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March/April 2004 Living Now
Got Rhythm? Wish you did?

by Zorina Wolf

How does rhythm relate to our everyday world? According to Reinhard Flatischler, the founder of the musical group process called TaKeTiNa, rhythm is an internal force that exists in the foundations of life (breathing and heartbeat). TaKeTiNa offers an experience of the interaction of pulse, breath, voice, walking and clapping which awakens our inherent rhythm in the most direct way through the body.

The world of rhythm archetypes is where the TaKeTiNa learning process begins. TaKeTiNa combines principles and techniques that can be applied to all kinds of learning situations, and, used in the right way, they can revive our primal fascination with the process of learning.

TaKeTiNa uses simultaneity as a way of re-triggering a body- based intelligence that understands orientations in time and space in rhythm. Participants stand together in a circle and are guided into simple stepping patterns with syllables that connect to their movement. After a period of time, the footsteps begin to "fade into the background" of our awareness. The next layer of information that is introduced is hand clapping. The claps are in a different rhythm than the footsteps and so cannot be "found" with the use of the voluntary mind. This can frustrate the normal patterns of learning. However, over time, while remaining in rhythm, another kind of knowing begins to assert itself. As the feet are stepping in one pattern and the hands clapping in another, the leader begins to sing in a call- and- response fashion…first singing in a way to stabilize these two different patterns in the body. Gradually the leader guides the group into more and more challenging calls that challenge the feet to stay in rhythm or the hands to continue clapping.

Through the challenges, participants can experience "safe" chaos. The leader will always bring the group back to known territory. Two things begin to happen: an individual’s own evolution and the other is the group or collective experience. The group can, as a whole, fall out of rhythm and comes back to balance again. They become more and more comfortable with this planned chaos, knowing that if they become confused that they will find their way back to balance again.

Participants begin to trust that they don't always have to "get things right"; they have time to find their own way and feel more patient with themselves. Whether a musician, a housewife, a truck driver or a corporate leader, everyone works at their own level, at their own pace.

But what could this possibly have to do with our world today? The musical evolution that takes place in a TaKeTiNa circle could be seen as a good training for life with its unpredictability and chaos. It has the possibility of opening our awareness to being rather than doing. The liabilities that limit us in this rhythm circle are reflections of the same things that limit us in life; trying too hard, needing to be perfect, fear of making mistakes. As we find our own way in rhythm we can relax some of the habits of mind that limit our perspective in life.

Experience the TaKeTiNa rhythm Process yourself through:

1. A 3-day workshop with Reinhard and Cornelia Flatischler March 27-29 at the Still Meadow Community. For workshop fees and information contact Niki Doering at 503-880-8556 or e-mail ndiam@hotmail.com
2. Open supervision sets with the teachers and students of the TaKeTiNa rhythm teacher training. March 31-April 2! Come and participate in the open rhythm laboratory. All sessions are free to the public! For information call Jake Stein at 503 –775-7982 or e-mail budhabear17@hotmail.com