Drum Journey Mentoring

Drum Journeys are visualisations to create new insights, self-healing, and positive energy for transformation. The drum beat slows your brain waves down and allows you to connect to your deepest essence - some may call this your True Self or Spirit. On the journey, you work with your inner wisdom, which otherwise might be overpowered by your analytical brain. The journey method can unblock stuck energies and enable you to find your own answers and inner strength.

The method is inspired by the heritage and teachings of many native cultures - and it is still used in different formats all over the world. I offer two journey methods: 
Traditional drum journey mentoring, and Guided visualisation journeys
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Journeying is safe. We only journey to the realms of the light, where you can find healing, teaching and empowerment. 

Two options for your journey work

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Traditional Journey Coaching

You learn how to journey on your own - and we debrief your journeys together. Choose this option if you like to use journeying for your everyday life and as a part of your personal healing and development path. 

In the initial sessions, I will give you some information about the cultural (shamanic) background of journeying, and the 'best practices' of journey work. For example, you learn how to set clear intentions for the journey and how to interact with the experiences you have on the journey. You will usually do a power animal journey first, and then learn how to use your power animal outside of a journey situation (for example when you go to a difficult meeting - you can take your power animal with you...)

After this, you can go on journeys with your own intentions (you may ask for guidance, transformation, or direct healing on the journey). You are always welcome to come back for more journey work - specially if you are working on a major shift in your life and need somebody to support you. 

My role is to help you clarify your intention, drum for you and hold the sacred space. After the journey, I will listen to what happened and help you explore how you can integrate new insights or healing into your life. 

Guided Visualisation Journeys​

I act as your 'Sherpa' who guides you into the journey and supports you during the visualisation. Choose this option if you like to work on a specific issue or goal, or if you struggle to journey on your own.
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In the initial sessions you will journey to gather your inner resources and bring them into balance. This will help you with your goals and improve your further journey work. For example, you will journey to explore your Tree of Life, and to different spirit animals - which are part of yourself - and ask them for guidance and healing. 

After this, you can set your own intentions for your journeys. This can be learning more about a deep life question, healing a past experience, exploring  your purpose in life or stepping into your full potential. Or it can be something more practical; such ask asking for help with moving abroad or becoming a parent. 

My role is to drum for you and guide you on your journey. If I feel you are a bit stuck,  I may remind you to ask questions or express your feelings during the journey. For a great part of the journey, my role will be silently witnessing. After the journey, we will debrief and explore how you can make the best use of what you experienced on the journey. 

This work can help if...

• You are searching for a new path in your life and don't now where to even begin.
• You have been struggling with the same issue for a while, without making much progress. You are over-thinking things and cannot move on.
• You are going through a major life change, such as getting married, moving abroad or taking on a new job. You need some support for the transition.
• You suffered loss and can't move on. This may be emotional or physical loss: the ending of a relationship, the death of a loved one, loosing your job, etc.
• You suffered from trauma, feel let down or abused and need inner healing and empowerment.
• You failed and cannot forgive yourself.
• You would like to celebrate or reinvent yourself for a special occasion; for example, doing something special for your birthday or your retirement.

How does it feel to "journey"

​These visualisations might feel a bit like purposeful day-dreaming. For example, you may sense yourself going up a mountain and enjoying the view from up there, and suddenly, a hawk lands by your side and has an important message for you. Whether this winged friend is your inner wisdom who found a way to manifest itself, or indeed a spirit animal or helper does not really matter; as long as you gained new strength and insights on the journey. 
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​When we debrief your journey, I will not do any interpretation for you, but I may ask some reflective questions. This will help you make sense of what you saw, and decide on how to apply it to your life.

There is a special kind of journey work - Transformation Ceremonies - which I may suggest if you feel you are getting the same message again and again and feel a bit stuck. This work involves certain symbolic acts to empower change that was initiated on your journeys; for example, you may give away your inner barriers by dropping stones into a river.

Drum-Journey Mentoring: Examples

Inner Strength:
​Power Animal

Inner Power has nothing to do with external status or manipulating others. It is focused energy; the driving force of your Life, the petrol in your tank.
There are several reasons why you may lose  your inner strength. There are external influences, such as environmental pollution, and internal reasons, such as not living your purpose or blocking yourself.
It is quite normal to lose a bit of power every once in a while; we all can self-heal and have ways to regenerate it.
If you cannot regain your strength, you may feel tired or ill all the time. The world may look grey, people seem to annoy you, and you may have no perseverance at all. It may be tempting to engage in bad habits or addictions when feeling powerless, to try to 'fill the gap'. But bad habits dis-empower you even more. 
The simplest way of regaining some of your inner strength is retrieving your Power Animal. You can do this for yourself, on a guided drum journey, or I can do it for you. You then will learn how to work with your personal Spirit Animal in everyday life, exploring its qualities and teachings. 
All Power Animals that come to you are true teachers and helpers. ​

Self-Exploration:
​Medicine Wheel

The Medicine Wheel  is a map of the universe and a roadmap for your healing and development journey. The four main directions represent aspects of your life, which can be in harmony or out of balance. ​Exploring these dynamics can make you feel at peace with who you are and how you relate to the world. You may uncover sides of yourself which are not useful and can be given away.  Others are helpful and you want  to use them more.
An example; you may be strong in the East (developing lots of ideas and initiating new beginnings), but not so powerful in the West (failing to manifest your vision). If you notice such a dissonance, you can learn how to strengthen and integrate the different aspects of your life. The teachings can be very practical; for example, helping with problem solving and working through conflicts. 
The principles of the Medicine Wheel are reflected in many ancient societies:  the First Nation People of the Americas and Australia, the Jewish Kabbala, and the Wheel of Life of some Asian cultures. 
This work is also available for groups and families who would like to build a Medicine Wheel on their land.

Balance:
​Chakra Integration

Chakras are energy centres in your body that support you with different gifts: For example your base chakra helps you with grounding, and your throat chakra with communication and self-expression. They can get out of balance, for example your throat chakra might be blocked and you then find it hard find your voice and make it heard. 
In our coaching sessions, you can explore your chakras through guided drum journey work. In this meditation, you will find a specific Spirit animal or wisdom keeper in each of your chakras. Connecting to them and aligning them with each other will bring new insights. balance and healing.
Once you have found your 'team' of Chakra helpers and know how to work with them, you can visit them and ask for their advice for challenges of your life.
Chakra journeys are also appropriate for people who have been working with chakra healing for a while, and now would like to explore these concepts from a different angle.
This work is inspired by Steve Gallegos' method of the Personal Totem Pole. 

Example: Liz recounts herDrum Journey

Here is the account of a specific drum journey and how a client applied it to her life: 
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"The purpose of my meditation was to seek guidance on how I can find more clients for my catering business. When the drum started, I was guided to imagine myself walking in a lovely garden. I was told to look around to see whether I could find a bird or another animal, and sure enough, there was a Spotted Woodpecker. I introduced myself to the Woodpecker and asked him whether he could show me some answers to my question.
He invited me to come and fly with him, and we both took off high into the clouds. Up there, I saw a neon sign, bright with red and yellow colours. Nothing written on it though; it was just a blank board. Woodpecker told me to write my name on it. I did not know how to do this, and I asked woodpecker for help. He plucked one of his feathers and used it as a writing pen. His ink was a drop of blood that had come out from his skin when the feather was plucked. He gave me the feather and told me to write. I felt reluctant and shy to do it. Woodpecker kept encouraging me. Finally, I wrote my name on the neon sign, and it lit up even more and started to turn. Then I heard the call-back signal of the drum, Andrea told me to give thanks and say good-bye. Then I went back to the garden and into normal reality.

What did the Journey teach me?

I noticed that I had been reluctant to believe in myself before this meditation. Yes, I wanted to put my name ‘out there’, but I was not self-confident enough to really stand out from the crowd and believe in the quality of my offerings. Woodpecker taught me that I had to be more self-confident and really put more of myself - even a ‘drop of blood’ - into this business. This was a real boost for me. I keep imagining the neon sign and I still see it turning and shining up there - a good reminder that I ought to believe in myself".

The Power of Journeying

Here is the voice of a client who learned Drum Journeying at the Fireside Lodge, and then used it in his daily life: 

"Journeying has made a *colossal* difference to my life. I struggle to put into words how it’s helped my sense of wholeness, wellbeing, balance and purpose.
I had two big breakthroughs. The first was discovering how to journey to make friends with a specific part of myself which I struggled with. For example, I journeyed to make friend with the part of me that is unhappy, wants to be looked after, or hides from the world. 
The second big breakthrough, only in the last few months, is discovering Journeying to be available to a specific part of myself that I used to supress. For example, I want to be available:  to my deep sense of weariness, or to my feelings about a particular life change, or also to my joy without feeling guilty about it.
Both break-throughs have been huge. I feel so much better able to navigate the next few decades of my life.
So let me express my gratitude, and hopefully you’ve got a sense of why the words “thank you” aren’t enough for me."

Journey well!