The Voice and the Drum are inherently intertwined. Centuries of ancestors have carried stories, songs & vibrations through their voices. Many of whom have also walked with the medicine of the drum. Weaving, creating & strengthening communal relationships to spirit, ancestors and the elements.

Rhythm is at the core of our being. Before we had ears to hear, we felt the beat of our mother’s heart pulsing through our being.

‘Voice of Your Drum’ has arrived to call you forth to reclaim or birth a pathway with these medicines. Both the voice and the drum. Individually & together.

This has come together as a ‘Two Phase Journey’

🌑 Phase One: Birthing Your Drum

11th October 2026

This phase is the making & creation of your drum. You will return home on this day with your very own drum, that is yours to keep.

🌕 Phase Two: Unearth The Voice

1st November 2026

This phase is a day of deep listening, vocal activation & building a relationship between the drum and your voice.

(If you are already the guardian of a medicine drum and would like to attend Phase Two only, this option is available. You MUST have your own drum to bring).

This journey is a deepening of your own medicine. Offering you tangible tools to return home with to continue the journey of remembering.

🥁 Phase One: Birthing Your Drum

A day of creation.

Birthing Your Drum is the creation & making of your very own medicine drum, with Shaah.

The journey of birthing a medicine drum is intricate and revealing. It is an intimate and powerful expression of relationship to spirit, to other and to self.

Each medicine drum holds its own collective spirit. Through the animal that offers the skin & the trees that offer the frame & the beater. Honoring, acknowledging and communing with these parts of our creations. Paying homage to and continuing their life cycles.

The sacred ceremony of creating a drum is guided respectfully & with deep reverence. Honoring origins, Shaah will guide you in The Lakota Tradition of drum making, where drums will be created in pairs. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. There is something special in finding your rhythms when weaving with another. Bringing yet another co-creation element to this journey.

Journey into the creative process and return home with your very own drum!

✨ What’s included in this birthing:

SKINS… The skins we will use are Australian Goat Raw Hyde. These skins are thick & offer a beautiful deep tone.

15 INCH HOOPS… The frames have been skilfully created by Shaah’s father here in New Zealand using stained pine ply. Offering flexibility, durability & are lightweight.

MATERIALS… To create your beater.

NOURISHING KAI… A vegetarian lunch meal will be provided

GUIDED MEDITATION… To anchor and support the journey

🧺 What to bring:

TWO OLD TOWELS

A HAMMER

SHARP PAIR OF SCISSORS

A CRYSTAL… If you would like to weave it into the drum

A STRONG STICK… the length of your elbow to your hand, for your beater.

📍 Details:

Date: Sunday 11th October
Time: 10.00am - 4.30pm
Moon: Whiro - New Moon
Location: Holdens Bay, Rotorua (This workshop will take place at a private residence. Exact address will be given out 3 days prior to the event.)

This drum birthing is ONLY available as part of the ‘Voice of Your Drum’ journey. If you wish to create a drum and not attend Phase Two: ‘Unearth the Voice’, you will have to wait for the next drum workshop.

🎶 PHASE TWO: UNEARTH THE VOICE

A Voice Activation & Drum Experience with Joydah Mae, Aroha & Shaah

A drum carries its own unique life force. As do you. To journey with one another is to come into relationship, into unison with your frequencies.

This day will offer space to listen. A space to connect with your drum, attuning to its unique elements and bringing yourself into resonant harmony with your drum.

To know the voice of the drum, you must first know your own. Blending somatic tools, guided processes and vocal practices you will journey into a place of connection with your whole self, activating and bringing forth the unique vibration of your own voice and frequency first. Allowing you to access a greater awareness of the voice of your drum & how you can create together.

Drumming and singing is a powerful way to connect to your internal world. To ground, centre and realign yourself. And when you share this vibration with the world, nature responds. Reflecting both the internal and external depth of relationship between these two modes of expression.

We will process through blocks and resistance to allow your connection to source, ancestors, drum and voice to flow freely from you. We will nurture this connection, establishing a clear path.

May we bring forth the ancient medicine of drum and sound. Anchoring this ritual practice into our lives through connection, intention & creation. As we remember the ancient heartbeat of our mother.

✨ What’s included in this unearthing:

VOCAL ACTIVATION… A deep journey into your voice. Processing what’s holding it back and anchoring it into your unique frequency.

SOMATIC PRACTICES… Intentional space to connect with the self, slowly unwinding and tending to this physical vessel.

DRUM CONNECTION… Space to connect with, play and sing alongside your drum

CEREMONY… Ancestral wisdom, knowledge and guidance will lead this gathering and offer a foundation for ritual to take place.

NOURISHING KAI… Lunch will be provided

CACAO… Hot brewed cacao will be served

🧺 What to bring:

YOUR DRUM

A ITEM FOR THE ALTAR (If you feel called)

A CUP FOR CACAO

📍 Details:

Date: Sunday 01st November
Time: 11.00am - 5.00pm
Moon: Korekore Whakapiri - Waning Gibbous
Location: Rotorua (Exact location TBC)

✨ Voice of Your Drum is launching at a special offer price of only $499!

As a gift of the initiation of this kaupapa. (A drum birthing workshop alone is usually $444.)

If you already own a drum & wish to attend ‘Unearth The Voice’, the exchange is $295!

Registration for the ‘Full Experience’ closes on November 5th! This allows us time to order the skins needed.

Access to ‘Unearth The Voice’ will be available until the day before, 1st November.

PAYMENT PLANS ARE AVAILABLE!

Email thevoiceactivation@gmail.com to discuss payment options.

🌿 The Trio

This trio of incredible wāhine are here to support, guide and lead you home a little closer to yourself, to your heart, to your truth.

Sharlene Broughton (Shaah)

Shaah has returned home to Aotearoa after 33 wonderful years in Australia and Tasmania. Across this time she has dove deep into her sacred remembering. Transforming her inner world and creating sacred spaces to hold others in their own process and journey.

Her gifts and skills lay in the realms of Drum Making, Breathwork Facilitation, Craniosacral Therapy & Somatic Movement. She has brought the alchemy of many lessons home with her, to share and create offerings here on our mother land, Aotearoa.

Shaah holds an incredible presence that brings warmth, safety, connection and peace to any space that she holds. Her active attention to nuance, and capacity to see a bigger picture creates an incredible awareness to what is actively unfolding within the space.

Joydah Mae

Joydah Mae hails from Kabayan, Benguet, Philippines. Aotearoa has been her home for nearly 30 years.

She is a sonic weaver, wayfinder, medicine carrier, activist & changemaker. Most prominently known for her work as a musician and vocal activist. Joydah brings together community in a way that allows for deep remembering, heart activation and a resonance to the frequency of truth.

Her presence holds power. Anchored deeply in her ancestral roots, the wisdom of her grandmother & her unparalleled connection to source. Joydah weaves these parts of herself together to offer powerful spaces of transformation, through fierce love, a commitment to truth & her anchored presence.

Aroha Ashley

Aroha will be returning to her ancestral homelands in Rotorua to offer her presence in this journey. Her whakapapa connects to Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Ngāi Tamanuhiri, England and Scotland.

She carries wisdom from the realms of Te Āo Wairua, shared through her gifts of Mirmiri, Rongoā & Voice Activation.

Her gentle presence and connection allows you to feel held, supported and loved. Allowing you to feel completely seen & safely anchored so you can step fully into your process, free of judgement. Only love.

Contact the host of Voice Of Your Drum - A Two Phase Journey