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Music For March- World Unity

toby_christensen — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:56:31 +0000

This is my favorite song my World Unity CD. It is dedicated to the peace makers. So enjoy the sounds and think of ways you can bring more peace and harmony to the world! As a famous musician once said, Give Peace a chance!

WORLD UNITY - A track from Toby Christensen's World Unity CD

Kauai Wellness Expo – Fun Energy and Celebrities!

toby_christensen — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:54:40 +0000

While on Kauai last month I had the pleasure of attending the Kauai Wellness Expo. What a great event! I was in some great energy and met a bunch of people who are committed to making the world a better place. One such person and one of my favorite people in the world is Danny Hoshimoto. Danny is kind, loving and the true embodiment of Aloha. He is also a master raw dessert maker! I enjoyed many of his amazing creations while at the expo. Below are Danny and I posing while I take the shot! and Danny creating his favorite Coconut Cream Ambrosia. It is the most delightful food I have ever tasted!!!

Another aspect of the expo are the celebrities that hang out incognito. You never know who you will run into. I have seen music great Taj Mahal, actors Jeff Bridges and Pierce Brosnan, Bill Kreutzmann from the Grateful Dead and many others. While walking about I ran into a friend who I just came to know is a world famous Qigong Master, Francesco Garripoli. This guy is amazing. Each morning he leads the people at the expo through a Qigong routine. Here is a little scoop on him from a website I found. Francesco Garri Garripoli is the Chairman of the Board of the Qigong Institute and enjoys being an author, television producer, Qigong practitioner and wellness advocate. He began his formal training in Eastern healing in Hawaii in 1977 after leaving a full medical school scholarship. His documentary Qigong: Ancient Chinese Healing for the 21st Century, airs on PBS Television, where he has produced programs for 20 years. Francesco teaches Qigong workshops around the world and through www.wujiproductions.com and is a past Chairman of the National Qigong Association. Author of Qigong Essence of the Healing Dance and Tao of the Ride, Francesco currently resides on Kauai, Hawaii at the non-profit Kahuna Valley Retreat facility www.kahunavalley.com . Here I am with Francesco, he is also a prolific song writer and guitar player.

I also ran into this person who requested to stay anonymous. Any ideas????

We shared some of Danny’s raw chocolate delight and then it was time for me to hit the beach. Thats the report from the Kauai Wellness Expo 2010. ALOHA!

Build Energy For The New Year!

toby_christensen — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:13:36 +0000

Here is your music clip for the month of January.

As many of you have read on the blog, I reunited with some old friends this past year who I used to play music with.

This clip is a remix of track 1 of my Four Doors Open CD. Terry Kingen has laid some beautiful guitar over the drums to balance the intensity of the drum with the melodic flow of the guitar.

Please click the audio play button below:

ENERGY - The opening track from Toby Christensen's Four Doors Open CD

World Unity – Wake Up

toby_christensen — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:59:50 +0000

This blog is the operations central for the HEALINGDRUMMER WORLD PEACE PARTY that will take place December 20th. For the past three years I have ended every event with a few minutes of DRUMMING FOR PEACE. What I mean by peace is summed up in the statement below. I’m not asking anyone to change their mind or agree with me in every way I only ask that we focus on our similarities so strongly that we have no time to fight about our differences! Check Back for details.

To honor this passionate cause I produced a CD called World Unity. The following are the words on the jacket. The song posted is Wake Up! It is my call for people WAKE UP to PEACE!!!

“This CD is dedicated to the Peacemakers of the world. It is for those who realize that we are held lovingly in the arms of the universe, and that since we are here not only to survive, but to THRIVE together, then we must begin to act with peace and harmony in all that we do. This is to act peace with the air, the water, the land, the animals, and with each and every one of our fellow humans. May we all find through this music the ability to focus on our similarities so strongly that we have no time to fight about our differences! WORLD UNITY is WORLD COMMUNITY”

Let’s make it happen!

It is with this intention I ask you all to join me in a wold wide campaign and join the HEALINGDRUMMER WORLD PEACE PARTY! Stay tuned and enjoy the music. I will post new tracks every 2 weeks!

Peace,
Toby

Please click the audio play button below.

Wake Up - The Opening Track from Toby Christensen's World Unity CD

Swimming With Wild Dolphins

toby_christensen — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:05:52 +0000

I have been to Hawaii many times and have come to love the island of Kauai most of all. It is a place where wild nature abounds AND you can still find a good burger! This trip was no exception. I was on Kauai a few weeks ago hanging with my friend Surf, making music and getting tan. While there I had the good fortune to visit my favorite beaches and spend time with my friends Danny Hashimoto. Naoka the Dolphin Diva, Sam the Ukulele man and many others.

Here is Danny preparing his famous Cocoanut Cream Ambrosia

and Naoka dancing to the Drum

Here I am with Sam the ukulele man, owner of Larry’s Music one of the most famous places on the islands

As I talked to my friends everyone was talking about the dolphins and the rich and magical energy they experienced while swimming with them. Well I have to confess I was a bit cynical. I have been to the dolphin beach at least 10 times and I have never seen a dolphin close in. So one night Surf and I were at a party on the beach,

and he started talking about going to the dolphin beach. He kept saying, “I know they will be there, and they will be there for YOU Toby!” Well I was stuck in the old story of “I’ll never experience anything that magical, blah, blah”. And as the night went on Surf and I kept jamming!

So after much debate we decided to go to the dolphin beach first thing in the morning. We went home from the beach, had a nice swim in the pool and hit the hay. The next morning I was still not convinced I would encounter the allusive dolphins but was willing to give it a go. We drive to the beach, hiked down the hill and I set out on the mile long trek to the beach were the magical dolphins reside. Having never seen them I had no idea what to expect and boy did I get a surprise. I hauled down the beach so if I did not get to see the dolphins I would at least get a good workout. As you can see, I was still not convinced. Even though Surf insisted they would be there.

When I arrived at the beach I was shocked beyond all belief when not one, not two, but three pods of dolphins just off shore and when I turned to watch them they began slapping their fins on the water and jumping wildly. Surf and his partner arrive 15 minutes later to find me sitting on the beach watching the dolphins with a HUGE smile on my face. “I told you they would be here for you. Are you ready to meet them in the water” Surf said kindly. Well to make a long story short, we entered the water and to my surprise, these beautiful and amazing beings did not run off.

They got closer and closer and closer still. I could feel the most amazing energy as they came closer and closer. There was no fear only trust and oneness. on their final pass I could almost reach out and touch them

This was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I will never forget it.

Loving a Drum – By Mary Dusing

admin — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:53:39 +0000

Loving a Drum

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

HealingDrummer in Arlington VA

toby_christensen — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:22:24 +0000

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!

Toby Christensen: The HealingDrummer

toby_christensen — Sat, 03 May 2008 03:50:31 +0000

Check out Toby’s work here is a great video

Enjoy