CHAPTER 6: DRUMMING FOR RELEASE

Somerai awoke to an orange, rising sun with bits of speckled bright red in the ether. Blood was in the air.

An empty stillness suggested the absence of a great one. The lions had long left the crime scene.

She climbed down the baobab and looked away from what once was Shanti. She thought to herself: “I should use the spade to bury the remains but nature will take it’s course. In the long term, it’s more efficient than I could ever be.”

Nature’s law of creation, preservation and destruction was inescapable.

Somerai looked at the horizon, the mountain seemed farther away than it was yesterday. The lions could be anywhere, she picked up her backpack and started walking.

After being on foot for most of the day, she came across a towering acacia tree. She decided to set up her tent there, if the lions came again at least she could climb to safety.

Unlike the lions she had no appetite. She climbs into the dome-shaped structure and gets into her sleeping bag.

It was then that the voice in her head started it’s shenanigans again.

He said: “It’s awful that our dear Shanti has died. And the gruesome way in which it happened. The same things going to happen to you. You’ll never make it to the mountain alive. You’re not good enough, you’re not smart enough to figure it out. And why are you so ugly? You’ll never get into the Gurukhal.”

Hello self-doubt, Hello Depression. Has he ever spoken to you listener? Be honest. There’s no one here to judge you.

She called him Ahamkara. She’d heard from him most days, passing his snide remarks at her inadequacies as the cause of things not working out as they should. But his time he was all-consuming.

She lost her confidence and belief in herself. Without this she couldn’t do anything. She lost all energy. She felt drained.

“You’re a Loser! You should just throw in the towel and shoot off the flare.” said Ahamkara. She believed him. He was right. She had no real skills in comparison to the other candidates. Maybe it was better if the lions had gotten her, no one would miss her anyway.

Feeling sorry for herself, through salty tears, she fell asleep.

The next morning Somerai climbed outside the tent and sees Shanti standing nearby.

“Shanti you’re alive! I can’t believe it, I missed you.”

She runs to the elephant and hugs her front leg.

“Yes I am” said Shanti.

“You can speak?” But you never spoke yesterday?” said Somerai.

“Well you never tried speaking to me” said Shanti.

“Im here to tell you that you need to open The Guide and read the chapter on Cathartic drumming. It will help you if you’re feeling sad. Apply it. Don’t doubt yourself. The answer lies within you. And know that I am always with you in your heart.”

Somerai felt a bug on her cheek, she smacked it away. Ow! She shrieked.

She woke up wondering what had happened?

It was all a dream. Or was the dream the reality? That would have been better thought Somerai.

The tent was getting hotboxed by the morning star. Remembering what Shanti had said she stumbled outside and rummaged through her bag to find The Guide.

She removed the little djembe drum that was fastened to the bottom of her backpack. As she thought about the uses of the drum, she asked herself The Three Questions that held the answer to all questions in the known universe: What, Why and How?

She began drawing a Spider Diagram in her mind’s eye to take notes down mentally about what she knew about the djembe.

She started off by defining it as a goblet shaped musical instrument used by African tribes to mark key events. It’s main function was as a form of celebration. Opposing racist views on the djembe told her that it was a barbaric instrument that lacked Western sophistication. She did not agree with this but lacked evidence to oppose the argument.

She thought to herself: “Is there more to it than meets the eye?”

Somerai then analysed the different physical aspects of the djembe to break it down into it’s different components. It seemed to be made of a wooden shell carved from a tree trunk. The drum was in the shape of a wine-glass, the top half looked like a bowl, the bottom half looked like a pipe from which deep sounds emanated.

At home she would have used a black piece of white paper to draw a picture of the drum to visualise her understanding. Instead, as she thought through the different components and their function, now she was filling out a visual diagram in her mind of the goblet-shaped drum with annotations labelling the different parts.

On the right-hand side of the drum she added the label ‘bowl”, then the label ‘pipe’ … and so on. But how did the drum make it’s sound she asked?

Questions were her thinking tools.

Answering her own question gave her the answer she was looking for.

She could see that the drum had goat skin tightened across the top of the drumhead by ropes that pulled the skin downwards. Two metal rings across the top of the drumhead and middle of the drum (the bowl) were pulled together by rope to tighten the skin. It made sense, the tighter the tension on the skin, the louder the sound that emanated when the drum was struck on the side of the drumhead.

She realised she needed to gain further understanding of the djembe itself to build a stronger foundational understanding of the concept. What did The Guide say about the djembe?

She opened Chapter 2.

“The djembe is an ancient cultural instrument of the peoples of Guinea and Mali in West Africa. The drum is used to celebrate births and marriages. It is even played at rites of passage ceremonies as well as funerals. Different rhythms have different significance and varying effects on the mind.”

The information came from a verified source. The Guide had been written by sages and scholars over millennia. She added this to the spider diagram she was sketching mentally.

Then it read:

“The forefathers said: Sound is sacred.

Sound is vibration

The forefathers said: Everything is made up of particles

And these particles are constantly vibrating

The forefathers believed that sound can re-arrange these particles

and that the djembe was a cultural technology created specifically for this purpose

Not just anyone was allowed to drum

During celebrations of joy they said: Feel the sound

Feel the vibrations

Merge with it

Set your spirit free…”

With the padding of her hands she struck the drum on the side of the drum-head. A high-pitched tone emanated bouncing of the surface.

She then struck the centre of the drum with a hollow palm and the goat skin vibrated, sending a deep bass sound pulsing through the bottom of the drum pipe.

She wondered how the sound was produced from the drumhead and transmitted to the receiver. She compared this experience to a YouTube video she had watched about sound waves and related the same logic to how the drum produced sound. When struck, the vibration of the drumhead caused a collision in surrounding air molecules, a chain reaction that transferred the vibration from one set of molecules onto neighbouring ones to create a sound wave. This sound wave was received by the ear, causing a part of the inner ear to vibrate. This vibration was then converted to electrical signals through the nervous system and interpreted by the brain as sound.

The following paragraph read: HOW TO PLAY THE DJEMBE There are two main sounds:

“Boom” the bass is played with a hollow palm striking the centre of the drum

“Pa” a high pitch tone played with the padding of the fingers on the side of the drumhead

“Boom Pa Pa Pa”

Whatever you can say you can play, so drum your troubles away

Play ”Boom Boom Papapa Papapa Papapa Boom Boom”

Somerai tried to recreate this sound on the drum but it sounded nothing like it did when she said it.

Hey Listener. YOU can drum along with Somerai by slapping your thighs with your hand while

sitting.”

She played it again but this time she listened to the sound the drum made as she struck it and realised she was off the beat on the Boom Boom, her timing was off.

She decided to break down the rhythm into two separate parts, the bass Boom Boom and the Papapa and she practised the bass only on its own.

She repeatedly played Boom…Boom…Boom…Boom and when that sounded on time she played a faster Boom Boom… Boom Boom… Boom Boom.

She had perfected the Bass part of the rhythm.

Next she practised only the Papapa part.

This was harder as when she struck the drum on the Pa it sounded very mechanical and tinny. To get the fluidity on the Papapa she realised after about ten minutes of continuous repetition that she needed to relax her muscles to let in the flow.

All of a sudden she was riding the rhythm in the groove and then she added the Boom Boom into itand she had it, she was doing it.

”Boom Boom Papapa Papapa Papapa Papapa Boom Boom…”

Shanti played on for another ten minutes thoroughly enjoying the accomplishment of playing her first rhythm properly.

This ability to play a rhythm, monitor how she was doing in relation to the ideal sound she was trying to emulate, identify her gaps in terms of the parts of the rhythm she could not play well and drilling the sub-components of the rhythm separately, allowed her to build her competency quicker than trying to practice the entire rhythm all at once. By continuously going through this process she learnt faster by improving her weak points through repeated practice.

Repetition creates prediction.

The physical act of repeatedly hitting the drum released a slow drip of endorphins like she’d just come from the gym. Playing other instruments or dancing could also elicit similar reactions.

The drumming made Somerai feel calm and relaxed. Her constantly chattering monkey mind had been stilled by the rhythm. Her mind was empty of thoughts resembling the surface of a calm lake rather than a choppy ocean.

After about an hour, she noticed the negative thoughts one by one starting to creep in.

“You don’t have an ear for music” said Ahamkara.

He was always in the background somewhere. She noticed what he said first impacted her emotions and then her actions. Slowly the positive effects of the drumming began to wear off,

Ahamkara got louder: “You don’t have any rhythm, you’re not good enough. Give it up.”

She began to feel sad again. She slipped back into her usual habit, her usual thought pattern of seeing herself negatively. It would be a constant struggle and consistent, hard, mental work was needed everyday to defeat Ahamkara.

She was beginning to realise the importance of holding positive images of herself mentally.

She realised this created self-belief which she needed out in the bush if she was to survive. If she did not back herself out here, who would?

If she wallowed in melancholy she would spiral into idleness and self-defeating actions. This could be the end of her, this was no place for her middle class mental health issues. She had more important things to worry about.

If she showed mental strength by not accepting her negative thoughts, casting them aside and instead having full trust in herself that she would achieve her goal, then she simply would. She would harness the mind to her chosen direction and take the actions she wanted to take.

She began to believe that whatever she wanted to happen in her life had already happened, it was a fact in her mind. She felt an unwavering belief in herself, she could do anything, her potential was limitless.

A positive image of herself in her mind’s eye gathering energy from beings in her orbit was beginning to surround her like a force-field repelling all negativity, letting her act out the script she consciously wanted for her own life, powering her into her destiny.

Remember you are your thoughts, you ARE your thoughts.

So make them good.

Somerai’s experience after Shanti’s death has shown her this.

She is beginning to realise this truth

To realise her higher self she needs to become the master of her own mind.

And so do you.

And so, do you.