Customer Reviews

Take Your Body With You: Shamanic drumming and journey CD.

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I now exclusively use "Take Your Body with You" CD by Jan Engels-Smith for all my healing sessions. Even clients with no journey experience are able to have profound engagement with Spirit when this music is the foundation of a session. The aboriginal blend of pulse, sound, and calls opens doorways to other realms that beckon spiritual seekers of all abilities.

Let me say first that the rattle work in this effort is excellent. Strong and steady, very competent. The drumming, however, comes across as amateurish at best. The various drums never seem to be quite in synch with each other and that creates a bit of stress for the listener who is left waiting in vain for the drummers to pick a rhythm they can all agree on.

Given that its stated purpose is to get people up and moving, it may work better in a group environment with a lot of room to move around. But for a more satisfying experience I would recommend people give "Shamanic Journey Drumming" by Spirit Passages/Evelyn Rysdyk a try before this one. Peace.

The first time I heard the CD was to journey. The rhythm of the drumming was different than other recordings I had used. The images I had were much more vivid and alive. Then I put the recording onto my iPod and I thought my ears were playing tricks. I heard chanting in the background, as if I was in an ancient circle surrounding a fire and the ancestors were in ceremony. Tears came to my eyes, not in sadness, but in comfort and joy. I asked Jan about it the next time I saw her and she said the participants had not made those sounds, that they were picked up in the recording studio. The ancestors had apparently made an appearance. I listen to the recording while I'm walking or hiking, while I'm driving, writing, creating, and even when I'm cleaning the house. It always takes me to places far beyond and at a much deeper level than my typical thoughts.

When I first listened to the finished product (TYBWY), I have to admit I was exceedingly skeptical about whether this would be a useful journeying tool for me. This response surprised me, given that I was one of the people who helped channel and create this piece of work in the studio (on the rattles).

Like many of us western journeyers, I was so engrained in the "typical" rapid drum beat we have been conventionally trained with that the unique earthy quality felt so unusual as a vehicle for journeying. Then, one of my colleagues and I (another collaborator on the CD) were doing some work together and decided to use TYBWY. I had one of the most extraordinary shamanic journeys that led to a whole different style of journeying for me.

This CD creates a powerful energetic field that draws the journeyer into a very organic, earthy, indigenous essence. Right from the very beginning, with Jan's ethereal calling in of the spirits, you know you have stepped into a very different realm of journeywork. It compels moving journeys, not the usual basic lay-down-on-the-floor journeys-- dancing swaying active journeys. For me, it propelled me into a realm where I had new access to benevolent earth and ancestor spirits that showed me things kinesthetically, allowing their wisdom and healing power to come in through the movement of the body, accompanied with the rhythms of spirit. A connection with an ancient, universal power, a visceral walking, dancing with the spirits is inspired by this CD. Fresh wisdom feels immediately accessible, in a way unlike any other I have experienced.

I personally use the CD to enhance creative ability. I put it on when I am writing, driving, or sometimes just listening in the house. It stimulates creative thinking! The CD seems to open different portals that align with extraordinary reality! The rhythm gets the creative juices flowing. If I use the CD for classic journey info, meaning I ask a question and journey for an answer, I often sit up and start to write. The information comes easily. If I have it on in the house playing as background music I find it very relaxing. I like this CD very much! It feels good!

It starts off well and you feel you can drift to another plane or your body dance to the rhythm; then, the drumming becomes monotonous - drones on and on repetitively seemingly one note until it becomes tedious and wearisome. Kudos though that they were able to carry on this drumming for such a dreary mind-numbing length of time.