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Local drum circle relieves

Bang the drum wholly

Gulf war veteran Bill Moore leads a drum circle aimed at relieving PTSD. Courtesy photo

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Bill Moore discovered something about playing bongo drums when some friends asked him to play with them.

It helped relieve his stress.

"By the end of the evening, I said, ‘I don't remember feeling so relaxed,'" Moore said.

Moore, a Gulf War veteran in the early 1990s, had been suffering from the Gulf War Syndrome, which is now called post traumatic stress.

"I didn't want that stigma," Moore said. "So I didn't really do anything."

Except play drums.

Now, 20 years later, Moore is helping others find relief from post traumatic stress by conducting drumming classes. On the third Thursday of the month, Moore has a drum session in Olympia for military veterans suffering from post traumatic stress.

Moore said that rhythm sessions can reduce stress and can stimulate growth and regeneration of certain functions of the brain. He said studies have shown that stress impacts the brain, shrinking the hippocampus, the part of the brain that decides whether you're in trouble or not.

"As that shrinks and tears apart that doesn't work any more," Moore said. "So, you aren't able to make the functional decisions."

Moore said that playing the drums stimulates the brain and forces it to fire signals again.

"What this is all about is to repair the damage," Moore said. "That way the body can regulate the body itself."

Seven years ago, Moore broke a vertebra when a scaffolding collapsed in a construction job.

"I knew my construction days were over for the rest of my life," Moore said.

So, he returned to school and got a degree from the Evergreen State College in mind-body medicine and graduated in June.

"They asked me what I wanted to study and I said this drumming has really helped my post traumatic stress," Moore said. "I'd like to help other soldiers."

In a brochure, Moore, who is a licensed recreational therapist, calls his program Soul Dance LLC. He said it's a way to take back control of your life. He said brain scans have shown that the brain regenerates after drumming sessions.

Moore's hour-long sessions begin with a 15-minute meditation. Then everyone plays a bongo drum for about a half hour. Everyone just beats out their own rhythm. There is no accompanying background music. Moore plays a steady beat, helping everyone find a rhythm.

"From the beginning we're set to our mother's heart rate, that steady rhythm," Moore said. "I set that steady rhythm. Sort of like their mother. That gives them something solid to hang on to."

Moore also has drumming sessions with a cancer retreat group and with a halfway house.

"Most doctors and therapists treat symptoms. But they don't rebuild the hippocampus," Moore said. "What this does (drumming) is rebuilds the neurons in the hippocampus, slows down the amigdala. So what this is all about is to repair the damage and that way the body can regulate itself."

Moore said drumming not only stabilizes but reverses the effects of chronic stress.

For more information go to outlawdrummers.com.

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