Drumming, Mindfulness and Meditation

There are many ways to achieve mindfulness.

Mindfulness

• means being fully in the here and now. It involves focusing on the present moment and not thinking about the past or the future. In the past few years, mindfulness has been shown to be highly effective in reducing stress and anxiety.

One common method to achieve mindfulness, is to do everything slowly and deliberately. For instance, when you close a door, do it in slow motion and think about your arm, your muscles and the door knob. Another manner of achieving mindfulness is called grounding and it utilises your 5 senses to help you focus. For instance, when closing a door you might ask yourself what the door feels like, sounds like, smells like and looks like.

Drumming

• with a hand drum like a djembe, is a fantastic way to achieve mindfulness. You can focus on your hands or the drum or the beat and be fully in the present. Many people report that when they drum, they actually “lose” themselves in the moment and forget about everything else. When the drumming session is over, these individuals reveal that they feel refreshed, energised and happy because they were so “in the zone”.

Meditation

• methods usually rely on a sound, object or visual to provide the focus. When you focus on a sound, like “ohm”, you still your mind and give no energy to other thoughts that may pop into your head. Meditation has been used for centuries to achieve a state of calm and to minimise stress and anxiety.

The beat of a drum is an ideal way of entering a meditative state. You can focus on the beat alone as a sound. Alternatively, you can synchronise the sound of the beat with your hand sensations plus the vibrations that are reverberating in your chest. An hour of drumming is an easy way of achieving an hour of successful, relaxing meditation.

There are multiple variations possible with drumming. It can be done individually or in a group. It can be spontaneous and without form or it can follow a program. Some programs aim to increase focus by counting progressively, necessitating team collaboration or learning affirmations.

Drum Happy is a project of Anxiety Solutions CBT Psychology Practice and has proven to be very effective with all ages and types of people. Drumming is a fun, safe, effective way of achieving mindfulness and mediation which ultimately helps reduce anxiety and stress.

At Masterpiece Psychology (former Anxiety Solutions CBT Psychology Practice) we have a team of highly experienced Clinical Psychologists and Clinical Psychology Registrars who are well trained and up to date with latest treatment methods, to help you on your mental health journey. For more information, or to book, please contact us or call us now on 02 9328 5899.