Gurmukh – Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Muse

Gurmukh, one of my favorite yoga teachers ever, is a Kundalini Yoga teacher with so much depth and sincerity, she has you at Sat Nam!  Gurmukh has been keeping Kundalini Yoga alive and well amongst the actors and musicians we see splashed across tabloids everyday.  I remember being super excited when the Red Hot Chili Peppers wrote a song about her on their album ‘One Hot Minute.’  Musically it wasn’t exactly yogic music, but the lyrics are really incredible.  I just downloaded the song today on I-tunes and was again blown away by their artistic expression of the experience of practicing yoga under her guidance. 

Here are the lyrics:

Falling into Grace with You

What ever never knew
That I could feel so good
Smile in your eyes
What ever never knew
That I could walk through wood
I guess I never tried
A million years old
But just a little girl
Vibin’ off the gong
Rubbin’ on the bowls
Make you float around
Make your lovin’ strong

And when we get
In the same place
At the same time
It is your grace
That I want to
Fall right into now
To love avow

I’m falling into grace with you
I’m falling into Gurumukh
I’m falling into grace with you
I’m falling into Gurumukh

She moves in a rapture
That her capsule might
Land on your star
Meditating in the morning
Head dressed in white
Beauty bazaar

You can smell the purple light
Comin’ from her heart
Get lost and wet
I treat you like a teacher
‘Cause that’s what you are
I wanna be your pet

And when we get
In the same place
At the same time
It is your grace
That I want to
Fall right into now
To love avow

I’m falling into grace with you
I’m falling into Gurumukh
I’m falling into grace with you
I’m falling into Gurumukh

Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo
Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo

I’m falling into grace with you
I’m falling into Gurumukh
I’m falling into grace with you
I’m falling into Gurumukh

You can hear a sound clip from amazon: Click to Listen

Lots has been written about Gurmukh’s famous yoga students from David Duchovny to Ione Sky, from Cindy Crawford to Maddona.  Check out some of these articles:

http://www.myprimetime.com/play/self/content/yogi1213/index.shtml

http://hargobind.wordpress.com/2006/08/25/gurmukh-in-yoga-journal/

http://www.mrsikhnet.com/index.php/2007/05/09/gurmukh-kaur-in-vanity-fair-magazine/

- Karan

Sat Kirin on her NEW CD Blessings of a Woman

BLESSINGS OF A WOMAN

by SatKirin Kaur Khalsa

After 39 years of singing and experiencing the power of Shabd and Mantra I offer this collection, BLESSINGS OF A WOMAN, to all of you to use as a map guide for your life. For women it is to inspire you to uplift yourself, your family, your surroundings. For men it is to understand how you revolve around the feminine and benefit from this support. I am deeply grateful to the Siri Singh Sahib for teaching me about the strength of the woman and for guiding me to my Guru, the Siri Guru Granth Sahib.

The woman contains the ability to create life and thus has many gifts and strengths associated with maintaining the values of society and the future; if she knows how to channel the sabotage of her emotional nature and live in grace.

The Sikh Gurus compiled a map guide for the human mind to be uplifted through song, called the Siri Guru Granth Sahib or SHABD GURU. Because, “Kalyug meh kirtan pardanaa”. ‘In the dark age the singing of kirtan (shabds of the Guru) is mastery.’ This basic teaching of Shabd Guru leads the way to enduring happiness and clear awareness through recitation of the Naad of the Shabd. Naad contains all the sounds of the universe in balance and the entire Shabd Guru is written in Naad.

The Kalyug, which we are now in, is the final era in the spiritual evolution of the human being. It is the ‘Age of Darkness’ and is 432,000 years long. This age is divided into two parts: Piscean and Aquarian. We are leaving the Piscean and transitioning, by the year 2012, into the Aquarian age.

It all works because Shabd Guru releases us from limiting thoughts called, ego. Each Shabd gives an inheritance, a spiritual DNA that establishes our ID and lineage with Infinity. Shabd contains words that have a sound pattern and rhythm. The pressure of the tongue on the upper palate stimulates the 84 meridian points through reciting Gurbani, (the language of the Shabd). This process of recitation creates corresponding patterns with the neurons of the brain to stimulate the hypothalamus which makes the Pineal gland radiate. The glandular system is balanced, you experience ecstasy and increased intuition. This is a human technology, not a religion.

Just as when milk is churned, it takes a lot of milk and a lot of effort to make a little butter. When you churn the tongue in the cave of the mouth the effect is manifested by a lot of repetition and some time . When you choose a Shand to work on from Blessings of a Woman is to be recited 11 times a day or sung for 31 minutes for a 40 day period. If you miss a day, your restart day becomes day #1. Same for the mantras on the CD. They are mini Shabds and should also be recited with full sensory and meditative focus for 11 minutes or 31 minutes. The 40 day period is needed to effect the change in the psyche to create a new habit and release the old habit pattern. You can continue for 90 days, 120 days, and even 1,000 days for mastery.

The CD map guide begins with “AMRIT PEEVO…” The Power of the Mother’s Prayer. Yogi Bhajan said that the greatest prayer is the power of the prayer of the mother. For those of us who are not mothers, you can focus on the ‘child within yourself’ ‘may you live long and may the meditative remembrance of God give you infinite delight”. To care for others you must first care for yourself. To teach self love you must act lovingly. Recitation of this ancient prayer,protects, heals, blesses and watches over all of this. Just listening to the words invokes a powerful blessing.

The next is the ‘Noble Woman’ which is an English song from a class of Yogi Bhajan at Women’s Camp. The trap for the woman in relationships with a man is her emotions and her insecurity. He said, ‘Never compete with nor confront a man. It will make your life miserable. Rather, he impressed upon us the power of nobility; “Nobility is such a virtue you can conquer the world with it”. And, “Build your life around nobility, not sexuality”. Sing this song to develop a grateful heart and understanding of your life.

Wahe Guru jio is a simple mantra to feed the essence of your soul and bring bliss to your day. Take the time to crowd out the suffering by moving your lips and tongue to attune to the bliss meridians of higher consciousness.

In the Meditation for a wise heart, Aad Gureh Nameh… we also sing the English translation. Each line says “I bow”. When you bow, your head is below your heart, and soon your heart energy reigns supreme and thoughts are quieted, and our wisdom can speak to us.

The combination of Akal Sahaa-ee mantra and Adi Shakti mantra are for removing fear.You stretch in the mudra of the hands over the head in prayer and the Infinte will stretch back enabling a powerful potential, while fears and phobias diminish.

Next is the meditation to feel SUPPORTED. GOBINDA, The name of God which means, the sustaining power of the Creator.

The 7th track is the Shabd ” Bhand Jamee-ai…” which is recited in every Gurdwara in the world, daily, in epic poem of Shabd Guru called ASA DIVAR. An affirmation of the creative power of the feminine, it causes indignities of life to fall away and empowers your words with grace.

The final track is for you to deeply relax. The ambient soothing, melting, space created with the Raga scale is adorned here and there with heavenly WAHE GURU.

The CD contains a mix of world rhythms and sounds for easy listening, yoga class and deep relaxation. Created for both men and women who want to transform, excel and be radiant. The ancient mantra meditations focus the mind and develop one’s compassionate heart. Thomas Barquee is the musical producer.

Snatam in Support of Obama

Taken from Snatam Kaur’s Blog

The other day I vowed to spend ten minutes a day doing something for the election to support Obama. So, I called my grandfather, because eight months ago he said he was going to vote for McCain. I wanted to have a conversation with him about it, and just hear him, and let him know how I felt.

I was really surprised, because one of the first things he said to me was; “You, your husband, and your new baby are going to have a good life, because change is coming.” I asked him what he meant, and he said, “Obama is going to win by a landslide, people want change. The economy is bad, housing is bad, and retired people are worried about Medicare. That’s why I am going to vote for Obama.”

I feel blessed to be an American, and blessed to know that we have a candidate like Barack Obama to support. I’m not a political analyst, or specialist in any way. I can say that I’m a peace activist in my own way, an environmentalist to the best of my abilities, and someone who strongly believes in the power of a single vote. Back in college, one of my best professors was a lady who taught a social science class. Although I can’t remember her name, she said two things that were probably more impactful then the sum of everything else all of my other college professors said. No offense if you happen to be one of my professors. But I hope you’ll understand when you hear what she had to say. First, the most important thing you can do is make peace with your parents… then your life can begin. The second was that the greatest and most important right that we have as Americans is to vote.

These days with all of the commercials that candidates broadcast, all of the mud slinging usually started by the media, and the nonsense talk about candidate’s personal lives, it is no wonder that many of us have turned off and tuned out.

But let me tell you something. The other night I got to hear Barack Obama speak at the Democratic National Convention. We switched the channel to PBS, where there were no interruptions or political analysts to skew things, and I just watched him speak and saw the convention. Honestly, it was the first time I had really seen him. I’d heard and seen clips… but never a full speech. It was a beautiful and moving speech. He also really addressed issues that McCain and others have been attacking him on. After hearing him, I felt not only a sense of hope and inspiration, but also a sense that he is ready for the coming months of debate.

I know that the road ahead for him will be challenging. However, that road is for all of us. We determine who our leaders are. For those that choose to tune out and not vote, they are in fact determining in a passive way who our leaders are. But, I feel that it is time as Americans to stand up, and vote. If you are not American, then please stand up and encourage any American friends that you have to vote in this election!

In my opinion, never before has an election in our country been so vital to the health of our environment in this country and the entire planet. We can already see the affects of global warming, and you don’t need to be a scientist to see that. Melting ice caps, increased hurricanes, and increased temperatures all across the planet, are just some of the indicators. We have just a few years left to be aggressive and make some key changes in how we live our lives, and what we do as a country depends on you and I and who we choose to be president. McCain is in full support of the Bush administration’s environmental policies. The Bush administration failed in the Kyoto convention with the excuse that other countries were not going to follow through with environmental actions, so there was no reason that we should either. I believe that the core values of the United States of America rest on the fact that we will act in consciousness and righteousness even when others are not.

In addition, McCain’s big stance right now is that we will do offshore oil drilling to curb rising gas prices. To me, this is absolutely ridiculous, especially, when we have solar and wind power technologies to be invested in that will bring us an amazing amount of energy without impacting the environment. Wind and solar power solutions will last for many generations to come and give us plenty of energy. Offshore oil drilling will last only another 30 years! In addition McCain chose a running mate, Palin, the governor of Alaska who has been in full support of oil drilling in one of the most vibrant and beautiful national treasures, the wilderness of Alaska.

Let me just say, that I met a Republican at our concert one evening, who really enjoyed the music. I enjoyed meeting him. There may be Republicans out there who have our music at home and who are listening to it right now. I believe that it doesn’t matter which party you are from, it is important to look at the issues and make a decision based on your core belief and experience.

I know that we all have busy lives, but think about the lives of the future generations. Think about the impact of global warming. Did you see the Beijing Olympic Games and see all of the pollution there? Anyone who has spent time in major cities in India lately will tell you that when you blow your nose after a day out you will see black grime on your Kleenex. To me, this is unacceptable! As people of spirituality, awareness, and peace, it is time to stand up. It is time to support Barack Obama.

I invite you to join me and take at least ten minutes out of your day in the coming months to support Obama.

Yes we Can!

- Snatam Kaur

Yoga for Obama – What a cool idea!!

6-Sunday Evenings of Yoga for Obama

I received an e-mail today from Shakta Kaur, known world-wide for her best-selling Kundalini Yoga books and children’s yoga teachings.  She was writing to announce a 6-week program called Yoga for Obama.  It struck me as such a great idea, I decided to post it here so I could share the idea with teachers, yogis and activists around the country and the world and inspire anyone else who wants to give this idea a try in their local community.

Shakta Kaur was inspired by a group of teachers doing this in Miami Florida, and presented to a group of teachers in Herndon, VA.  They agreed that they would each teach one night for 6 Sundays.  As soon as I saw the flyer, I told her Spirit Voyage would love to help promote it, so we are accepting registrations on our site and will include the details in our e-mail send-outs.

If you would like to start a local Yoga for Obama, Spirit Voyage is happy to include your program on our website, take online registrations if you want us to, and help spread the word to our network.  Please e-mail me at karan@spiritvoyage.com if you are interested.

Yoga for Obama in Herndon, VA:

What: Kundalini Yoga strengthens your body, calms your mind and transforms your life – one class at a time. Each week you will be lead by dedicated yoga teachers who have taught for 25 to 35 year! Beginners and experienced are welcome.
Class includes:
-Breathing Exercises
- Invigorating, healing yoga
- Deep relaxation
- Group meditation
- A rich variety of uplifting music.

When: 6 Sunday Evenings: September 28 – November 2nd 7 to 8:30 PM
Where: Health Matters / Traditional Acupuncture
443-A Carlisle Drive
Herndon, VA 20170
Donations: $20 per class
Credit Cards accepted online. Cash only accepted at the door.
All proceeds will be donated to Campaign for Change.

Click Here to Register Now

For more information and to volunteer or donate, contact www.vaobamaforchange.com

In Search of a Yoga Paradise for Snatam

About a year ago, I approached Snatam about putting on a yoga and music retreat in some beautiful paradise spot where people could really get the opportunity to delve deep into the music and yoga practice that she has made into her life.  I also felt that it would be a really special experience to be with her and her family and for a week-long vacation.  

Yelapa

In July, we were finally able to fix on the dates, so I boarded a plane to Mexico to go scout out locations.  I flew to Puerto Vallarta and had a 3-day schedule mapped out where I was going to visit about 15 different potential beach resorts for the weekend.

My first stop was Yelapa.  I had rented a car and was planning to drive all around from one place to another.  The night before I left, I called Jarrett at Los Naranjos in Yelapa and asked for directions to his center.  Jarrett laughed, he said I might be pleased to know there are no cars in Yelapa.  The only way to get there is either by boat, or a serious trek through the jungle.  While this caused my plans to have to change dramatically at the last minute, I was really excited at the prospect of finding a retreat location in a place where no car has ever been.  This sounded right up Snatam’s alley!

So, upon landing in Puerto Vallarta, I took a taxi to the pier and a 35 minute boat ride to Yelapa.  The boat ride was amazing.  We traveled south along the coast, and the landscape was magnificent.  The beaches were beautiful and sandy, and as soon as the sand ended, lush jungle began.  I felt like I was traveling back in time as the city disappeared behind us.  Along the way, we passed a few little fishing villages on the edge of the jungle.  Then suddenly there was a cove that turned into the junglescape and as we turned, the village of Yelapa sat nestled along the beach with the jungle rising up behind it.

Watching the sun set in Yelapa

My fabulous host, Luke, at Hotel Lagunita, met me at the pier and showed me to my room.  It was late, I was tired, so I sat on the beach and watched the sunset and felt so beautifully at peace.

Los Naranjos

The next morning, I woke up early, ready to begin my day of exploring the various hotels and retreat centers in Yelapa.  My first stop was Los Naranjos, which was about a 10 minute walk up a lovely cobblestone road from the beach.

Los Naranjos is run by Jarret, who is an American musician with a beautiful heart.  It’s an amazing sanctuary nestled along the side of a mountain.  Everything is built into the earth, keeping the natural environment integrated into every room.  It felt like spiritual Robin Crusoe escape.  Jarret explained that the entire village of Yelapa is a part of a larger property owned by the indiginous community.  No individuals can own property in this area, so everything is rented from the native people.  Jarret said that his property has been a meeting place for the native tribes for centuries.  He is certainly a worthy caretaker.  The property was beautiful, the gardens lush, and the eclectic mix of indoors, outdoors, and old world were so inviting.   I loved the hanging beds!  I was sorry to discover that they could only house about 18 people, as we were hoping to have 40 come for Snatam’s retreat.

Casa Los Suenos

After I left Los Naranjos, I visited Casa Los Suenos.  This was like a vibrant, quaint Mexican village in one big sprawling homestead.  With lots of vibrant colors, a half indoor-half outdoor kitchen to die for, and views off the side of the mountain that took my breath away, I was imagining yoga and singing filling every nook and cranny of the place.  Their rooms were huge, fit for kings, with lovely details and artistry. Unfortunately, it also was too small for our group, but I left longing to return.

Hotel Lagunita

I got back to Hotel Lagunita and, after a delicous lunch, was shown their whole property.  Their Palapa style huts were nestled  along a lovely curve of the beach.  The rooms are all reached by cobblestone paths.  The greenery is so lush and vibrant.  Each room was a bit different, but they mostly had 2 queen size that sat on rich brick-colored terra cotta floors.  The walls were stucco and the ceiling stretched up towards the sky with grand wooden beams.  The windows are made of wood and reed, and keep out sight but not sound.  There was a rustic charm that I immediately fell in love with.  Mosquito nets hangs above every bed, and there’s something very romantic about having them draped around you as you sleep.  I never felt a mosquito while I was there, but I used the nets anyway.

Because there are no glass windows, you could hear the water and the crickets all through the night.  The ocean breeze blows through the rooms all day and night, connecting you with everything around you.

Hotel Lagunita has a natural water swimming pool constantly fed by an underwater source and flowing out into the ocean. 

Hotel Lagunita’s restaurant is right on the beach, and in the evenings, the lovely candle-lit thatched roofs cover various seating areas.  Listening to the waves and watching the sun set was a daily miracle.

While I was there, a beach wedding was underway, and the love and hope and romance that was in the air was infectious.  I truly fell in love with Hotel Lagunita.

After two days in Yelapa, I took the boat ride back to Puerto Vallarta and I rented a car and drove north to the town of Sayulita.  In the town, I visited 6 diferent hotels, none of which I felt were right for our retreat, but outside of Sayulita, I visited 2 beautiful retreat centers.  The first was Haramara.

Haramara Retreat

Haramara is an incredible retreat center that sprawls from a mountain top all the way down to the beach.  Haramara was made to be a yoga and meditation retreat center, and it shows.  Alicia was my host for the day and she seemed as inspired and amazed by the property as I was.  It took over two hours to hike up and down to all of the amazing rooms, and we even got lost once or twice, the property was so large.

At the very top of the mountain are two beatiful yoga rooms with 360 degree views that overlook beatiful jungle covered mountains on one side and ocean on the other.  You feel like you are on top of the world in these yoga rooms.  The rooms where you stay are all palapa huts with very upscale furnishings, richly polished wooden floors and the most amazing bathrooms I’ve ever seen, all with outdoor showers.  There is no electricity in the rooms and as the sun sets, candles and lanterns glow throughout the retreat. 

The restaurant features all vegetarian food, and I was fed a beautiful and delicious vegan meal.

Haramara was not available for our upcoming March retreat, but I left with the certainty that we would be hosting a retreat there in the future.

Villa Ananda

The last place i visited was Villa Ananda.  Villa Ananda is a beautiful sprawling house with an Ayurvedic Spa in a gorgeous building next to it.  The house sits right on the beach with a gorgeous pool facing the water.  The house has soaring ceilings, a beautiful open floor plan, with a little indoor fountin and pond in the living room.

It’s a luxurious spot for a retreat, but was a bit too small for our group, so I’m keeping it in mind for future retreats.

After visiting Villa Ananda, I packed my bags and traveled to New Mexico to show Snatam and her husband, Sopurkh, the photos of all the places I had visited so we could decide which one was right for us.

We ultimately agreed that Hotel Lagunita would be the right place for this retreat, and we’re super excited to be getting everything organized and ready for this first of it’s kind retreat with Snatam Kaur, GuruGanesha Singh and their families.

Click Here to see the details about this upcoming retreat.

Snatam Kaur shares her DVD filming experience

Snatam Kaur filming 'Feeling Good' with little yogis

Source: Snatam’s Blog: http://www.snatamkaur.com/web8.html
Here’s a good combination. Pregnant, and making a children’s yoga DVD. And yes, that was me a few weeks ago. Every time I wanted to complain I just had to look at the Director of the film, Alessandra, who is about two days more pregnant then I! We weren’t quite at the waddling stage… but close enough. I still can’t believe there is a point when you can’t see your feet when you are walking. Anyway… back to the DVD….

To give you a little background, this DVD is a combination of a yoga class, a story, and songs set to celestial communication. For those of you who haven’t heard of celestial communication, this is a kind of dance to bring emphasis to the words of a song, and incorporate the energy into the body, and in this way “communicate” with God, the angels, and divine energy. In a way, this combination of story, yoga, and movement is how I grew up doing yoga. My spiritual teacher once said that children’s yoga should be first and foremost fun. As you’ll see in the DVD we have some pretty ridiculous moments.

As we toured around the country these past seven years, children kept coming to our concerts. We would invite them up on stage to sing with us at times, because they just were so cute and beautiful. I admit it, I couldn’t resist. Pretty soon, I began to realize how much the kids were connecting with the spirit in the music, so we developed a whole children’s yoga program to give them a more direct experience of that spirit. We delivered this program all over the world, and so we decided to make a DVD out of it for kids that couldn’t make it to our programs.

We looked around our home town of Espanola and neighboring Santa Fe to find children to be in our DVD. Fortunately, the kids who came to do the video were in top form on the day of filming. A few days before the filming, we had a set of rehearsals with the kids. Mind you, I believe (in my haven’t really experienced being a mom sort of way) that we had very good children. But, it was the combination of probably our adult nerves, and the sheer fun of being kids, that created a slightly unruly rehearsal situation. We quickly realized that the sheepskins for the yoga class would become airborne on the day of the filming if we didn’t tape them down. Already, one boy had a dirt mark on his nice white yoga pants after only wearing them for 5 minutes for our fitting. My niece Siri Atma was doing the Def Leppard hand symbol (we think it came from her father) during the celestial communication for the song “I am Happy, I am Good”. At one point I told myself “At least the kids were bonding and having a good time”… as all of the children were on the floor in a massive wrestling pile completely ignoring my adult implorations to have them come sitting up to do more yoga.

The night before the filming, I earnestly looked at my husband over dinner and said, “We should probably reschedule everything, give a few more weeks to practice with the children.” I know, I probably shouldn’t be telling you this… you probably would just like to see the finished DVD and just see it as a yoga class. But, hey, I thought I’d take you behind the scenes… get a little personal with it.

Anyway, my husband looked at me with his big blue eyes, and said with all of the confidence that I wish I had, “the kids will be fine, you’ll see.”

On the day of the filming, the crew showed up, and set up the lights and cameras. The kids arrived at 8:30 in the morning, and let me just say it was a new day. They walked in with all of the confidence and calm that I had imagined that they would have all of these months in preparation, and we began filming. We went through each posture, and celestial communication movement, sometimes more then once, and the children were beautiful. I couldn’t believe it… that’s why in the video I’m smiling so much… it really was because of the children… and maybe because I’m pregnant. Alessandra, in her very cheerful yet authoritative voice led us through the whole day. We finally let the children go that evening, after awarding them with special crystals.

Currently, our music producer, Krishan, is working in LA to create the final music mixes. We have some very talented children singers that came into his studio to sing. We also have an illustrator working on some amazing illustrations for the story. I can’t really tell you any more then this… top secret stuff. No just kidding. But, look out for our new DVD which plan to release this October.

Sat Nam!

Yoga Living Series: Meditative Moon – A Review in LA Yoga

Meditative Moon
by Spirit Voyage Artists
A Review by Michael R. Mollura

Meditative Moon is a compilation of some of the finest kirtan chanters living with us at this time. The album was put together under the consultation of yoga teachers, healers and musicians with the intention of producing what could be the ultimate taste of bhakti devotional music.

Starting with Mirabai Ceiba’s exquisite Kundalini “Guru Ram Das,” and Snatam Kaur’s “Ek Ong Kar,” the journey lays down the blanket and closes our eyes while opening our hearts to all that is possible. Dave Stringer & Donna Delory’s ‘Gunghata’ keeps the music flowing through our hearts and the energy soars with soft, peaceful and unconditional energy that is more than just healing.

I applaud Spirit Voyage for this collection, not only because of the artists they chose, but because the energy feels so complete and consistent. They didn’t just choose any chants, the label selected compositions that blend into one another seamlessly. Also included on this disc are Thomas Barquee, Amrit Kirtan, GuruGanesha Singh, Manish Vyas and Sat Kartar.

For yogis familiar with chanting, the overall feel of teh album is undeniably Kundalini driven. The texture is delicate, clean, acoustic and soothing. I highly recommend this collection of chants to everyone who enjoys classic chanting music that is so melodic it feels like you’re sailing right into the sun itself.

Michael Mollura is a writer, sacred music musician, event producer and keeper of the bhakti flame. michaelmollura@gmail.com

Snatam Kaur in Mystic Pop Magazine

A Prevailing Peace
by Naila Francis
Source: Mystic Pop Magazine: http://www.mysticpopmagazine.com/newsite/July-aug08/page40july-aug.html

It’s an experience Snatam Kaur offers in her music — and embodies in her life.

She is one of the world’s most beloved New Age artists, performing at more than 100 venues from across the U.S. and South America to Asia and Europe each year, and selling more than 50,000 albums annually, all of them retaining an impressive perennial hold on the Top 20 lists of New Age Retailers.

Yet Snatam Kaur, chant artist and peace ambassador, takes little credit for her success. That the music she performs, a blend of traditional Sikh mantras and contemporary sacred songs, has profoundly affected thousands who’ve heard her — one, a veteran of the Iraq war, wrote to Kaur confessing that it was through her music that she was first able to cry over her experiences — she attributes to a power well beyond her talents.

“Our music is dedicated to opening the heart and healing and giving people the opportunity to sing and to pray for peace on the planet,” says Kaur, who performs her Celebrate Peace concerts with guitarist and vocalist GuruGanesha Singh, master tabla player and composer Manish Vyas and multi-instrumentalist Ram Daas Singh. “The experience of praying for peace has very, very deep effects. When that prayer comes from your heart, you not only feel its energy in what you’re praying for, but you heal yourself in the wake of the wave.

“It’s completely within the sacred chants and I know that,” she says of the presence that seems to pierce right through the heart of listeners and connect them with the Divine. “That’s why I keep very humble. I keep my head bowed.

“There’s a real magic that happens when we chant these words and I don’t question it anymore. At times I’ll sing the translations or be inspired to sing lyrics that relate to the translation, but for the most part I just let the sacred chants do their work. It’s kind of a medicine balm, a healing balm. I believe that we bring these sacred chants to life when we sing them and that these chants have lived for thousands of years before me and will continue to live for years after that.”

Kaur, who was raised in Trinidad, Colo., and Bolinas, Calif., grew up in the Sikh lifestyle, practicing yoga, meditation and chanting from a young child and studying with the late Yogi Bhajan, renowned for introducing Sikhism and Kundalini yoga to the West. It was Bhajan, in fact, moved to tears after hearing Kaur sing when she was 18, who encouraged her to continue spreading the Sikh teachings and lifestyle through music. Yet for Kaur, the chants she grew up with were such a natural part of her every day that she never considered sharing them as a career, even though she also studied music, taking up classical violin in school and teaching herself guitar.

“I was fortunate to grow up in a household where my mom sang the Sikh chants every day. So I grew to know that hearing and listening and saying the sacred chants would bring me joy and I grew to know that when there were times of challenge, I could go to those sacred chants for healing,” she says.

A trip to the Golden Temple, the spiritual and cultural center of the Sikh religion, in Amritsar, India, when she was just six years old reinforced those beliefs.

“Growing up in America, I went to public schools and generally I was the only Sikh child in the whole school but through these experiences of going to India and listening to the sacred music and just feeling the heart and the warmth of the people and learning about the Sikh history, I gained a real sense of my identity,” she says.

Since her father served as the manager for the Grateful Dead for several years, music remained an influential part of her upbringing beyond the Sikh tradition. She even wrote and performed a song, “Save Our Earth,” with the help of the Dead’s Bob Weir, at an Earth Day concert in San Francisco before thousands while still a teen. But with her intentions set on a career in health care, Kaur got her degree in biochemistry and landed a job as a food technologist with the Oregon-based Peace Cereal after college. Inspired by her commitment to bring the practices of her tradition to others outside of her work and by her voice — Kaur would often sing on the factory floor — the company’s management encouraged her to embark on a recording career.

For Kaur, the process of making her first album, “Prem,” a collection of chants inspired by the sacred writings of the Sikhs on the experience of love, proved transformational.

“It was a really powerful time in my life because I realized how important it is to love yourself and to have that inner connection of love for your own soul and for the light of divinity that is within each of us,” she says. “When I got into the studio and experienced making music, it was very, very healing for me on a personal level and I just had an aha moment, an inner discovery of ‘Wow, this is something I could give to other people because of the great gifts they had given to me.”

Today, Kaur, who lives in New Mexico with her husband, serves as an ambassador for the United Nations affiliate 3HO (the Healthy Happy Holy Organization) and spends much of the year on the road doing concerts and workshops.

Her music is a stirring blend of Eastern and Western influences that both soothes and uplifts, her crystalline vocals evoking a radiant purity of heart and spirit, while her words, whether sung in Gurumukhi, the sacred language of the Sikhs, or English, resonate with the possibilities of a life of greater peace, love and devotion. Her CDs, which include “Anand,” “Grace” and the latest “Live in Concert,” are intended, she says, to allow audiences to continue that inner awakening and celebration of divinity experienced at her performances.
“I really believe in the power of people singing and singing positive affirmations. Essentially that’s what we share with people, through the music and through our prayer for peace. And it’s with those positive self-affirmations,” she says, “that we become agents of change.”

———————
Naila Francis is an editor and writer with a Philadelphia area daily newspaper and an ordained interfaith minister.

Get all of Snatam Kaur’s music at Spirit Voyage Music

Yoga + Joyful Living : Yoga Rock Stars

Yoga Rock Stars

Visit Yoga+ Joyful Living Site
Read this and many more articles in Yoga+ Joyful Living, an incredible magazine for the yoga commuity.

Yoga Rock Stars
A Special Report by Anna Dubrovsky

There’s a rave-like atmosphere in the ballroom of a Florida hotel and a group of musicians onstage, but this gathering of hundreds isn’t a party or performance. It’s a spiritual practice. The yoga conference participants singing and dancing late into the night are engaged in bhakti yoga, the yoga of joyful devotion to God.

Bhakti yoga isn’t a recent import. Many Westerners got their first taste in the 1960s, when shaven-headed Hare Krishna devotees took a bhakti practice called kirtan to the streets. Kirtan is the chanting of God’s names and attributes, often in call-and-response fashion. In 1969, Beatles guitarist George Harrison produced a recording of the Hare Krishna mantra, and bhakti debuted on Britain’s Top of the Pops. Around the same time, former Harvard psychology professor Richard Alpert returned from India with a new name—Ram Dass—and the message that psychedelics were poor substitutes for divine love. He taught ancient Hindu chants to hippies.

Recent years have seen another surge of Western interest in bhakti yoga and particularly devotional chanting. Longtime “kirtan wallahs” such as Jai Uttal and Krishna Das (Americans both) have graduated from living rooms to concert venues that seat many hundreds, achieving the status of rock stars in the yoga community. These days, it’s rare to find a yoga conference without communal chanting on the program. The Omega Institute’s annual “Ecstatic Chant” weekend grew so popular that this year the retreat center scheduled two chant-a-thons. There are kirtan camps for those seeking in-depth study and kirtan ringtones for cell phones. The Canadian music company that manages Avril Lavigne and Sarah McLachlan recently signed half a dozen chant artists to its label. “It’s a bull market,” quips Shyamdas, who has led kirtan for a quarter of a century.

Read More of this article at Yoga+ Joyful Living’s website

Anna Dubrovsky is a contributing editor of Yoga+. Last year, after returning from seven months of yoga study in Chennai, India, she settled in Pittsburgh, where she also teaches yoga.

Spirit Voyage Artist’s Featured in this Article:
Snatam Kaur

Click to See Snatam Kaur's Profile

Snatam Kaur’s day begins at a time when many musicians are heading to bed. At 4 a.m., she and her husband begin morning sadhana, two-and-a-half hours of Kundalini Yoga and chanting and prayer in the Sikh tradition. When she’s on tour, they’re joined by bandmates and crew. “As an artist, a lot of my inspiration comes at that time, a lot of the tunes and ideas for future albums,” says Snatam, who has churned out six solo albums since 2002. “It’s my well that I draw from.” Snatam’s parents turned to Sikhism shortly after she was born. She learned kirtan from her mother and musical improvisation from her father, a former manager for the Grateful Dead. Her kirtans include Gurmukhi chants drawn from Sikh scriptures and English aphorisms composed by her spiritual teacher, Yogi Bhajan, who brought Kundalini Yoga to the West in the 1960s. Between chants, she teaches yoga and meditation. “I look at each concert as a full experience of healing. The words that we share are considered to be a technology of transformation—almost like opening up a medicine cabinet.”

Home Base: Espanola, New Mexico
Website: www.snatamkaur.com
Can’t Miss: Snatam will be among the musicians performing from the world’s most mystical sites as part of Project-Peace on Earth, a globally telecast event scheduled for September 2009. www.project-peaceonearth.org
Coming Soon: She will release a children’s album that includes “Feeling Good,” a song Snatam wrote at 15 and rediscovered while flipping through old journals. An accompanying DVD will feature an interactive yoga class for children.
Click Here for Snatam Kaur’s Music

Dave Stringer

Click to see Dave Stringer Profile

Dave Stringer didn’t go to India in 1990 to find a guru. He went because he was broke and couldn’t refuse a job shooting films for the first Siddha Yoga ashram. “All the images of people sitting in meditation ‘blissed out’ were actually a turnoff
for me rather than an enticement,” he says. At the ashram in Ganeshpuri, the skeptic became an enthusiast in short order. “The experience of chanting, which was at first total nonsense to me, was strangely compelling, not only musically but in terms of how I felt—completely ecstatic,” says Stringer, a trained jazz musician. About a decade after returning to Los Angeles, he traded his career in film editing for one in kirtan. “I don’t ask people who come to my kirtans to believe in it. I ask them to suspend their disbelief for a long enough time to give it a go and see what happens.”

Home Base: Los Angeles, California
Website: www.davestringer.com
Can’t Miss: Stringer will lead chanting at the Big Island Retreat with Ram Dass and friends in Pahoa, Hawaii, Nov. 5–10, 2008. www.ramdass.org
Coming Soon: His fifth album is scheduled for release in September. Stringer’s spring 2009 tour will be recorded for a live album to be released the following fall.
Click Here for Dave Stringer’s Music

Also featured in this article:
Krishna Das: Bhakti With a Dash of Blues
Deva Premal & Miten: At Home in the World
Wah!: “If It’s Playful, I’m There.”
Jai Uttal: In the Footsteps of the Minstrels
Seán Johnson
Wade Imre Morissette
David Newman aka Durga Das
Shyamdas
Benjy and Heather Wertheimer, aka Shantala

From Rock to Raag

There is a brief clip in the “Path Of Peace” DVD with Snatam Kaur and GuruGanesha Singh where GuruGanesha describes his journey from Rock ‘n Roll to Classical Indian Raag. It is a wonderful story – one which he elaborates on in greater detail in his fantastic workshops and live performances.

GuruGanesha was recently interviewed on Yoga TV and gives a nice overview of how he was drawn to music and yoga and the path that eventually led to his connection with Snatam Kaur and the founding of Spirit Voyage Records.  The complete video of the interview can be found in the MEDIA section of GuruGanesha’s website.

Enjoy!