Make a Joyful Sound

Last night, I went to Drumming. I had been invited by a friend at church. In the past, I was a little hesitant to go to something like this, but a few months ago, I borrowed a drum from the chaplain at work and I realized it was so relaxing and therapeutic to play. So ... when I was invited, I thought I'd try it.

For the first hour, I'm sure I sat there with a stupid grin on my face. I had so much fun. It was neat to be part of a group of mostly strangers - I only knew the person who invited me - and all fall into a rhythm, playing whatever drum we fancied. We did a number of different exercises including doing something like the 'wave'. We also had a time where we focused on our heart rate in silence and then started beating the drums as we felt it matched our heart rate. I can see how drumming could be very therapeutic. They have facilitator training courses and I'm comtemplating taking it. It would fit very well with Occupational Therapy because there are physiological benefits, socializing benefits, team building benefits, spiritual benefits, creative benefits, etc. The leader was kind of like an orchestra conductor. I think most people were not experienced drummers, but yet it sounded like music ... it sounded joyful and beautiful. It was an easy, relaxed atmosphere, even during the tea break (yes, it's a bit granola-cruncher like). :)

One of the facilitators led a meditation exercise at the end. She described meditation as simply those moments where we feel immense pleasure / awe in something such as nature. We were encouraged to think of something that brought awe ... I thought of a sunrise as seen from the plane above the clouds and sitting by a Manitoba beach watching the sun's reflection on the water. Absolutely breathtaking. We were to visualize that and pay attention to the way our bodies react to thinking about the inspiring thing. I did that, but I also used this as an opportunity to thank God for beauty and that it does good for our bodies. Then we were to think of someone we deeply love and feel that love. Then, in the same way, focus on how our heart feels ... literally. The part that was .... different ... for me was the next part. Hum for 5 minutes, thinking about that loving feeling and focus on how the vibrations of humming come in line with the feeling of love. What was neat was that, eventually, most people ended up making a chord - the harmony worked. After that, we were to sit for 1 minute in complete silence. An interesting exercise, I thought.

I'm guessing activities like this as well as drumming can help with biofeedback that could help with controlling heart rate and blood pressure. I will try to do research on this. The final activity was going around in a circle and each saying a word that comes to mind. Many people said something like 'joy', 'peace', 'calm', etc. I think one person said, 'resolution'.

Anyway, I'll probably try to go again sometime.