heartbeat of the drum

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The Heartbeat
of the Drum

by Michael Arthur Baird

Know you have rhythm . . .
your very existence is a rhythm.
Awaken to your presence
and hear the song of everything around you.

Drumming, sound, music, harmony, experiencing feelings, stepping into the flow. . . this describes my life today, yet it didn’t before I regained the awareness of the sounds and rhythms of drumming.

Although they are no longer heeded, I still hear the yesterday voices from my youth . . .demands from my parents faded by time, yet forever offering control. I still hear my parents’ insistence that sound should be silenced, "children should be seen and not heard". They didn’t remember what they once knew, sound is our participation in life’s symphony, music playing all around and in us. They knew only their stress and demands of supporting five children; our sounds escalated their stress. "Don’t drum, don’t sing, sit still, why don’t you children be still?"
There were many words from my parents, teachers and other adults that shackled my enthusiasm, quieted my movement and silenced my sound.

Several years ago, on a sunny spring day I quietly followed and watched as two 14 month old children explored their world. They laughed, giggled, touched everything
and even cried. I saw two people living in enthusiasm,
experiencing their feelings, two people affecting and
being affected by everything in their environment.
Most of all I heard, all their many sounds . . . un-silenced,
freely expressing their joy. I was the silenced and quiet observer, separated from the awareness of living by the restrictions of my long gone caregivers; restrictions that
I still maintained. Standing there watching the joy and life of those two children, I saw my choices, remembered my enthusiasm and the joy of being in this world. Then I dried my few tears, squared my chin, disconnected from their joy and stepped back into a cold state of detached separation. Being the good parent, silently monitoring their safety;
I stood by watching as my own memories faded and my shackles regained their hold.

Years later I bought a drum for a friend’s birthday,
which was several weeks away. This instrument of "noise", banned by my mother decades earlier, sat silent in my home. For many days I walked past it and even picked it up a few times, yet never played it. Then one lonely night, home by myself, I picked up that instrument and very slowly began to explore the sounds it and I could make. I released the expectations of what the sound should be, and abandoned
fear of disapproval. I, like those children, just explored.
I imagined that I was a child; a child feeling sound flowing from my interactions with the drum. Enthusiasm, joy and even sadness flowed from me through that beautiful drum. We sang, we danced and I cried tears of reunion with what I had silenced years before, and what I had stilled to be
good in the eyes of others.

That night I remembered . . .
then my shackles crumbled from sound and joy.

Everything in your world is a drum, an instrument that
emits a sound with each stroke of your hands.

Imagine yourself as a young child discovering the world.

Remember your enthusiasm as you touch and hear each responding sound.

Remember your joy as you interact with the world around you. Hear the song, conducted by your heart, rise from the silence.

Remember the child laughing and know this is you.

Celebrate your presence with sound.

Feel your heart beat with each stroke of the drum.

Know you have rhythm . . . your very existence is a rhythm. Awaken to your presence and hear the song
of everything around you.

Michael is a retreat facilitator, middle eastern drummer, and also teaches and practices complementary healing methods. Michael will be facilitating drumming workshops at our retreats.
See our class listings for details.

Michael can be reached via email

copyright all rights reserved 2000 Michael Baird

719-836-9385 or 800-359-3424

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International Center for Reiki Training, Inc.