new challenge

[joyce haviland]

Hello, I just joined and hope someone might have knowledge or experience of facilitating a drum circle where grief is the common thread. This particular group will be families and friends of service men and women who have died in Iraq or Afghanistan. jh

[Jennifer Walzer]

Hi,
The first thing that comes to my mind is Jim Borling's Conscious Drumming method. Here's the basic format:

*Find a reading that is meaningful to grief. From the reading create three questions. (For example when I learned this he used the Mandella speech; "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure..." Then he posed the questions: "Who are you, why are you hear, and where are you going.")

*Participants were instructed to consider the three questions. They were told that drumming would begin, and when each one is ready, they go to the center of the circle, pick up the talking stick and speak their truth. He also brought up that the Truth is generally spoken best with fewer words, so that people did not go to the center and talk for hours around what their Real Deep Truth is.

*When a person enters the circle, the drummers are lead (by you the facilitator) to play a simple heartbeat quietly so that the person with the talking stick can be heard.

*Once the person has spoken their truth, the drumming is started again (by you the facilitator) until the next person comes to speak their truth.

It would be important to be comfortable transitioning from the heartbeat to the jam. And usually the jam is a gentle, simple rhythm. The talking stick can be anything really. I think it's meaningful to make the talking stick sacred. I think he used a stick with a turtle shell.

I experienced this as a really powerful way for people to bring up Truths within themselves to be expressed. This method was in fact born during a Drum Circle following 911 so I believe it would be helpful for those grieving.