“Your store told me to come in.”

“Your store told me to come in.”
Is a refrain we hear a lot. From different kinds of people. Not just ethnic gift buyers, but also Millenials with their green drinks, city employees from SMPD and SMFD. Local trophy wives with their trophy children. The older SM residents who know us and smile as they come by to visit and marvel that we are still here after 33 years. Also wisened world travelers who sense the otherness in the shop. But once they are in the door, I chat them up, “You’re invited to our drumming meditation workshops.” They are usually intrigued, “I have never heard of drumming meditation!”
This is where I get them….”Here let me show you.” I murmur sliding behind my djembe and tambourine. I play a single downbeat in the middle of the drumhead. It reverberates through their body and their souls. The drum is special; carved just for us by Jumoke’s people in Ghana. The browsers smile with surprise, it is suddenly a very moving experience for them. “The floor is up off the ground, so we have subsonic resonance in this old Crsaftsman House.” I explain. “The first thing I said when I walked in here thirty one years ago was; This is a great drum room! It reminded me of the drum booths in all the major recording studios. They had to build those rooms to get the right drum sound. This room is perfect. It’s like playing inside an old Martin Dreadnaught guitar. I chat some more and settle into a quiet moderate groove as they experience the feeling that cannot be described in words. They usually go to trance in less than seven seconds. They then nod their heads, “Now I know why I came in here. I need this.” They may sit and play a drum for a few minutes. They invariably come back for the drumming meditation workshops and they often book private one-on-one sessions with us to use the drum to relax, clear out their mind and focus on their positive goals. I learn so much every time I do this. The Universe wants this download of consciousness to happen.