Remember as kids when being happy was not a task and we were blessed with the ability to be in a state of constant ecstasy and wonder? Of course, you do! But somewhere between flying kites for hours to sitting on our desks for hours, we stopped chasing butterflies of the stomach, we stopped going after goosebumps, lost touch with friends and most importantly, with ourselves. This Isolation from the real world and immersion in the virtual world made us come face to face with the once non-existent feelings like stress, anxiety, and worry which are the major triggering factors of one of the most underestimated threats to ourselves, society and workplaces today, ‘Mental Illness’.
As we are becoming ‘Human Doings’ instead of ‘Human Beings’, our super powers like being calm, co-existing in harmony with other beings and experiencing the sheer bliss that lies at the very core of our heart have now become tasks for us to complete which our calendars now remind us to do.
But, Hey! All hope is not lost, these are the super powers we are all born with and they can be accessed again.
With the cases of mental illness on the rise, researchers, communities and corporations are now looking for new alternatives to medicine and traditional therapy methods to maintain work-life balance. And group drumming has emerged as a very effective activity for the same.
I remember the first Drum Circle that I attended about two years ago, it felt like a magic spell, I felt deeply connected with the group, the feeling I had back then remains my closest association to the word Harmony to date. It was one of the most effective Stress Reducing Activities I’ve been a part of. Later I found, there are numerous scientific and psychological studies reaffirming the empowering and healing effects of group drumming, studies that claim how drumming helps
Being a meditation practitioner, I always felt that it can only be done in a silent room, sitting cross legged with eyes closed but that notion about meditation changed for me after my first Drum Circle. There were about 35 participants in the Drum Group playing the drums with all their might. At the end of it, I realised that I had my right palm on my heart, my eyes closed and for the first time ever, despite the loud energetic drumming surrounding me, deep within my heart, I felt a sense of calmness only the sound closest to the beating of human heart could bring, my heartbeat and the drums, they became one that evening.
– Aman Joshi
Aman Joshi is a drum circle facilitator with Taal Inc., a travel experience curator/facilitator, an avid traveler, cinema enthusiast, and a foodie. Read more about him Click Here