There's something that happens inside me when I hear the beat of a drum. Any drum I suppose, but particularly hand drums. I feel something being stirred deep within, like a remembering. I feel that remembering slowly pulsing and vibrating from my heart center out into the rest of my body and I want to just close my eyes and be swept away with it. This is why I love participating in drum circles. I love being part of creating the rhythm as well as experiencing it. I can sit there, allowing my hands to drum that simple basic beat, and let my awareness flow into the energy of the circle. Everyone finds their unique style, their variation of the beat, their individuality, but we're all connected by that central pulse.
At the most recent drum circle I attended, I was one of four who played the large center drum for one of the sessions. We were the keepers of the central pulse. I had this image of being part of the earth's core. We were the earth's center, her rhythm emanating from this drum, providing the foundation of the life-giving rhythm to all the other drummers in the circle. These individual drummers weren't just people anymore. The drumming of each person came to represent life on this earth...the rhythm of the trees, birds, insects, humans, flowers, rocks, fish, animals...the rhythm of each species that inhabits this earth. Each has its own unique rhythm, and yet we are all connected by that central pulse. We are separate and yet one.
The leader of the drum circle pointed out how drum solos can be a beautiful part of the circle. One person rising above the rest, leaving the main rhythm to express their gift, their beauty, their uniqueness for a few moments and then returning to the natural beat. There is magic in this ebb and flow, expressing and receiving. But he also pointed out how problems can arise when one person monopolizes the solo, playing on and on. Being so focused on hearing his/her own expression and forgetting that they are only one piece of what creates the magic in the circle. "It sounds great for the person playing the solo, not so great for the rest of the circle."
I thought about this today as I walked barefoot through the woods. Maybe humanity has been playing it's solo too loudly and for too long. We just keep going and going, forgetting that we are simply one species of life making its home here. We are not the 'end all, be all'. For our lives as humans, as the whole of humanity, we need to step back and listen. We need to remember the sacred rhythm of the earth's pulse. We need to pay attention to and receive the solos of all the other species of life here. Just as nature's rhythm keeps the central beat for us, we also need to step back for a while and be the ones holding the central beat steady. In this way, we uplift and support the rhythm for all other forms of life on this planet. No one species is meant to drown out and deafen. We are here to add our beat, as one small part, to the larger rhythm of life. I think when we can truly find this balance, this remembering, we will see healing...healing for humanity and healing for our earth.
"...it's more important to pay attention to the spaces between the notes, because that's where the magic takes place." -Dave 'Drumhead' Curry
For more info on drumming, check out Dave's website Drums for One and All or find him on Facebook.
