"TaKeTiNa is a practice that allows you to reconnect with the healing powers of rhythm and primordial motion. Like yoga, it is a pathway to something much bigger than musical or physical dexterity. It is a rhythmic route to integrating mind, body, and spirit for vibrant peace and wellbeing.
In the TaKeTiNa process you learn at your own pace, layering multiple rhythms in your body using steps, claps and voice. You learn to consciously let one hand be passive while actively moving the other. You can be simultaneously tensed for activity and deeply relaxed. TaKeTiNa gives you access to profound stillness in movement." ~quote from Reinhard Flatischler's Yoga of Rhythm Workshop 2013
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Why I Fell In Love With Taketina
TaKeTiNa has been established in Europe for over 40 years by its founder Reinhard Flatischler. I happened to hear about it through a friend in my west african drumming class. We were preparing for a recital performance and I was finding it challenging to sing and play djembe at the same time. I told my friend in class about my struggles and he suggested I check out TaKeTiNa. Years later after I had moved to the bay area, I finally found a TaKeTiNa class to attend. I instantly fell in love with the musical process! Falling into rhythm through vocalizations, stepping, and clapping was extremely exhilarating. It evoked a deep joy singing and grooving in the beats. Feelings of inadequacy, lack of skill and a sureness of my inability arose when I fell out of the rhythm, mis-stepping or clapping in the wrong place. What was strange and completely radical was that "falling out of rhythm" was not a problem, no one was scolded, and in fact we were all encouraged to allow the "falling out" as part of the natural process of how humans more effectively learn rhythm! As my colleague, Amy Jackson from Drum Rise explains: TaKeTiNa is not about linearly learning to do something right. It is a non-linear process in which we are guided into alternately finding and losing our orientation, both actively and passively being in rhythm. |
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In such a space, we can explore the fluctuation between confusion and clarity, chaos and order, the known and the unknown. From the inside and in our own time, we begin to sense shifts in our very relationship to time and space." I would also add that our very relationship to chaos & order and the known & unknown also fundamentally can change. Instead of fearfully avoiding chaos and the unknown TaKeTiNa actively creates the opportunity to experience flow and the ability to relax with both spontaneous challenges in the rhythmic field as well as offering experiences where one may sinecerely feel that they are somehow carried by the river of life. And yes indeed I did experience a different relationship to time and space in TaKeTina...rhythmic patterns sometimes seemed more accessible. I stressed less when learning new rhythms. Moreover I was cultivating a different relationship to myself. Being encouraged to allow explorations with such a radical mindset activated a strong experience of compassion in action. This is profound medicine for my soul that has at times brought me to tears....melting years of self imposed judgement and inner harshness patterns. Having a strong active mind, this moving rhythmic meditation would leave me with a deep feeling of inner peace and quiet. And all of this happening through the joy of movement and sound! I hope you join me for a class so you too can experiment with and experience TaKeTiNa. ~Rachael Shishido |
Videos on TaKeTiNa:
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