Celebrating Life

Advent & Christmas Stories

Daily Life

Love's Counterfeit

Coping with Dementia

Conquering Despair

Encouragement

Religious Understanding

Family Stories

Stories of Friendship

Valentine & Beyond

Marriage Encounter

Healing Music

Promoting Peace

School Days

Social Responsibility

Overcoming Trauma

Traute Klein Background

Healing Hug Guestbook

To send me your own Healing Hug story, email me by clicking on the mailbox graphic.

Webmaster's Bio
Meet Traute Klein, biogardener.

Related Articles

The Healing Drum

by Traute Klein, biogardener

The steady beat of the drum unites with our heartbeat to release tension and to bring peace and healing. This form of emotional healing has been practiced in many cultures and it is still effective today.

Note: Recent events call for emotional healing more than ever before. I share my story of healing to encourage you to explore a method which has helped to bring peace to troubled souls and to feuding tribes.

A Place for Women

I found the North End Women's Centre shortly after my life had fallen apart as a result a disabling car accident. I knew no one at the centre, and no one knew me. That suited me fine. I did not want people to see my pain. I would drop in, pick up some used clothing, look around, and disappear. Gradually I noticed that the other women who came around were also hurting. It showed in their eyes, in their body language, in the tone of their voice. I was not alone. Some of these women were receiving free counseling. I was not ready to talk. What would I have talked about? I had no idea what had caused the trauma, because I had blanked out the experience right after I reported it to the police.

Information Sessions

When the Centre sponsored information sessions, I attended as many of them as I could. I don't really know why, but I felt comfortable at this place where I was able to hide as a stranger among strangers, where no one knew me as I had been in my pre-accident years. One information session touched me deeply. It took place on the parking lot on a warm June afternoon. Mae Louise Campbell, a native elder, had brought the women of her drumming circle, "The Daughters of the Dream Drum," to demonstrate a drumming session. She also explained to us why the women called themselves by that name.

The Dream Drum

An Ojibway woman had received the purpose of drumming in a dream revelation. She had learned that women need to unite in drumming to bring peace to their warring tribes. Women would have to take the initiative to bring peace, because the men were too busy feuding. She was given exact instructions for the construction of the community drum. She got the women of her tribe together to build the drum, and when it was finished, friends and enemies alike were invited to come and drum together. As the rhythm of the drum united them, the two tribes made peace. I have written about this in my article "The Peace Drum" which is linked below.

The Healing Drum

During Mae Louise's presentation, I found myself wishing that I were in the circle, drumming with the other women. When we started our own drumming circle, I became one of the founding members. Our North End drumming circle does not have a functioning community drum, but we have a large collection of hand drums and various rhythm instruments from many places of the earth. As we join together, the beat of the drums and the beat of our hearts unite. As peace settles over the room, women whose nerves are all tied in knots let go and relax. Healing flows from the drums to our hearts and from woman to woman. I find myself relaxing and falling asleep during most sessions. That is exactly what I need, because the trauma of the accident has left me with a sleep disorder which makes peaceful rest difficult. Women soon started to bring their children along to the drumming sessions. I love to see a calm settling over a group of squirming restless children. I remember one girl, about 9 years old, who was as tense as a bowstring the first time she joined us. She sat beside me as she beat her instrument so hard that I was sure she would damage it. She was also incapable of keeping the same beat as the rest of us, because she was not listening. Month after month, I watched her relax her grip on the instrument, treating it a little more gently each time. Now, a year later, she has learned to join the beat with the rest of us. She is a different girl. She has even learned to smile. Who knows what trauma she had experienced which created the tension in one so young? I am happy that the steady beat of the drum has brought peace to her tortured soul.

Healing Rhythm

All my life, I have found healing in music, especially in singing, because I would rather sing than do almost anything else. Now I know that there is also healing in the steady beat of the drum, the healing drum.



Healing Articles

The Peace Drum
Drumming together leads to peace among warring tribes. This article links to other articles on Aboriginal culture.
Music which Touches the Soul, J. S. Bach
A teenager receives healing through the heavenly music of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Healing Touch
The story of a chiropractor who understand that healing comes from the heart.
A Physician with Heart
When medical science has no answer, a hug can reach into the darkness of a hurting soul.