Conscious Living with Lucy
Through this podcast I engage in dialogue with spiritual practitioners, therapists, coaches, mental health and wellbeing professionals to support my mission in guiding people to live consciously in relationships with themselves, others and the world.
This podcast provides a platform to share the work of many wonderful souls working in service, offering their work to support people in discovering themselves and supporting them on their spiritual, healing and transformative journey.
Conscious Living with Lucy
Drum Medicine: sacred rhythms for connection, awakening and the feminine call.
Regina's life has been shaped by music. Tune in as we follow that pulse from flamenco courtyards in Seville to drum fires in Ghana, charting how rhythm can soften the mind, strengthen the body, and reconnect us to each other. Regina shares her experience of losing her voice as a child to reclaiming expression through movement, martial arts, and West African drumming—and how the drum became both teacher and medicine.
We dive into polyrhythms, lineage, the sacred role of the drum and explore why repetitive beats can switch the brain from analysis to flow. You’ll hear how drumming served as communication across villages, why the instrument is considered a living spirit that unites tree, animal, and human, and how vibration plus intention helps release stored tension. We talk about cultural respect, learning from elders, and the responsibility of carrying rhythms that hold history inside their patterns.
The conversation also centers the feminine: creating safe spaces where women can be heard, choosing sensual, grounded tempos; and pairing drum with dance so rhythm lives in the hips as much as the hands. We bring it home with practical ideas —how a single drum can ease stress, deepen bonds, and turn a room into a circle. To close, Regina guides us with a gentle heartbeat meditation that opens the heart, settles the mind, and widens the field of care from self to the world.
If this resonates, tap play, breathe with the beat, and let the rhythm do its quiet work. Subscribe for more conversations on healing arts, sacred sound, and conscious living—and share this episode with someone who would benefit from it.
To connect with Regina for 1-1 sessions, training, workshops and events visit https://reginarhythm.com/
To Purchase Regina's amazing song La Medicina go to https://reginarhythm.bandcamp.com/track/la-medicina
All the profits and donations from the purchase of 'La Medicina' go to projects and organisations that are committed to help the planet and make a difference in people's lives.
If this resonates, tap play, breathe with the beat, and let the rhythm do its quiet work. Subscribe for more conversations on healing arts, sacred sound, and conscious living—and share this episode with someone who would benefit from it.
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Podcast Music created by Vitaliy Dominichenko
Title: Long Road Trip
To hear the full track and others from Vitaliy please visit https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=iuOM-gVaUgQ&list=OLAK5uy_lQQ7YHnzEbywBY3y4SOiPITLFqrXymtJo
Welcome. I'm Lucy, host of Conscious Living with Lucy Podcast.
SPEAKER_01:Welcome, McGina. I am absolutely delighted to be joined by you today. It's been a long time coming. I've been talking to you about having this conversation. It feels like maybe a year almost. There's so much richness and wonderful, amazing stories in your journey, and I've really enjoyed the work that I've done with you. So it's an absolute honour and pleasure to have you here with me today. So just to kick us off, it would be great to hear about your journey and what led you to the work that you do.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you, Lucy. And yes, it's been a long time coming, and it's my joy and pleasure and honor that you invited me to be part of this podcast. I think what you're doing is something really beautiful, and I really enjoy when women that you know I have shared with they feel they feel inspired enough to want to know more of the history of my story, let's say, you know, which as you're saying is really what has created who I am today and it has guided me into the kind of job that I do today. So thank you for that. And I think my story is always it started because since very young I loved music. I felt very connected to music. I loved singing, I was a happy girl singing all the time. You know, that that kind of that kind of uh deep connection that comes before you are even born. And so already from a very young age, I was very much immersed in a very rich musical culture because my mom is from Seville. So all the my all my mother's side belongs from the south, which is is they are very much the people that basically have all the flamenco in their culture. So I grew with every day listening to flamenco. And when we used to go down to the south, you know, I I would just spend so much time with all the family, and they were very much about spending time outside and the community coming together and sitting down with guitars and cajons and people clapping and dancing and singing, and everyone was pretty much part of it, of the music. And everyone would just be in the music, you know, and I could I could feel such a joy and a connection through that. And that's the environment I grew myself. So it was already since very, very young age that uh I was very passionate about uh singing, I was very passionate about moving, and I had it all around me at the same time. I was very naturally also since very young age. Um, somehow the music connected me, connected me to the part of me that I felt it was uh my spirit, let's say. It was it was that magic that I could only compare it to the part of you that is it's it's you, you know, it's more than what's you come into this world, you relate to. So the places where I could go with when when I would listen to music or when I would dance, or um how it made me feel, it made me also uh question a lot of things about music. What is music that you know elevates us so much and has such a strong power to feel people so connected? So since very young age already, I was very curious. I had a lot of questions uh about music and uh and and also how that connects to me, to God. There was something very godly about music, something much deeper for you. Much deeper. Yeah. And I obviously, you as a child don't know it, but you feel it and you wonder what is this feeling. So I guess that's that you know, I was just uh following what felt good inside, you know. And what happened then is um, well, I went, you know, I studied music when I was very young. Um, and then I I got at some point I got very disconnected from my voice at uh during that um early years, let's say around 11, 12, I got quite disconnected from my voice just because uh uh a bad influence that happened at the time, and you know, as a child, it created the trauma or disconnection with your voice where you don't feel uh comfortable with your own voice, like you don't feel like expressing your voice is beautiful, so so you close your voice, right? Which is what for a lot of us, you know, a lot of us, if you think about it as the beginning of it, is is having a belief that your voice is not beautiful, creates something that makes you want to hide. And I feel the the the your voice is the represent is the sound representation of your soul. Uh beautiful. That means you're already uh denying something beautiful about your very essence of yourself.
SPEAKER_01:Suppressing yourself. Yeah, I'd never really thought about the voice as the expression of the soul. That's a really beautiful, interesting way to see that actually.
SPEAKER_03:Yes. Obviously, at the time I didn't didn't see all of this. So from being being, you know, pretty much in all the time, I kind of left it to one side, but I still wanted to express the music uh through me because it's it's in every cell of me. I could feel music is vibrating within me. So I actually dived into movement. I went into dancing. So for my from 12 to 18, those years, I did a lot of different practices. I went also um uh into dancing, I also went a lot into uh martial arts. I really came across uh martial arts, and and to me it felt an amazing practice, uh the discipline that it has, but also that to me, it was the first practice that showed me what meditation is, and and um it taught me about the energy in the body and how we are connected, you know, internally with externally, and how can we even, you know, with through those movements we can move energy, you know, because martial arts seriously, when you go into how they work with energy, something so amazing. So um it really pretty pretty still present in myself. I I love to still do martial arts. So although it's not in my work so much, it isn't in the way I move. You know, it's pretty much part of it.
SPEAKER_01:I've seen you move and it's definitely, yes, I see that movement there. And which martial arts?
SPEAKER_03:Just out of interest, I I I was I did karate. Karate, oh okay. Yes. Later on I I did also Tai Chi and Qigong. But yeah, that's that's what started me off. So those years I, you know, keeping going more into the movement really connect me with music through my body, which which gave me of course a lot of power within me, but also it was a way of where my body was the instrument. And I realized when I was like in that state of oneness, I was pure one. There's like the pure joy, there is nothing else. There is not thoughts, and there is not worries, and there is not stress, and there is no heaviness, and and there is not it's just pure being, it's just pure present being enjoy. That's it. It's just so simple. And obviously for me that was something that I would crave more and more, you know. And I started to do a lot of research. I was always very also interested for some reason about ethnical tribes. I had my encyclopedia that my mom had, and one section was all about all the tribes of the world and all the beautiful ways of uh expressing themselves, how they would adorn their bodies, and what was the rituals they would do, and uh what kind of uh ceremonies they have. Um, so I was really a lot into, I studied a lot of that in here, and yeah, naturally there was something that would draw me towards. And I remember seeing sets and photos where there was actually scenes of people doing drumming and then people dancing, but dancing to the point where you go into trance. Yeah. And it was only a photo, it wasn't even a video, you know. But I remember feeling it, you know, and I just remember staring at this photo because I wanted to understand what's happening in there, what is actually happening here. You know, what is this people gone? What is this trans that everyone is talking about, and how can be induced with this drumming? You know, there was a lot of still questions inside me, and although a lot of the times it was seen from outside like always something like trans, almost negative from the Western world, because it's like it's something voodoo, is something uh uh scary, what's happening here? For me, it was the most attractive thing. Like, what is happening in here? And life has an amazing way to take you on a route or on a nice adventure because around that time I was 18, I I uh went to a party one time, and there was five amazing African drummers um just playing the drums. And I've never experienced this before like that. I've experienced the flamenco, but it was very different rhythms. I experienced also music from from like uh um Latino music and also very lively, but this was different. This had the rhythm itself. I don't know, I just know it kind of like went inside my body and and it and it just um can you say it just um turned a fire in my body and the way my body wanted to dance. I I and I was already dancing, but this was such it's another level, right? I was like, oh wow, and I knew tomorrow I'm gonna go and buy a drum. Like I have to, you know, so that's really how it all started.
SPEAKER_01:I love this following your soul's calling, really. So you know, you feel in this call even from a very young age, and then the things start to happen one by one, the things unfold to really pull you to that calling, your soul's purpose, really. But amazing that from such a young age you could really listen to this and feel it. So beautiful.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, I I feel I don't know how you I would say grateful, grateful for somehow feeling connected since a very young age.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, wonderful, amazing. So, so fascinating and just amazing, incredible your journey. And even when you're talking and when I've been to your workshops in London, you just exude this this this energy and you can feel it all, and just the way you talk, the way you you know, it's always rhythm about you. So I I love that. Thank you. Um yeah, and obviously you just mentioned your first connection with African drumming, and then I know you went on a much um deeper journey with that. So you went then on to Ghana. Yeah, if you're right to share a bit more about that part of your journey, it'll be wonderful to hear that, and especially for me because my father is from Ghana, as you know.
SPEAKER_03:So that's right, and that and that is so beautiful, that is really, really beautiful. I find at the same that I have had people very, very interesting people that they have uh roots, Ghanaian roots, and and they have reconnected with that through me. So it's really also in beautiful, you know, as a as a way to think, you know, my journey is also helping people that feel disconnected to connect. It's it's such a joke, really. Really a clear joke at the same time, you know, because being a white woman that went they were all my early 20s, you know, and and then somehow come here to help others to come back home and connect to the roots, it almost feels like a joke of what your soul is guiding and calling you, and you know you're that channel for people, so it's it's wonderful. Yeah. Well, very, very soon after coming to London, and I was only 20 when I came here, and now I was only coming for a little break, really, just to have a little break and have an experience. Very soon, probably within a week, I found an amazing place in Camden Market where they would where they would actually play uh African drums. And you know, very soon I I just started to go there and do my lessons to be able to keep me connected to the drum because I couldn't bring it here, the one I bought in Spain at the time. So, you know, and then after some time I got more and more involved and and uh I got really involved in the business and I started to travel to Ghana. I started to travel to Ghana and learning in there the traditional drumm from from the look from the people that actually carry that tradition uh from generation to generation. Um and and I think I mean from there all my learning to life has been many like that. Like, you know, I've never really, I mean, I've done courses and things like this, but actually I'm I haven't gone to college or university. All my learning has always been by traveling places and staying with the people and and and immersing myself in something uh enough for me to be able to embody myself, understand it myself, and then obviously becomes part of me, which is then part of what I share. So I was very, very lucky to you know to have this amazing opportunity to be going and spending time with amazing teachers that I had, that they taught me about sacred rhythm, you know, how sacred rhythm is, because everything starts from there. As you know, everybody knows, uh the rhythm of the heart is the most powerful rhythm that there is. And and you know, why do we all have the same rhythm in the heart? You know, and and being being nine months inside a mother's womb, listening to this heartbeat, if you're thinking your first state of awareness into being alive is the warmth of being inside your mom and this constant rhythm. And I think I really think that's why the drum is something so powerful, because it connects us back to our origins. There is something when we hear drum that makes us feel uh safe at home. You know, is it's the beginning, it's the origin. And and because we all have that experience inside, which is beyond mind.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_03:That's why when we all come and we sit down and we all drum, everything else vanishes because that same way of feeling and that's is what connects us all. It's the most simple thing, which is we all have a heartbeat that beats the same. And you know, I I believe that the drum has so much power because it can help us restore the big separation that humanity is um enduring at the moment. You know, a big separation, which is not only mine, because of course I I I have a feeling like there is obviously so many things that are separating us because of the different ideas and of all the different things that are happening and all the different concepts, all the different beliefs. Everything is bubbling in the mind in a way that is very easy. That you know, if you're there on your mind, it will separate us. But I also do believe that there is some also something in physical. Something is happening physical where physically sometimes you feel even it can feel very difficult to be connected to your heart. But you don't want to, but you can't feel it. You are like you don't almost have access to your own heart. And the heart is is the vortex where you connect to divine, is where the power, you know, you shine your light. So I always feel when when you feel disconnected from yourself and you need to come back to groundedness and you need to feel connected to your heart. The drum is one of the most uh fastest, efficient, and powerful instruments that we have to connect with ourselves and with others.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Just drops you immediately out of the mind and as you say, into that heart space, into that connection. Yep. Yeah. And were there specific ways of learning or techniques that you connected with in in Ghana? And I know also you've studied with other or many different cultures. You've you've travelled and studied with other elders and wise people. And, you know, was there something different that you learnt in Ghana or, you know, across the cultures, were they similar? Was it, you know, a kind of common thread to them all, or are they very different? Did they have different approaches?
SPEAKER_03:Well, each each have their, I would say each have their different approach, because we are all people, and so we all express in different ways. So you are going to express what you teach in a different way. Um and sometimes, you know, there is different teachings as well. But what it is true that when you travel, the more you travel around and you are spending time with people, the more you realize, apart from these ways of expressing culturally as we have evolved, um we have evolved in different ways, but we are all exactly the same. It's just that we are in different ways, and the way we evolve and express ourselves is just because what's around us. So depending on what animals is around us around us, what sounds they make, what's the weather around you. I mean, there is so many factors to take into consideration at the time of how uh a culture expresses itself. But when you see many cultures, you realize that the root is always the same. That we all get somehow ways of uh uh cooking together and how we come to cook eat together, what's the rituals that we do, what's the ceremonies that we do? We all have uh songs and dances, but what is our songs and dancing? And what do they talk about? Um so so, like that, you see that everyone, you know, how do we decorate, how do we express ourselves with our own clothes? Um, all of this, and each one is different, but you see, the root is the same, the root is always the same, and then the more you the more you do that, the more you just like to make people understand that actually we are all the same, you know that there is not there is so many difference about us, but there is no difference at all in in our real state of being here, you know. So I mean Ghana, I would tell you at the same time, I trouble many countries, many West African countries as well. And I really like Ghana because I found Ghana was the people, the place where the people was the friendliest.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I've had that.
SPEAKER_03:Really open, always a big smile on their face. That was very welcoming, very, very welcoming, you know, and that they always say Akwaba, Akwaba, which means welcome. And that was the name of the shop in Camden, actually. Akwab. Welcome, welcome. So because they were so very welcome, they also were very, very open at the time of sharing their knowledge. You would also see maybe these kind of things, some places that would be more reserved, but they would go more slow, they will have a little bit more of um um kind of like a recipient relationship between teacher and student. This is very common, like a master teacher in in in African culture, it has a very high rank because they are passing something that they hold themselves that's not even in books, yes. It's really, really valuable, you see. So you have to have you have to understand when you are sitting with a person that is teaching you there is something quite mystical happening in there, you know, and and you have if you come with that appreci appreciation and respect to the teacher for what's happening, um then obviously everything can grow, you know. But we also very different cultures. Um and I realize as well from traveling that one of the biggest problems that we have is communication. The communication is always what brings uh the misinterpretation and the problems come, originates always from there. So I would say, you know, you also have to have you have to be of a certain quality when you are doing this work and traveling around, where you have to almost take yourself out of yourself, enter the space as a very empty sponge, and just learn. Like if you are learning from the beginning, like you don't know anything, not ever compare it to anything else, you know, or to compare it to yourself, because if you are doing always that that you always go into find conflict. There's a lot of conflict that can happen, but you know, in that sense, I learned very early that um is is is that communication actually, although it's our biggest tool to be able to express between each other, is also one of the biggest reasons why there is so many problems between each other.
SPEAKER_01:And I think language can be like that, right? Because it can be a barrier because the words, words are limiting sometimes, and the mis like you say, the misinterpretation with words, or there's judgment about how people talk, or depending on the story going on in your own mind, the words land differently. So, you know, these wonderful as well. It's I can imagine sometimes it's you know, drumming also just as a methods of communication through the drumbeat. It's like let's drop the words and go into the rhythm.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly. And and the thing is, drumming itself was a way of communication back in the day when they would not have, you know, the mobiles and everything. They would they would actually communicate from mountain to mountain, village to village, to let the village know that there is gonna be a celebration and everybody is welcome. You know, I mean, imagine how would you tell them otherwise? I mean, you could go and travel, but the drum already was a way of communicating, and and each rhythm also is so rich. Once you start learning about rhythms, each one has a it's like a book in itself, you know, and it's a story in itself. And um it's it's really, really beautiful and never-ending learning about you know all of this. But what I realize, as you're saying, because it's it's something that when everyone sits down and they take the drum and you play the drum, you are communicating through rhythm. And there is so much communication that happens when you're actually sitting down and playing drumming with with others. Things that you might not even understand or pick up, but there is a lot happening inside. I would tell, I can tell that the drum is being my teacher, like my guru. I've learned about myself, I've learned about socializing. I I mean maybe I didn't mention as well before, but as a teenager I was also very introvert. You know, someone very introvert. I would never imagine. How could have you ever been introverted and shy, very shy? And I I can really say that is it's the drum and playing in drum circles that has made me who I am today. It has taken me all around the world to meet amazing people, to play with amazing uh artists and musicians, uh, to sit down with amazing groups of women, to to share about uh you know, each other and womanhood, and use also the drum as a way, as I'm saying, to break down so many concepts and ideas and just use that as a way to unite us, you know, and and then a lot of other things come from there because you know, you can then put a lot into the drum, how you express yourself, a lot of things that you can't express, you can leave it all in the drum. It's such a meditative instrument, you know, you really um can uplift yourself and access uh uh an amount of power within you that comes that comes from the rhythms of the drums. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And um just touching on that because you've obviously shared, we haven't really spoken about that, it's probably helpful for people listening to understand about the different uses of the drum, but you know how people did use it as a communication tool and the other purposes of of drumming and how we might learn all of these different rhythms and the drum also as being this kind of connection with the earth through the kind of it's carved with wood. And I don't know if you can just share a bit more about the kind of application of using the drum and the different ways that it can be utilized, and especially in indigenous cultures, and the way the other tools and the things that it can help to facilitate, you know, whether it's healing or I don't know, connection. Maybe there's just something else, a bit more you could share to help people understand.
SPEAKER_03:Um, well, the drum, the drum, of course, is used, you know, uh as a way to celebrate, as a way to unite, um, as a way to empower. And as you mentioned, it's also used as a way to heal. Um and you see these, you see this all around that you know, healers, indigenous people, the medicine man from the land, they will always have a drum and they will always have a rattle. That's something that all have in common. Africa, uh, Asia, uh, Amazon, you know, that's the three main points where I have trouble and medicine man always have that. And you you you under you get to understand why in that, then we go more into the power of vibration and intention. And so, of course, you know, you can you can help energy that's inside someone, energy that's trapped, tension that is accumulated and can't release. With the vibration of the drum, you can help release because obviously the the vibration of the drum is affecting the and making vibrate all the cells of whatever physicality is around it. So that plus the rattle, that's that's the their purpose is to help dissolve energy that might be attached to your energy field or that is already physical. So that's that's something that started to be more part of my journey, I would say, in the last uh 15 years, something where I started to be then learning not only from the musical point of view, like the rhythms and wearing means, but going deeper and deeper and deeper into the spirituality part of it, but also from the science point of view, how the both I started to be very much interested on sound frequency and vibration, um, and how that affects us, and how can that heal us? And if that's if it does heal us, why does it heal us? I really wanted to understand what's happening. Um, and you know, once you really understand what's happening, you understand why the drum is so powerful because it obviously is a source of vibration. Second, you are playing with your hand and You are also playing on another skin. So it's all like sensorial and stimulation. It becomes a deep connection between you, the spirit of the animal, and the spirit of the tree. Because the drum itself is believed to be a spirit being, because it holds both the spirit of the animal and the spirit of the tree that once was alive and that now put together is what helps us. It helps us to connect and speak to spirit. So that's that's also a way to communicate with something greater, whatever it is for you. When you're drumming, there is a lot that you receive as well while you're in that space of uh connection and presence. You know, there is a lot that messages that can come across. So obviously the drum is is is it has a big importance in their society. Unfortunately, the unfortunately I would say then the newer generations obviously are moving away because the the music industry is is kind of taking them all, you know, and that um and I would say unfortunately space where the drum is not used no more, but a drum machine, so it comes now from a digital sound rather than a sound, an organic sound.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, which is which is a shame. But that you know, things things move and and change and and shift and evolve. And you know, I know you're talking about connecting to something um greater and that the spirit of the animal and to a greater being, and obviously there's you know connection with ancestors. And in your experience when you've been with other cultures, would you say that lots of those rhythms are specific rhythms, or do people kind of just do they drum more intuitively? How or a bit of both, I guess, is the question.
SPEAKER_03:They have loads and loads of rhythms that each rhythm it has a meaning, is played in a specifically uh um situation or ceremony, occasion. Um and everybody knows these rhythms. Now the the way the music is put together is is what is called polyrhythm. So it's like lots of little rhythms that together create this amazing, you know, the big polyrhythm. Complicated. So, you know, everybody will come and play. Normally, everybody will know by the bell. The bell is the one that's gonna give the signal. So everybody knows, oh, this starts like that, everybody knows automatically we are playing pan logo, we are playing oge, fume fume, all these different rhythms. So if you if you are a drummer, you will know all of these uh rhythms. But then when you travel to different villages, they have different rhythms because there's different tribes. So there is such an amazing complexity into how many rhythms they have. Uh and and they'd be as I was saying, at least in pass from generation to generation. Now, obviously, every time there is something that is added to it, like an interpretation from the teacher itself, let's say, but uh you're trying to keep um as honest to the original rhythm as it was given to you. But then they also play a lot of intuitive, because that's part, I mean, playing solo on top of the rhythm is is what makes then the dancers come and do their the movements because there is an amazing relationship between the music and the dancing. Um in fact, from how I how experience when it was taught to me in Ghana, is like they don't they they have a word which unfortunately I can't remember it right now, but don't ask me about that. But this word, what it means, is that which can be expressed through the drum or through the dance, through your body dancing, but the thing itself is the same. So the way they see the drum, the drummer and the dancer is is that of one because they are both expressing the same thing, but one is doing it through the drum and one is doing it through the dance. And one of my teachers told me that the drama came, he came across, or he came to give music for the dancer. So that's something that's something really beautiful. Like if you really want to go deep in inside, thinking about what that really means, is is um it has to do a lot of understanding of the healing that comes from moving your body. Because then we go into that photo when I was young that used to see as I was saying, and I could see someone dancing and in trance, and I was like, What's happening there? So that's what I wanted to experience, which which which I did. Uh and I do because when you what you understand is that all is happening is that you let go, you fully let go, you give yourself fully and totally to those rhythms, to those beats, to that music, to that chant. You know, you give fully yourself, you until there's a point, and of course, this now is working also with with the rhythms, okay? Because once you give the mind a repetitive rhythm for over five minutes, there's a something that happens in the brain that switches off and it stops trying to understand what the rhythm is doing and and calculating where is the one, two, three, four, and it's it stops and something happens in the brain that opens up and connects to something greater greater. And you start using the part of your brain which is uh the one you use when you are doing improvisation or when you are just yeah, when you basically are connected and you are just improvising, which is basically being fully connected to flow and allow it to come. The same theta state, I think, drop into that, yeah. So in that in that space where you are let go of you as a human, even form, you know, you are not anymore into how do you not anymore connected to me from the eyes of the outside, not even you seeing you as you from outside. It's just you as you inside. That's the feeling, nothing else. And when you are finished after this experience, the the amount of power you feel within you, you feel released, you have released, you have let go everything. Yeah, you have power, you have power to continue. Because this doesn't mean, you know, like that then that's it, you are here when your life is fixed or anything. No, life is going to continue being as it is from now till we go to the next state. What I see with the drumming, with the with the dancing, is that it's the tools we are given to help us release, empower, and keep going. It's like charging what you need to charge, you know. And of course, we charge ourselves through the food we eat, um our connections with people, the rest, you know, but the practices that we are now all trying all embracing and in our lives with discipline and understanding, it's only because we we know we have to work on our inner garden. You know, we have to really nurture that. Excellent. The constant process is like if you anything you have, it it nothing is fixed forever. Like you have a garden, you're gonna have to still every winter clean the garden for the next uh spring houses and yeah, do the weeding, maintain it, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You have to, you can't just leave it otherwise.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's right. And of course, there is many practices in many ways. Uh to me, the drama, as you say, came naturally intuitively, and you know, I'm very, very grateful because thanks to that, it helped me then come here and be able to share that with a lot of people that they didn't have access to to this, you know. And um, you know, it's been a long evolution as well, because it's like I started back in 2002, so you make the numbers. Long journey. 23 years. It's a long journey, definitely. But it's amazing to think that I have been able to live my life, you know, in this way, sharing this beauty, these practices, this culture, this knowledge that I am so um humbly grateful that it was passed to me and the life put me in that position also for me to be able to receive that and then now share with the world in the best possible way I can.
SPEAKER_01:Beautiful, which you do so amazingly well. So you definitely honour that gift. Just actually, so yeah, thank you for sharing. There's so much, yeah, there's so much to know, and so much, as I said earlier at the start, there's so much richness in the journey and in the drum and the practices and the way it's used and the different cultures and and the benefits, and yeah, there's so much to share. But I know through your work, I mean you always continuously empower and uplift so many people, and particularly women. Is there any did you set out to work mostly with women, or is this just kind of happened?
SPEAKER_03:It kind of happened, actually, in the last uh years. Yeah, it uh I was already working with uh groups which it was only women, but um most of my work was for everybody, it was never really set for women. It was certain times that I would choose to do only things for women. But I think it was yes, uh during uh lockdown that I started that I moved my my whole drumming online in movement. If it just felt for me that to keep the container more safe, um it will it should be only women's, you know? It just felt that way very, very importantly. And then from then I started to work like that, and and somehow right now in these last years, my work has always been the coding has been to work with women. Uh I'm not I'm not saying I won't uh work with men anymore because I also do feel that there is also a very important a very important uh point that when you have both men and woman, then you are working with the balance of the both energy, which is also something that we we we need to start doing, because in the last years, and I understand why we've done a lot of women's work and then men a bit later, but catching up a lot of men's work, men's circles, and doing the inner work. Um, so that's really good that we are doing that. But at some point we're gonna have to start, and I think already, you know, already people, of course, starting to do that. I would say maybe more myself at some point, start to integrate again, both male and female. But at the moment, I feel there is so much work still to do with uh with the female. Um, and and as I'm saying, it's the only reason is because I'm trying to help women to tap into the most feminine, empowering part of themselves. And so many times then the the conversation I'm giving is towards that, you see, and then I also encourage you know to be connected uh with parts of your body that is feminine, so all your hips and your warmth. Yeah. Of course, you know, I feel like for some reason these last years, this is this is um the level of my work that is being required. So that's that's I can only be honest to that, how it goes.
SPEAKER_01:And I I guess it is important as well, you know, eventually talking about balancing the energies and you know, even working with with um females, obviously there is the physiological side of things, as you're saying, connecting women more with their bodies and back into themselves. But I guess at some point as well, for men it's helpful to connect with the feminine principle rather than it being um gender specific, but because obviously we connect more in this world, especially in the West, with the um with the masculine energy and the f you know, we need to kind of balance that out with this feminine energy. So finding ways to connect, yeah, all people with the more the feminine principle, I guess.
SPEAKER_03:Yes. Yes, I think definitely that that there's an evolution, you know, that is part of the evolution. I was just thinking, I don't know what I'm gonna mention this, but I was thinking, you know, it's a funny kind of concept to think um the drum is a very masculine um at least in Africa. It's a very masculine instrument. Really, in many places in Africa, women dance don't drum. It's not even good for a woman to be seen drumming, touching a drum. You know, there was it's changing that now, but that's the tradition in Africa. So of course when I went there to learn and I was very young, I was only 20 20, 21. You know, um, well, it was a very young white woman learning the drum. So it was kind of like a little bit the taboo. And and and not only that, uh I was actually quite good. I would pick up quite quick. So the teachers would also be quite surprised that you know this this this woman can come and pick up things and and she can, you know, hold on to the beat and go fast with them as well. Teaching teaching drumming, um teaching drumming then when I came, my first one of my my groups were mixed. I could always see that you know the man and the woman drummed from a very different approach. A man is always is an instrument which allows them, and it's good, allows them to go with it and express their power, to use their their energy, which most of the time is repressed also, because most of the time it's like, no, no, you should calm down. But the man has this power that needs to release. Ain't hunting no more. Where is he using this adrenaline that needs to release? Or the drama first that because it's something he can go and he can go hard and he can go fast. Yeah. So that's it. He's got a toy. You know what I mean? They really love it because they can go. And but what happens with that, the man comes with the very competitive side, which is also something good for them. This is how the men work, you know. Women did not really work so much like that. So when I would drown, then obviously naturally they would want to come and play louder and louder. And so they would they they they test me because obviously they want to test me. I'm the woman that's leading the group. And of this, if they can go harder and they can go faster, you know, but I could also. So then it would be like, you know, and then we will all laugh. But the thing is, what you will see within this will there was this is a very normal dynamic that happens when you are playing with men. You are playing a rhythm, and very soon you start to play a bit faster and a bit faster and a bit faster, and everybody wants to go super fast. Through those years, I could see that women didn't have a space where they could feel safe for them to show what they can do. Because they could never go as fast or as loud as him. So, what's the point? And I can't even hear myself. What's the point? The man is bleeding their hand. And the girls are like, no, I'm not doing it like that. So there's so much you can see in in how people communicate or dominate in a space through the drum. You know, it's very, very interesting. You see a lot with no words. And as I'm saying, you know, I think there's nothing wrong with the way men do this because that's that's their that's the way they enjoy it, you know, and it's good. But I realize women we play different. We are playing where we come in to harmonize with each other and we want to hear each other, and I want to hear myself, so we don't need to be like this crazy, loud and and and super fast. We can actually go with rhythms which are rhythms which are slower and they are more sensual. So I realized actually that although I have learned all these uh rhythms from Africa, that it was time for me to bring also my own rhythms. That was time where you start to call for something that it was more in tune with me, myself, and if I wanted to bring women to that space, um uh to be able to give them rhythms that they will also make them feel like that, and spaces where they would could comfortably feel like that, you know, comfortable express themselves and also comfortable if they want to express through the body, because that's one thing, you know, in in my circles to is make sure that you both dance and play drums. So you embody the rhythm and you express it either through the drum or through the body. But if you really feel like you know, uh drumming is very powerful, but if you really want to feel feminine, you have to move your body, you know, there's a way, and even when you're drumming, you also move your body. You know, you're not a rigid drummer that is. Yeah, it's not static. It's happening inside you, you know. You're already dancing before you're playing on the drum.
SPEAKER_01:So, yes. Beautiful, yeah. Really, yeah, really important. I loved hearing about that, and really important, as you say, for women to have this space to drum in a way that more honours the feminine energy and and the difference. So wonderful that you bring that and provide that space for people. Um I'm just conscious of time, so I don't want to ask you too many more um questions. And you have touched on it really, but I guess, yeah, are there any other anything else you want to share about um just you really using this this um the you know the sacred sound, the rhythm to support people on their journeys of healing and transformation or for connecting with their soul or their purpose and how it can really impact on, you know, how they feel as a person in themselves and improving their relationships and their connection with the world really it's always important to me with all of this work as you know the work that I'm offering is about supporting us with ourselves other than the world. So I'm just is anything else you want to add?
SPEAKER_03:You have kind of touched on it a bit already, but specifically well what I like to what I like to um invite people is to bring the drum into their life um to help themselves to feel connected, to connect with mother nature um and to connect also within themselves and with those around them within their own family. Um you know I I just see the drama has so many benefits in so many levels, and I think you know every child should have a drum, you know, every every little child should have a drum. I used to do uh children at preschool um groups, it was called Little Drumming Bear, beautiful drums and children from one to three with the parents. And if you see these children from one-year-old tapping on the drum and how quick they understand the beat, they're like, hey, it's following the beat, and how through their eyes they can, you see, they're communicating so much, and then you could see them with the parents and the bonding that was creating between them. You know, so I I think it's something so simple and and it has so many benefits that I could list more than a hundred, you know. But I would just say such a magical thing to have, you know.
SPEAKER_01:I'm having that with my daughter actually. She's three and a half, and she is obsessed with the drums on my drums. And also she's asking for her birthday, Mum. I want a drum. She wants an actual drum kit though. I think she's seen it on some show, and she keeps saying, I want a drum kit. She's obsessed with the drum. I said, Do you want to learn to play an instrument? I want to learn to drum.
SPEAKER_03:So she said she says that make sure you do it because it's so good, it's so beneficial. And if they really, if you really you know, grip them, like they grip my heart, then you know she will always have something that gives her power and groundiness, which is important, you know, because as women, well, as human beings, we go through a whole journey of discovery and it's ups and downs. And you know, I can only say the drum has always been with me, and and I'm always, always grateful, you know, that I can there's been such a strong support, you know. Um it's also helped me a lot. Obviously, it's it's created my my uh is what is made my my life or my financial support, like as a single mother as well. You know, it's it's been um I would say a challenge to have a life where you you you also make money out of what is your passion. Um and sometimes you have to exercise a lot of trust um and sacrifice at the same time. Uh but I know that uh you know the richness that I get, uh it could never be equalized with any money at the same time because it's not it's not it's not it's not me. It's not me at all. This is not me at all. I I know that there is something greater in whatever seed I'm spreading, the seeds are not mine, if you understand what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01:You know, you're definitely a channel for this instrument and this the power and the benefits of of drumming and sharing this gift with the world, definitely.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I'm I'm I can only be grateful that the drummers chose me, I would say. Definitely chose you, but you listen to the core. You listen to the core. Listen to the core, yes. And for the listening, you have to be in silence. That's another you know thing that we need in inside ourselves is silence. And that's another thing. When you drown, there is silence. I'm not talking about the sound, I'm talking about the thoughts, which is something we need to be um everybody, you know, should be very conscious about the mind. I think mental health at the moment is something super important to make sure that your mind is healthy. Yeah, absolutely. You know, because you can be a big trouble when your mind is is not there. And you know, you just need to have things that help you maintain yourself grounded. I think for me, this keeps being present, grounded, and empowered. That's the you know the the things right now that after these last years, which has been challenging for the whole world, and seeing where where do we need more medicine right now. For me, is that it's like really just working on being super aligned and in peace, you know, and and very grounded and working on your inner energy. You just have to work on your energy and keep present and don't allow yourself to spin around. I'm here, right here in the center.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, anchor, anchor in it.
SPEAKER_03:Anchor, anchor and empower, and empower, you know, and just do the things that help you to to build energy and to connect to energy, you know. Good stuff. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so so important, really key, really key, key principles. Wonderful. So um I think yeah, we'll start to draw our conversation to a close. Um, but before we do, so just it'd be great to hear about um the work you're offering at the moment, and I will share obviously details of how people can connect with you, so just what offerings you've got going on, and then maybe before we close, if there's any kind of short practice you want to share with anyone or a meditation or drumming, whatever it is. So um yes, thank you.
SPEAKER_03:Well, at the moment, in the during this winter, and at the moment, I've just been doing actually a lot of uh work behind the curtains, let's see. So I've been doing a lot of private work, so private ceremonies and one-to-ones. So a lot of one-to-ones are small groups where either I've been uh initiating people in um playing the calabash, which is uh an amazing instrument that you can use as a drum as well from Ghana, uh, which which I brought last year when I traveled to Ghana to bring calabashes for many women so so they can all learn about this amazing instrument. And so I've been teaching in small groups, one-to-ones, healing sessions as well. There is all a lot of um support that women need one-to-one right now. That's uh that's a lot that is being calling on my door, is like people that they need support one-to-one, like more than just come to a session, you know, with something that they need more regular. So I've been supporting some people with this, some private ceremonies, and now the spring is coming. Now I'm coming back to open up with um events and courses for the community. And so, what's coming? It's an amazing uh well, it's a release of different events where it's all about uh initiating, as I was saying, about the end of the calabash. The calabash um is actually an African gourd, uh a vegetable, which spiritually represents uh the divine or the cosmic womb of creation, and is and is it is associated with the element of water. You can also play on water. So, what's coming next is uh bringing um basically a series of events where we're going to learn about the calabash and learn the ways of play the calabash, rhythms on the calabash, and also a lot of the work inside would be to connect with womb, heart, um, and also a lot of expression with movement. So that's one thing. Beautiful. There is a few things I'm doing outside as well, international. I still have my a little bit of space to do one-to-ones as well for people that they still need support in that way. I have a few collaborations that are coming as well soon. But yes, everything, you know, if if anybody that's listening feel like curious or interested, you know, and you're always welcome to approach me. And and I would be happy to, you know, um take anybody to a journey to see if uh there is there is a support you can have from from these practices.
SPEAKER_01:Beautiful. So I will share your details so people can connect with. Thank you so much. Um, so yeah, before we close, is there any kind of practice or something you want to guide us through, or something you want to share just to close?
SPEAKER_03:Yes, I would love to share a little heart-opening meditation with the drum. It's very, very simple, and it's something that you can do at home. You can listen to it or you can do it by yourself. And if you have a drum, you play you play a very simple rhythm, and that's the heart, heartbeat rhythm. And the whole the whole uh exercise is to really go deep into that connection with the heart. So we're using the drum to help us, but also visualization. So we're going to have a little journey which I will take everyone into connecting to our heart and the inner charm. Wonderful thing. Close your eyes and sit with your back straight if you can, and just take a few deep breaths and relax. Listen to the heartbeat on the drum. And we're gonna bring your right hand over your heart and your left hand on your womb. Bring all your awareness and presence in these two points. Take a deep breath into your heart. Exhale. Take a deep breath into your womb. Just allow the heartbeat to take you back to that original space and time inside your mother's womb. Just feel how your body relaxes, your breath deepens. And see your mom and dad sitting inside your heart. And they're both happy and in peace. They are safe, strong, and healthy. Give thanks for that. I'm taking a deep breath and inviting all our friends and all our loved ones inside our heart to sit together. So open up your heart bigger and bigger for everyone to come and see them all sitting inside. They're all smiling and they're all happy in peace with health and empowered. Take a deep breath and open your heart and now see everyone in the world. And invite everyone in a single world to come inside your heart to feel safe, to feel healthy, to feel strong, and involve everyone with your unconditional love. And now open your heart and invite all the animals, all of the plants, all the flowers, the waters, the stars, the sun, the planets, the universe. Invite everything in your heart and see everything in harmony. And now see yourself as a little girl, a little boy, see yourself as a child, and invite yourself into your heart. Come inside your heart, sit down, and you're surrounded by your father, your mother, your loved ones, all the world, all the animals, all the universe, and you're safe and happy, and you're strong and healthy. And hold this feeling inside your heart. And give thanks as gratitude. Opens the heart like a rose. Exhale and release. And check how you feel inside, how your heart feels. And in this state of joy and feeling yourself strong and happy, and in harmony with all your loved ones, surrounded by your loved ones, and in harmony with all the universe, all creation, connected by the heartbeat of the drum. Bringing your hands together. The mudra of Namaste as a sign of gratitude. Bring your head down, giving thanks for all the teachers that come into our life, all the good teachers and the hard teachers too. With gratitude to ourselves for holding us every day through the crazy life. We send your love and gratitude to our own self. May all my thoughts, words, and actions contribute to the happiness of all beings on the planet.
SPEAKER_01:Beautiful, amazing, incredible. Such, such a pleasure and an honor to have you with us today. Thank you for sharing that beautiful practice. Thank you for sharing your energy, your wisdom, your work, and just being here to spread out that healing love and vibration and sacred rhythm in the world. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.