Exploring Shamanic Journeying: Repetitive Drumming with Shamanic Instructions Induces Specific Subjective Experiences but No Larger Cortisol Decrease than Instrumental Meditation Music

<div><p>Exposure to repetitive drumming combined with instructions for shamanic journeying has been associated with physiological and therapeutic effects, such as an increase in salivary immunoglobulin A. In order to assess whether the combination of repetitive drumming and shamanic instructions is specifically associated with these effects, we compared the effect of listening to either repetitive drumming or instrumental meditation music for 15 minutes on salivary cortisol concentration and on self-reported physiological and psychological states. For each musical style, two groups of participants were exposed to two conditions: instructions for shamanic journeying or relaxation instructions. A total of 39 participants (24 females) inexperienced in shamanic journeying completed the experiment. Salivary cortisol concentrations were measured before and after exposure to music. In addition, participants filled out a mood questionnaire before and after the experiment and completed a post experiment questionnaire on their experiences. A significant decrease in the concentration in salivary cortisol was observed across all musical styles and instructions, indicating that exposure to 15 minutes of either repetitive drumming or instrumental meditation music, while lying down, was sufficient to induce a decrease in cortisol levels. However, no differences were observed across conditions. Significant differences in reported emotional states and subjective experiences were observed between the groups. Notably, participants exposed to repetitive drumming combined with shamanic instructions reported experiencing heaviness, decreased heart rate, and dreamlike experiences significantly more often than participants exposed to repetitive drumming combined with relaxation instructions. Our findings suggest that the subjective effects specifically attributed to repetitive drumming and shamanic journeying may not be reflected in differential endocrine responses.</p></div

Spectrograms of the music excerpts.

<p>A) Instrumental meditation music excerpt. B) Repetitive drumming sequence. Both stimuli end with a 30-second rattle callback. Darker areas correspond to a higher level of energy.</p

Frequency of affirmative responses to the five items of the experience questionnaire.

<p>*Number of participants for each experimental condition in parentheses.</p

Mean pre- and post-experiment scores for the subscales of the multidimensional mood questionnaire.

<p>Standard deviations are indicated in parentheses.</p

Spectral features and rhythmic characteristics of the music excerpts.

<p>Standard deviations are indicated in parentheses. For the rattle callback, the tempo was calculated only for the middle section given that the beginning and end of the callback were irregular.</p

Mean pre- and post-exposure salivary cortisol concentrations for each of the four experimental conditions.

<p><i>Shamanic</i>: Instructions for shamanic journeying. <i>Relaxation</i>: Instructions for relaxation. <i>Repetitive drumming</i>: Repetitive drumming sequence. <i>Instr. meditation music</i>: Instrumental meditation music excerpt. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean.</p

Variable importance according to random forest model.

<p><i>Footnote.</i> Numerical values represent % increase in mean squared error if variable is omitted from model and hence higher values mean greater importance. Note that the model predicting general musical sophistication did not use the subscale scores for music training and active engagement.</p

Pearson correlations across 379 local authorities between median weekly gross income and the subscales of the self-report inventory as well as the performance scores from the listening tests.

<p><i>Footnote</i>. Pearson’s correlation coefficients and adjusted R² values from a linear regression model having only weekly income (in addition to an intercept) as predictor. *indicates a p-level of <.05 and ** a level of <.01.</p

Correlations between subscales from MEQ and Gold-MSI.

<p>Footnote. Values of Pearson’s correlation coefficient are reported for correlations between the six dimensions (rows) of the Music Experience Questionnaire (MEQ) and the 5+1 dimensions of the Gold-MSI. * indicates a p-level of <.05 and ** a level of <.01.</p

Correlations between sub-scales of the self-report inventory and performance on the two listening tests.

<p>Footnote. Sample sizes differed slightly between bivariate correlations from the online sample and ranged from n = 136,924 to n = 139,062. Sample size for the test-retest sample was n = 34.</p