Robert Watson (Redkite Shamanic Drums)

Most stalls at a mind body spirit event you browse. Robert Watson’s you can hear. He’s a drum-maker and drumming-circle facilitator working under the name Redkite Shamanic Drums, and drums have a way of pulling a room together that cards and crystals quietly can’t.

Robert works in the Northern Tradition — the shamanic strand rooted in Northern European and Norse practice rather than the Native American imagery people often expect — and describes himself, plainly, as walking the shamanic path. What he does splits into two things: birthing drums, and running circles.

What “drum birthing” means

It sounds mysterious; it’s surprisingly hands-on. Drum birthing is the making of a frame drum from scratch — hide, wood, and a fair amount of intention — usually as a slow, ceremonial process rather than a craft class. The idea across shamanic traditions is that a drum you make yourself carries something of you, so it becomes a personal instrument rather than a bought object. If you’ve never watched it happen, his stand is a good place to see how a drum goes from raw materials to something with a voice.

Why the circle matters

The drumming circle is the other half. Steady, repetitive rhythm is one of the oldest tools humans have for shifting how the mind sits — it’s the reason a heartbeat settles a baby and a drumbeat can lift or calm a whole group at once. In a circle nobody has to be any good; you’re not performing, you’re joining a pulse. People tend to come out looser and quieter than they went in.

Something to try before you come

You don’t need a drum to borrow the principle. Next time your head is racing, find any slow, steady rhythm you can make — a hand on your thigh, a foot, a pen on the desk — and set it a touch slower than your heartbeat feels. Keep it going for a minute and let your breathing fall in with it. The body reads slow, regular rhythm as a signal that it’s safe to stand down — which is exactly what a drumming circle does at scale. Small thing, same mechanism Robert works with all weekend.

Robert brings Redkite Shamanic Drums to the Mind Body Spirit & Wellness Weekend, Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September 2026 at Stockport Masonic Guildhall — one of over 70 readers, healers and stallholders across the two days. Any sessions he runs are included with entry.