Today, I got a 14 year old female to brake a mallet while drumming… it was literally her assignment. I wanted her to get into her anger and release it on the drum…Where else are girls (and women) in our culture allowed to express their anger in a healthy way and NOT be judged for it?
Well, at first she was scared, but I kept encouraging her… she eventually trusted me, and she opened her anger valve and LET IT OUT on the drum… oh man, the catharsis… just watching it… witnessing it… supporting it with my big bass drum matching her beat… the girl next to her also let loose and in tandem the POUNDED out their anger…
… and then the mallet broke!
I literally held both hands over my head like Rocky Balboa SHOUTING in joy for her, and the other girls were all as supportive. The two girls leaned back on the couch and exhaled… RELIEVED. The comments they made about feeling SO GOOD… you could see the endorphins flowing through them… their posture… their affect.. their breathing… their vocal tone and inflections…
PS… best part? We didn’t need to use words to process what they were angry about, who they were picturing as they pounded, etc… it had all been released, and discussing it would have literally brought it back! It didn’t matter. Non-verbal emotional expression. THAT’S THERAPY.
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