TaKeTiNa. Yes. You *have* to try it.
I’m still reverberating from it. I went this weekend to Alameda, California for the third-year student training of TaKeTiNa.
Jokesters in Alameda, CA
John Fitzgerald of Remo generously offered to drive. I’m so grateful. Arturo Carrillo, a conguero, generously offered his place to stay. We met up with SUPER awesome, talented folks for dinner Friday night: Kathy Quain, Jeni Swerdlow, and John Niec. Look to the left to learn more about the jokesters I hung out with. Crazy times!
Now, let me paint you a picture of TaKeTiNa.
Imagine 3 hours of chanting, walking, and clapping in a repetitive drone-like fashion. Sometimes call and response, sometimes connecting with others through eye contact and high-fiving, sometimes sitting, sometimes lying down, sometimes walking. Everything happened in a nice, neat sequential way so as not to confuse our brains.
It was incredible. I kept dreaming of recording a video for you here on the blog, but it would not do it justice. You just have to try it in the flesh. We did 3 hours Friday, 6 hours Saturday, and 6 hours Sunday. Each third-year student had a chance to facilitate. Each session was special and beautiful.
The facilitators were from Australia, Germany, Switzerland, and the US. They all had unique talents to contribute to each experience.
We learned the steps, claps, and chants sequentially while a co-facilitating surdo player supported us. And then when we were ready, the facilitator brought out the call and response MUSIC with the berimbau. An incredible, out-of-this-world experience.
The coolest thing was that the founder of TaKeTiNa Reinhard Flatischler did not derive the chanting syllables from a particular culture or tradition. He just came up with them himself in a very matter-of-fact way. Each syllable is placed in a different spot inside the mouth, creating a circular pattern. I loved the element of detachment from traditions because I never felt strapped down to the years and years of practice and meaning and joy and pain from a specific culture that so often colors chants. It felt light and airy in that way. Although now Taketina has turned into a new culture of its own!
I’ve never experienced anything like TaKeTiNa, and I’m already looking forward to the next one! Have you ever had a meditative rhythmic experience like TaKeTiNa?
That sounds like an AWESOME experience!! I bet you left with so many incredible resources and ideas, not to mention completely renewed energy!
I had the opportunity to take the first level of Louise Montello’s Performance Wellness program and definitely left with similar feelings!
So glad you had such an amazing experience!
Wow I didn’t know you did Performance Wellness. I’d love to hear about that, too! Very cool.
It sounds like such a joy filled experience. Hope I can give it a try some day.
Hey JoAnn. Yes! I highly recommend it. They travel around, so maybe they’ll be in your hood sometime.
Kat- great to hear we have a taketina leader in SD. I love taketina and will taketina with you any day!
Hey Amy! I’m definitely NOT a TaKeTiNa leader =) But I went to check out the third-year students do their work. The training is a three-year process that I have not committed to….. yet =)
Ah, Ah, Ah-mazing Kat! Thank you for sharing this experience…it sound like nothing I have ever tried before. I will keep my eye/ears pealed for this on the East coast! PS. I just voted for “Drumming & Older Adults” for your next online course, although all the topics sound exciting! Thanks for all you do to support and energize our community Kat!
Thanks for the vote! =)
Kat, thank you for such a heartfelt and perceptive description you gave of your TaKeTiNa experience. I am an advanced TaKeTiNa teacher based in Honolulu. My workshop partner, Zorina Wolf, and I began studying with Reinhard Flatischler thirteen years ago and now give workshops around US throughout the year. Remaining in 2011 are November in Hawai’i and December in Washington state. We’d love to see you at one of these places and share this incredible work with you.
Wow! Great website, Deborah! Thank you for reaching out and connecting with me. Honored. I’d love to connect with you next time I’m in Hawai’i. Definitely!
i had a chance to experience Ta Ke Ti Na with Deborah in Hawaii during Arthur Hull’s Playshop about 10 years ago. It was an amazing experience and I have always wanted to be able to do it again.
Hi Bob – Thanks for sharing! I would love to experience TaKeTiNa with Deborah…
Hi Kat,
Thanks for sharing your experience. All of us teachers (Reinhard, Sabine, Tania, Andreas, Justine, and myself) really had a great time facilitating TaKeTiNa with the group.
The workshop was a hands-on training workshop for the 1st International Senior Training. We have been traveling around the world for a couple of years now, making workshops in different countries. The idea is to get experience leading many different types of people, and learn what is different and common among all of us. This training has been a tremendous and deeply rewarding experience, showing exactly how rhythm and music connect us in very deep ways.
We finish this 3-year-long senior training in December/January with a 36-hour, non-stop “meditation celebration” workshop at Zist, in Penzberg, Germany. TaKeTiNa is a great way for people to go beyond the limitations of rational thought, and this 36-hour set will be our “initiation” as facilitators to go deeper into the depth of this experience.
For those interested, there are four levels of training in TaKeTiNa: Basic, Advanced, Senior, and Master. The basic is 3-years of training, advanced is about 1.5 years, and senior is another 3 years. (For master-level, who can say, other than Reinhard).
Looking forward to sharing more TaKeTiNa in the future.
James. Wow. Thank you so much for sharing further insight about the TaKeTiNa experience. Love reading this! So informative.