The experience of Joy is available to everyone, not just experienced chanters:
"Saturday was my first time at a chant, and I really enjoyed it. I loved the rhythm of the chant and the sound of so many voices in harmony together."
– Carleen (Windsor)
For over two years we've been meeting every 3rd Saturday at Green River Yoga in Greenfield to chant and to meditate together and on December 6th, 2008 we began offering a monthly Kirtan in Amherst. We start with opening mantras at 7:30pm and finish with a short silent meditation that ends at 9pm. In between we join our voices together and sing!
The singing is accompanied by harmonium, drum, cymbals and tamboura with lead voices that you can easily follow.
If you're just beginning to be curious about chanting then come and check it out. The chants are easy to learn and no prior experience is necessary.
Some of the past Kirtans are listed below. Check the Calendar page for a listing of upcoming Kirtans.
Namaste,
Rick
Note: Date for the next Saptah is To Be Determined. Please call or email if you want to be on the notify list.
The word Saptah literally means seven days and in India there are chants that actually last for a week. It's hard to organize a chant that lasts for a week in this area, so in this case it will be a 3 hour Saptah. Our first 3 hour Saptah was in November 2008 with 13 people chanting the mantra Om Namah Shivaya for 3 hours. We chanted from 12–3pm with a nice Indian buffet offered at 4pm.
For the Saptah in the Spring of 2009 the meal will be a potluck unless someone offers to cook a meal for the event.
Rick
NOTE: Dates for the next workshop are To Be Determined. Call or email if you want to be on the notify list.
Do you love to chant the Name? Have you ever wanted to be part of the music making for a kirtan? Are you curious about how to pronounce those unfamiliar sanskrit words? This workshop will include lots of devotional singing, instruction on and an opportunity to play the instruments (harmonium, tamboura, drums, cymbals) and an introduction to sanskrit pronunciation and Vedic chanting.
Singing the Name can be slow and sweet and it can also be fast and full of emotion. It can be a way to open your heart, a way into meditation, an opportunity to meet yourself, a chance to join your voice with others.
If you're just beginning to be curious about chanting, an experienced kirtan wallah, or a Yoga teacher wanting to bring chanting into your weekly classes, then this workshop will have something to offer you.
Even if you don't consider yourself a musician, you may have hidden talents so come, play, explore and learn how to Create the Joy.
Namaste,
Rick
To view the PDF flyer for the June 21 2008 workshop click here.
BACKGROUND: I owe the inspiration for this workshop to Joy Ravelli who asked me to teach a section on chanting for her Yoga teacher training in 2004. That first session was taught outside in the grass to a group of about 10 Yoga teachers at Purusha Yoga's home in Conway, MA. I offered one more workshop at Listening (the Barre Integrated Health Center) before shelving the idea to focus more on building a monthly chanting group in Greenfield, MA. The recent workshop grew out of my desire to draw more people into the music making of kirtan, but to my surprise there was at least as much interest in learning correct Sanskrit pronounciation as there was interest in learning to play the instruments. For the next workshop, I'll use the beautifully poetic 5–versed Shiva Manasa Puja (a mental offering to Shiva) as the focus to study and practice Sanskrit Pronounciation.
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Billie Jo Joy (founder, and co–manager of Art & Soul) is an Iyengar trained, Kripalu certified yoga instructor and has been a close friend for over 10 years. To celebrate her 50th birthday we offered a kirtan at her Yoga studio in Cambridge, MA. It was an intimate gathering of about 40 friends that chanted together (including the traditional happy birthday chant) and then had prasad and birthday cake together. Sorry but no pictures were taken that night.
Where: Art & Soul, 91 Hampshire Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
On Saturday November 1st we played our first Kirtan at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Lenox, MA.
The Kirtan was offered on Saturday evening from 7 to 9pm as part of the Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy workshop taught by Mukunda Stiles and was open to everyone. The evening began with a talk by Mukunda followed by chanting and meditation. Kevin Germain had to leave after the chant so missed out on the photo opportunity the following morning, but everyone else enjoyed a nice overnight at Kripalu with breakfast and lunch the following day. From left to right: Melanie Hedlund, Divya Shinn, Marilyn Hart, Rick Roberts and Dona O'Dou.
Where: Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
In November we had a special guest Doug Donnell who gave a short introduction to Sanskrit pronounciation and the system of transliteration that uses familiar characters from our alphabet to represent Sanskrit sounds. One important point was to think of the Sanskrit language as being made up of sounds, not letters. These sounds make up the mantras that we chant and being able to understand the elegance with which the sounds are strung together helps appreciate the mantras as we chant them. Thanks Doug for this short introduction.
Where: Green River Yoga & Movement Arts, 158 Main Street, 2nd Floor, Greenfield, MA 01301
12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
For my birthday this year I asked a small group of 13 friends to chant the mantra Om Namah Shivaya with me. We gathered at the home of Vidya and Orphe in Sherborn, MA and for 3 hours we filled the space with the sweet sound of Om Namah Shivaya. Following the chanting I asked everyone to share with me something they found inspiring. May you (the reader) also be inspired by these words!
Namaste,
Rick
*****************
I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world.
I may not complete this last one but I give myself to it.
I circle around God, around the primordial tower.
I've been circling for thousands of years and I still don't know: am I a falcon, a storm, or a great song?
– Rilke
*****************
DAREST thou now, O Soul,
Walk out with me toward the Unknown Region,
Where neither ground is for the feet, nor any path to follow?
No map, there, nor guide,
Nor voice sounding, nor touch of human hand,
Nor face with blooming flesh, nor lips, nor eyes, are in that land.
I know it not, O Soul;
Nor dost thou–all is a blank before us;
All waits, undream'd of, in that region–that inaccessible land.
Till, when the ties loosen,
All but the ties eternal, Time and Space,
Nor darkness, gravitation, sense, nor and bounds, bound us.
Then we burst forth–we float,
In Time and Space, O Soul–prepared for them;
Equal, equipt at last–(O joy! O fruit of all!) them to fulfil, O Soul.
– Walt Whitman from Leaves of Grass
*****************
Love all God's creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light. Love animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the world with an all embracing love.
– Fyodor Dostoyevsky from The Brothers Karamazov
*****************
The Ultimate Understanding is a seeing and a knowing rather than a comprehending. And it does satisfy all questions, though not answer them. Answers become as irrevelant as the questions themselves; both cease in the seeing.
Do not judge the questioning or the longing, the seeking or the sadness, the impatience or the resistance, the opening or the letting go. It is all the perfect unfolding as it is: only watch it and know you are not that. You are Loving Awareness in which all this arises. You are Quiet Compassionate Space in which the life that you think of as "yourself" unfolds.
This Still Expanse of Acceptance between the thoughts is All That Is.
That is What You Are.
Let the Love that is this Stillness that You Are Embrace you, Overcome you.
Svaha!
– David Carse from Perfect Brilliant Stillness
*****************
What one calls awareness of I is the resting place of consciousness in itself.
– Ajadapramatrsiddhi, 22 – Utpaladeva
*****************
In the garden of gentle sanity May you be bombarded by coconuts of wakefulness.
– Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
*****************
All that is required to realize the Self is to be still. What can be easier than that?
– Ramana Maharshi
*****************
Women and cats will do as they please and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
– Robert A. Heinlein
*****************
Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight
*****************
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
The first Kirtan at Yoga Center Amherst was a huge success!
I was joined by Dona O'Dou (tamboura), Kevin Germain (yayli tanbur) and about 15 wonderful chanters. We had limited time to setup due to Patty's advanced Yoga Teacher Training which ended at 7pm but still managed to begin opening mantras a little past 7:30pm. The space was already charged from the 30 or so Yoga students who had spent the entire day in the space, so I found it easy to drop into that quiet place in my heart where sound originates. If you (the reader) were one of the chanters this night, I hope you also experienced the stillness that arises after the chanting ends.
Our next Kirtan at Yoga Center Amherst will be the Saturday just after New Years, and then every 1st Saturday forever. I hope you can join us for the first Kirtan of 2009.
Where: Yoga Center Amherst, 17 Kellogg Ave, Amherst, MA 01002
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
This will be the last Kirtan in 2008 so I hope you can join us before the holidays begin. We'll pick up again at Green River Yoga on Jan 17, 2009 and then every 3rd Saturday forever.
NOTE: I'm also leading Kirtan in Amherst on the 1st Saturday at Yoga Center Amherst. The first one was Dec 6th with about 15 lovely chanters filling the space with their voices. The next chant in Amherst will be Jan 3 over the New Years weekend.
For over two years we've been meeting every 3rd Saturday at Green River Yoga in Greenfield to sing the Name and to meditate together. We start with opening mantras at 7:30pm and finish with a short silent meditation that ends at 9pm. In between we join our voices together and sing!
The singing is accompanied by harmonium, drum, cymbals and tamboura with lead voices that you can easily follow.
If you're just beginning to be curious about chanting then come and check it out. The chants are easy to learn and no prior experience is necessary.
Where: Green River Yoga & Movement Arts, 158 Main Street, 2nd Floor, Greenfield, MA 01301
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Start the New Year chanting! Please join us for our second Kirtan offered at Yoga Center Amherst.
The experience of Joy is available to everyone, not just experienced chanters.
The singing is accompanied by harmonium, drum, cymbals and tamboura with lead voices that you can easily follow.
If you're just beginning to be curious about chanting then come and check it out. The chants are easy to learn and no prior experience is necessary.
Where: Yoga Center Amherst, 17 Kellogg Ave, Amherst, MA 01002
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
The experience of Joy is available to everyone, not just experienced chanters.
For over two years we've been meeting every 3rd Saturday at Green River Yoga in Greenfield to sing the Name and to meditate together. We start with opening mantras at 7:30pm and finish with a short silent meditation that ends at 9pm. In between we join our voices together and sing!
The singing is accompanied by harmonium, drum, cymbals and tamboura with lead voices that you can easily follow.
If you're just beginning to be curious about chanting then come and check it out. The chants are easy to learn and no prior experience is necessary.
Where: Green River Yoga & Movement Arts, 158 Main Street, 2nd Floor, Greenfield, MA 01301
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Every Wednesday night is Kirtan night at Kripalu with usually 80–100 people chanting together. Please join us as Experience the Joy leads Kirtan at Kripalu in January just after the Presidential Inauguration.
Where: Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
The experience of Joy is available to everyone, not just experienced chanters.
The singing is accompanied by harmonium, drum, cymbals and tamboura with lead voices that you can easily follow.
If you're just beginning to be curious about chanting then come and check it out. The chants are easy to learn and no prior experience is necessary.
Where: Yoga Center Amherst, 17 Kellogg Ave, Amherst, MA 01002
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
The experience of Joy is available to everyone, not just experienced chanters.
For over two years we've been meeting every 3rd Saturday at Green River Yoga in Greenfield to sing the Name and to meditate together. We start with opening mantras at 7:30pm and finish with a short silent meditation that ends at 9pm. In between we join our voices together and sing!
The singing is accompanied by harmonium, drum, cymbals and tamboura with lead voices that you can easily follow.
If you're just beginning to be curious about chanting then come and check it out. The chants are easy to learn and no prior experience is necessary.
Where: Green River Yoga & Movement Arts, 158 Main Street, 2nd Floor, Greenfield, MA 01301
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
The experience of Joy is available to everyone, not just experienced chanters.
The singing is accompanied by harmonium, drum, cymbals and tamboura with lead voices that you can easily follow.
If you're just beginning to be curious about chanting then come and check it out. The chants are easy to learn and no prior experience is necessary.
Where: Yoga Center Amherst, 17 Kellogg Ave, Amherst, MA 01002
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
The experience of Joy is available to everyone, not just experienced chanters.
For over two years we've been meeting every 3rd Saturday at Green River Yoga in Greenfield to sing the Name and to meditate together. We start with opening mantras at 7:30pm and finish with a short silent meditation that ends at 9pm. In between we join our voices together and sing!
The singing is accompanied by harmonium, drum, cymbals and tamboura with lead voices that you can easily follow.
If you're just beginning to be curious about chanting then come and check it out. The chants are easy to learn and no prior experience is necessary.
Where: Green River Yoga & Movement Arts, 158 Main Street, 2nd Floor, Greenfield, MA 01301
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
The experience of Joy is available to everyone, not just experienced chanters.
The singing is accompanied by harmonium, drum, cymbals and tamboura with lead voices that you can easily follow.
If you're just beginning to be curious about chanting then come and check it out. The chants are easy to learn and no prior experience is necessary.
Where: Yoga Center Amherst, 17 Kellogg Ave, Amherst, MA 01002
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
The experience of Joy is available to everyone, not just experienced chanters.
For over two years we've been meeting every 3rd Saturday at Green River Yoga in Greenfield to sing the Name and to meditate together. We start with opening mantras at 7:30pm and finish with a short silent meditation that ends at 9pm. In between we join our voices together and sing!
The singing is accompanied by harmonium, drum, cymbals and tamboura with lead voices that you can easily follow.
If you're just beginning to be curious about chanting then come and check it out. The chants are easy to learn and no prior experience is necessary.
Where: Green River Yoga & Movement Arts, 158 Main Street, 2nd Floor, Greenfield, MA 01301