Dreaming is something we all do. Dreams form as we sleep or as we sit and think of the direction we would like our lives to go. Some seem to believe that a dream is only a sort of wishful thinking that in one’s real life can never be achieved. Truth be known, we have everything in our modern day lives because someone dreamed it up and made it happen.
The path of the drum has been with me for many years now and I cannot imagine not having a drum in my life.
In the past few months I have been blessed with something more from my path with the drum. I was allowed to meet two different people and attend two very different type of drumming experiences. When I first met Jim Donovan, of the group Rusted Root, I was excited to be a part of one of his classes. I was extremely nervous because I would be in the presence of what I considered one of the most incredible hand drummers I had ever heard. I will admit when I signed up for his sound empowerment class I was not sure what to expect. I did have some preconceived conceptions on the class. I felt that when I got there it was going to be one of those commercialized classes that would have very little to do with us as a group but more to the tune of “I am here to make some money and just get this over with.” I was so far off base on this preconception that I felt bad that I could have let myself prejudge something or even someone before I gave it all a fair chance. As I walked up to Jim and introduced myself I got something I was not prepared for . He greeted me as if we had known each other for years and gave off an incredible energy and warmth. Right then and there I knew that Jim carried the energy of the drum deep within himself and he loved to share that energy with others. Jim truly cared that everyone was allowed to find the drum in a manner that made you totally comfortable. I went to his class in hopes of improving my drum skills. I left the class with life skills that improved my whole inner being.
Then I met Stephen Cavitt. He was someone I had never heard of until I met a friend of a friend that plays hand pans (or some know them as Hangs.) Her name is Robin and is extraordinary on the hand pans and also with a drum. We conversed via internet about getting together and during these conversations, we began to know one another. She also loves to share her knowledge of the hand pan and was willing to let me play them. The weekend we were going to meet there was a friend of hers that did shamanic drumming who was doing a spiritual drum circle that weekend and we all went. Meeting Stephen was also like when I first met Jim. His energy was phenomenal. The one difference was I had no preconceived notion about Stephen because I had never heard of him before nor had I ever heard him play. The other difference was I have used the drum for shamanic purposes more than I have ever played with groups of people.
You may be wondering how this has anything to do with dreaming. Being able to learn from someone like Jim was, for me, a dream come true. Not only did it become reality it went beyond anything I expected or could have dreamed up. With Stephen I really had no dreams or expectation as to what may or may not come from a drumming experience with him. I experienced, as I sat under his guidance, how powerful the drum can affect one’s whole inner being, both the positive and the negative side of its power. I also learned it takes both of these energies to balance us out in life, just as it takes the dreams in life to balance us to the realities of life. To be able to be gifted the experience that these two people have brought into my life not only allowed me to define more so the direction of my dream of a cleaner, kinder, loving, and peaceful world through the spirit of the drum.
The path of the drum has been with me for many years now and I cannot imagine not having a drum in my life.
In the past few months I have been blessed with something more from my path with the drum. I was allowed to meet two different people and attend two very different type of drumming experiences. When I first met Jim Donovan, of the group Rusted Root, I was excited to be a part of one of his classes. I was extremely nervous because I would be in the presence of what I considered one of the most incredible hand drummers I had ever heard. I will admit when I signed up for his sound empowerment class I was not sure what to expect. I did have some preconceived conceptions on the class. I felt that when I got there it was going to be one of those commercialized classes that would have very little to do with us as a group but more to the tune of “I am here to make some money and just get this over with.” I was so far off base on this preconception that I felt bad that I could have let myself prejudge something or even someone before I gave it all a fair chance. As I walked up to Jim and introduced myself I got something I was not prepared for . He greeted me as if we had known each other for years and gave off an incredible energy and warmth. Right then and there I knew that Jim carried the energy of the drum deep within himself and he loved to share that energy with others. Jim truly cared that everyone was allowed to find the drum in a manner that made you totally comfortable. I went to his class in hopes of improving my drum skills. I left the class with life skills that improved my whole inner being.
Then I met Stephen Cavitt. He was someone I had never heard of until I met a friend of a friend that plays hand pans (or some know them as Hangs.) Her name is Robin and is extraordinary on the hand pans and also with a drum. We conversed via internet about getting together and during these conversations, we began to know one another. She also loves to share her knowledge of the hand pan and was willing to let me play them. The weekend we were going to meet there was a friend of hers that did shamanic drumming who was doing a spiritual drum circle that weekend and we all went. Meeting Stephen was also like when I first met Jim. His energy was phenomenal. The one difference was I had no preconceived notion about Stephen because I had never heard of him before nor had I ever heard him play. The other difference was I have used the drum for shamanic purposes more than I have ever played with groups of people.
You may be wondering how this has anything to do with dreaming. Being able to learn from someone like Jim was, for me, a dream come true. Not only did it become reality it went beyond anything I expected or could have dreamed up. With Stephen I really had no dreams or expectation as to what may or may not come from a drumming experience with him. I experienced, as I sat under his guidance, how powerful the drum can affect one’s whole inner being, both the positive and the negative side of its power. I also learned it takes both of these energies to balance us out in life, just as it takes the dreams in life to balance us to the realities of life. To be able to be gifted the experience that these two people have brought into my life not only allowed me to define more so the direction of my dream of a cleaner, kinder, loving, and peaceful world through the spirit of the drum.
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