A small study conducted in Vienna has found that repetitive drumming combined with shamanic instructions induces specific subjective experiences.
“Shamanic journeys are associated with an ancient spiritual practice to reach shamanic trance states, typically described as ‘journeys to a non-ordinary reality,'” researchers Bruno Gingras, Gerald Pohler, W. Tecumseh Fitch wrote in their study, which was published in PLoS One. “The shamanic trance is generally described as an altered state of consciousness (ASC) associated with particular psychophysiological changes such as parasympathetic dominance.”
This shamanic trance state is often arrived at through the use of repetitive rhythmic drumming. (An example of such music can be listened to below.)
“According to shamanic practitioners, the first step in a shamanic journey consists in finding an entrance to the so-called ‘Lower World,'” the authors explained. “Once this entrance is found, the participant may encounter his or her ‘power animal’ or other ‘spirits,’ in what is often experienced as a lucid dream. At the end of the journey, participants are led back to ‘everyday reality’ by going back to the ‘entrance point’ and opening their eyes.”
For their study, Gingras and his colleagues recruited 39 people and had them listen to either repetitive drumming with verbal instructions for shamanic journeying, repetitive drumming with instructions for relaxation, instrumental meditation music with instructions for shamanic journeying, or instrumental meditation music with instructions for relaxation.
The researchers found a significant decrease in the concentration of the stress hormone cortisol among all of the groups after they listened to the music. But they found no significant difference between the cortisol levels of the four groups. In other words, listening to music appeared to reduce cortisol levels regardless of the type of music or instructions received.
The researchers did, however, find significant differences in the participants’ subjective experiences. Those who listened to repetitive drumming and instructions for shamanic journeying were more likely to experience a feeling of heaviness, a decreased heart rate, and dreamlike experiences than the other groups.
“These findings suggest that shamanic instructions combined with repetitive drumming may lead to a greater likelihood of subjective experiences associated with relaxation, decreased arousal levels, and dreamlike states, when compared to other musical styles or instructions,” they wrote.
“To be sure, these findings are far from conclusive, considering that we only compared drumming to meditation music, and a broader repertoire should be explored to fully investigate the impact of various musical styles.”
