Sunday 7th August 4:30 - 6:30pm
We have now enjoyed 3 Drum Circles together and have had so much fun at these joyful events.Thank you to all who have come along to create and connect together.
The improvised rhythms created by the Drum Circle depend on respectful listening and playing, they are about relationship with each other. I think this is why the Mandala community drummers sound so wonderful - we yogis try to live by the principle of respectful relationship, we understand the need to notice and to respond to what we notice.
No experience needed
Playing in a Drum Circle doesn't require any experience at all, it only requires respect for each other and a desire to help to play as part of the circle. I will show you how to connect to the rhythm and find out what to play. There are no mistakes, only drum solos 🙂 This is of course an experience without judgement or expectation, everyone is welcomed to bring their own unique way of expressing their rhythm .
If you are curious about drumming and think you would enjoy it, but are worried about not knowing what to do - please come along and I promise you will surprise yourself by what you can create with just a little bit of gentle coaching.
Details and Booking at https://www.themandalapreston.com/other_classes/drum-circles/
Our Drum circles are coming soon! These are energising, joyous, stress relieving, confidence-building and great fun!
Over the past two years I have been deepening my drum training and working towards facilitating Drum Circles. This follows on from my Sound Therapy training with Drum, Himalayan Bowls and Crystal Bowls a few years ago. Recently I joined my fellow students and our teachers for a 4 day training and assessment to complete my Drum Circle Facilitator course!
Because our Drum Circles will be facilitated they will be for everyone from complete beginners and children to experienced percussionists. Absolutely everyone can drum, we all have a heartbeat and we are naturally inclined to fall into the rhythms we can hear.
I will provide you with a drum or other percussion instrument (or you can bring your own) and will lead the group into exploration and expression of rhythms. This is a safe non-judgmental space where people of mixed ages and rhythmical expertise are guided together to a very high level of spirited rhythmical exploration and expression.
Our Drum Circles will be family-friendly, connecting with each person with their own unique gifts.
Why Drum Circles?
Our bodies and minds love strong consistent rhythms, they help us to feel l that we know what is coming and this makes us feel safe, and our bodies and minds are able to sustain health when we feel safe.
When we embody a rhythm shared with other humans either by moving to a rhythm or creating a rhythm or both (!) we also feel connected. We feel that those around us understand us and we understand them and we are supportive of each other - so we feel even safer, which is a primal need. When we feel safe we let go of physical, emotional and mental tension.
This strong collective embodied rhythm is one of the (many) reasons I love Ashtanga. Drum Circles that are facilitated are another way to experience the benefits of embodied collective rhythm.
As well as offering the sessions in our space, I hope to offer Drum Circles to young men, older people whose movement is restricted and as a Parkinsons and Dementia intervention and in communities that would benefit from more cohesion.
More about Drum Circles: https://www.themandalapreston.com/other_classes/drum-circles/
Grooving Everywhere
The ban on indoor Grooving and Yoga for lockdown was an unexpected blessing - Patanjali was right when he warned against us trying to label a situation is 'good' or 'bad'.
Today's Groove started with snow, but we kicked off our shoes and Grooved, the sunshine in our souls (and our whoops of joy) brought out the sunshine in the sky and all was well.
There is something so incredibly empowering about literally carrying on dancing while the rain (or snow) falls. It teaches us that we can carry on despite the conditions of life - that we can choose and we have the power to feel amazing - especially if we have a group of wonderful, supportive beings around us - and that's Mandala for you.
Deafway, Dance & Open-Minds
My favourite part of each week right now is sharing chair-based Groove dance with the wonderful Deaf residents at Deafway. We humans all enjoy rhythmic movement and expression and it's such a joy and honour to be sharing this with such fab humans.
I have been teaching yoga to the Deafway community for a couple of years and I noticed that the more rhythmic I was the more enjoyment the participants experienced, this makes so much sense on so many levels and it's something I incorporate into all of my teaching now, but this spurred me on to figure out how to share dance with them.
I am so pleased that Deafway and the residents and visitors were supportive of the exploration - that's what we yogis do - we don't assume, we explore with open hearts and open minds.
There's a great feature here about some wonderful deaf dancers https://www.dancemagazine.com/deaf-dancers-2641619050...