"Rhythm Healing": by Bill Moore

PTSD... Does Not Have to be a Life Sentence

Bill Moore - Former Army/Desert Storm

After participating in Desert Storm as a gunner on a Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle in the Army, my life started to go to pieces.  

I am a service disabled veteran, my marriage was falling apart, I hated myself, I had no friends, and my dreams terrified me so badly that I hated to go to sleep at night. 

I poured myself into my job as a pipefitter to try and divert my attention. I was too afraid to ask for help because of the stigma attached to soldiers with mental problems. I didn’t want to be labeled as “one of those people.” 

After nearly going through with suicide, I realized that I needed a change. The only thing that had stopped my attempt at suicide was that my daughter had come home when I thought she was to be gone. I couldn’t let her be the one to find me. I just wanted the pain to stop.

By shear chance, something new did come into my life. It was something that relieved my emotional pain and allowed me take out my frustrations in a constructive way. I started to feel something, besides the emotional pain. 

You may laugh, but it was Hand Drumming. I didn't want to try that airy fairy new-age crap at first, but when I got roped into trying it, by the end of the night, I felt calmer than I had been in years. The next day, I signed up for classes from a local instructor and I couldn't believe how it took the edge off. 

After a couple of years, I realized that most of my worst symptoms were now manageable. My teacher had me start working with the beginners. My students would come to drum class saying, "Wow, I couldn't wait to get to my weekly therapy." I realized then that others were having similar effects. These were just hard working folks that needed to relieve their stress from daily lives.

After 10 years of drumming and seeing how it helped everyone that would try it, I got the chance to go back to college under a VA vocational rehabilitation. 

When they asked me what I wanted to study, I said, "Music for PTSD." They thought I was crazy.  But now, after getting my BA in Mind/Body Medicine and Psychology, I can say there is a solid science behind it. 

I turned my thesis paper into a book to show all the empirical studies that have proven that something as simple as hand drumming can actually reverse the effects of PTSD.  It is not a quick fix, but it is a permanent one. 

I have now turned a passion for drumming with my PTSD clients into a business.  My life is back on track, I found the love of my life, and I now am happier than I have ever been.

There is hope. PTSD does not have to be a life sentence. Take the chance. Choose to heal and take back control of your life.

Bill Moore 

Works at SoulDance LLC
Attended The Evergreen State College
Lives in Olympia, WA

[Former Army - Desert Storm]

Bill's Website

About the Book

PTSD, Trauma, and Chronic Stress have been shown to damage vital parts of the brain which influence cognitive ability, proper chemical and electrical functioning levels in the body, and destabilize our genes.

Rhythm has scientific evidence to show it can reverse the effects of that damage. This is an in-depth look into what stress does to the body and how rhythm can be used to improve and even reverse the damage.

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“I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do, and by the grace of God, I will.” ~Everett Hale