Drumming
"Beyond the individual health and wellness benefits of drumming, a group of drummers provides its own benefits that enhance the healing properties of the drums and rhythms. Drumming with others can help establish community bonds and allow people to connect together on a level that does not require awkward small talk or allow other insecurities to surface that can inhibit interaction with new people."
In the Western world, when we hear the word "shaman," most of us tend to conjure up an image of a masked and costumed indigenous tribal person, dancing around a fire in the dark, involved in some sort of mysterious ritual, accompanied by singing and drum beats. But inside that cultural shell of mask, costume and ritual, there is a woman or a man with a set of very real skills. The shaman is the master of the trance experience.
"This film will document the Hand Drumming community and the personal stories connected to drumming. The story will show the personal joy and the wide spread benefits of hand drumming. Covering the gambit of different styles and approaches and new medical and spiritual work, stories from across America will emerge. It is interwoven with cut away dramatic scenes depicting the legends of rhythm in our past."
"Although the use of hallucinogenic drugs such as ayahuasca is common, many cultures use a strong repetitive rhythm or beat to create that state; the Native American Ojibwa wanbeno, for instance, use drumming, rattling, chanting, naked dancing, and handling of live coals.7 Drumming is particularly effective in producing a highly concentrated focus; a number of studies have shown that listening to the beat of a drum causes the brain to slow down into a trancelike state.8 As Native Americans discovered, even intense heat, as in a sweat lodge, can transport individuals to an altered state."
"In the drumming I am reborn, in the singing my soul connects."
