Articles

Drumming for the body, mind and spirit
by Lee Ann Waterman
The Orangeville Banner
Friday, April 21, 2006

Take, for example, the way we speak -- with pauses and emphasis on different syllables. In a nod to the season, she has the men and women beat out "Let¹s enjoy the garden."

Soon half the group is drumming this phrase, while the other members are harmonizing with "Welcome spring."

"Rhythm is the first thing we hear -- our mothers¹ heartbeat in the womb," says Kessler. "It¹s very primal. Everyone can relate to it."

Kessler, owner of Diana¹s Drum, had been practicing and teaching hand drumming for nearly 20 years when she received a call from a long-term care facility in Hanover to instruct some clients in therapeutic drumming.

It was a new term and a new challenge for Kessler -- one that she has since become a champion of.

Research and experience has shown drumming to have spiritual, mental and physical benefits.

Kessler has dozens of stories about how therapeutic drumming has helped her clients -- from the man who had been unresponsive for years who began singing along with a drum to the man with schizophrenia who found the concentration to participate in a weekly session, to the woman severely crippled by arthritis who, after a session of drumming, was able to stretch her hand.

"It touches people on a primal level and draws something out of them," says Kessler. "It touches your mind, body and spirit. That¹s why I think it works." Kessler says working with older people --her oldest client was 103 -- has given her much hope and satisfaction.

"They have taught me so much. They¹ve taught me about playfulness. They¹ve taught me about potential. They¹ve taught me about possibilities."

Ann Bogue of the Alzheimer Society of Dufferin has invited Kessler to pass on some of her knowledge, in the hopes of making therapeutic drumming available to people in the community. "This is something concrete that health care professionals can use right away and see the effects," says Bogue. "I'd like to see it (therapeutic drumming) happening here on a regular basis."

The Alzheimer Society has organized an event where local caregivers and health care professionals can make and take home a sonotubano drum, and learn the techniques of drum circle facilitation.

The day-long event, scheduled for May 3 at Monora Park, will also include a presentation of the research-based drama on living with dementia, I¹m Still Here; Dr. Geoff Daniel speaking on current treatments of Alzheimer¹s disease; and Susan Stewart speaking on the benefits of meditation on preventing the disease. For more information about the event, contact the Alzheimer Society at 941-1221.

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