Mindful Drumming

Connecting to the Inner Drum, the Heart Beat of Humanity

By Kokomon Clottey

No one really knows how long the concepts of the inner drum have been around. However, physical anthropologists suggest that there were footprints of the dinosaurs that roamed the earth 100 million years before humans appeared on the scene. When did the life of the dinosaurs begin and how long did they roam the earth?

Although the data on the dinosaurs does not truly give an accurate age of the inner drum, it offers a platform for imagination and inquiry. The footprints of the dinosaurs are recorded on the rocks at Dinosaur Ridge in Bolder, Colorado. The dinosaurs had an inner drum. That is the Heart.

The rationale and wisdom for humans to be blessed with an inner drum as our ancestral cousins (the dinosaurs), after 100 million years, is telling. One can only be grateful because this is our original blessing among other gifts, such as breath bestowed upon us by father, mother, God. We are born with it and carry it while it silently and slowly beats every second and every day until we die when it comes to a stop.

The inner drum is in all of us  — rich or poor, black or white, red or brown. We carry our inner drum wherever we go, without protest. When we are happy, it’s the inner drum that resonates and sends out a message of joy to all the different systems of the body. And it is equally true that when we are afraid, our inner drum communicates the message. However, this time the message comes with a sense of urgency. When our inner drum goes, so does the body it supports with the lifeblood of humanity.

Perhaps the inner drum explains why the emergence of drums is in every culture in the world.

Drumming is an ancient indigenous technology that uses the twin realities of rhythm and sound to bring about an alignment of body, mind and spirit. Drumming is a transformative learning process that offers individuals opportunities to experience divinity through rhythm and sound.  In a primal way we may never fully understand, drumming brings us into harmony with one another, our community, and our planet.

As humans, our biological make-up is rhythm and wind.  Talking is rhythmic. We walk in four-four time. We breathe in and breathe out. Everything about being human is rhythmic. Spirituality is a rhythmic experience. The great drummer, Babatunde Olatunji, said whenever we are in trouble we are out of rhythm. Rhythmic drumming offers a natural medium for restoring the soul.

Mindful Drumming is a very specific form of drumming. It is the art of synchronistic drumming. The practice of mindful drumming can be actualized only through a communal experience. This means the process requires three or more people to be immersed into the experience.

Mindful drumming is an expedient way of tapping into one’s natural rhythm. 

Mindful drumming assists in building community.  Issues can be addressed in a communal manner through Mindful drumming. Mindful drumming ushers us into the present moment and gives us access to our joy and happiness. Mindful drumming demonstrates how when we are healed, we are never healed alone. Mindful drumming can be a tool to increase one’s inner peace while simultaneously letting go of fear. Mindful drumming opens the door for one to be a love finder rather than fault-finder. Mindful drumming reminds us that the essence of our being is love.  

The timeless wisdom of indigenous people is readily available to us through the eternal resources of rhythm and sound. If we listen to their knowing and put their wisdom into practice through Mindful drumming meditation, it is inevitable that we will unleash the tremendous power of our human spirit.

Mindful Drumming is a fusion of the rhythms, sounds, and spiritual codes, and conducts from my culture, the Ga Adagbe Tribe of Ghana West Africa, as well as modern technologies, rhythms and sounds taken from thirty years of professional musical performance and my western education.

The Attitudinal Healing Connection, Inc. (AHC) holds a Mindful Drumming Meditation for personal healing and community building on the last Friday of each month. This experiential meditation is open to the public and offers an opportunity for diverse individuals to commune through the drum. There is no talking, only drumming. Drums are available on a first come, first serve basis. For more information, visit: www.ahc-oakland.org