She’s big, she’s bold, she’s beautiful and the combination of sounds which emerge from her drum and her full throated voice catapult you within seconds into a faraway universe where you want to stay as long as possible. As she launches the session in Pune, it seems to me that I’ve been waiting for this moment for ages. As a psychotherapist as well as a music lover I had been trying to get her over to India for over a couple of years, to work with her, to learn more about the processes she leads, which I had till then only read about – processes leading to greater awareness, to creativity, and stillness in the head, while invoking an unusual level of togetherness between people. After several ups and downs including a fiasco concerning her visa to India, our mission is completed and I find Sabine at my doorstep, greeting me cheerily, one cool, sunny February morning.
Now, as fourteen of us group around the hall where the workshop in Bombay is held, Sabine leads us through an elaborate ritual which goes by the name of Taketina, developed by Austrian musician and composer, Rheinhard Flatischler. What makes it a challenge is the fact that the brain is having to cope with actions at three different levels: the hands, the feet and the voice, each of which, when done correctly works indirectly with the other, to produce an overall effect of beauty and harmony.
Our first attempt unfortunately is anything but harmonious. Our concentrated efforts to keep in line, to follow what Sabine is saying, our struggle to not fall out of step only lead to a jumble of movements and noise. It’s such a torture in fact, that a few of the participants, not having got the point, begin to even question the relevance of what we’ve been doing all day. It is only after the session has wound up, that many from the group begin to get a glimmer of what the whole exercise is about. The second morning, surprisingly, participants report a variety of experiences from being taken aback by vivid dreams which they’ve had during the night in which forgotten events and relationships have surfaced, to deep feelings of peace and a restful sleep at the end of the day. A rare treat for most of Bombay’s nervy natives. The biggest surprise is that having digested our utter failure of the previous day and learned from it, the group is really able to work in sync, with the handclaps, the feet and our voices blending in with each other exactly the way they should.
Among the benefits which the learning and practice of Taketina lead to, we discover, are the ability to stay focused for longer periods as well as the ability to develop perception at multiple levels. “It’s not so much about getting it right,” Sabine keeps emphasizing whenever she sees us determinedly stomp around, stumbling over their own feet in an effort to be perfect. “It’s about harmony in the group, it’s about listening, about paying attention to what is being done and said. Sometimes, it is better to keep quiet and refrain from doing anything rather than making the wrong move.
“Most of all,” she adds, if you really want to get it right, you simply have to let go of the mind, of all the thoughts which normally clog it. You can’t focus on the steps and the hand movements and singing together when the brain is overactive and living somewhere in the past or future.” This is easily verifiable – it’s a great form of meditation!
Sabine with the school children
A whole new area opens out to us during the two day workshop through Sabine’s invitation to create new rhythms and sounds, some of which work while others don’t quite. But the accent being on experimentation, mostly everything we do invokes heaps of laughter and a lot of fun.
For those of us who land up for the three day retreat organized by Basicindia at Timbaktu – the site of an NGO project two hours from Bangalore - the highlight is undoubtedly our getting together at night after dinner, under a crystal clear, starry sky. Sabine’s drumming and singing to which we gladly lend our own raucous voices and drum beats, invoke a strangely primeval atmosphere, bringing back the feel of similar nights from the hoary past when our tribal ancestors must surely have gathered together over a fire, for a night of music and dancing to deepen the bonds with each other. Besides, Sabine has a riotous time with the kids, during her daily trips to the school at Timbaktu. The little ones simply fall in love with her and her music, and she claims that they have been able to pick up the music and rhythms astoundingly quickly – much faster than we adults have been able to!
The challenge before us now is to take this work further in India and also to bring the lady back to India before too long, for another round of experimenting, of learning and some good old fun.
Uma
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