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I have been living at the Oakwood Retreat Center since 1991. It is my spiritual home, where I share Attunement and it is where I discovered drumming. I love living in community, especially in the spirit this setting offers. We have numerous visitors who come to Oakwood for retreats and group activities from different parts of the United States, so it gives me and everyone else living here an opportunity to meet many different types of people. I really enjoy this sense of larger service.
In the early nineties, five friends and I attended a Robert Bly Mytho-Poetic Men’s Movement gathering in Indianapolis. This movement includes activities where myths and fairy tales are taken from various cultures to serve as a way to interpret challenges facing men in society. At this gathering there were about 100 men in attendance and most had drums. It was quite powerful. I returned home that night so inspired, I began building drums!
I continued to attend the men’s gatherings and I took to really enjoying the drumming aspect. Men took notice of my homemade drums and began to request I build a drum for them. As I learned more about how to make drums, I would occasionally upgrade my own drum focusing on the design and shape of the drum. More and more, when people saw and listened to the newer version of my drum, they began asking me to build similar drums for them.
After making a thousand drums or so, I have created a world class djembe drum that people from around the world come to buy from my drum making business.
A friend and dancer took me to a Drumming Workshop in downtown New York City after I began drumming. In the workshop, we were all transported into what I will call a state of grace during the workshop. I began to realize the drum and the associated dancing is like Attunement; the experience bringing with it a tangible energy of Oneness to those who are participating.
After a few years there were more and more people who purchased my drums which led me to create a “Drum and Dance” festival at Oakwood that ran for 13 years. The festival was a specific way for me to teach drumming and to help interested customers to expand their experience of drumming. People were interested in riding the wave of Oneness that drumming can bring into their experience. Similar drum circles are beginning to appear all around the world. Today, I am an active part of a local Drum Troupe called The Shamaniacs: Drummers of Thunder and Wonder. We have performed througout the state of Indiana, including a performace at Ball State University. I hope to re-initiate the Drum and Dance festival at Oakwood when the Covid-19 situation is resolved.
Attunement and drumming for me opens a spiritual dimension through which I can share with others. In the last IAAP teleconference Donna Jorgensen mentioned various countries where Attunement is being shared and blessing the world. In a similar way, I see drumming and drum circles around the world doing the same thing – bringing the radiance of Love through a spirit of Oneness and amazing Grace into our worlds.
My Business: Shekinah Rhythm instruments
Hi Steve,
Very nice article! I learned some drumming when I went out west from the South Dakota Indians. I was young but brought back that spirit and returned home to new england. They said it was the heartbeat of the earth and that drumming draws you closer to the mother…earth. when ever I felt the need to connect I would drum, the vibration would fill me. Now that I am much older I find great comfort in drumming and send out my thoughts of peace and healing on the beats. So glad you shared this. Thank you
Yes Steve,
You bring back many memories of those ‘men’s movement’ days in the 1990’s with Robert Bly along with Michael Meade who used tell mythical stories accompanied by the rhythmic beat of the drum. It served to remind us of untapped power residing deep within us which was, and always is there to be released into our worlds. Indeed the drum is described ‘as a deep and sacred element of Native American culture, believing the beat of the drum to be in sync with the heartbeat of Mother Earth.’ Thank you for this.
Thank you, Steve, for writing this article. Like Linda, I have fond memories of drumming with you at various Men’s gatherings and during a few Attunement Intensives at the Oakwood Retreat Center. There is something about drumming that is so earthy: the vibration literally touches one’s bones, and the resonant sound (when it happens) does bring a sense of union and oneness. I have my djembe, one of your first editions, setting in our den underneath Donna’s drum which hangs on the wall, and on certain occasions still do some drumming!
Sign me up! At our Oakwood Attunement Retreat, almost a year ago now, I SO enjoyed that one evening after our evening events were over, when several of us participated in a drumming circle with you, Steve. I had never drummed before, but there’s just something about that drumming rhythm that speaks to my soul. Perhaps it is how the drumming rhythm syncs with your heartbeat. I could have continued drumming for hours! If and when you reinitiate the Drum and Dance Festival, I definitely want to attend!