Health Drumming

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Health & Wellness Drumming and Workshops

About Stephen Dolle:

Stephen is no stranger to alternative health and wellness. His involvement with nutrition, fitness, exercise therapies, meditation, and mind-body work dates back to the late 1970s. On the modern medical side, he spent 15 years in nuclear medical imaging, including, 10 years running his own company. He authored well over 500 diagnostic procedures, and clinically worked up over 10,000 patients for conditions ranging from cancer to thyroid disease. Since 1992, he has been active in neurological monitoring, brain related research, and music therapy research. He designed and patented related medical technology, has authored numerous scientific health papers, and has advised families in neurological care matters.

Musically, Stephen's experience spans piano, vocals, guitar, and percussion, and he has performed in film and on stage. He coached nine years of youth soccer and baseball, as well as mentored some children. He received his certification in drum circle facilitation from Arthur Hull in March 2006, and has been facilitating at educational, nature, health, community, and family venues. Because of his strong clinical knowledge of cancer, heart disease, and neurological disorders, and a lifetime spent in music, he can intuitively apply drum rhythms to help others with health issues.

Therapeutic Drumming for Health and Wellness

Wellness drumming has become widely recognized over the last 10 years due in large part to research supported by the Remo drum company. Using a mix of free-form and facilitated drumming, participants of clinical studies showed improved outcomes in cancer, gait disorders, and during periods of stress. Wellness drumming is primarily designed around the concept of "free expression," that a healthy expression of one's inner wants and needs leads to "brain wave entrainment," where the brain induces itself into harmonizing beta and alpha wave states. Brain wave entrainment occurs both in the individual participant, and within the group, where the group adopts a common and healthy brain wave pattern and bond of support. As a drum circle facilitator, Stephen regularly employs this facilitation method.

There is a second and more specialized approach to wellness drumming where the facilitator is able to "psychically read the health issues" of the participants of the group, and create and delegate rhythms to "effect" each individual in a manner the facilitator believes will create the best mind-body connection to heal their ailment. This method follows the concept that specific rhythms impart specific benefits to the mind and body. Both methods can aid individuals suffering from a variety of medical conditions, including cancer, and couples struggling with infertility. This latter method can offer success where the "free expression" method fails, and may be of particular use in sensory integration challenges with autism. Stephen has experience with this more specialized method.

Couples, Family, and Group Inter-personal Communications

Various individual and family therapy methods have been used over the last 50 years to open communications among couples, family members, parents, and children. These methods have included psychotherapy, individual and group counseling, visits from social workers, and workshops on everything from EST and Lifespring to dramatic acting and image consulting. As simple as it sounds, a well facilitated drum circle can open much needed dialogue within a couple, family, group, or community.

Family and group drum circles for inter-personal intervention are cost effective, non-threatening, long lasting, and strengthen mental health, not to mention its benefit to one's confidence and stress level. This circle follows the free-form or "free expression" concept of drumming, with limited and very observant intervention by the facilitator in fostering participants to express themselves. As in wellness drumming, the end goal is group brain wave entrainment, and it can take several sessions.

Agility and Movement Conditioning in Neurological Disorders

Using the body's sensory ability, participants can be taught to initiate precise physical movements to walk, talk, and perform specific actions - all using drum rhythms as cues. This method requires less of the brain's voluntary thought and cognitive centers, and more of the rhythmic ability of the body to create syncopation of voluntary action.

As people age, and similarly after a brain injury or onset of neurological disorder, precise voluntary control of actions like walking become compromised. Drum training can be done privately in one's home as well as in group settings. The participant is taught how to initiate action to the cue of a rhythm using the sensory system of their body. Participants are encouraged to pick a rhythm they can easily play, and be cued with either the upbeat or downbeat. Cues are carried out by tapping the hands, fingers, feet, and other body parts in accordance with turns, steps, and bending to pick things up. This is helpful in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS), post TBI, or stroke who have a lot of difficulty standing and walking. Those with autism will require more hands-on instruction.

For more information on these drum training methods, contact us by email or telephone.