Taiko Drumming with PJ Hirabayashi
The Bachi, Odaiko, and the Portal!
BY SMITA GARG, Ed.D.
This story would be incomplete without my mention of how PJ and I met and gradually bonded. This is equally a tribute to our mutual friend and sister Amari Thomas, who brought us together through her Wisdom Revealed program.
WHEN PJ AND I MET!
I knew I was going to meet PJ much before I ever met her. I just did not know when and how it was going to happen. I had heard her name in reference to San Jose Taiko. I heard her name very often once I joined the San Jose Arts Commission. I really wanted to meet her in person. There was something within me that called out to her.
Then one day, I attended an event organized by Amari. At the event, Amari announced the names of all the invitees and one of them was PJ. I got excited. I had no idea that PJ was Amari’s friend! I was finally going to meet her! She was in the room and I just had to find her. I really did not have to work hard at locating her, as she came gently towards me with my name tag and some other items Amari had put aside for me. She handed all the items to me and we had soon introduced ourselves to each other.
We remained a little formal and cordial until our second or perhaps even third meeting, mostly at gatherings organized by Amari. We slowly opened to each other. The first thing I remember as we started to connect more, was the warm, comforting feeling of having arrived home. I started to distinctly feel how much PJ reminded me of my eternal home. It is difficult to verbalize that feeling and all I can say is that when I am with her, I experience my soul self, and sometimes that means being in a place of wholeness and wordlessness. I know she understands exactly what I mean, and knowing that she gets it, is immensely comforting to me.
As PJ and I connected deeply, I began to learn more about TaikoPeace. I have clear memories of that lovely day in summer of 2019, when we sat in Roy’s Station Coffee & Tea, drinking our teas. She eagerly shared with me her vision of TaikoPeace and the revelation she had just experienced at an event at Stanford, a lightbulb moment around the word PEACE: Partnerships, Empathy, And Creative Empowerment. I was really inspired by her passion and vision for TaikoPeace and was subsequently pulled to our joint venture which we lovingly call Creatives for Compassionate Communities.
BEING ACTIVATED AND ‘SEEING’ ENERGY THROUGH TAIKO DRUMMING
I mentioned early on, this piece is not complete without a tribute to our mutual friend Amari. For Amari is the connective thread who brought us together in what I now clearly see my divine soul family coming together. I can say from experience that one shifts tremendously when soul family begins to arrive. And when one shifts, higher dimensions open for us to experience gifts and treasures we did not know lay buried somewhere within us. Amari and PJ absolutely activated me to many of my gifts all the while holding me in a space of unconditional love.
And so, it was at a Taiko workshop jointly organized by TaikoPeace and Wisdom Revealed, that I experienced what I can only term as ‘seeing energy in motion’. Now I started my adult life as an artist and educator. As I grew and awakened to my true self, life led me to become a holistic healer-therapist. Since my somewhat spontaneous awakening in 2014, I have consistently worked with energy, movement, line, and color. And yet, what I experienced at the workshop that day in September 2019, activated me to something new. Here, I am sharing with you that incredible experience at the Taiko studio and how it led me to see PJ’s mastery at creating energetic portals.
The workshop was a longish affair. I was excited though. I had seen Taiko performances and the sound of the drums had always moved me in a deep way. My body and feet begin to move instantly on hearing the drums. PJ and Amari started the workshop with a beautiful centering. Then we took off our shoes and stepped on to sacred ground. PJ had arranged several Taiko drums in a circle and asked us to pick one that called out to us. I was loving the drums but could not take my eyes off a gigantic drum standing on one side of the room. PJ showed us the drumsticks called Bachi. She called us closer to the gigantic drum standing vertically. She told us that it was called ODAIKO. Then she did a kind of initiation. I can’t remember if all of us (about a dozen of us were present) got the opportunity to use our bachi on that drum, but I do remember energy flowing through my feet and moving through my body powerfully. We were now ready to work with the drums set out for us on the floor.
For the next hour or two, PJ led us through a series of powerful exercises which included using the bachi in different ways, working with a partner on a drum, moving randomly from drum to drum, moving in a circle, in a tangent, changing the beat with each movement- she engaged us in a dance where I felt I was melting and becoming one with the drums, their beat, and the bachi. Then she led us through a powerful Buddhist prayer called Abhaya, Sanskrit for fearless. The energy had been building throughout the drumming session. It reached a crescendo during the prayer which we were chanting aloud while moving on the studio floor. Eventually we all gathered around the Odaiko. We each were given a turn to use the Bachi on the Odaiko and shout out a personal mantra or whatever thought or emotion was arising from deep within.
Finally, we stood in a circle holding hands. Everything went quiet. And it was at this point from my mind’s eye, I saw an enormous tornado of energy forming in the center of the circle. This tornado was fiery and as it rose in the air, it mirrored itself as an upturned tornado also moving in a spiral. In between the two, was a flat disk of water rotating with great speed. The energetic drops flew towards all the participants and touched them. I realized in that moment, that through the incredible process of moving our bodies and minds with the powerful drumming, we had created an incredible portal. For all who were present that day, this portal shifted them deeply. I certainly felt a great shift within me because this was the first time I ‘saw’ energy so clearly!
After all the drumming got over, we all sat together and had lunch. At the end of the lovely lunch, PJ brought out a magnificent apple crisp she had baked earlier. Then she answered my question before I could even ask, “This is gluten-free because Smita cannot eat gluten.” This is our PJ for you. My heart just melted instantly as I felt her love enveloping me. I teared up. What a day!
Later, I shared with PJ what I had seen. Not surprisingly she understood the energy I had witnessed that day. For sure, she noticed the shift in me afterward. My body continued to buzz for days after the event. I was able to come home later and draw what I saw and experienced. And I share here with all of you my sketch of the energetic portal that we co-created on September 28, 2019 at the San Jose Taiko studio.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Smita Garg, a San Jose-based artist, arts educator, and accomplished Holistic healer/therapist — is an active member of her community serving as City of San Jose Arts Commissioner. As a passionate advocate for the transformative power of the arts, Smita has been working on developing practices that bring a deep level of healing, calm, and peace. She has found the practice of mindful breathing and meditation to greatly inform her personal creativity and artmaking. Smita earned a doctorate in Arts Education from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She also trained with several holistic healers and world-renowned therapists Dr. Brian Weiss and Dr. Linda Backman in Soul Regression therapies. She has been practicing Sahaj meditation and Sudarshan Kriya, a mindful breathing technique for over 12 years. Recently, Smita helped form Creatives for Compassionate Communities (CCC), an incubator for artist activists. Smita is also the founder of The Kinder Way Healing Services, a holistic healing organization based in San Jose, CA.
