Drumming is an unusual remedy for stress, morning sickness or depression.

If the dark winter months are getting you down, you’re suffering from morning sickness or lacking confidence; don’t turn to pills, try drumming.

From 10am to midday on the first Saturday of every month, Arabic and African rhythms fill Cathays Methodist Church hall, on Crwys Road, Cardiff.

The beats come from Cardiff’s only women’s drumming class, which is run by Hannah Corr and attended by ladies of all ages and levels of skill.

Hannah, 33, from Canton started up the classes last year. She said: “It is taken it to a group who aren’t usually seen as drummers. It’s a very male thing to drum and is providing an opportunity for a group which doesn’t usually get it.

“I can think of one lady for whom it seems to have done a lot for her confidence. She feels she is limited when she drums and is quite down on herself, but with her it’s a confidence issue - it’s not technical.

“But every week it has just grown and grown and I think the reason is it’s a women’s group and the nature is about sharing and not competition. There’s no need to be perfect, which has given her the space to find her feet.”

During the lessons, Hannah teaches some beats then splits the group in two. One half play a basic rhythm to keep the pace and the other half play a more complex rhythm on top. Then, towards the end of the class, the students freestyle.

Carol Woodford, 49, a customer service adviser, of Line Road, Riscal joined the class September last year. She said: “It’s like a comforting thing. I feel included in the rhythm and linked to nature and the world. We live in a rhythm and it makes me feel alive.”

Hannah, who also teaches belly dancing in Cardiff said she decided to start the classes because a lot of her fellow belly dancers loved the feel and sound of drums, but couldn’t find any classes to go to. But since then, its theraputic benfits have become clear.

She said: “My interest is to do with both dancing and therapy. It takes people out of their heads and into meditation and a state of stillness, which stops that negative chatter.”

In November, the group even tried its hand at the trance-inducing Zaar belly dance rhythm, in which the ladies repeated the same rhythm for a long stretch of time. In Arabic cultures, performing the Zaar is a way of exorcising negative energy. It’s exhausting to play and can cause those involved to feel an array of (sometimes buried) emotions.

Hannah said: “It’s a feeling of being totally connected with the rhythm and a strong sense of unity. That we are tapping into something bigger than what we experience in the five sense reality. It’s a luxurious feeling you don’t get in every day life.”

Some people might dismiss drumming circles as a hippy attempt to stave off the “black dog“, but the drumming research centre, Health Rhythms has found drumming in groups improves peoples moods and reduces stress, which can lead to burnout.