There are as many reasons to take an African drumming class as there are people taking the class.

Students in Heidi Alina’s Wednesday morning class at Red Crags Arts & Agriculture House in Manitou Springs display the gamut of possibilities as they take turns saying why they’ve come.

One older gentleman, here for his second time, is interested in “connecting the left and right brain.” His wife, who fell a couple of months ago and got a concussion, also is interested in resynchronizing the two sides of her brain.

Another woman, a first-timer, craves more music in her life. Another says it “fills my soul.” One woman is “addicted to drumming,” she says. Another “finds it meditative. It helps me filter through things.”

Each one will get their wish during the weekly class, guided by Alina, an award-winning, high-level classical concert pianist who was introduced to African drums at a rumba party many years ago.

“It was like classical music on drums,” she tells the class. “I fell in love. I started drumming lessons.”

Today it’s Alina giving the lessons, after three decades of studying and performing with master drummers from the U.S., Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Senegal, Uganda and other African countries. She teaches classes Tuesday evenings and Wednesday mornings.

“When I went to Senegal, I could go to places where they rehearse, drum and dance,” Alina said after class. “I was the first white female to be allowed to sit in with the African drummers. They were definitely doubting this white woman — no way she could keep up. And I came in and they were like, ‘OK, wow.’”

As class begins, African drums, including djembe (pronounced gem-bay) and dundun (doon-doon) drums, are scattered throughout the room, ready for students to use. One student brings her own. Alina encourages them to sit on the edge of their seat to use all of their body as they pull the thigh-high drum in between their leg and tilt it slightly forward.

“It takes some energy to hold the drums,” Alina said. “It activates a lot of muscles in the body. You have to squeeze with your thighs and hold on to it. You can’t just relax your lower body.”

Sunshine bathes the warm, window-filled music room as Alina teaches the three basic sounds made by hitting the drum: bass, tone and slap. Bass and tone are the easiest to achieve. She encourages her students to play with their whole hand and make full contact.

“It can be difficult,” she said. “That’s why I spend considerable time teaching the technique so people don’t hurt their hands. It takes time. It’s not easy. People think you can just sit down and play the drum. You can, but I think people don’t realize how much technique goes into playing the drums to make a beautiful sound. It took me two or three years. I’m still working on my slap.”

Alina starts with easy patterns — she plays first and the students repeat. The second-floor room vibrates. The patterns get a little trickier, but the students catch on quickly, minus the errant stray drum beat here and there. She does patterns of threes, she tells the class, and because our brains want to work in twos, due to the two sides of the brain, it means drumming is good for brain health.

“It crosses the left and right sides because you’re doing creativity and mathematics,” she said. “Drumming is mathematical because rhythm is math. There’s a lot of counting.

“It works memory and cognitive function. The students were able to learn and memorize in a short period of time. It wakes up the brain.”

After teaching two separate patterns, she notes they’ll try putting them together. A look of panic creases the face of one first-time student, but she digs in.

“Hang in there, you’ll get it,” Alina encourages.

And then it’s solo time. As the class keeps the rhythm with a repeating pattern, each student gets to do their own thing, the idea of which solicits bewildered, nervous laughter from students.

“Create a conversation in your solo,” Alina says. “Fill the space but not all the space.”

Maybe to the students’ surprise, the solos are surprisingly good, and the room becomes a meditative space as the steady beat of the drums creates a hypnotic vibe.

Many studies show the benefits of meditation — drumming is one such way to achieve that meditative state.

“You have to enter into a state where you’re not thinking too much,” Alina said. “You have to have a certain level of thought to keep your hands in the right form and doing the correct pattern, but at the same time, if you try to think about every stroke you won’t be able to play. You’re in your own world but you also have to listen and stay open to stay with everyone else.”

And then there is simply this: Drumming can help with a bad mood.

“Everyone feels more uplifted when they’re done with class,” Alina said. “That’s why they call it the healing drum. It’s a healing tradition. It’s been used for thousands of years. It’s also been used for communication. It was the first phone. They used it to call from village to village to let people know about important events that were happening.”