums play a rhythmic role in nearly every music genre, spanning centuries and continents. Scientists have discovered that the sound of drums alerts our senses and triggers the need of wanting to move our bodies. However, drums have not always been used for creating music only. Music has been around as long as our ancestors could communicate. Archaeologists found out that the drum and the dancing it inspires served the purpose of bringing people together. 

Examples of ancient drums trace back millennia throughout Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Drumming was at the core of community life in most ancient cultures worldwide. This instrument has been used for many purposes, having as critical components religious rituals, honoring the Earth and its directions, shifting states of consciousness, healing, and wellbeing to retrieve information for healing, sporting events, and communicating or signaling. 

Drums and cymbals are visible in bas-reliefs of ancient Greece and Syria, in relief sculptures from ancient Mesopotamian and Sumerian society, and in artifacts of neolithic China. Drums also represent joyful times, as seen in ancient Egyptian murals, where figures painted on the walls are engaged in creating music through multiple instruments. 

One theory says that as humans continued to grow as a society, they needed a way to communicate with different spirits and gods through music. This is reflected in archaeological remains throughout the world, where drums and other instruments are found buried with their owners — many high ranking or religiously oriented, who dedicated their time learning the instrument’s practice. 

Shamans used drumming to reach a trance-like state so that they could connect with the spirit dimension. They have also been used therapeutically since ancient times. This is still a way of life in certain parts of the world, particularly in more secluded areas.

Sri Lanka and African people discovered drums between 1000 and 500 BC and used them to communicate over large distances, plus driving away evil spirits and illnesses from people. The culture of drums would then spread to Rome and Greece between 200 and 150 BC in their worship ceremonies dedicated to goddesses Athena and Aphrodite. Drumming spread to Europe during 1200 AD via Mediterranean trading routes. African drums later arrived in America through the slave trade in 1500 AD. At first, Nation tribes used drums in their religious and healing rituals.

Over time, humans have created many types of drums. The oldest drum instrument found to date comes from Neolithic China, over 7,000 years ago, but later spread to all of Asia, and was made out of alligator skin stretched over a shell. Since then, drums evolved to have different shapes, ranging from the petite snare drum to the huge kettle drum.

Today, drumming is increasingly being used as a powerful means of promoting self-expressing and improving well-being.

Shamanic drumming, which is fast-paced at 4–7 beats per second rhythm, can alter brain states. Ancient shamans knew this, and now science backs it up. The two hemispheres of the brain often operate at different levels and rates. The steady beat of shamanic drumming is a tool used for brain health because of its constant rhythm, bringing both hemispheres into rhythmic balance. This is profound because that balance is exceedingly hard to come by in modern-day life and brings deep healing.

Michael Winkelman explains in his book, Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing, how “drumming 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”.

A study by Barry Bittman, M.D. published in 2001, found that one hour of group drumming, boosted the immune system and showed an increase in NK (natural killer) cell activity in participants. Results show that participating in drumming circles helps to increase natural killer T cells that fight cancer and viruses such as AIDS. Subsequent studies by Bittman showed evidence that group drumming can lower stress and improve mood states.

A 2012 study published in Evolutionary Psychology, conducted by the University of Oxford’s Department of Experimental Psychology, explains how live drumming elevates the pain threshold and is connected with endorphin release. The researchers conclude that music’s “active performance generates the endorphin high, not the music itself.”

A 2014 study on the benefits of drumming published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine discovered that drumming can improve cardiovascular health due to the physical nature of playing the instrument.

More studies demonstrate that drumming is a great treatment for stress, anxiety, hypertension, asthma, chronic pain, arthritis, mental illness, cancer, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, emotional disorders, ADHD sufferers, people with learning difficulties, a wide range of physical disabilities as well as for recovering addicts.

Busy modern lifestyles and light pollution can make it difficult to go deep into the silence within. But the shamanic drum causes one to do that: go internal. The drumbeat evokes powerful forms of energy and is an aid in helping to focus one’s attention.

Many community groups and centers have introduced informal drumming workshops to bring children and adults together in a cooperative environment where they build community and learn new skills. 

Group drumming is known for complementing traditional talk therapy methods. Drumming circles and making music together in a group can be a unifying experience, encouraging self-expression and creating an opportunity for “synchronicity” to connect with your spirit at a deep level while also connecting with like-minded people. While drumming, you are moving your attention away from the flow of day-to-day life and you are not caught up in your past or worrying about your future. 

Group drumming tunes our biology, orchestrates our immunity, and enables healing to begin. It’s simply a matter of letting go and joining in.

Drumming even provides a creative outlet for more hardened individuals. The act of drumming can serve as a form of self-expression. Drumming workshops have even been used in prisons and with young offenders – providing creative ways to re-channel negative energy and build team spirit through the power of percussion. Furthermore, drumming can be used therapeutically to help addicts deal with their emotions. 

The healing power of drums shouldn’t be underestimated. A drum is simple, yet it is pure power. It’s not a coincidence that every culture around the world has made ritual use of a drum. The drumming grounds us and connects us to our primordial beginnings while helping us heal. So, why not find the rhythm and beat of your own drum?

Biography:

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https://www.masterclass.com/articles/a-brief-history-of-drums

https://www.denverpercussion.com/history-of-drum-therapy/

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