My time on the island of Kauai has been beyond amazing. The students that have come for the workshops have been a tremendous blessing. To know that there are now many new “healers” in the world bringing the vibration of peace makes my heart sing.

One of the highlights of last month was a wonderful full moon ceremony that was hosted by my dear friend and ohana brother, Danny Hashimoto. We all gathered at one of the local beaches, drums in hand, ready to honor this beautiful night.

Group Drumming

Full Moon Fire

As the darkness fell upon us, the moon began to rise through the clouds, shedding a mystical color of light all around us. After some conversation and socializing, we had a wonderful potluck meal followed by Danny’s world famous cacao mousse and other delectable treats he had concocted. Then I, along with three of the students that remained from the sound healing workshop, began to drum. Many island people brought their drums as well and began to play along. As the rhythms echoed across the beach, people began to gather around.

Suddenly, I realized that there was a woman sitting close to the drummers who needed a bit of healing. I didn’t know what it was, I just had a strong sense that the vibration of the drum would be very helpful for her. As I kept drumming, I manipulated the towel laying flat on the sand with my feet, and whispered in her ear that if she would like to be drummed on to please lie down on the towel.

Healing Vibrations of the Drum

As the woman took her position on the towel, she settled into the warm sand beneath her. She began to relax as the vibration of the group drumming flowed through her. Then I gently stepped over her, my feet approximately at her hips, facing the direction of her feet, allowing the bell of the drum to hang over her heart. I began to drum.

The healing energy began to flow more intensely through her as her body twitched and maneuvered itself to take in the wonderful energy of the drum. I drummed for three or four minutes, feeling the expansion of energy and the completeness of that session, and gently stepped away from her allowing her to rise with a large smile on her face and a beautiful open heart.

Individual Healing Sessions & the Full Moon

Healing Drum at Full Moon Fire

Before I knew it, another person had taken her spot down on the towel. So as the group drumming kept rolling, I concentrated my drumming over this person as well. What happened was individual after individual kept taking the spot on the towel and I kept drumming over them, offering powerful healing energies.

It ended up being a wonderful night of taking in the beauty of the full moon as well as doing some individual healing sessions. This was a totally spontaneous situation that erupted through the rhythm of the drum.

You never know what’s going to happen when the magic of the drum begins to dance through community. You never know what miracles will emerge from the rhythm!

This August 17-27, I will be hosting a Hawaiian adventure. This exclusive trip is for a very limited number of people who feel called to swim with Dolphins and the Sea Turtles; those who want to enjoy the sun and hike the sacred mountains of Kauai, Hawaii. We will drum at sunset and perhaps even enjoy some Hawaiian music played by yours truly!! Actually I think we can find some better music than I can offer

Please contact me if you are interested. It will be a very informal setting with several people sharing a house. Camping style sleeping arrangements although there are two bedrooms available for those who require additional privacy. It will be tons of fun in the sun and the places we will go are amazing! So shoot me an email to toby@healingdrummer.com and I’ll give you the details. Base rate is $1,000 for the 10 days and includes breakfast every day and great adventures! I look forward to hearing from you! Toby

One of my goals for 2010 is to open 3 new major territories. A couple of months ago I made my first steps towards doing that with my first workshop in Denver Colorado. With the help of Dr. Peter Bonaker, Valerie Zampino, and Carolina Woodrich I had a very successful trip and am thrilled with the response from the Denver community. We started off with an evening of drumming sponsored by Dr. Peter at his newly refurbished and amazingly beautiful Institute For Spiritual Advancement /www.ifsadenver.com.

We had a great crowd, filling the building to capacity. After a night of drumming I spent as few days doing HealingDrummer private sessions and then a multifaceted shamanic workshop investigating the Dagara cosmology and how our elemental construct effects our daily lives, the shamanic journey and of course lots of drumming.

Here is a photo of yours truly as we discuss  the benefits of being a FIRE person in the Dagara construct! Not everyone agreed with me that it is beneficial to travel 300 days a year, drink gallons of coffee a day and eat junk food. But we had a fun discussion.

We later moved into the Shamanic Journey portion of the day as I dawned the hoop drum. The shamanic Journey is one of if not the most powerful tool on ecan have to connect to great wisdom, direction and personal power. I have begun teaching it almost everywhere I go with profound results.

Last but not least a group photo of the gang who were brave enough to wander into the “other world” and claim their power. We did power animal retrievals this day so you may see some creatures lurking in the background. In addition to the non-ordinary beings we also had Smokey the cat and Sophie the shaman dog holding space in ordinary reality.

I am planning to visit Denver again soon so stay tuned!!

I was recently in Calgary Canada teaching at the World Unity Shamanic Training Institute. I had a bunch of fun with the gang and started a second round of teachings for a new group. We did a fire ceremony in the snow and offered to the Ancestors the dreams we desire to live in the coming year!!  Here I am bundled up with my “took” on (that is Canadian for stocking cap) I have been practicing my Canadian by watching Doug & Bob McKinsey videos on youtube. So far they do not seem to appreciate my efforts.

After we froze half to death, I got the gang to pose by the fire as we warmed up. This is a great bunch and I am grateful to be able to contribute to their lives. The thing that they have taught me most is when you have the courage to follow your passion, the opportunities come to nurture and support that choice and others with that same resolve find you and join you on your journey!!

Corrina Rasmussen – Founder/Dean/Shamanic Practitioner
corrina@worldunityshamanictraininginstitute.com
(403) 617-9956
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Loving a Drum

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Today at 10:23am

I got my first hand drum about five years ago. I was absolutely helpless to resist its lure and so this oversize piece of African art followed me home from a conference. Once it took its place of honor in my home, I studied it intently but never played it – something I laugh at now.The deep carving around the stem depicts what seem to be okapis, but could just as easily be almost any African antelope. It is hand-carved from a single piece of wood by some anonymous African craftsman. The skin is made from the back of a goat and smells of the business end of one – despite my best efforts. It is marbled in browns and greys and it carries the line of the spine, which in tribal lore signifies that the animal was a willing sacrifice. I have since added a hennaed phoenix design to the skin as well. I did not expect that bringing this piece of Africa into my home would reignite my own passion to travel there. I would catch myself looking at it and inventing the story of the carver, the goat, the village and the people who crafted it.

It would be almost a year before I did more than pet this drum and I can still remember vividly the angst of playing it for the first time (mostly because that still exists). But a strong bond developed between that drum and me such that I came to love this instrument in its own right. My ‘playing’ is still fairly spotty and I play less these days than I did a while back. Definitely less than I should. And let’s just say that I will probably never make a living as a professional drummer. But there is a joy in beating on it long past the place where my hands throb. There is a freedom in not caring if I mess up, in letting my hands find weird new rhythms known only to them, in letting my spirit soar out with the wild booming.

According to the West African culture where the drum was made, the drum is one way that a person speaks to the Creator. The skin of the drum is the ear of God, the stem and bowl of the drum the birth canal and womb of the Mother. By playing we give our fear, anxiety, stress and hatred to them. Thru the drum these things are transformed and re-birthed into the world as love, joy, and healing. I have certainly found that to be so.

My collection of drums had grown to four – possibly due to my association with Toby Christensen and the steady influx of really beautiful drums from Ghana and the Ivory Coast. I gifted two of those so that someone I loved could have a way to transform his sadness, so that his son could find love in a life that contained so little. So these days I am down to just two and that feels right for me. One for me and one for you to come over and join me in a really bad ass jam session….or just a bad one. With the drum it doesn’t really matter. Guaranteed to make you laugh!

Curious? Get on over to Suzanne Singh’s (merlin@healing drummer.com) and get yourself a drum. Or maybe take in the drum circle with Toby himself at the Zen center in Hamilton! on Tues (info from Suz as well). It may just change your life.

Feel free to repost this note.

C’mon and drum

I had a great time in Virginia this trip and thanks to my great friend and host Kathy Sampeck I was able to visit one of my favorite metaphysical bookstores in the country, Sacred Circle Book Store. the owners have been so supportive and they always bring in a great crowd.

This trip I facilitated an Elemental Healing Circle! Change your rhythm, change your life! This is a powerful community drumming experience that brings to the surface, the drummer that resides deep within each of us. Part of the process involves each person in the circle the opportunity to drum healing energy for each of the participants and to be drummed by the entire circle. It is a powerful life transforming experience. Here is a clip from that night. Enjoy!

Here is Toby facilitating a drum circle in Park City Utah

Join the fun and join a local drum circle.