Rhythm is one of the most ancient and efficient ways to influence and develop human consciousness. In our globally networked and technologically focused world, human beings often lose touch with their own internal rhythms, making them feel displaced and de-synchronized. TaKeTiNa allows them to reconnect with the healing powers of rhythm and primordial motion.

Social, mental, creative, spiritual and of course musical faculties are reawakened and developed with the practice of TaKeTiNa. These qualities are essential to the peaceful cohabitation of human beings on this earth, yet few societies or school systems invest the time and dedication needed to promote them in an authentic fashion.

Rhythm is our earliest companion, our first guide to life. As we grow within the womb, in a state of unity with our surroundings, the heartbeat of “pulse” and “pause” prepares us for the duality, the polarity of the world we are going to be born into. Rhythm can be understood as “polarity in motion” and this is precisely why it is so effective in dissolving opposites and resolving the kind of dichotomic thinking that our polarized worldview draws us into. Rhythm and motion give us access to a third state of being, beyond the habitual patterns of “mine – yours”, “sad – happy”, “internal – external”, “tense – relaxed”.

Using rhythmical exercises, TaKeTiNa teaches you to step out of these mutually exclusive states of being. Simultaneity replaces the familiar “either – or”. Someone who is capable of being angry at another person, and at the same time finding quiet compassion within, is on the way to emotional stability and profound inner peace.

In the practice of TaKeTiNa, you learn to consciously let one hand be passive while you actively move the other. You develop the capability to recognize order within chaos, and to identify the chaotic element inherent in order. You can be simultaneously tensed for activity and deeply relaxed. Your awareness is tuned to both yourself and another person. Through this process, you experience deep inner calm within the superposition of polar opposites: movement and stillness at once.

In the course of the TaKeTiNa process, different rhythms are built up concomitantly: your steps and claps are based on different rhythms, and your voice adds an additional layer. Everyone who goes through this process repeatedly, sooner or later will find themselves in a state of being in which the more they add, the clearer and emptier the rhythm space becomes – what a wonderful paradox! Those who regularly practice TaKeTiNa become adept at stepping out of the imaginary polarity that holds our life in its grip so very fiercely: the past and future. The experience of timelessness is the door to where our life is really taking shape: in the here and now, the eternal present. In this timeless state, everything that makes up your life is open to being restructured, which is why the confidence and ability to step into this state is so essential for both personal development and the growth of human consciousness.

TaKeTiNa does not simply promote creativity and musicality; rather, creative-musical learning is closely tied to the growth of human qualities. Two basic abilities in particular are of importance both within music and in daily life: flexibility and connection. As these become an integral part of your being, you will find that rhythm will guide you to inner quiet, centeredness and aliveness. The intuitive experience of seasoned TaKeTiNa practitioners is increasingly being validated by recent results in the field of rhythm research: TaKeTiNa does not only stimulate “inner values”, it also predictably and repeatedly creates ideal circumstances for the regeneration of the human nervous system.

Insofar TaKeTiNa is similar to yoga, as it becomes a pathway to integrate physical, emotional, mental and spiritual development. This is why many practitioners of TaKeTiNa refer to it as “the yoga of rhythm”. The term yoga (Sanskrit, m., , yoga, from yuga “yoke”, yuj for: to yoke or bind together, to harness) can be used to mean “to unite” or “to integrate”, or it can describe the act of “harnessing” or “yoking” the body and soul together in a sense of merging into a state of collectedness and awareness.

As the founder of TaKeTiNa, this definition touches me deeply and I cordially invite you to join a workshop and have your own experience of dissolving polarity. May TaKeTiNa guide you, too, in the journey to your rhythmical homeland, to the primal force that permeates all living beings. TaKeTiNa allows you to reconnect with your earliest self, and to bring rhythm back into your life with full awareness. For none of us can ever really forget the womb rhythm that accompanied us into the world, nine months long, during our becoming.

With heartfelt greetings,

Reinhard Flatischler