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Drumming is Healing

The use of the hand drum in relationship to healing is certainly not new. According to anecdotal reports and current research, the hand drum and its rhythms have been instrumental in improving illnesses when medical science had few answers.

The Power of the Drum

The drum can relax the tense, energize the tired, and heal the emotionally wounded. The hand drum has the extraordinary and consistent ability to create states of euphoria, induce trance, promote play, release anger and promote feelings of community, unity and promote wellbeing.

Drums for Release

Some of the psychological applications in which hand drums are being used include releasing emotional pain, anger, and stress in:

- Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

- “At-risk” adolescents

- Corporate employees under daily stress

Substance abusers use therapeutic drumming to increase their communication skills and social interaction. Drums have been used in a spectrum of major mental illnesses, such as manic depression and multiple personality disorder, to increase self-esteem and create feelings of accomplishment.

Drums in Medicine

In the medical field, the hand drum is being used to help:

- Alzheimer’s patients improve their short-term memory and increase social interaction

- Autistic children increase their attention spans

Rhythmic devices are also being used to aid Parkinson’s patients and stroke victims to regain the control of movement or increase their gaits.

Psychological Benefits

There are numerous psychological benefits of drumming. First is a sense of personal power. Second, the drum places one squarely in the here and now. When hitting the drum, there is no time to think about tomorrow’s fears, yesterday’s regrets or what’s for dinner. The drum becomes an opportunity for those who repress their emotions to release them.

Alchemical Drumming for Better Health

“Alchemical drumming” is the process of transmuting what is unhealthy in the body and releasing it through the drum. Psychology and medicine alike acknowledge that bottling up emotions is detrimental to our mental and physical health.

In a thirty-year study, psychologist Pirkko L. Graves determined that individuals who suppress their emotions were sixteen times more likely to develop cancer than those who expressed their emotions freely and took active measures to relieve their frustrations or anger. Through hitting the drum, unhealthy and toxic emotions can be released.

Why Drumming Heals?

Rhythm is an extremely powerful sensory stimulus that creates some very clear and easily perceivable time structures in the brain. We are run by rhythm; our neurons fire at a certain tempo. Music calls to our soul. It calls to places that people have blocked and, sometimes it calls to places that people can’t block, and that’s why drumming works.

Rhythm creates organization, allowing people to relate to the music without having to relate directly to each other. They don’t need to relate to other individuals verbally or deal with interpersonal relationships, and yet they are in an atmosphere of community. This is often the first step to more direct communication.

Alpha Waves and Relaxation

Drumming increases our Alpha brainwaves, the brainwaves associated with feelings of wellbeing and euphoria. Benefits associated with Alpha waves are the ability to relax and keep the mind on a specific task. In pain patients, the amount of Alpha brainwaves a patient has is also an indicator of how well the patient is managing his or her pain.

Drumming can be a vital tool in providing health benefits, as many researchers have discovered. On the most basic level, drumming is a physical activity and can be quite relaxing. As with any stress management vehicle, drumming can lower one’s blood pressure.

– Carlos Mora, Mexico