Everyone owns a drum.
It lives in our hearts. Our natural drum beats faster when we’re active, excited, or stressed. It skips beats when we are afraid. And, it slows when we’re calm. 

Every culture has a drum.
Drums have echoed the rhythm of the heartbeat for millennia. The world’s oldest musical instruments, drums date back to Neolithic times, about 5500 BC. 

And everyone has felt annoyed at the sound of a child playing a drum with reckless abandonment.
Just for a moment, imagine what that child gains – and what you can gain – from the wild expression of emotion. There’s an intensely focused stress release. And, there’s a visceral transformation of negative energy via a cathartic “YAAAAAAAAAAA”.
Aside from pure joy and creativity, drumming provides a framework for personal development. Beyond that, it offers a host of physical and psychological benefits for your health and well-being. 

What can drumming do for you?

You use physical energy to play drums.

• It’s a workout for your cardiovascular system and lowers blood pressure. Intense drumming gives you as much exercise as hiking, swimming, skiing and rowing. 
• It helps to develop and improve motor coordination, which makes a difference in the mental ability to multitask and physical ability to play sports or walk with balance. 
• Learning this new skill challenges the mind to stay alert and improves concentration. 
• Drumming burns calories!

Drumming is a painkiller.

• It increases endorphins, raising the pain threshold, and the body’s natural morphine-like painkillers (endogenous opiates). 
• Drumming exercises body joints and muscles – benefiting people who suffer from arthritis. 
• It distracts you from chronic pain.

Drumming improves the immune system’s ability to fight disease! 

• Natural T-cells – specialized white cells within the immune system that seek out and fight cancer cells and virally infected cells – increase with drumming. 
• Drumming increases lymphokine-activated killer cells, which target tumour cells. 
• Drumming counters the body’s classic stress response by affecting cortisol activity. In one study, blood samples taken from volunteers after an hour of drumming showed a reversal in stress hormone levels. 

“The act of drumming contains a therapeutic potential to relax the tense, energize the tired, and soothe the emotionally wounded.”
– Gary Diggins, Psychology Today

Confidence, self-belief, and emotional awareness blossom with drumming. 

• Drumming allows people to process trauma with greater ease.
• Through mindful drumming, people can express difficult emotions.
• It eases depression and anxiety through the creative, non-judgmental expression of emotions.

And, amazing things happen in the brain.

• Drumming releases endorphins – “feel good” neurochemicals that boost positive emotions.
• It stimulates brain activity that’s involved in problem-solving.
• Drumming coordinates multiple brain activities that aid memory, music perception, and sensory motor function.
• It synchronizes the left and right hemispheres of your brain, improving your inner guidance system and intuition.
• Drumming generates new neural connections in all parts of the brain, integrating our experiences and creating a greater sense of self-awareness.  
• It alters brainwave patterns from active “beta” to relaxing, calming meditative “alpha” states.

Drumming “tunes our biology, orchestrates our immunity, and enables healing to begin.”
– Barry Bittman, neurologist

Drumming quiets “monkey mind”

Drumming has served as an important part of Eastern meditative practices for over 2,500 years. It demands your attention, because you must live in the present moment to drum. 

That focus or mindfulness quiets our distracting “monkey mind”. It helps to widen our perspective by allowing the body to be at ease with our present thoughts, feelings and sensations.  

The Greek origin of “rhythm” means “to flow”. Drumming helps us to flow through the rhythms of life. It is a path to healing. It guides us to experience the flow of thoughts and emotions, leading us to learn more about the soul. 

Drumming creates connection

Playing a drum within a group or “circle” feeds your creativity. And, it increases your sense of connection to yourself and others. You learn how to work in harmony for harmony! 

And there’s more!

Scientific studies have linked drumming to a number of healthy benefits in people with cancer, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, autism, PTSD, anger management issues, addictions, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and Parkinson’s disease.  

Where can I find a drum circle?

There’s probably a drum circle in your community. All you need to do is find it. In suburban Montreal, the West Island Drum Circle has met for more than 20 years. It currently meets on the second Sunday of every month at a local Beaconsfield church. 

For cancer patients, the West Island Cancer Wellness Centre is gathering the resources to host a drum circle in the near future. Contact them for information at www.wicwc.org. 

If you work for a large corporation, encourage the powers-that-be to hold interactive team-building programs from local percussionists, music therapists, or companies like Drum Café. 

Ask around in your community. If you can’t find a drum circle, start one. Simple hand or frame drums are available at local music shops or on Amazon for about $40 and more. 

If you would like more information about drumming, contact me at heather@sweetsounds.ca.