Chanting, overtone singing and humming sacred sounds to the rhythms of the frame drum is an ancient technique for directly synchronizing the mind/body, creating conditions for psychological, physical, and spiritual healing. The ancient frame drummers of the Mediterranean world, called the Melissa (the bees) in Latin and Greek and the Deborahs (swarm of bees) in ancient Hebrew, participated in the rituals of Cyble and Attis, Dionysos,Venus and Isis. Later the sacred traditions of the frame drum survived in the rituals surrounding the Virgin Mary.

One of the oldest techniques of awakening energy within our minds and bodies is chanting to the frame drum. In this retreat we'll learn a synthesis of drumming techniques from India, the Middle East, and North Africa on the Middle Eastern Style tambourine. We will concentrate on creating sacred space through ritual by chanting and playing the frame drum. We'll learn the correlation of the strokes on the drum to the elemental energies of earth, water, fire and air.

We will be concentrating on rhythms in six because of the link of these numbers to the hexagram, the ancient honey comb shaped symbol of Venus/Aphrodite at her temple at Eryx in Sicily and the heart chakra.

We will have a particular focus on the heart chakra for these workshops to help bring balance to ourselves, our culture and the world.

Along with the historical info from the ancient Mediterranean world we'll learn the yogic practices of the bee goddess from India, Bhramari Devi. We'll practice overtone singing and Bhramari, a pranayama practice derived from the buzzing of bees which vibrates and realigns the entire nervous system, brain and body by buzzing the vocal chords. These practices are also recommended for reproductive and endocrine health for men and women of all ages, they also relieve depression and insomnia, calming and soothing minds stressed from over-thinking. Here is a link to Layne teaching this practice.

The frame drum is an archetypal idea that people all over the world and at all times have been compelled to create and play to transform their consciousness into higher states of awareness. It is a time tested, powerful trance-inducing instrument that gives us a means of creating peace and wisdom within ourselves.

IMPORTANT: Appropriate Middle Eastern style tambourines will be provided for all participants

About Layne Redmond: her unusual path focuses on the hand-held frame drum, the world's oldest known drum. For fifteen years, she researched the history of this drum in religious and healing rites in the ancient Mediterranean world culminating in her book, When The Drummers Were Women (1997). Layne has been featured in many music festivals including the Touch Festival in Berlin, Seattle Bumbershoot Festival, the Institute for Contemporary Art in London, Tambores do Mundo in San Luis, Brazil, as a soloist at the World Wide Percussion Festival in Salvador, Brazil. Her recordings include: The Wave of Bliss, Invoking the Muse, Trance Union, Since the Beginning, and she has two instructional videos: Rhythmic Wisdom and A Sense of Time.

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