Kokomon Clottey was born to the Ga-Adagbe tribe in Accra, the capital of Ghana in West Africa. The Ga society is rich with ancient codes of conduct, deep spiritual beliefs, and awesome rituals of power.

Kokomon is an interpreter of this Indigenous African tribe’s wisdom and rituals. Kokomon is a storyteller, record producer, author, and teacher. He has produced two compact disk, Love is the Answer, Mystic Vision, and co-produced The Journey. Together with his wife Aeeshah, he is the co-author of Beyond Fear: Twelve Spiritual Keys to Racial Healing (Tiburon, CA: HJ Kramer, 1998)

He contributed to Imagine What America Could be in the Twenty-First Century: Visions of a Better Future from Leading American Thinkers (Emmaus, PA: Rodale, 2000) and is the author of Mindful Drumming: Ancient Wisdom for Unleashing the Human Spirit and Building Community (2004).

Kokomon is a visiting professor at the University of Creation Spirituality in Oakland California and the cofounder of the Attitudinal Healing Connection Inc., in Oakland, California. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Attitudinal Healing Connection in Oakland, California. He also co-founded an Attitudinal Healing Center in Ghana, West Africa.

The following is an excerpt from Aeeshah and Kokomon Clottey's article " Mindful Drumming and Global Peace" in the April/May issue of Arizona Choices Journal. You can find the Journal in many locations around Tucson, and you can also read it on line as an Adobe Reader pdf file.

Peace ( Hedzoleh in my language from Ghana, West Africa), is our inalienable right as humans. The most wonderful gift to wish for anyone is peace and love according to my people. We say “Hedzoleh aha bo”— which means “Peace be with you!” Even if you didn’t know the translation, these words would have a healing effect upon you. This beneficent wish is granted by spirit on a cellular level, so, it is with mindful drumming. Mindful Drumming reminds us of the value of a culture of peace and aligns us with the heartbeat of humanity. It centers communities in open dialogues on peace. Any time the discussion of peace arises, it evokes innumerable questions as well as assumptions. Does one wage war to attain peace? Is peace opposite of war? How does one find peace? How does inner peace relates to health? Does peace have anything to do with love and joy? There are many more questions than answers. However, there is only one answer, the courage to choose peace.

Conceptually, because peace is innate and central to our wholeness as humans it is critical for us to awake to mindful drumming as a gateway to our inner peace. Mindful Drumming inspires us to connect to our essence, which is love and happiness. We do not have to pursue happiness: we are happiness. Mindful drumming, the synchronistic power of rhythm and sound brings one into the now. The drumming demonstrates the power of working together, the value of deep listening and bringing the community into balance so that one can experience inner peace. Mindful Drumming combines the twin concepts of rhythm and sound, which we have found to be the most expedient way to heal a broken heart. It brings one immediately into the present because rhythm is finite – evoking the sense that “now is the only time there is”, and that one can be harmonious and in tune with “the now”.

Mindful Drumming also connects us to the ancestors, and ushers them in for healing and support. Their timeless wisdom becomes readily available to us through the eternal resources of rhythm and sound. If we listen to their knowing and put their wisdom into practice through Mindful Drumming Meditation, it is inevitable that we will unleash the tremendous power of our human spirit. For the sake of our children and grandchildren –as well as our own survival –, we need to recognize that there is another way to live. One way to get there is to embrace the practice of inner peace through mindful drumming, which can help us forge new relationships with one another and a wiser stewardship of Mother Earth.