Power of the Drum
My spiritual name is Wakiksuya Wiyuhloke Mato Wi – She Bear who carries the key to open the door between two worlds. Known to many of you as Brenda Bryan.
My interest in the shamanic drum began over 25 years ago when I was first included in a series of sweats for a man healing from bone cancer. I was profoundly connected to the power and influence the drum. After that experience I taught myself how to make drums, then I start teaching others how to make drums and other sacred objects. I have used the drum for many trance journeys and find it to be an amazing instrument for dropping our masks and shields while connecting us to the powerful of our inner resources.
After awhile we had the instrument for call the drumming circle and building a community. I have been invested in community for all my life coming from my fathers influence as a church leader.
Now here enters this very primal unassuming instrument known the world over, to all cultures, this simple profound tool was the catalyst for changing my life. And I would like to bring you into a deeper connection to this instrument of connection.
The drum has a role of first importance to humans for its rhythm develops an oneness of feeling and purpose with the rhythms of the universe. Everything in the universe, from the smallest subatomic particle to the largest star, vibrates with rhythmic motion. Rhythm is the heartbeat of life. The drum’s beat unites us with all forms into single being, a single heartbeat. The drum reconciles all of the diverse and discordant aspects or elements of nature. It promotes individual and planetary resonance and restores harmony and balance.
The drums sonorous voice expresses the basic rhythm patterns man has observed over and over in nature: the changing seasons, the tides, the heartbeat – life and death itself. Rhythm is a universal language. We respond to rhythm whenever we sense it and seek it out when it is not present for it is invariably pleasant.
Drumming affects aurally generated emotion more then any other instrument. Drum rhythms cover the whole range of human feeling. Whatever the emotion, the drum seems to compensate and offer satisfying expression. Drumming provides, relief from anger, courage when afraid, or even ecstasy.
Ecstasy is defined as a mystic, prophetic, or poetic trance. It is a trance like state of exaltation in which the mind is fixed on what it contemplates or conceives. The drum acts as a focusing device for the shaman. It creates an atmosphere of concentration, enabling the shaman to sink into light-trance state. It is an in word spiritual journey of joy and rapture in which the shaman performs his or her mysterious work.
Shamanism has been defined as a technique of ecstasy. It is a great emotional and mental adventure open to any who wish to transcend their normal, ordinary definition of reality. The shaman is able to contact and utilize an ordinarily hidden reality in order to acquire knowledge, power, and to help others. He or she gains access to a whole new world, and yet familiarly mythical universe.
Using the drum for sacred ceremony brings in a different dimension, where your level of skill as a drummer becomes directly linked with your personal growth. The more you drum, the more you will realize that the drum evolves into an extension of your self, your inner self. As you lose inhibition and loosen your mind and physical frame, your Spirit relaxes and becomes open. The drum becomes part of your journey, helping you to shift through your physical, emotional, and spiritual limitations using sound, vibration, and movement.
Drumming is a wonderful exercise. As you beat away on your drum, you let your body relax and become part of the movement. It is good to try and let your lower limbs dance with the sound. The energy pathways traveling in the lower limbs carry the earth messages up and down from the inside of the body to the external environment, and they connect you to the rhythm of the earth. This is what you want when you drum: get connected to earth, fire, air, water and Spirit.
Drumming is a wonderful exercise. As you beat away on your drum, you let your body relax and become part of the movement. It is good to try and let your lower limbs dance with the sound. The energy pathways traveling in the lower limbs carry the earth messages up and down from the inside of the body to the external environment, and they connect you to the rhythm of the earth. This is what you want when you drum: get connected to earth, fire, air, water and Spirit.