A Simple Drum Meditation for Releasing Energetic Blockages

One of the best things we can do for ourselves not only as psychic practitioners, but as humans dealing with the ups and downs of life on earth, is to learn how to care for our energy bodies through releasing emotional blockages. This is one of the most basic functions of any kind of psychic healing work, and even if we do not have the luxury of having acquired fancy Reiki attunements, or extensive knowledge of energy work, there are some simple techniques we can use to help ourselves tune up our systems and keep our energies flowing freely. Chakra meditations are a great start, but today, I’m going to teach you a highly effective alternative to this: a simple shamanic drum meditation.

Before we get into the exercise itself, we’ll need to go over a bit how the energy body works. Our energy body, or aura, as per its metaphysical definition, constitutes the bridge between our physical body and the spiritual dimension. It is a multi-layered energetic emanation of sorts, that encompasses not only what might loosely be termed our “life force,” but the imprints of our thoughts and emotions as well as our physical state and bodily functions. Many illnesses that end up manifesting in our physical bodies have their origin in changes and blockages of energy flow within the aura, often stemming from mismanaged or unhealed emotional processes. This is why releasing these blockages is so important. 

One fascinating thing that I have noticed in my decades of practicing energy healing is that often, when we have a traumatic experience that we do not release through properly expressing our pain, the ensuing emotion will embed itself in our bodies, forming an energetic blockage, sometimes for so long that we forget what actually caused it in the first place. 

I remember the first time one of my best friends, Anneli, gave me a Reiki healing when we were roommates in college. I sat in a chair, and she held her hand on my back for about ten minutes. I felt nothing. Zilch. I was starting to get bored, and to wonder if the whole thing was just an expensive hoax. Then, all of a sudden, I felt a twinge in my back, almost like someone had pinched me. (She hadn’t.) "Ow!" I winced. Then, at once, an overwhelming flood of emotion overpowered my senses, out of nowhere. I bawled my eyes out, with no idea where the emotion was coming from, or what had caused it. It kept going and going. By the end of the cathartic session, I felt lighter on my feet, energized and relieved. Anneli had helped me release an energy blockage that had become dissociated from its instigating event.

While there are many excellent books written on energy healing, such as Barbara Brennan’s “Hands of Light” and Amy Wallace’s “The Psychic Healing Book,” the best way to learn about energy healing is through practice. You do not need special attunements to do energy healing work! While I encourage you to read as much as you can and make use of the chakra meditations I have posted earlier in my blog, which are a solid foundation for this type of work, the drum meditation I will share today is a great way to familiarize yourself with what releasing energy blockages can feel like. It will help sensitize you to your own energy body, and teach your brain to tune into your subtle sensations. (It's also a great cure for tension headaches and lack of sleep!) Are you ready? Here is what you will need to do.

1. Find a recording of a steady shamanic drum beat, between 20 and 40 minutes long. The more boring, the better. I do not recommend using one of the more “New Agey” ones couched in “pretty” synthesizer padding. You need something that will profoundly tire out your brain. Sandra Ingerman, for instance, has some good ones available, with rattles and whistles. You can find them online. You can even download shamanic drumming apps for your phone!

2. Set up a way to listen to this track on headphones. If you can listen from your phone, which you can keep in your pocket, it will have the additional advantage that you can get up and move towards the end of the meditation, if you feel like it.

3. Headphones on, lie down in a comfortable place, close your eyes, relax, and begin the drum track. Keep your eyes closed. Try to empty your mind. Your brain will probably start out with some resistance to listening to something so relentlessly monotonous. Go with the flow, but do not stop the meditation. Your brain will eventually give in, and shift to a different wavelength.

4. Turn your attention to your body, and tune into how you are feeling. Can you sense where you are harboring tension? Mentally scan each area of your body in turn for any discomfort. Pay attention to your shoulders, your arms, your face, your stomach, your throat, your knees, your legs, your feet, your toes… When you locate an area where you are holding tension, breathe into that area, and try flexing, vibrating or shaking it off until you feel a release. You can also squirm, change the position of your body, rub, massage, or hold your hand over any area that feels "asleep." Breathe deeply. You will probably notice you are carrying tension that you didn’t even realize was there.

5. At some point, if you stay focused and keep releasing the physical tension as you notice it, you will also start to feel repressed emotions welling up. You might feel an urge to laugh, cry, groan, yell, snarl, sing or giggle. Whatever comes up, allow yourself to express it as fully as you can. Let it all out, and keep breathing deeply as it all bubbles to the surface. Keep going until you feel the emotions have all been released.

6. When you feel you have exhausted all of the pent up emotion, and released as much of the physical tension through vibrating and shaking as you can, you will probably experience a rush of energy. Your body will be warm and tingling. If you feel moved to do so, get up and dance. Move your body in ways you haven’t done in a while. Stretch out. Shake your behind. See how you carry yourself differently. Express yourself through movement and sound. Sing if you feel inspired. Keep breathing deeply and moving your body until the drum track ends. 

How do you feel now?

Congratulations, you have just released ossified emotional blockages, and done an energy healing on yourself!

P.S. Since posting this meditation, people have brought to my attention similarities between this and holotropic breath work. It's true that there are similarities to that, and also to other techniques such as Osho's technique of dynamic meditation. While I arrived at the drum meditation exercise described above independently and instinctively, it goes to show how universal certain principles of energy healing can be. These techniques work!