A lot of people ask me what Rhythm has to do whit Wellness/Personal Development. Well, let me try to explain a little. Before I do so, I want to say that there have been many studies and research programmes carried out on the effects of rhythm/drumming over the years, and I will include a link to some of them at the end of this blog.
When you think about it, it's not "rocket science" that Rhythm can play a role in our personal wellness and development, after all Rhythm is a constant component of living our lives. Just think of all the many ways we use Rhythm each day to carry out our work and daily activities for instance. Could you drive your car without the aid of Rhythm? type an email? operate a machine? direct traffic? teach maths? hammer a nail? ride a horse? play a sport? I could go on and on. We need a sense of rhythm to do almost everything we do in life, so it goes without saying that the greater our "sense" of rhythm is, the better we will execute these undertakings. Don't think of Rhythm as only a Musical component....it is a universal component used to "Organise". That's what rhythm does, it creates order from chaos. Everything we do in life needs to be done in a certain order for it to make sense, and also at a certain tempo (speed) and with a certain balance of movement.....Rhythm controls and regulates all of these components in order to achieve the desired outcome. People who are good at certain sports, or thrive in any area of work or performance endeavour, tend to have a superior sense of Rhythm. This is not to say they are good "drummers", no not necessarily, however they tend to have an inbuilt "organisational" element that guides them through the various stages of what ever their task might be. This is Rhythm. Improving our Rhythmical awareness and/or abilities will improve our ability to carry out any task with greater balance, flow, clarity and accuracy.
Remember also the we are human biological Rhythmical machines. This means that all our biological components are linked Rhythmically. There is a flow, balance and tempo to all our inner workings, and they are all linked to synchronize and entrain in perfect Rhythm. Our breathing, heartbeat, blood flow, digestion system are all organised to work to a flowing Rhythm that keeps everything in order. When something is out of order, or Rhythm, we get ill. Partaking in a Rhythmical activity such as drumming, aligns all of these factors, and helps them communicate and synchronise.
Drumming together as a group also lifts our spirits and empowers us. It's an energy we get from being wrapped in a Rhythmical blanket of vibrational sound and frequencies. When we all entrain (synchronize) while drumming, a wonderful relaxing feeling of togetherness and support emerges, and we feel an empowering sensation take over our body as our brains release "happy" and therapeutic endorphins, and send them to every receptive part of our bodies. It's an amazing feeling that's created simply by synchronizing Rhythmically with other people.
Drumming/Rhythm can and does effect our wellbeing and our development...make no mistake about it. Here are some links to research papers for you to read and digest.
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2006/may31/brainwave-053106.html
http://getrhythmprograms.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Rhythm-of-the-Saints.pdf
http://remo.com/experience/post/impact-on-the-immune-system-study/
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