You might already have gathered that the activity level in my life strongly resembles a 5-ring circus featuring rabid elephants, but every now and then even I break away. One of the few things that makes me put down my whip, chair, and rabies release form for the audience is TaKeTiNa, a practice that allows participants to learn on multiple levels simultaneously – about rhythm, learning, and being in the world.
On the observable level, we’re creating polyrhythms with our feet, hands, and voices. We begin by grounding into the space and becoming still in a circle. We gradually begin speaking a mantra of meaningless syllables, for example ta ke ti na, ta ke ti na, ta ke ti na…gradually a surdo (drum) joins in to reinforce the beat and a pattern of footsteps is superimposed on the syllables. This is followed by clapping or the use of a caxixi (rattle), and finally the syllables are replaced by the use of call-and-response speaking and singing of other syllables (which have no more meaning than the originals). Sound like a brainteaser? It’s not. Try to use your brain on this much at all and you’ll be totally exhausted and frustrated. The point is to leave the mind out of it – go out of your mind and get into your body for a while.
What’s the point of stepping and clapping and chattering out meaningless syllables for three days, you may wonder? Well, the most obvious benefit is for the musician who learns constructive new ways to be with rhythm. The lessons about the learning process – learning to identify and honor our own needs and pace as learners, and to be patient and gentle with ourselves, no matter what the voices in our heads tell us about it all – are applicable to everyone. And there’s another level too.
Whatever the patterns are that hold a person back, they are very likely to show up at some point during a TaKeTiNa workshop. If you listen to those destructive voices too much, they’re going to show up. If you never take time to rest, that will show up. If you are a perfectionist, a people-pleaser, or an inveterate caretaker of everything and everybody, it will show up. And the great part is it’s all okay…no, really. It’s seriously okay.
Losing the rhythm is fine. Making a “mistake” is great. Getting totally confused is wonderful. In fact, if you’re like me and find it relatively easy to train your body to step in five, clap in four, and speak in heaven-only-knows-what simultaneously…you need to get creative and deliberately get out of the beat. Leaving the beat, coming back…getting it, not getting it, getting it back…knowing what you’re supposed to do and not being able to do it…not having any clue what you’re supposed to be doing but somehow discovering that your body is doing it anyway! It all happens and it’s all great, because (a) absolutely everyone is in a learning process with their own struggles and has excellent grounds to relate, and (b) you’re in a high-acceptance, zero-pressure zone where it’s okay both to have challenges and to experiment with different ways of meeting them.
I may soon be writing on the more personal level about what I got out of this weekend, but if you want to know more already about just what this TaKeTiNa stuff is all about and what chances you can have to try it out, try these links: for more information on TaKeTiNa, visit http://www.taketina.com/engl/main_n.htm. For information on the weekly Palo Alto practice groups and Bay Area workshops, visit http://villageheartbeat.com/taketina.html.
