An interview with Lauren Monroe, Co-Founder of The Raven Drum Foundation

August 2002

The following dialogue was conducted with Lauren by Kevin Stein in July, shortly after she and Rick returned to Los Angelesfrom their first Raven Drum U.K. trip. 

How did the Raven Drum Foundation come together?
Raven Drum came together naturally in response to Rick and I meeting. It brought together our desire to create a community of people who have found the arts as a path for healing and empowerment, and to provide a service of education and support for others.

What is Energy Medicine?
Energy Medicine is branch of the "alternative" healing field that embraces various types of healing practices that involve working with the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual components of a human being through addressing subtle energy. This method of medicine works from the perspective the multi-dimensional human, using different forms and frequencies of energy for both diagnosis and treatment of illness.

Tell us about the massage therapy program you developed at Boulder?
The Energy Medicine Program I created for the Boulder College of Massage is a comprehensive 200-hour certification that involves the study and practice of various energy based healing modalities and philosophies. Some of the courses offered were Qi Quong, Shiatsu, Yoga, Healing Touch as well as dance and movement classes that were created around experiencing subtle energy and deepening intuitive skills. The one required course of the program is Energy Medicine 1. It is a basic course teaching the principles of energy medicine such as energy anatomy, intuitive practice and application. Movement, Visualization and Sound are all a part of this initial course. It is a very inspiring program, I've wanted everyone I know to experience it. I will be teaching EM1 to Raven Drum Teachers at the first level of their teacher training.

How does your academic training influence your work with Raven Drum?
Never really thought about that before. It is interesting because I engaged in an academic path as a frustrated seer looking for a way to communicate my experience of the world. What I lacked was language, and living an academic life in a sense gave me the opportunities to research various paths of knowledge that gave me that language. It's been important for me to share what I am able to see and experience in the abstract and direct others on how to experience this path as a resource of empowerment for themselves. My entire journey through academic study is very much a part of my work with Raven Drum. But, the words and the language are only keys that lead us to the initial doors of understanding. The doorways are opened through our the experience of what language can not provide.A familiar Knowing, without time, without division. The intellectual stage is a place a way people can begin to understand with their minds, but the experience of what we are doing is completely a heart experience. That is what makes it empowering.

How did the idea for the Artists Collective evolve?
The idea for the artists collective evolved through Rick and I wanting to bring all of the amazing people we know together and to reach out into the community. We all had a similar vision of Artists Teachers and Healers all creating together to make a difference and that's really how everything began. It's been a very natural evolution and now we have been meeting more amazing people from different places of the world who share the same vision.

What role will music play in Raven Drum activities?
Music plays a major role in all aspects of Raven Drum. It's the magic carpet, the vehicle that takes us on the journey. We use it in every program and gathering. It is the universal language that can reach all of us. We direct the musical elements of sound and silence as a path for healing in every activity.

Rick has often cited the importance of preserving indigenous cultures for the healing arts. How do these native traditions inform the work of Raven Drum?
Native indigenous teachings lead us to finding the deepest knowledge within ourselves. Their practices and ceremonies take us out of our routined mind and into the abstract territory of our spirit. It is with this intention we listen to the knowledge of the ancients and work within the artistic medium to heal ourselves and one another.

What typically happens in an Energy Medicine workshop?
What typically happens in a EM workshop is that people begin to reacquiant themselves to their own inner landscape. Through guided visualization, breath work, sound and movement, participants revisit subtle aspects of themselves for the first time. There is a great deal of individual work as well as group discussion and activity. The EM course supports the personal growth and awareness of each person and allows everyone to work within their own limits and capacities.

How do you incorporate dance in your workshops?
In the most general sense dance is used in circles and workshops as a way to enter into or deepen a meditative state. It's used to move energy, to direct it and to help facilitate change in the body, mind and spirit. Dance is used for release as well as for harnessing energy into a place of conscious rest. It is our body's prayer without words.

What is sacred dance?
Sacred dance is moving with divine intention. It is moving with an open-ness and oneness in the moment. It is how the spirit moves and how the body follows.

What are you and Rick doing during your trip to England?
While we were in England we presented a demonstration of a Raven Circle pilot program for teens fighting cancer. We worked with several patients at the new Teens Cancer Care facility at Weston Park Hospital in Sheffield. It was a fantastic day. The nurses and Administrators of the hospital were drumming too. It was the first of many programs we hope to offer in England. Because of the overwhelming response, the UK chapter of Raven Drum is now in it's beginning stages of creation.

How can interested individuals get more involved in Raven Drum?
Individuals can get more involved with Raven Drum by simply spreading the word right now. Buy a Raven Drum t-shirt and bring an awareness to the world of who we are and what we are striving to do. A collective consciousness is very important for us since our vision is so huge. We would love to have ongoing programs in as many places as we can. We are focusing on raising the money we need to train teachers and then send them into the world to offer programs to others. Individuals can get more involved by spreading the word to other conscious people who can contribute as founding members. We are looking to gather enough funds to set 2003 programs into action in CA, NY and various locations in England. People can get involved by helping to promote or support our vision.

Are there any books and/or recordings that people can get into to learn more about shamanism, healing and art?
A few books I would recommend for beginning reading into shamanism, healing and art would be:
The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner
The Shaman's Path edited by Gary Doore
Why People Don't Heal by Carolyn Myss
Anatomy of the Spirit by Carolyn Myss
Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukof
The Way of the Drum by Buddy Helm
Healing Sounds by Jonathan Goldman
Planet Drum by Mickey Hart

Who are your creative influences?
I don’t have any, but I’ve tried to make some up in the past. It’s really just the nature of all things. People always ask me my artistic influences, but favorite artists, etc. but I really am just inspired by life, itself.