Many of you know that I have done extensive training with Malidoma Somé and in my work with him have learned a lot about creating a space of fun and welcoming for the ancestors. When we do ritual, it’s usually in a very festive atmosphere. Good beverages, oftentimes a cigar, and always drumming!

I recently read an interview with Malidoma where he talks about spirituality and seriousness. Here is a small excerpt from the interview that I thought was very interesting, and definitely worth putting some thought into. Needless to say, these words of wisdom from Malidoma can come in handy in each of our lives!

Playful Spirits

Interviewer: Some people make an assumption, often unconsciously, that any spiritual practice worthwhile needs to be serious and somber. Can you speak to the role of play and fun and spontaneity in ritual work?

Malidoma: You must understand that the other world doesn’t know anything about seriousness. The issue at hand is that anytime I’ve had an encounter with the other world, and I mean that literally—we have little people in my culture that we call Kontomblé—every time you meet them, they’re playing around. They look like irresponsible people jumping around, finding you rather funny looking and serious. So it has led me to wonder: where do we inherit this solemn attitude, in fact, associated with the word “serious?” I tried to understand it by way of trying to find out whether there is an equivalent in Dagara of the word “serious”—there is none. There’s no word for “serious!” The closest word to it is literally translated as “red eye!” It’s funny! But this is as serious as it gets! Because “red eye” means you can’t close your eye, you’ve gotta keep it open, because you might miss out on something! So there is a direct connection between ritual and fun and also play. Where does it come from? We can see it in children whose world is all about play and the choreography of it. Why do we grow up and find this rather childish, as if childish is less important than solemn and serious? I really would try to do be more playful just to see whether in fact there is a greater chance of success than this seriousness.

The bottom line is the further away from the sacred a culture grows, the more serious and solemn they become. That simply suggests that the closer a community or a people get to the sacred, the more access to joy, playfulness, and a lot of laughter! So it’s up to us to choose. Modern culture seems to understand that. Even the corporate world understands that. That’s why they have such a time as “Happy Hour!” Every time, everyday between four and five is a happy hour where the drinks are cheaper, but it’s only between four and five. After that everybody’s back to seriousness—I’ve got a problem with that! The playfulness associated with work has been shrunk so much down to an artificial happy hour that you cannot even be playful or come close to happiness without the help of a couple of glasses of heavy duty liquors! That means the genies of laughter and happiness are becoming really thin, and we’re approaching the idea of laughter and joy from a serious deficit and that’s why we need the substitute of liquor in order to make that happen.

That being said, the fundamental piece is for us to look at ourselves from the perspective of the amount of joy that we’re willing to bring into our lives—how much of that is in there—and to raise the question that puts a balance between what we are able to achieve and the amount of joy that accompanies the initiative towards that achievement. Are our failures due to a rather pathologically seriousness given to life? Or are the things we fail to achieve associated with a deficit in joy due to too many repressions and repressed things within us that are blocking the channel of joy? These are pertinent questions that we should ask ourselves. We just can’t make a laconic statement saying, “Well there’s not enough joy; there’s not enough laughter; there’s not enough playfulness!” We have to associate that with our productivity, with our capacity to muster healing and transformation in our culture and see whether it is not the reason why we have an industry called “entertainment.” In other words, in order for you to laugh, somebody must be over there making a fool of himself so that you can giggle a couple of times! The point is that it’s revelatory of a deep apology that is keeping us away from each other, keeping us away from the healing power of joy and laughter. Anyway, I don’t want to be too serious about it! (laughs)

The Benefits of Random Laughter

Interviewer: Malidoma, as we come to the conclusion of our interview, is there anything you would like to share about what’s bringing you joy or passion or excitement currently in your work with spirit and with your teachings?

Malidoma: What I do brings me a deep sense of peace inside. The core of what I understand as joy is a deep inner peace, the kind that is really hard to put in words. It has less to do with random laughter and superficial socialization; it has to do with a deep sense of joy experienced whenever change in the right direction is seen in a person in whose life I have intervened. The truth is I derive tremendous pleasure in it, and I think that this is something that everybody should be entitled to. This is radically different from entertainment—I’m not entertained by that, I’m overjoyed by it! At the same time, I can sense the pull to grief and I take that as a sign that my heart is not closed, and that I derive joy! It is the contribution to the sense of peace, which for me is authentic.

I stay in this work, regardless of its turmoil and the fact that, as I said in the beginning of this session—that I hear more bad news than good news—but I stay in it simply because one healing at a time is proportional to a massive influx of joy and peace inside of me. This is something that I see being needed by most everybody in this field who end up taking what they’re doing too seriously and as such become a prisoner of very bad weather that they’ve chosen to lock themselves into. People say my lectures are too funny; that whenever I start teaching something, every minute I’ve got to add a little joke in it—I can’t help it! Just don’t take things too seriously! It is true we’re all in pain, but sometimes you laugh at pain, and pain gets panicked! You start looking at pain with the strange eye of the clown and the pain says, “Usually this is not how these people behave!” And then the pain wants to go somewhere else!

It is important to realize the healing aspect of this whole thing. For me, after gauntlets of 15 years in this work, I realize the best healing for me is humor, to stay within the field of humor. I think this is something that people should entertain. Let’s get together and crack ourselves up with all kinds of things, because in the end, it is this inexplicable sound coming out of our throat chakras that sends a message to all—that which wants us to look so weighed down by the bad news, that it can then enjoy watching us. The minute we’re cracking up in front of it, then we start creating tremendous discomfort in it. And that’s a show of our capacity to heal each other, as opposed to waiting for some kind of salvation agent to come down with a basket full of it to toss around—that doesn’t work. Or if it works, only a few benefit from it and the rest are left even hungrier than before. So for me this is what I’ve ended up embracing because my own salvation, my own well-being rests on that. And I hope it can expand sufficiently to affect as many people as possible. Contagious laughter is healthy!

Thank you, Malidoma, for your words of wisdom!

I’ve recently released a new album called Tribal Medicine. This CD features healing rhythms that are intended to restore listeners’ hearts and souls as the sensations of the healing drum infuses the body.

Tribal Medicine offers inspiration through tribal connections. I’ve been told over and over again that while experiencing the album, a sensation of being present at an ancient indigenous ceremony often comes over listeners. It’s a powerful experience to feel the wisdom of African, Native American, and Eastern shamanic healing traditions through healing rhythms!

African Djembe Drums

Each track on Tribal Medicine supports a particular energy and offers different rhythms and sounds that, collectively, make the album a powerful healing experience. Let me tell you about my intentions with the opening track of the album, “Call of the Ancestors.” In the Dagara cosmology that my work is based on, the ancestors are those who have come before us, whose blood runs through our veins. Because we are part of them, they have a vested interest in our well-being. So they are the ones that we call to when we need help.

The chanting in “Call of the Ancestors” brings to mind a person in great need calling upon the ancestors in a language that is beyond words. It is a language of emotion and raw spiritual energy, calling for the ancestors’ help and guidance in life. The voices overlaid on the track are from different cultures: African, South American, and Native American voices all calling to their ancestors for healing of their minds, bodies, and spirits, as well as the world!

Listen to a sample of “Call of the Ancestors.”

Call of the Ancestors

Tribal Medicine features me, Healing Drummer Toby Christensen, on djembe drum and percussion, and the talented Rebecca Holt on vocal toning. Skilled artist Carolina Woodrich shared her stunning original artwork for the album!

To purchase a copy of this healing rhythms CD, please visit my shop. I invite you to engage your body, mind, and soul with the powerful rhythms of Tribal Medicine. Enjoy!

Mineral is about communication; it’s about the stories that we live, that we think about, and that we speak about. Mineral is about connecting to your life’s purpose and communicating that purpose in the world.

This mineral ritual is powerful. Not only have I used it several times, but I’ve witnessed its efficacy in others. This ritual is profoundly simple and can change your life in a very short period of time. The purpose or intention of the ritual is to change the stories of your life that are not helpful, and to activate the stories that you would like to be living in present time.

A line in “Who Says,” the great song by John Mayer, goes like this:

Who says I can’t be free from all of the things that I used to be?

Rewrite my history.

Who says I can’t be free?

I love this line because it speaks a deep truth about how we can change the way we live our lives today and the things that we draw to ourselves. To be free of the things that we used to be requires the release of old stories. Once these old stories are released, it makes room for the creation of a new history! This can be profoundly healing and freeing.

Ritual to Rewrite Your History

So here’s the ritual. First, you need to find a rock. Any old rock will do—you do not have to go to the metaphysical bookstore and buy an expensive crystal. The Dagara people of Burkina Faso say that the stones are the beings that hold the stories of all humanity. We want to pick a stone that is going to hold the stories that we are ready to get rid of. Sit with the stone for a day or two, and go within yourself while thinking about the stories you hold onto and about the past that no longer serves you.

When the time is right, sit down with your stone and speak into it all of the stories that you are ready to release. Here’s the catch: when you release a story and give it to a stone, you can never speak the story again. So make sure that you’re really ready to get rid of that story. As you speak the stories into the stone, allow the energy of that story—whether trauma, drama, or any unhelpful feeling—to drain from you.

Once you have sufficiently released the story, go bury the rock in the earth and thank it for holding the stories you do not have to hold onto any longer. Now you can get some paper and began to rewrite your history. This can be very fun because you get to create whatever story you would like to about your past. As we undo the negative programming of the past and replace it with new information, the way that we live today changes.

In the song “Rock Star” by Nickelback, there are a couple of lines that hit home with some things I’ve heard from others and, quite frankly, some things I feel from time to time. The song is about a guy who wants to change his life but feels it’s too late, so he’s asking for help. The lines that stand out go like this:

…It’s like the bottom of the ninth

and I’m never gonna win

This life hasn’t turned out

Quite the way I want it to be…

So, the questions I ask myself and that I pose to you are: Do these lines relate to you? Do you feel like it’s the bottom of the ninth and you’re never gonna win? Has life turned out the way you want it to be?

The good news is that no matter what your life’s circumstance there are some very real and very transformative things you can do to change your life. One of the aspects of the West African culture that I’ve found to be the most powerful is ritual. I’m going to discuss several different rituals you can do to help realize your dreams and your intentions. The rituals will be in alignment with the 5-Element Cosmology that I’ve found to be profoundly life changing.

Rebalancing and Reconciling Our Lives

Water is the element we call upon for healing of the areas of our life that are preventing us from coming into alignment with our intentions. This is also the element we call upon for reconciliation; when we need to reconcile all the aspects of our life that are not in balance.

Water is also called upon when we need flow in the parts of our loves that seem stuck or unmoving, and we want them to flow smoothly and—as I like to say—“effortlessly and delightfully” towards our intended destination.

Water nurtures and feeds the earth, creating powerful growth and feeding the planted seeds, which grow into great crops of prosperity. We ask that the power of water feeds us so that the seeds we have planted will be richly fortified, and grow quickly and powerfully.

Transformative Water Ritual

The first step of this ritual is to find a flowing body of water—this could be a river, a stream, the ocean, etc. No matter what body of water you find, make sure the water is moving. I have found that a larger sized river is the best.

Next, go to the river with a pint of milk and—if you can—find Indian corn. Indian corn is the best, but if you can’t find it any kernels of corn in any form will do. Offer the milk to the water, as milk is nourishment. Then walk along the water tossing the kernels of corn into the water. As you do so, ask the water spirit to feed the seeds that have been planted so they can grow into healthy, vibrant crops of good health, overall prosperity, and well-being.

After you have performed this ritual, give thanks to the water, to the corn, to the milk, and, most importantly, to the ancestors. For the Dagara nothing happens without the blessing of the ancestors. Thank any and all members of your family that have come before you and now reside in the spirit world. These are your ancestors.

I will discuss more about the ancestors. For now do this ritual and thank both the elements and the ancestors. Stay focused and attentive to what you would like to produce in your life and take action towards that end. Watch things change!

Let me know of your stories of healing and transformation!

The story I am about to convey is a story I never dreamed would actually happen, although I have asked for the Ancestors to make it so for many years. There is a man that I met in early recovery, 1992 to be exact, who through his wisdom, kindness, and understanding saved my life. He showed me how to find my place in the world and how to see things from a completely different perspective. Although his skin is a different color than mine, he refers to me as his brother. I had the pleasure to visit his village in West Africa and meet his mother and father. I was named “The African stuck in the white skin” by his elders and participated in many rituals and ceremonies with his tribe.

I will be forever grateful for Malidoma Some’. As students with their teachers and family members often do, Malidoma and I fell out of communication. I longed for him often, and remembered the gifts he had given me: the very gift that I bring to the world. You see, Malidoma is the one who introduced me to the Djembe, the Healing Drum.

So here is what happened. I was on my way to Hawaii last month and had a layover in San Francisco. A friend of mine was having a reading with Malidoma that day. It is an interesting “coincidence” that although he lives in Florida and I live in Utah, we were both in San Francisco on the same day. I agreed to meet my friend at the hotel where they were meeting Malidoma, never imagining it would be possible to see my long lost friend. It was a very odd feeling to know that we would be in such close proximity. Well, without boring you with the details, while on the way to meet up with my friend, my phone rang.

“Room 117,” said my friend.
“What?” I replied.
“Come to room 117. Malidoma wants to see you!”

At that moment, the capacity of my heart could not contain the joy flowing in and my eyes began to pour with tears of joy. As I entered the hotel, my heart was racing. As I approached the door I realized that only a few inches away was the fulfillment of a dream. Malidoma opened the door and we fell into each others arms, greeting one another as though time had never passed.

My heart sings with joy for the reconnection with my soul brother. Here is a video that sums up what I have learned from my African brother. I am so thankful for our AMAZING REUNION!!