themkdrumcenterisdedicatedtobringingpeopletogetherby（21页）.docVIP

Drumming and Healing: Exploring the connections between multiple simultaneous rhythms, brainwave states, and expanded consciousness Introduction Music, rhythm, singing, chanting, drumming and dance have been used to enhance mood, induce non-ordinary states of consciousness, draw people together in communities, and create healing since any of these expressions were created. Drumming in particular has been used to powerfully and viscerally move the body and its energies, change consciousness, and provide a means for the shaman to travel to the spirit. With the technologies available in the 21st century and current learnings about the structure, function and energies of the brain and its connection to mind, there is a great opportunity to study the relationships between rhythm and consciousness. More particularly, this paper will explore the connections between expressing and receiving multiple simultaneous rhythms, resulting brainwave states, and expanded consciousness. I will study how the electrical activity at the outer surface of the brain, as measured by electroencepholagraph (EEG) device, is related to both the playing of, and listening to, drum rhythms. In particular I am interested in how brainwave states are created by playing and hearing West African drum ensemble music, an area of my expertise. I propose that there is a signature pattern of brainwave activity that reflects a particular consciousness, and that this consciousness and its signature is related to expanded states encountered in meditation and in healing. Based on my personal experience I will relate what I believe is happening when one drums multiple simultaneous rhythms, and why this phenomenon is related to a dynamic relaxation and certain elements of the healing state. Background and Personal Experience I have been drawn to rhythm for almost as long as I have been forming memories in my life. The first visceral experience with rhythm I can remember came when I began adding a