Melonie Syrett - Thedrumwoman

Master Drum Maker, Healer and Teacher

 

Welcome, I'm Melonie.

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I’m a healer, teacher and master drum maker all rolled into one!

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My journey is manifold. There have been lines of living weaving into other lines and now they connect, they are bound like sweetgrass braids, the many aspects of my journey in this world.

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The main threads all revolve around pain; particularly women’s pain.

In a coaching session a few years ago I was led into a meditation and asked what my purpose or aim was. I said straight away ‘To take away women’s pain’. We didn’t really know what it meant at the time but it is so clear when you read the threads of my story.

 

Here is a glimpse of those threads ...

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For 18 years I suffered with horrific period pain. This started at menarche aged 14. In my 30s (after 18 years of trying to get someone to listen to HOW MUCH PAIN I was in) it was diagnosed as endometriosis, which I was told would never be cured.

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After working holistically I experienced my first ever pain-free period and after more months of this relief I told the medical system about it. They chose not to hear my successes that I dearly wanted to share in the hope that it would help others and instead told me ‘If I ever came back to them I would be put at the bottom of the list’. This rejection of what was working for me spurred me on to share what I had learned about alternative ways of working with the female body.

 

I believe that the root cause is where the problem lies. My root cause was many layered…body hatred, menstrual fear from my female line, not listening to my womb, abusing my body, hating myself. 

 

The root may be hidden under many layers, generations or traumas but numbing it (as I did with the pill, food, judgement and alcohol) does not allow us to move forwards from it and often keeps it present and repeating in our lives.

 

This freedom led me to womb massage, deeper women’s healing and merging my trainings and experiences to support other women. I am now mostly pain free – sometimes, when I’m not honouring myself – I get a painful bleed.

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~ alongside this...

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I became a primary school teacher in 2002 and was given PSHE and Sex Education to lead. I quickly became an advocate for high quality education in this area when the reality was (and still is) that provision, training and guidance is poor. I went on a mission to make a change: starting support groups for teachers, speaking in parliament, working for national agencies, key note speaking at large conferences, training teachers, creating programmes that were rolled out nationally and hosting MP’s, DFE Curriculum leads, Baronesses and the BBC News and then, after 15 years, I left that world.

 

I continued this work with families, trying to make a difference at the source. I was desperate to reconnect women and girls to their bodies. I wrote a book for Mums of daughters aged 8-13, I run menarche and puberty sessions and celebrations, I train women to do the same and in 2020 I was asked to be photographed for the National Geographic’s first ever menstruation feature (sadly this was cancelled due to Covid). I also became a director for the Real Period Project, a CIC working towards a world where periods are taught as part of the whole menstrual cycle and it is safe for everyone to experience and talk about menstruation.

 

Over these last 20 years I have realised the impact of poor education and silence around bodies on body image, self-esteem, autonomy, sense of self and self-advocacy. I also learned how it strengthens the taboo of bodily processes, stages of life, speaking up for the self and more. It is not just about teaching kids about periods and sex. It is for us all, life-long learning, supporting us all the way through our ever changing body landscape.

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~ and alongside this...

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In 2010, whilst the other two strands were in full effect, I started my journey with healing. I became a Reiki Master. I learned sound healing, womb massage, womb healing and much more. I remembered how to sing and use a drum for healing and how to tap into my intuition, my guides, energy and the earth.  I learned how to make drums. Through the drums I found I could bring people together, mainly women, in safe spaces where the drum beats and our hearts open, our voices rise and we can land in magical healing spaces, free from judgement or competition and free to be our authentic selves.

 

~ and now...

 

Now, I’m a master drum maker, creating drums by listening to their energy, their whispers and the images that they show me. I work with women and their pain, be it physical, mental or emotional using womb massage and my healing ‘toolkit’ and teach others to do the same.

 

I now realise that the threads weave perfectly with this work and the purpose of ‘removing women’s pain’ is clearly evident in my own journey of pain and experience of others pain.

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So here I am. Priestess of the Goddess, Drum Priestess, Women's healer,

working in the realm of women's mysteries, cat lover and seeker of adventures!