As children, we develop survival tools, which carried into adulthood can hinder our ability to show up authentically and in the present moment. Through acceptance, vulnerability, mindfulness, gratitude, and love, we can break the chain of these fear-based tendencies, or what Ira calls “unskillful solutions.” Yoga and meditation can be powerful vehicles to facilitate these shifts.

Our minds have a strong negativity bias and are often operating on autopilot. Ira examines the characteristics of the mind that cause meditation to be challenging. For example, he explains that you cannot tell someone not to think of something, but you can gently guide their attention to something else; some thought that serves as an anchor. Ira teaches a series of short meditations, each one introducing different techniques and anchors. In an exploration of mantras, visualizations, and breath awareness, these meditation sessions allow you to playfully experiment to find the method that resonates with you.

This DVD will benefit all experience levels on the meditation and mindfulness path. Ira builds a toolbox for practitioners and empowers us through the process. He invites us to explore our stories. Through his personal account of a life-threatening car accident, he encourages a radical acceptance of what is and the need to embrace every aspect of our lives. Inhale love; exhale anything that isn’t love. For more information, visit iraisrael.com.

A Beginner’s Guide to Happiness

by Ira Israel
Optimum Integral Wellness

Reviewed by Serena Deeb, world-traveled professional wrestler, Santa Monica-based yogi, animal lover, and avid adventurist. Twitter: @SerenaDeeb

Serena Deeb

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by Micheline Berry

(Udaya Entertainment) This set of 12 DVDs is perfect for anyone looking for a transformative home practice. Micheline Berry, known for her dance-infused style of vinyasa flow (Liquid Asana) collaborated with producer Yariv Lerner to film at the Nu Boyana studios in Sofia, Bulgaria, where 12 musicians and 36 yogis gathered to create these yoga classes recorded with live music.

This 40-day artistic journey inspires our personal practice and creative process. This is clear in Sankalpa (DVD 2), a strong vinyasa flow,which ignites the inner fire of our intention and life art. “What are you igniting, what are you burning, what is that sacred art inside of you?” Berry asks to the famous beats of DJ Drez.

In Beginner’s Mind (3) we practice to Masood Ali Khan’s haunting hang drum while being invited to be curious, flexible, and open to new opportunities. Roots, Rock & Flow (4) is a strong standing pose and arm balance practice set to the sweeping voice of Joey Lugassy. Fire in the Belly (6) is my favorite: a strong flow igniting our inner fire and the chakras, accompanied by kirtan legend Dave Stringer’s gorgeous English ballads. The other DVDs support inquiry, being in the present moment, dancing ecstatically with the unknown, letting our heart bloom, taking risks, and meditating.

Watching these, I was grateful for my teacher and my tribe and relived the magical journey I was privileged to be part of, a powerful experience of sangha (community) I cherish.

Reviewed by Beate Sophia Scholz a fashion designer and student of yoga who completed teacher training at Bhakti Yoga Shala.

Staff Writer Lakshmi

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Food is meant to nourish our bodies and souls. A juicy peach or a perfectly ripe heirloom tomato can provide us with nutrients and sweet memories. Unfortunately, for so many people today, their relationship with food is fraught with stress and confusion. In The Yoga of Food, Josie Kramer, M.A., offers a whole person approach to eating and managing stress without turning to fatty, sugary, and salty foods.  Josie’s credentials provide the basis for her authority:  1,000-hour Yoga Teacher certification from Naropa University, a master’s degree in Transpersonal Psychology from Sofia University, a 550 hour Massage Certification from The Institute of Psycho Structural Balancing, and a holistic health counselor certification through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

The DVD offers three segments: ‘Knowledge of the Body’, ‘Awareness of Mind’, and ‘Connection to Spirit’.  Josie includes breathing techniques and beautifully sequenced beginner’s yoga practices to help viewers become more present in their bodies. Throughout, the practices, Josie offers information on choosing whole foods that provide us powerful energy.

In ‘Knowledge of the Body’ Josie guides viewers through breath work and asana designed to both reduce stress and increase energy. This practice offers a nourishing tool other than turning to food for coping in difficult times. True to its title, ‘Awareness of Mind’ encourages a focus on the present moment, cultivating the art of eating and enjoying food with less distraction, in order to increase satiation. During ‘Connection to Spirit’, Josie utilizes the chakra system to examine disordered eating patterns and how we can break free from such behaviors.

The Yoga of Food is a powerful practice. Josie helps viewers tune into their own bodies needs. Through mind, body, and spirit, we can begin to heal our relationship with food.

Reviewed by Amy Gartenberg

Amy Gartenberg

Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Amy Gartenberg moved to California August, 2012. She is an elementary school teacher and a recent graduate of the 200 hour teacher training program at Yogis Anonymous in Santa Monica (yogisanonymous.com). She is the founder of the blog C’est California Vie (cestcaliforniavie.com) where you can find workouts, healthy recipes, and daily musings. Find Amy running along the ocean, hiking the canyons, or practicing at one of LA?s stellar yoga studios.

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Optimal Integral Wellness

Thinking about the future can steal our attention away from the present moment and can lead us down the jagged path of anxiety. In his new DVD, Mindfulness Meditations for Anxiety, Ira Israel presents seven practices that redirect the mind away from the dissonance of black and white thinking. Encouraging practitioners to look for the balanced “gray-areas” through these techniques, Israel empowers victory over the fluctuations of an anxious mind.

With soothing musical accompaniment by Jacqueline Fuentes and Ayman, each of the seven selections begins with a quote which introduces a theme. Followed with commentary from Israel, the practice unfolds upon the theme, utilizing a focusing activity such as breathwork, visualization, mantra, or a brief writing exercise. All of the practices end in a period of silent mindfulness meditation culminating in the soft chiming of a bell, letting viewers know they can either end the period of meditation or return to the main menu for an additional practice.

Inviting viewers to discover for themselves the profound psychological outcomes of the practices, Israel urges viewers to, “entertain the possibility that there could be other models or paradigms more empowering” than medication to treat anxiety. Additional tools, including acceptance, gratitude, non-reactivity, and self-observation, are introduced to equip viewers with the knowledge that, “if we are the cause of our own anxiety, then we might also have the power to overcome it.”

Beth Prandini is a YogaWorks Certified Yoga Teacher and a lover of all media. bethprandiniyoga.com

Beth Dian Prandini

www.bethprandiniyoga.com

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This beautiful DVD was created from Mahankirn’s Book Three Min Start™ and features 11 three- minute techniques:
*Be Relaxed                  *Calm Heart                 *Don’t Meditate

*Bye-Bye Blues             *Connect                      *Ease Anxiety

*Good Mood                *Inner Harmony           *Office Focus

*Still Mind                    *Stress Less

They are all very simple, accurate and effective.

Three Min Start™ was created for people of all ages and can be done, whether they are:

• New to Yoga
• Avid Yogis on the run
• Children
• Teens
• Office Executives
• Busy Moms
• Seniors
• People with limited mobility

For example, “CALM HEART” an exercise to balance ones emotions entails sitting straight in a chair or on the floor. Placing your palms together at the center of your chest, closing your eyes… begin to inhale thru your nose in 4 equal parts, then exhaling thru your nose in 4 equal parts. Continue this for up to three minutes.  To finish: You inhale and hold your breath while squeezing and tightening every muscle of your body. Exhale, relax and enjoy the effects.

Staff Writer Lakshmi

The post Three Min Start™ DVD appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

The 240-minute DVD is broken up into three types of practice sequences: those for home, office, and travel. Each section is divided into both a step-by-step instruction of the sequence and a guided practice set to music for a fluid experience.

Waltzer’s offers a practical and therapeutic approach. The postures selected encourage lengthening and stretching to relieve muscle tension and pain that may result from poor posture, or everyday work and activity. Her cues gracefully highlight the anatomical effects of each pose and the practical benefits that will last off of the mat and into the routine of daily life.

Included in the DVD is a bonus selection called “Learn Yoga Breathing” in which techniques such as ujaii and diaphragmatic breathing are taught in a simple and easy to understand manner. Walzer clearly explains how to connect breath with movement, and how proper breath benefits the entire body, especially in maintaining health in the lower back.

Walzer’s offering can be summed up in her own words when she tells the viewer that “Slow intentional breathing is probably the most important thing I can share.”

Easy Yoga Stretches guides real-life students in a way that helps them to understand and experience the powerful impact Yoga can have on everyday life.

Reviewed by Beth Dian Prandini, an LA-based Yoga teacher
www.bethprandiniyoga.com

Beth Dian Prandini

www.bethprandiniyoga.com

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The program consists of five easy movements, each supported as needed with chairs, a wall, or a bolster. Every stretch is safe and accessible for any group, including those who are wheelchair-bound.

The DVD is broken into three menu selections. The first 25-minute section contains an introduction and detailed instruction of each pose. Between each pose is a drop in text titled, “Why should you do this and how will it help you,” which highlights the energetic and anatomical benefits of each pose.

The second menu item – “Good to Know”- contains interviews with Dr. Beth S. Marcus MD and Jeffrey M. Ring PhD explaining how these stretches can benefit the central nervous system, improve balance and alleviate depression.

The final selection is the full routine of the five poses for an effective and time-maximizing practice.

Briggs’s spirit and ease as a teacher radiate. Her voice sings out mottos such as “It’s never too late, you’re never too old” as she guides her students step-by step through taking care of their muscles and joints. This inspirational program is a wonderful reintroduction to caring for our bodies, reminding us that, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.”

Reviewed by Beth Prandini

Beth Dian Prandini

www.bethprandiniyoga.com

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The DVD is divided into two half-hour segments, “Hatha” and “Flow,” making this video ideal for anyone looking to fit Yoga into their home life. The box set contains a strap to facilitate many of the movements in the sequences.

Tamal Dodge is both calming and helpful as a narrator as well graceful while demonstrating the practice. His directives are clear and his explanations of each pose are thoughtful and expressive. The setting is beautiful too; it is filmed on the Pacific Ocean in the sunlight. The combination found in Hatha and Flow Yoga for Beginners provides viewers with a way to take some time for oneself, to breathe, to see the ocean, and to heal.

The two programs are varied but equally beneficial. The Hatha section aims to relieve stress, increase flexibility, and boost circulation through stretching and static poses. The Flow portion moves swiftly through poses to build stamina, increase core strength, improve balance, and boost mental clarity and focus.

This DVD puts forward Tamal’s philosophy as a Yoga teacher, musician, and one of the founders of the Yoga Collective: Fostering a connection between body, mind, and spirit will create a healthier, happier and more fulfilled world.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Ripps

Elizabeth Ripps

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“Opening a Yoga studio is one of the most revolutionary acts you can engage in today,” says film producer Leila Connors. “The practice of Yoga,” she continues, “helps you develop independent thinking, even though you don’t realize the shift in thinking is happening.”

Yoga isn’t the only revolutionary act taking place in the country these days. Leila Connors, film director Mark MacInnis, and co-producer Mathew Schmid have been documenting another revolution: a band of independent thinkers involved in a literal grassroots movement in Detroit. These communities are revitalizing the art of self-empowerment by creating urban farms and cultivating organically-grown food. This story is being shared in the documentary film Urban Roots.

“This movie is all about self-reliance, about coming home to and taking responsibility for self and then taking action in the world from that place,” Connors says.

It begins with cultivating a garden.

  Connors states that Urban Roots addresses more than merely growing vegetables; this renegade revolution represents not only a major cultural shift, but a possible solution to today’s ecological crises and a dismantling of the past centuries’ centralization of power and money. We’ve all bought into a certain societal centralized mindset, Connors muses. Yet both the practice of Yoga and the act of planting a seed bring the power back to the hands of the people.

  LA YOGA: What is compelling about the story of urban farming in Detroit?

  Leila Connors: Urban farming is a solution here…it is one part of the deeper story, which is the collapse of the post-industrial society and the collapse of the city. Mark MacInnis, who is from Detroit, had shot footage of all these urban farmers. He came to us [via LA-based Tree Media, who produced The 11th Hour], looking for a team to help make the movie.

We were shocked to see how destroyed the city looks; it boggles the imagination. We are supposed to be the most powerful country in the world, and Detroit was the city that represented the American Dream, the upwardly mobile middle class, readily available jobs, and cultural and racial diversity.

Cut to 2011, and the American Dream looks pretty bad this time around.

  The city’s population is 700,000, as compared to its peak of two million. It begs the question, “What would your block look like if more than half the houses were empty? That is the situation in Detroit, where stores and businesses can’t survive in neighborhoods filled with boarded-up empty houses. There’s a vicious downward cycle of collapse, of destruction by neglect. The city and the employers haven’t figured out what to do.

But the people are creating the real American dream, working together rather than relying on large institutions to take care of them. They’re farming the land, giving themselves jobs, and building a slow food economy based on organic food.

The implications of this are powerful.

This is not just a farming movie. It’s a movie about solutions: How do we move forward in the current environmental and economic crises and how do we do it with community? Community is key.

LA YOGA: What surprised you the most in making this film?

  LC: The gentleness of the human spirit. When you spend a lot of time in the cynical mediascape we’re in now, the human spirit seems mean and cruel. There is certainly an element of that today with gangs, drugs, murders, and other tragedies, but there is another side.

People who are worn down, who have everything taken away, can find a way to work together. This empowerment reveals where the human spirit thrives and the conditions under which it can be cultivated rather than destroyed.

  LA YOGA: You sound hopeful.

  LC: This is a feel-good movie. Detroit is a place that everyone loves to put down, but it is really a bright shining star at the moment. This type of activity is happening all over the country, the extent to which it has taken off in Detroit is related to the abundance of vacant land.

At the end of the movie, we show urban farms throughout the world. Food security is an increasingly important issue; as oil prices go up, the costs of producing food conventionally based on fossil fuel consumption will increase. So the more we grow locally, the better.

When people think about Detroit, two things often come to mind: cars and music. For this reason, music is an important part of Urban Roots. The soundtrack was created by LA-based composer, filmmaker, social entrepreneur, and Earthtones founder Frank Fitzpatrick, a native of Detroit who saw his participation in the project as a way to give back to his hometown.

LA YOGA: What influenced your choice of music in the film?

Frank Fitzpatrick: You can’t actually make something about Detroit without the throughline of music being an essential component. Its music has had an influence on our own country and globally. Detroit was a hard city when the music came out of it in the ‘60s. It was going through a rough time, but music was available everywhere.

Music engages the viewer emotionally in the character studies of the people who are at the heart of the film. They are loveable, and have a kind of charm. When they’re talking about the vegetables in their hand, they have a sense of purpose. The emotional impact of their self-empowerment is the inspiration for the film itself, and that is what I wanted to express musically.

The farming creates shifts in their lives, allows them to have some control over their own destiny, and the music helps to raise that to an emotional level. One of things I find interesting about farming is that there are no walls on farms. Isolation happens because people are separated by walls. When they are in an outdoor space together, doing fundamental stuff with the Earth, a different process takes place. Community—and music—provide an emotional lifeline between people. People can survive the hardest of times if they have something to hold on to.

LA YOGA: Being so close to this story, how have you felt about Detroit?

FF: The story of Detroit is the country’s greatest national disaster. There is a lot more devastation throughout the city than there was in New Orleans after Katrina, but people don’t know about it since the decline took thirty years as opposed to one day. As the industrial era is shifting so fast right now, Detroit is an example of what could happen to many cities at some point.

Personally, I feel a sense of loss; Detroit was once a thriving city, the fourth largest city in America, the highest-paid middle class city in the world. All of that shifted dramatically from 1975 – 1980. It is sad to have people not be aware of the contributions and value of Detroit to the world. Before the realization of the contamination of industrialization, it was the road to the American Dream.

Farming now provides a sense of empowerment to people. It’s hard to know where it will go because it is all rogue but in such a positive way, that if there is enough attention brought to it and if it happens en masse, hopefully that will keep it from being shut down. The belt around the Great Lakes, the largest freshwater supply in the world, contains some of the most fertile agricultural soil in the nation. After cleaning up the lead contamination, there’s no reason it can’t be flourishing farmland again.

People who were only used to eating at McDonald’s are now eating organically grown vegetables from down the block. Their changing relationship to food has helped to change their ability to be self-sustaining.

Although Detroit is never going to repeat its history — it is never going to become the thriving industrial city it once was — there is the potential to come back to people’s core values of depending on community.

LA YOGA: Did the film make you feel hopeful?

FF: Whether urban farms will save Detroit, I don’t know. The sense of hope and pride, though, can shift the consciousness of people. In the past twenty-five years, there hasn’t been much hope and pride. The solutions for cities are often more of the same, such as more buildings, rather than something like this that involves people being engaged in their communities.

A portion of all proceeds of Urban Roots will be dedicated to putting farms in schools in five inner city high schools in LA. For more information, visit: urbanrootsamerica.com.

Earthtones is a nonprofit arts organization founded by Frank Fitzpatrick committed to raising social consciousness and connecting people across the globe through the power of music and media: earthtones.org.

By Felicia Marie Tomasko, RN

Felicia M. Tomasko

Felicia Tomasko has spent more of her life practicing Yoga and Ayurveda than not. She first became introduced to the teachings through the writings of the Transcendentalists, through meditation, and using asana to cross-train for her practice of cross-country running. Between beginning her commitment to Yoga and Ayurveda and today, she earned degrees in environmental biology and anthropology and nursing, and certifications in the practice and teaching of yoga, yoga therapy, and Ayurveda while working in fields including cognitive neuroscience and plant biochemistry. Her commitment to writing is at least as long as her commitment to yoga. Working on everything related to the written word from newspapers to magazines to websites to books, Felicia has been writing and editing professionally since college. In order to feel like a teenager again, Felicia has pulled out her running shoes for regular interval sessions throughout Southern California. Since the very first issue of LA YOGA, Felicia has been part of the team and the growth and development of the Bliss Network.

www.blissnetwork.com

The post Urban Roots: Documenting A Backyard Revolution On Film appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

“Yoga constantly invites us to become our better selves.”

“In this world we are challenged every day, and I find it is yoga that guides me in the skill of choosing how to act and checking my motivation. I can be motivated by the more self-centered part of my nature, or I can choose to act in a way that is more beneficial for the world in which I live.”

A childhood in New Zealand marked by experiences of suffering reached a teenage turning point when she understood the impact of her own choices in either creating more pain or relief from suffering. “From then on,” Saraswati says, “I knew Yoga would always be a guiding light in my life.”

The strong foundation provided in the practice came not only from principles of physical alignment, but as Saraswati describes, “ways to live your life in alignment that create more harmony in the world.” She saw this alignment in action when after college, she began teaching Yoga and meditation to women with cancer. Saraswati witnessed women developing resilience and joy despite the pain and challenges of the disease. Their sharing of the importance of Yoga and meditation in their lives fueled Saraswati’s desire to continue studying Yoga.

  Saraswati moved from New Zealand to Manhattan to study, eventually setting up a studio in Greenwich Village where the events after 9/11 demonstrated the benefit of the practice in healing trauma or tragedy. Her studio offered free class yoga on film in the weeks following the tragedy. “Yoga teachers all over NYC supported each other by sharing techniques that would help with the trauma and insomnia.”

These days, Saraswati is based in the Bay Area, where her passion for the practice is channeled into YogaKula, which operates a Yoga studio in San Francisco and one in Berkeley and also produces documentary films, DVDs and CDs on Yoga-related topics by leading spiritual teachers and philosophers.

Her foray into the media was driven by people’s stories: “Almost every day at the studio, people would share how Yoga was transforming a life. I thought, ’More people should be hearing these stories’.” After interviewing and recording the teachers and students, Saraswati realized she had the beginnings of a film, one with the potential to inspire people to find solutions to the stress in their lives.

This film became the documentary based on Sarasvati’s experience of Anusara Yoga: The Heart of Transformation. Since its release in August, 2010, the film is on a global tour of festivals and Yoga venues, including Thailand, Switzerland, Canada, and Israel.

The Heart of Transformation lives up to its title, revealing tales of personal upheaval and the path found in the practice. One woman speaks about her struggle to overcome anorexia; another chronicles the process of healing after the murder of her teenage son.
Actor and Yoga practitioner Minnie Driver narrates and is featured in the film.

Driver says, “Like any practice, the more consistently you do something, the more engrained it is in your life and the more of a tool it becomes. As opposed to an emergency tool, it becomes a well-worn beautiful tool that you know how to use and it’s always in the right place when you need it.”

For two years, Saraswati and her film crew have traveled from India to Italy to Africa and across the US to interview teachers and practitioners.

Saraswati and Director of Photogarphy, Michael McIntyre

They are currently completing another film that focuses on the powerful effect women Yoga teachers are having on the Yoga movement worldwide. Look for this documentary in Summer, 2011: yogawoman.tv.

 CAROLYN QUAN is an internationally collected fine art photo collage artist of spiritual art who also enjoys writing. She lives in Sausalito and is owner of The Quan Gallery Showroom in San Francisco: carolunquan.com

  Join Saravati for an asana class with Noah Mazé, kirtan with Dave Stringer, and a screening of the film in Santa Monica at The Yoga Collective, Tuesday, May 10, 6:00 – 9:00 P.Myogacollective.com

For more information about the film, visit: www.AnusaraYogaTheHeartOfTransformation.com

By Carolyn Quan

Staff Writer Lakshmi

The post The Heart of Transformation appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Hanuman’s birthday is honored every April at the Vedanta Temple. For more information visit: vedanta.org.

There are 1008 reasons why I love Hanuman… here are the Top 10:

He can fly without wings…‘nuf said.

1. He is the God of being devoted to God… it’s redundant and awesome.
2. His delivery is better than UPS or FedEx, whether it be a ring for Sita, or a mountain to save Lakshman.
3. Unlike Curious George, this monkey talks.
4. Sita, Ram, Sita, Ram, Sita, Ram, Sita, Ram, Sita, Ram.
5. He’s the champion of Truth, Sat Nam!
6. He practically invented Seva (selfless service).
7. He’s the poster-boy for Bhakti (devotion).
8. He changes his size as effortlessly as Lady Gaga changes her appearance.
9. He attends more Kirtans than I do!

KASEY LUBER is Hanuman’s #1 fan and also a video blogger. For more on Kasey and Hanuman, visit BigHappyDay.com

Tara Taylor Donlan

Taylor “Tara” Donlan is a practicing psychotherapist, (LMFT 97179), whose goal is to help others through life transitions, reclaim their balance and connect to the meaning and purpose of their lives with a special focus on dynamic aging. She maintains a private practice in Burbank and Pasadena.

The post Top 10 Reasons Why I Love Hanuman appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Five Questions With Daryl Hannah

Felicia M. Tomasko

Felicia Tomasko has spent more of her life practicing Yoga and Ayurveda than not. She first became introduced to the teachings through the writings of the Transcendentalists, through meditation, and using asana to cross-train for her practice of cross-country running. Between beginning her commitment to Yoga and Ayurveda and today, she earned degrees in environmental biology and anthropology and nursing, and certifications in the practice and teaching of yoga, yoga therapy, and Ayurveda while working in fields including cognitive neuroscience and plant biochemistry. Her commitment to writing is at least as long as her commitment to yoga. Working on everything related to the written word from newspapers to magazines to websites to books, Felicia has been writing and editing professionally since college. In order to feel like a teenager again, Felicia has pulled out her running shoes for regular interval sessions throughout Southern California. Since the very first issue of LA YOGA, Felicia has been part of the team and the growth and development of the Bliss Network.

www.blissnetwork.com

The post Finding Health Freedom Through Our Food appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Felicia M. Tomasko

Felicia Tomasko has spent more of her life practicing Yoga and Ayurveda than not. She first became introduced to the teachings through the writings of the Transcendentalists, through meditation, and using asana to cross-train for her practice of cross-country running. Between beginning her commitment to Yoga and Ayurveda and today, she earned degrees in environmental biology and anthropology and nursing, and certifications in the practice and teaching of yoga, yoga therapy, and Ayurveda while working in fields including cognitive neuroscience and plant biochemistry. Her commitment to writing is at least as long as her commitment to yoga. Working on everything related to the written word from newspapers to magazines to websites to books, Felicia has been writing and editing professionally since college. In order to feel like a teenager again, Felicia has pulled out her running shoes for regular interval sessions throughout Southern California. Since the very first issue of LA YOGA, Felicia has been part of the team and the growth and development of the Bliss Network.

www.blissnetwork.com

The post Sitting Down With: Tom Shadyac appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Elton John and Cheryl Crow Photo: Lester Cohen/WireImage.com (c) 2010; Courtesy of: The Recording Academy(r)

It’s a typical sunny day in southern California, unseasonably – yet expectedly – warm. The sky is clear, the trees are blooming. I’m on my way to live my passion: to teach, to guide a class toward bliss and soak in the energy that Yoga liberates. I sling the backpack over my shoulders and turn on the iPod shuffle. There’s sass in my step as I smile at the hummingbird that crosses my path. Then, the music stops. Merely blocks away from my destination, my iPod runs out of juice.

Music is the soundtrack to our life: to our love, as we fall in and out; for our postures, as we cultivate strength and fall in and out of balance; and to our gait as we place one foot in front of the other. Music fills the space between words as we lock eyes with our best pal at the coffee shop. It is the driving force that unites our out-of-tune accompaniment to the in-tune soprano on stage belting out the lyrics of a pop song while we laugh and hold up our hands in the dark, smoke-filled concert hall. Music provides camaraderie as we struggle through traffic; music inspires the moments during which we melt into our couch and smile while watching Glee and feel goose bumps while calling in our vote for American Idol.

In the quiet moments after my iPod went quiet, I began to wonder, what would my life be like without the practice of Yoga? Yoga is something that is as important to me as the soundtrack of music that accompanies nearly every move.

Yoga can bring together the most unlikely collection of people to unify energy and inspire peace. Music transcends barriers, bridging political, religious, generational and linguistic gaps like nothing else. Both Yoga and music celebrate life in union at every level, providing us the space to release and let go, a place to belong and a place to stand on our own.

Henry David Thoreau said: “When I hear music – I fear no danger, I am vulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times and to the latest.”

A yogic perspective, for sure.

Again, I ask, “What would life be like without music?”

This month, when we are aglow from holding true to our resolutions in practice, on and off the mat, the city is aglow with award season, glimmering with stars and flash bulbs.

Behind one of this month’s signature events, the GRAMMY Awards, is the MusiCares Person of the Year Award (held on February 11, 2011). It’s a red carpet event that shines like a diamond, illuminating more than the hits, by providing a soft cushion for the hits people making music sometimes take. The evening is the capstone fundraiser for a series of yearly events that are produced to raise money for all music people in need.

Everyone needs support. Just as a compassionate, attentive teacher offers inspiration to guide you deeper into practice, MusiCares broadens the potential for music professionals and musicians to move on from hard times and continue producing the magic we love, connect to, and appreciate and which provides the bounce in our step as we walk the streets.

This year, Ms. Barbra Streisand will receive the Person of the Year Award. It’s a tantalizing appetizer to the GRAMMY’s main course on February 13 (airing live on CBS).

The Person of the Year Award honors not only a person’s creative accomplishments (Ms. Streisand has won already won eight GRAMMY Awards) but also their philanthropic contributions.

Tony Bennett, Kristen Chenoweth, Matthew Morrison, Herbie Hancock, Diana Krall, Barry Manilow, Donna Summer, Steve Wonder, Nikki Yanofsky and Glee’s Lea Michele will perform songs from Ms. Streisand’s catalog in preparation for her performance at the end of the evening.

Proceeds benefit MusiCares, the nonprofit extension of The Recording Academy, founded in 1989, with the mission to provide critical assistance, addiction recovery, and medical and financial tools to keep the music alive. MusiCares also directs attention and awareness to issues that impact the health and welfare of people in the music community.

“We serve everyone from the guy performing on the streets of Santa Monica, to the legendary jazz musician that needs help with his addiction, the one in charge of lighting on tours to the assistant at the record label. We are here for anyone who has contributed his or her life’s work to the music industry in a professional way,” says MusiCares Senior Director Erica Krusen.

Communications Manager Christina Cassidy adds, “MusiCares is a nonprofit with a for-profit attitude. We are a small, efficient and nimble team that work hard together to serve our clients with such discipline because we believe so much in them.”

MusiCares’ twelve city chapters across the country and ongoing fundraising efforts supply the guidance and leadership necessary to care for a community and build awareness. They partner with physicians and healthcare clinics nationwide to offer low or no cost medical testing and screenings, mammograms and addiction and recovery treatment, resources and educational information on affordable insurance options to keep music people in the know, healthy and fit.

They reach a captive audience. “Last year, we served the largest number of clients to date besides Hurricane Katrina,” says Cassidy.

Krusen adds, “The money our events bring in keep us going year to year. We’re always looking for new health resources: teaming up and creating panels or workshops with physicians, nutritionists, chiropractors, Yoga instructors and other alternative health and wellness professionals are all beneficial. It’s the necessary safety net we can provide offering preventative care for our clients to get them on the path of healthy living now.”

With this support, artists who have at least five years of professional career experience can turn to MusiCares. Krusen mentions, “Some clients who are battling cancer need a couple of months of their rent paid while undergoing treatment. We can provide that and give them the peace of mind they don’t need to worry about one more things while on their path to healing. And then there is the person that calls who is finally coming to terms with their addiction…”

Cassidy adds, “It makes it all worth it to know you can help people continue to do what they love with confidence.”

When we feel a sense of isolation on our paths, our Yoga practice can provide a place to be in community and find the elements we need to heal our bodies and minds, overcome injury or conquer a challenging pose. On the worst of days, you can come to the studio, lay down your mat and work it all out.

For the people working at MusiCares, the assistance they offer is a form of seva, of selfless service. And for a dispersed community of musicians, MusiCares holds an important space, like the floor of the studio in our lives.

Krusen mentions, “When I’m having a rough day and I come into work, it all goes away when I hear from an eighty-year-old client who tells me his story. He’s still out there looking for work to support his monthly living expenses on top of Social Security. He says, ‘Honey, back in the ‘40s, well, you probably weren’t around but…’ I hear that passion in his voice for music that’s never waned. We can make a difference for people. It’s the stories and the people. That’s what keeps us going.”

Hearing their passion and their inspiration fuels my own. It reminds me that the tunes emanating from my headphones were produced and sung, written and performed by people, and we all live in this interconnected community. We all vibrate when we feel the buzz in the air, the dreams and the glitter and the gold and the possibility.

My pace shifts without the rhythm of sweet melodies in my ear and I turn my attention to my breath – the safety net that supports my stride. It’s my own personal soundtrack. I re-organize my thoughts and prepare for class where the studio has a charger to energize my iPod. When you need it and ask, you can always find support.

For more information on MusiCares or to donate services or funds, please contact Erica Krusen, Senior Director at Erica.krusen@grammy.com or 310-392-3777.

Top: Barbra Streisand, Photo: Deborah Wald; Center: Ronnie Wood, Photo: Jordan Strauss/WireImage.com (c) 2010; Bottom: Flea, Anthony Kiedis, and Ronnie Wood, Photo: Jordan Strauss/WireImage.com (c) 2009. All images courtesy of: The Recording Academy(r)

Laurie Searle

Laurie Searle is an international yoga teacher leading workshops and trainings with Yoga and Fitness to Go and the Sphota Yoga school. She’s the creator of Lady Yoga, Superhero and F.E.D. Fight Eating Disorders, a 501(c)(3) in Los Angeles: YogaAndFitnessToGo.com.

Meet Lady Yoga and her Super Hero Wellness Team. Follow them on exciting adventures as they promote healthy living and well being. Learn fun easy ways to relax, stay fit and enjoy life. Watch out for their arch enemy Cookie Couch Man. The big meenie who tries to turn everyone into couch potatoes with his powers of persuasion.

www.YogaAndFitnessToGo.com

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Magic and Grace reveals the artist’s exploration of Nada Yoga – the practice of the transformational power of sound healing. He has studied with noted pioneers in the field Sylvia Nakkach, Jonathan Goldman and Dr. John Beaulieu (author of Music and Sound in the Healing Arts). Franchini combines this with the deep effects of years of meditation and Yoga practice and the synergistic combination of knowledge and experience to share his alchemical creations with magic and grace.

The healing power of the music is in the subtleties. Proponents of Nada Yoga emphasize the importance of the perfect fifth, the musical interval that harmonizes the right and left lobes of the brain. The sustained tones also incorporated here are scientifically shown to increase oxygen exchange and the subtle percussion and layered instrumentals have a profound effect on calming the nervous system.

Each of the eight tracks melds into the next for a soothing sonic soundscape closing with a gorgeous “Repose.” While largely instrumental, the gorgeous vocal stylings of yogi and musician Donna De Lory grace “Shakti Blue” and “Reverie.” This album is thus a perfect accompaniment to Yoga practice, housecleaning, meditation and an overall soundtrack to life. In “Kama’s Spell,” the opening rhythmic guitar harmonizing with the percussion and cello is particularly hypnotic.

Franchini’s musical alchemy is also seen in projects such as Blues Divine and his collaborations with David Newman and Franchini makes a soulful appearance in the “Stay Strong” project. He will be offering workshops in Musical Alchemy while on tour worldwide, including appearances at Bhakti Fest in Joshua Tree. magicandgracemusic.com

–– Reviewed by Felicia M. Tomasko, RN

If the nonprofit group of activists Off The Mat, Into The World® hasn’t inspired you to move more in the name of seva, then this compilation might do the trick. Sounds of Seva features a selection of artists known for their tuned-in sounds, and this expertly produced collection flows like a classical vinyasa class. Although the music itself is far from classical, as it utilizes modern renditions with electronic beats and synthesized vocals, it has its roots settled nicely in devotional mantras.

Donna De Lory’s voice infuses the first track with an upbeat wake-up remix of Hey Ma Durga. Soul-soothing bass lines carry you forward from one track to the next with contributions by Suzanne Sterling, Desert Dwellers, Rara Avis, Shaman’s Dream, Alex Theory, Manose, Brenda McMorrow and Ben Leinbach. The energy reaches its zenith with an energetic remix of Krishna Love by MC Yogi. With every peak asana comes relief and recognition of the process – this is also true with these songs, which slowly return the listener to your center. The compilation mirrors Yoga sequencing and concludes with a sweet savasana lullaby by Shaman’s Dream: flowing water sounds and gentle notes to sing out all your stress.

Who knew that seva could sound so good? It sounds even better knowing that a portion of the proceeds benefit Off The Mat, Into The World® to support their mission “to inspire conscious, sustainable activism and ignite grassroots social change through the power of Yoga.” This collection curated by Shaman’s Dream and YogiTunes cofounder Craig Kohland is a sonic compliment for the practice of the conscious yogi who knows that every dollar spent is a vote for the kind of world in which we wish to live.

–– Reviewed by Michael Blahut, who recently returned from Fiji as a Peace Corps Volunteer. He is currently a student at the Shiatsu Massage School of California, and a friendly face behind the desk at Exhale Center for Sacred Movement.

This is fun audio collage art. Sweet beats with a cohesive, melodic sensibility. Smooth grooves in no hurry to get anywhere. In between the trance rhythms is where the seasoning is found. The sounds, instrumentation and voices of the East are swimming in a thick soup of western grooves. The spices are added with the art of several good producers. But it’s better just to feel it. Or as Hunter S. Thompson would say, “Buy the ticket. Take the ride.”

Like most albums of this genre, it’s much like a DJ set that runs a straight line, never straying from the one groove. A mass transit to the no mind – not to be confused with the know mind – straight through the escape hatch to oblivion. A modern and musical take on mother’s little helper, minus the chemical side effects or the jones for more.

Desert Phase was inspired by the time Seb Taylor and Natasha Chamberlain spent in some of the world’s deserts. Desert Phase Remixes is thirteen tracks from the Desert Phase album, each remixed by different “remixers”/producers representing a dizzying array of sub-genres from dubstep, breaks, glitch hop, techno and drum’n’bass.

From New Zealand and Australia, Opiuo, Oblique Industries and Interpulse bring their skills to the tracks “23 Towers” and “Desert Child.” US-based producers Bluetech, EarthRise SoundSystem and Liquid Stranger take on cuts “Vijaya,” “Sundown” and “Dust Devil.” UK-based producers Tripswitch, Gaudi, Eat Static and 100th Monkey round out the track list with filtering, audio dissection and reconstruction of the original album.

What’s impressive is that these producers, scattered across three continents, somehow manage to stay cohesive and on the same page, like some kind of archetypal consciousness. Or as my grandmother might say, “They all sound the same.”

–– Reviewed by Daniel Overberger, an LA-based Yoga teacher, the author of Leaving Stress Behind and founder of alt-kirtan group, Dharma Gypsys. leavingstressbehind.com

SRI Kirtan is Sruti Ram (on harmonium and vocals) and Ishwari (on vocals and acoustic guitar), a duo based in Woodstock, New York They’ve united their talents and their decades of experience in chanting (everything from Sanskrit-based kirtan to chants of the Gregorian variety) and musical styles ranging from opera to folk, punk and electronica. It’s a powerful combination that creates a potent kirtan experience both in person and in recording. On their new album, Live Your Love, they’re joined by such master musicians as flautist Steve Gorn along with Curtis Bahn (dilruba and sitar) Charlie “Govind” Burnham (violin), Noah Hoffeld (cello) and Kyle Esposito (bass and electric guitar).

In Live Your Love, you are transported straight to the Ganga River in India. Their fluid, celebratory sound is heard in “Ganga Ma,” a track that supports an awakening of joy in your heart chakra. Whether you’re new to kirtan or a kirtan wallah yourself, you cannot help but move to the vibrations of the healing sounds on “Govinda”, which is a mega-mix of the “Maha Mantra.” This version even has a strong rap interlude that brings the hip-hop element to an already very modern take on classical bhajans.

The album’s title, and the title track, reflects the bhav or spiritual emotion inherent in the kirtan tradition. “Live Your Love” includes English phrases such as, “Flowers showered from heaven, the world drenched in bliss… overflowing with nectar, for this I wish.” These phrases are consistently and seamlessly woven throughout many songs.

Bottom line: don’t be surprised if, while listening to SRI Kirtan’s Live Your Love, you feel an explosive burst of energy and find yourself moving – make that skipping – through your day, blessed-out and blessed-out and chanting their catchy melodies.

–– Reviewed by Ashley Wynn, RYT, a kirtan wallah who teaches at Bhakti Yoga Shala: bhaktiyogashala.com.

Fortunately, I’ve had the honor of being in classes where Ena Vie shares her lyrical, heartfelt voice and collaborations with musical partner Howard Lipp. I’ve even been lucky enough to have her sing when I’ve taught. I’ve also seen her with a full band on a Friday night in the bar scene where her conscious take on the singer-songwriter genre shines a light amidst the pool tables and pints of beer. Her musical talent combines years of developing skillful singer-songwriter chops with an attitude of love and exploration. In her singer-songwriter infused album From Within, tunes like “Down that Road” combine a catchy melody with inviting lyrics that ask us to question what we’re seeking and how we’re finding it. She sings, “You’ve been down that road; you know where it ends; that’s not where you want to be and now it all depends on you to accept the lead…Take my hand and we’ll discover more.”

Ena Vie delivers on this promise. By taking her hand through selecting her tunes for your playlist, you’ll discover your own inner heart of devotion.

Her new album, Heart of Devotion, has gorgeous vocal layering of Ena Vie’s unique take on traditional Sanskrit chants, such as her lush rendition of the poetic Loka samasta sukhino bhavantu (may everyone everywhere be happy and free) in “Loka” and her lyrical invocation to the remover of obstacles in “Ganesha.” The repetition of shanti, the Sanskrit word for peace, is featured in “Od Yaro.”

This isn’t a kirtan album, per se, but it will appeal to lovers of the kirtan genre as well as those unfamiliar with the form who will be drawn in by Ena Vie’s expressive and melodic voice. Her delivery of the mantras reveals her years of musical and meditative and Yogic practice in the deep expressive love inherent in her music.

Join Ena Vie and her band (including Lipp) on February 26 at Bhakti Yoga Shala (bhaktiyogashala.com) for their album release party for Heart of Devotion. enavie.com.

–– Reviewed by Felicia M. Tomasko, RN

Brian Chance

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Brian Chance

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Dr. Susan Smalley, Founder and Director of UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC), and Diana Winston, MARC’s Director of Mindfulness Education, have coauthored a groundbreaking book investigating the means by which mindfulness can affect change for the better. Fully Present: The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness brilliantly merges scientific and experiential perspectives. Each chapter addresses mindfulness in the context of a particular life issue, such as stress, health and immunity, dealing with negative emotions, cultivating happiness, and improving concentration. Chapter sections describing “The Science,” “The Art,” and “The Practice” provide a multifaceted investigation extolling how mindfulness can impact our lives, and how we might go about implementing it.

The distinct voices of Dr. Smalley, a behavioral geneticist and psychiatric researcher at UCLA, and Diana Winston, an accomplished mindfulness teacher, balance a thorough review of empirical and practical explanations for the transformational power of mindfulness. The honest scientific discussions and flexible behavioral recommendations detailed here raise awareness and motivate without invoking fanaticism. A compassionate consideration of how mindfulness can benefit multiple body types, personalities and life circumstances emphasizes the accessibility of mindfulness to everyone. Real-life testimonials give readers something to aspire to on their journeys. Fully Present is a highly informative and approachable book – a must-read for any yogi wanting to take his or her practice to the next level.

–– Dr. Christine Marie Tipper is a cognitive neuroscientist at UCSB’s Brain Imaging Center, conducting research into the brain processes underlying perceptual and social awareness:tipper@psych.ucsb.edu.

In American Veda, Phillip Goldberg has, in essence, written a love story: A story of a love of philosophy, through story-telling that traces the interchange across continents and ages – ideas from India that have inexorably shaped American culture. Goldberg admits his own love in Veda’s first few pages, when he states that he began this book in 1967, enchanted by Indian philosophy. This turned passion into profession since Veda is Goldberg’s nineteenth book. He’s not the only one who has entered a love affair with the multifaceted gem of Indian spirituality – the pages of Veda document many in America’s history beginning from Emerson and Thoreau to numerous present-day voices (famous, infamous and anonymous) who have found solace or inspiration in the epics of the East.

Veda is one of many recent explorations of the history of all things Yoga or Yoga-adjacent. The fact that works ranging from investigations into the history of asana (Yoga Body, by Dr. Mark Singleton) to a survey of Yoga practice in America (The Subtle Body by Stephanie Snyder) to a story of an eclectic character who helped pave the way for today’s pervasive Yoga-studio-on-every-corner demographic (The Great Oom by Robert Love), says something about the interest in the subject today that stretches beyond the quest for the perfect downward facing dog.

What sets apart Goldberg’s contribution to the discussion is that he is looking specifically at the influence of philosophy and spirituality (and more than merely the postural practice) emerging from the vast subcontinent of India on American life through the personalities who have flirted with the texts and traditions. Goldberg’s chapters are campfire classics, dinner conversation, trivia facts that ignite and excite. He is telling a tale that is part epic melodrama, part detective novel and – of course – part love story. And for a reader (like myself) who was sparked by reading Emerson and Thoreau in high school, entranced by George Harrison’s use of the sitar in Beatles albums, well, American Veda is a must-read.

–– Reviewed by Felicia M. Tomasko, RN

Thrive Inside provides an alchemical mix of wisdom molded from some well-renowned shamans, gurus and holy people. Eager’s elixir is just in time as this immersion of insight speaks directly to the situations we are confronting today – from a disconnect with Mother Earth as witness in rampant pollution to a disconnect with ourselves as witness through the rise in rates of depression diagnoses and mental health issues. Thrive offers direct ways of nourishing ourselves individually and as a collective to help combat these issues through guided meditations, intention setting and breathing techniques.

Bill Eager’s understanding of alternative health care and holistic living dives deep – through this book, his knowledge surfaces. As a certified Yoga instructor, Yoga Nidra facilitator, Reiki practitioner and energy healer, Eager knows that disconnecting with our body means disconnecting from our soul. From chakras, to doshas, to prana, to Ayurveda, to the four worlds, Thrive Inside covers a number of mediums of understanding both the self and our place in the universe.

Eager’s path has crossed with great teachers including Yogi Amrit Desai, Ram Dass, B.K.S. Iyengar and the Dalai Lama. What he has learned along this path is transmitted into this storyline, which will inspire readers to laugh, cry, love, meditate, and maybe even dance – all things that make the heart beat.

Through the borrowed knowledge from all the respective traditions and cultures, you’ll come out of this book with a strong sense of nondual awareness and desire to move in sync with the global community. Life is short and weren’t put on this Earth to fight one another or to worry about the future or to be consumers, but to live in order and harmony with ourselves, with each other and with the source of it all.

–– Vanessa Harris is grateful for the friends, teachers and gurus in her life that have shared the sweet nectar of life, including Sara Eaglewoman of Golden Bridge Yoga whose grace has inspired so many to “thrive inside” by seeing and speaking from the heart.

Yoga Groove Entertainment

Brian Chance

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Stories inspire, awaken, activate and propel us into action. At least this is the hope held by filmmakers sharing compelling stories of what is being done globally to forward human rights, animal advocacy and environmental conservation and caretaking. Throughout the four days, 45 documentaries, narratives, shorts and experimental films from the four corners of the Earth.

These films are eminently accessible, since sponsors (including Petrobras) have supported the Artivist Simulus Package whereby people can order two free tickets for each screening. Get ready to take a seat and find inspiration with a stellar slate of unique films, including:

ReGeneration: on Wednesday, December 1, the festival opens with this feature documentary examining issues facing today’s youth through following three diverse groups of people combined with noteworthy interviews that shed light on what’s created the status quo – and what we can do to affect change.

How Weeds Won the West: Cannabis is used for medical conditions with greater safety and efficacy than many prescription drugs, and whether its use is criminalized or legally sanctioned has significant economic impacts. This film reveals the story of this famous weed in California.

Climate Refugees: This compelling and thought-provoking documentary tells the story of refugees forced to flee their homes as a result of environmental changes. Beautifully shot, it asks us to examine more deeply the link between people and place and what that means on a global scale. The cinematic film’s music was composed by longtime LA YOGA contributor Michael Mollura. This screening will be held for teachers and students of LAUSD.

Play Again: What happens when a group of media-savvy teens are extricated from their wired world and delivered to the wilderness? This film includes interviews with a variety of interdisciplinary experts who explore our connection with nature.

Maasai at the Crossroads: Modernization, education, living on the land, drought and encroaching civilization are some of the opposing forces the Maasi need to negotiate as they are living life straddling the crossroads, a journey depicted in this powerful documentary.

Founded by Diaky Diaz, this trail-blazing socially-conscious film festival is the place to be in early December. For a full schedule and to place ticket orders, visit: artivist.com.

By Felicia M. Tomasko, RN

Karen Henry

Karen Henry is an Associate Editor at LA YOGA who volunteers in a variety of capacities for nonprofit organizations and artists around Los Angeles. She practices yoga as a counterbalance to her daily impact sports and is a mother of four grown children who also practice yoga . Now, she’s working on teaching yoga and joy of life to the grandkids!

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Brian Chance

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Initiated into Bhakti Yoga at the age twelve, Vijay is the driving force behind the Kirtaniyas – a transcontinental kirtan collective comprised of four enlightened, gifted twenty-somethings; they are undeniably part of the epicenter of LA’s neo-bhatki set.

Kirtan, from the Sanskrit, is an ancient call-and-response traditional, devotional mantra chanting practice that originated in the Indian subcontinent. In its most recent incarnation as realized by the Kirtaniyas, it is a decidedly more Western groove accessible form of the traditional Vedic practice.

The members are all skilled performers, including classically trained violinist Sarasvati and husband Vijay, who have been traveling Europe and India sharing this passion for kirtan. Now united stateside with native Angelino Rasika and Hawaii-born Nitai (a DJ/musician/producer) the Kirtaniyas are divinely guided by the primordial force of mantra, joined in cosmic synergy, liberated in sound and vibration.

“Kirtan is nectar for your ears,” Nitai says. “You open your ears and your heart and let it in. It’s simple. It works with repetition, any time of the day any time of the night…anywhere.” Like his message, Nitai is simple. Marked for life, the devotee’s neck and shoulders are tattooed with Sanskrit letters (Devanagari script/the language of the demigods) spelling out the names of god and depth of his commitment. “We just sing it,” he says, “and after that the continuous chanting, it starts to enter your heart. We’re hoping for that, not only for ourselves, but also for the people around us…to get a little taste of what we’re getting. We’ve both been chanting all our lives. Even in the wombs of our mothers, because they were chanting.”

Auspiciously funky, currently resonating from ground zero at the Radha Govinda Mandir on Rose Avenue in Venice (aka the Rose Temple) the decidedly ecstatic, shamelessly sensual, discernibly devotional Kirtaniyas have graced the stage with the likes of Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Goswami Maharaja (their guru), Shyamdas, Wah!, MC Yogi, Dave Stringer, Jai Uttal, Saul David Raye and Arjun Baba, to name a few notables.

Just around the corner, on September 9 through 12, the Kirtaniyas will formally emerge as part of the next generation of kirtan superstars as they join Krishna Das, Jai Uttal, and Deva Premal and Miten on the bill at Bhakti Fest.

“It’s a Kirtan immersion,” Vijay says. “Bhakti Fest is one of the most amazing conscious gatherings I’ve ever been to or know about on the planet. It’s a four-day, nonstop kirtan. It’s like being in another world for a weekend.” He describes the upcoming music festival celebrating devotion through chanting, Yoga, meditation and community on 450 acres in Joshua Tree Retreat Center.

“You’ve got to do it to feel the effect,” Vijay offers. “To sing with an open heart is to experience what the systematically designed words mean and feel upon being chanted. It’s like a genie in a bottle. You can get whatever you want from them. You can sing from so many attitudes or moods. In physics, if you focus your mind in repetition on a particular goal you will eventually attract that into your life. Mantra is a very amazing tool for that. You can think money, money, money, money. You’ll attract that.” He admits: “That’s a pretty crude example.”

Vijay and the Kirtaniyas are on the crest of the latest wave of Krishna Consciousness. “He has tattoos,” Vijay refers to Nitai. “I sing Kirtan in shorts and drink kombucha [tea] and we hang out with hot Yogis and Yoginis. I mean [A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami] Prabhupada came and did his thing with the hippies in the ‘60s. That’s what’s going on with the Kirtanyiers. I’m asking how can we be most effective in sharing this amazing process?” Vijay says as Nitai nods his head and adds, “How can I ever describe the taste of sugar to someone who has never tasted sugar? You need to experience for yourself. It’s nectar for your ears.” Nitai repeats his simple truth: “You open your ears and your heart and let it in.”

Learn more about the Kirtaniyas at: kirtaniyas.com

Sam Slovick is writer and filmmaker living in Los Angeles. He is a regular contributor to LA Yoga Ayurveda and Health magazine and the LA Weekly. samslovick.com

By Sam Slovick

Sam Slovick

Award-winning journalist, documentary director and long-term LA Yoga contributor Sam Slovick is the director, writer and producer of the Radicalized documentary, currently working on the Kirtan Road Dogs documentary.

samslovick.com

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Jack Johnson

An Eco Wave Of Change With Jack Johnson

Volunteering, by nature, tends to give its own rewards beyond expectation. The simple act of serving a hot meal to the homeless community, planting a tree or working with animal rescues can fill our lives with an amazing sense of purpose and connection. To take it a step further though, Jack Johnson teamed up with Heal the Bay for a massive call to action coupled with an irresistible incentive. This summer, 2,000 people were invited to clean up the Santa Monica beach on a beautiful Saturday afternoon; in return they received a ticket to a special concert held on the pier a couple nights later. Of course, registration filled almost instantaneously and fans, ecoists, and beach-goers lined up for the task at hand.

I was joined by fellow activist, Vanessa Meier, for two hours of fresh air on one dirty beach where Styrofoam, plastic and cigarette butts were the most common findings. As we dug little symbols of our addiction to oil and convenience out of the sand I kept thinking about the Gulf of Mexico and the tragedy unfolding there. While images of thick, billowing oil dominated the news for three months straight we have remained disconnected and maladapted to live with bits and pieces of old toys, restaurant packaging, water bottle caps and lighters in the ocean and on the shores. Our plastic waste outnumbers plankton in many areas and is filling the bellies of fish, seabirds and mammals. Whether wildlife is drowning in oil or ingesting the refined products, it is all petro-related and detrimental to their health as well as our own.

That simple fact felt like the real moral of the story at this volunteering event. Basically, we’ll always have more shorelines to clean up whether in California, Florida, Louisiana or on any other stretch of land (or water) until we dramatically reduce the source of pollution and green our lifestyles. Of course, that means we need to get serious about switching over to honestly clean alternatives like wind instead of “clean coal,” nuclear or other questionable fuel sourced from clear-cut rainforests.

Okay, back to Jack. Here’s a guy who obviously sees the bigger picture and cares about making the world a sustainable place. He does it without coming across as too preachy or self-important…a talent most of us environmentalists could use a little more of, right?

When Monday night rolled around, it was time for the promised show on the pier. Fans drifted onto the old wooden planks and covered the beach. For hundreds who weren’t able to obtain a ticket in advance, a bio-diesel powered video screen created greater intimacy. Everyone waited in anticipation as the sun disappeared and Jack Johnson took the stage. As it was chilly, Vanessa and our group bundled up and scooted closer to the crowd to be shielded from the wind. We weren’t the only ones commenting about the weather; Jack cracked a joke when he took his coat off because his guitar strap kept slipping.

Wind aside; it was amazing! The eco message was gently reinforced and Johnson and the band played all the favorites plus songs from his new album To the Sea. When the last bow was given and the audience applause turned into shuffling feet and happy murmurs I felt a renewed, quiet hope that musicians, nonprofits and everyday people are in fact waking up to join forces and create the wave of change that this incredible planet so urgently needs.

3 Tips for being uber-eco at beach clean-ups:
Bring reusable gardening gloves instead of relying on disposable ones that are provided.

Bring a reusable bag to collect individual trash and then pool your findings into a larger, disposable bag.

Take some pictures and share them with friends to inspire them to rethink their habits and to get involved.

*Be sure to clean any of your reusable items when you return home.

For more ideas on how to participate in positive, global change check out Jack and Kim Johnson’s nonprofit at: AllAtOnce.org.

100% of the 2010 To the Sea world tour profits will be donated to charity.

Find out local volunteering opportunities at: HealTheBay.org

Rachel Avalon is an award-winning eco-expert and activist. She teaches a sustainable diet and lifestyle to clients nationwide: rachelavalon.com.

By Rachel Avalon

Brian Chance

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“I just wanna melt away in all Its grace, drift away to that sacred place where there’s no more you and me, no more they and we, just unity” soulfully wails Trevor Hall on his single, “Unity.” This positive, hopeful and mystical perspective echoed in every Trevor Hall song evokes a deep sense of divinity. Hall is not afraid to speak his mind on such ethereal topics; in fact, he’s ready to sing his heart out.

Tevor Hall

If the Aum was the first vibration in which everything was created, perhaps Trevor Hall’s frequent chanting of and reconnecting to this original sound adds a divine aspect to his music. With a strong, raspy voice that mirrors a combination of Dave Matthews and Matisyahu, his sound is an unconventional mix of acoustic rock and reggae funk. A South Carolina native, Hall recorded his first record when he was sixteen years old. Shortly after, he gravitated to Southern California to attend the Idyllwild School for the Arts, an international boarding school east of Los Angeles, to study classical guitar. While breaking through in the music scene, Hall has certainly endured his set of challenges, yet at twenty-three, he has already logged such accomplishments as a series of sold-out tours with artists including Matisyahu, Colbie Caillat and Michael Franti and Spearhead; his self-titled album debuted on Billboard’s Heatseeker chart at #7 and in 2009, he was named one of the Top 20 New Artists by Music Connection magazine. This year, MTV named him one of twenty emerging artists for 2010.

While chronologically young, Trevor Hall’s insight hints the intensity and depth of an old soul. Some people say that those born with extraordinary talents have spent prior lives practicing and fine-tuning their gifts. If that is the case, then Hall’s dedication is well-demonstrated through his talent and spirit.

During a Spring, 2010, gig at the Dakota Lounge in Santa Monica, Hall’s only pause between songs was to inform us of about a donation box whose proceeds are delivered to an ashram in India he supports. In that moment, I recognized Trevor as a role model for those of us trying to balance the spiritual and the sacred with the demands of daily life.

When I entered the recording studio to interview Trevor, I found him practicing on his guitar. While I was hesitant to interrupt the flow, he graciously paused to discuss life on the road, balancing his spiritual practice, the presence of our generation’s spiritual thirst and why listening to Lil Wayne helps keep him sane.

Vanessa M. Harris: You’ve spoken of music as your puja – your devotional practice. How did one thing lead to another in the development of your devotional and spiritual life?

Trevor Hall: I first got introduced to Yoga when I was a freshman in high school. I was introduced to Hatha, asanas and Iyengar Yoga. In my first class, in savasana, I just felt this thing. I remember I got back in the car and was like, “Mom you’ve got to try this! It’s amazing – it’s better than marijuana, I swear!”

That’s what attracted me – this connectedness. I liked the practice so I wanted to know where it came from. I learned it came from India – then I wanted to know about India. So then I learned about India and meditation. In high school, I was introduced to a saint [Neem Karoli Baba]. So then I wanted to know what this saint was interested in and it was Sita Ram. So I thought, what is Sita Ram? By the grace of God, one thing led to another.

VMH: How do you think you would have adjusted if you bypassed parts of the practice, for instance, you were introduced to the saint before the physical asanas?

TH: I feel God provides everything for our spiritual practice. If we are sincere – if I had missed one part and still was sincere – whatever is right, he would have provided. There’s some things that if I had come to before all of the prior parts leading up to it, I would have thought, “That’s wack – I don’t know how to deal with that.” There were definitely set-up stages if I was introduced to one thing right away, it wouldn’t have made sense. The good Lord sets you up perfectly. We’re all being set up in some way or another.

VMH: You’ve claimed to stay sane on the road by listening to Lil Wayne. Tell me more about this. As a Yoga practitioner, it can be important to keep things light at times in juxtaposition to always having heavy spiritual contemplation on the mind.

TH: I like to listen to Lil Wayne because although I don’t agree with a lot of the things he says or does, I like him because he is him. He is like, “I’m going to do what I want to do and be free and if you don’t like it I don’t care.” I think that there’s that artistic freedom that’s kind of attractive. I don’t listen to it too much because I’ll end up screaming “young money” on stage, but it’s nice to dive in that realm too.

I think it’s important to explore all realms – the pure, impure, whatever. On the road people are judging you all the time on stage. It helps because I’ll embrace that same artistic freedom and just be like well here I am and I’m just going to go play and hopefully you like it.

VMH: I feel you tap into this freedom since much of your music addresses heavy issues communicated in a way that is joyful and uplifting.

TH: That’s just what comes out. Sometimes I’ll sit down to write a struggle song and as the song is being written it goes in that direction of “Everything’s going to be okay.” The songs are speaking to me from a higher power whose saying, “Everything is going to be fine, you’re going to get through this.”

I don’t really write the songs, I feel like it’s me listening and writing down what I’m hearing. I can’t really control what comes out. It’s always been that way – it’s always been a positive voice, a loving voice.

VMH: It’s interesting how you said you can’t control what’s coming out of you in that it’s not coming from you, but through you. We often hear about artists trying to own their creativity, but you don’t seem to give yourself the ownership for your music.

TH: I feel if I try to control and limit too much, then it’s too much me involved. I want it just create itself. I just want to be a flute and let the air pass through. That goes for your life as well.

VMH: You’ve moved to Laguna Beach to be closer to the Kali Temple, Kali Mandir. How has living close to this spiritual powerhouse influenced you as an artist?

TH: It’s an intense place. Ma is fierce. I got introduced to it [the temple] through high school. At first, I didn’t like it. I wondered how anybody could like this wicked image of severed heads and swords. I thought this was crazy: it was like some cult. But there was something that fascinated me with Mother – seeing God as a woman – that interested me.

If you feel the vibes you can’t keep away. Once you get a taste, you want to keep eating that food. So I kept going back, skeptically, but there was something about the vibe. These people were talking to Ma as if she was in the room – living and walking around like she was really their mother.

They do a big festival every summer called Kali Puja and they invite some priests from India to do authentic Kali worship from a very famous Temple in Calcutta. That was the second time I went and I was just blown away to see something so authentic.

From that point on I was hooked and just kept going back. One thing led to another: you get mantra, you get practice, you get sadhana, you get guru – it just flows. And slowly – slowly – my songs, the music, found somewhere to sing to and somewhere to sing from. Before I was writing these love songs, but they were disguised. They were for Ma really, but I was disguising them for a girl. But Ma is like the supreme girl. My involvement with the Temple affected my music and music became my practice. It became my way of devoting myself and listening.

VMH: How do you maintain your spiritual practice and your connection with the temple while on the road?

TH: One minute you are in a Temple eating good food with all these devotees around you and all you talk about is God and saints and love. Then the next night you’re in a bar with profanities drawn all over the wall and people talking about God knows what. But that is Mother too. It’s hard for me because sometimes I make a distinction like this is one world and this is another world. I get into trouble there because you want to see everything as one thing. I don’t want to see these people as good and these people as bad. Baba said love everyone, serve everyone. He didn’t say serve just these people. I find it as part of my practice: to try to live purely in a hard environment and see the divine in all situations. Every situation I’m placed in, I repeat God’s name and know that “you’re here for a reason and this is your practice.”

On the road, I call the Temple almost every day. I bring lots of books and read as much as I can because the books are my spiritual company. Spiritual life isn’t easy; you have to be disciplined. But I’m not always disciplined, sometimes I fall, but then I get back up.

VMH: Do you ever feel like you’re living a double life?

TH: All the time. I’m pretty young and I’ve been to India three times and meet a lot of saints or holy people or whatever you want to call them. I didn’t do the college thing. I would think, “What’s wrong with me? I’m into all of this crazy stuff!”

Sometimes I just wanted to be a regular kid and do what regular kids do. That was confusing for me at first so I was going to therapy to try to figure things out. Then I just realized this is me, this is who I am; this is what I do. Love yourself; you’ve got to love yourself. Sometimes I see a lot though and I live a double life, but then other times it’s like this is all good; this is all one thing.

VMH: At your shows, you have a donation box that supports an ashram in India. How did you become involved with this Ashram?

TH: The Ashram is in Allahabad – probably one of the holiest cities in the world. It’s my teacher’s teacher’s ashram, so it’s in my guru line. It is what they call a gurukula. Kula means ‘family’ or ‘school,’ where you learn about Yoga and meditation and all these types of things. I went there my first time with my teacher. It’s beautiful, it’s poor, but it’s amazing. The thing that got me right away was the children – these kids were like these little angels. I immediately took to them and they took to me. After I got back, I wanted to keep helping them so we put a box out at concerts. The feedback has been good – from it we’ve gotten them lots of things like computers and new bathrooms. They live a hard life but it’s probably my favorite place on earth.

VMH: And have people been receptive?

TH: The majority has been receptive but some aren’t so receptive. I remember we were at a Matisyahu concert and a woman came up to the table and she looks at the picture and said, “I don’t want to give money to Indian kids, I want to give money to Jewish kids.” So I was like, “All right give money to Jewish kids.” People come up and will say, “This isn’t Christian; how can you support this?”

You know, “This is water – it gets on you. Shake it off.” But ninety percent of people have been unbelievably supportive.

VMH: You are young and speaking about such ancient and sacred traditions. You’re connecting and opening up these concepts to a younger group who might not otherwise hear of such things.

TH: I feel youth are hungry – they are spiritually hungry. Not a lot of us know where to go to get that food. I was lucky, I went to a different school and had a teacher and got into it quite young. I see that kids are interested but they don’t know where to go; there are so many things out there. It’s nice that I’m able to maybe introduce them or inspire them. I’m not a preacher; I can’t teach them. When I was young, I heard Bob Marley singing about spirituality. George Harrison – look at what he did. He sang one song and it just spread like wildfire.

VMH: As a musician, yogi, activist – what does it mean to you to be successful?

TH: Everybody has different goals as to what they consider to be successful but you look at people who have a lot of stuff – cars and houses and food and they’ve sold a million records, but are completely miserable. I don’t think that’s successful.

We label that as success; I’m not saying it’s bad to have all those things, you work for it. But I don’t think it’s about what kind of work, it’s how you do the work. If you do the work with 100% devotion and concentration and service of other people, then that is success. It doesn’t matter if you are a street sweeper, a fruit seller, a multi-platinum artist or you’re the President of the United States of America. Success is when you get happiness by serving others and doing that work completely from a pure heart and pure hands. Success is finding that happiness inside.

In accordance with Trevor’s terms of success, it is no doubt that he is thriving. Only time will tell if his message will spread like wildfire, but in the meantime, his art is serving many. Those lucky enough to attend a live show will support the belief that they carry a raw and organic energy that is sure to sway the hearts not only of young girls, but even the toughest critics.

Chasing the Flame: on the road with Trevor Hall, released June 29, 2010, is a selection of live performances recorded on the road. For more information on Trevor Hall, his albums and his tour, visit: trevorhallmusic.com.

To learn about the Kali Temple in Laguna Beach, visit: kalimandir.org.

Staff Writer Lakshmi

The post Sitting Down With Musician Trevor Hall appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Raymond Prohs, the author of Mystic Living; The Principals of Vaastu for the 21st Century, practices a tradition called Kaleshwara Vaastu, which is he says, named for “The knowledge and wisdom brought to us through Sri Kaleshwara, an amazing saint who refers to knowledge from ancient palm leaf books that are two to three thousand years old written by amazing divine souls. It’s a sacred science.”

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Grounded in the elements with an impeccable sense of direction, Raymond arrives at my home in a remote canyon near Los Angeles for a consultation. He is decidedly exacting in his assessment.

“There are four fundamentals in Vaastu; height, weight, direction and open space. In the context of the direction are the influences of placement; where you place your homes, where you place your rooms inside your home, where you sleep. Also influenced is where you place your entrances and exits on your property and in your home: your doorways, windows, driveways and garage. Those are all very important to maintain a positive auspicious flow of energy,” he says.

I follow Raymond, his compass in hand as he walks the property taking in my exterior Vaastu, checking the flow of energy. The directional pull of the magnetism and its relationship based on exact location in relationship to true north makes a difference.

“We start outside first to see the energy of the property and how it influences the people who live in the home. Once we check out the positive and negative points we come inside,” he says. “The energy in the southwest is commanding energy. If you’re in a room, in a house or on a property, the southwest has the strongest commanding energy. The energies that come from different directions have their own characteristics. If you’re sitting and having a meeting or conversation you should know where the southwest is and that’s where you should sit. The most receptive energy comes from the northeast.”

My home is the southwest corner of the property, which means that it is the commanding energy on in the property. “All the inhabitants of the property have a great inspiration to listen the person living here and support what he’s doing,” Raymond informs me.

Just outside my door are a hill and a slope that go from the southwest to the northeast. “That’s a perfect Vaastu slope,” he says, “You go to the northeast where the beautiful divine energy comes from; the wisdom and light and abundance. You want as much clear and open space as you possibly can there. You want to protect from the energies that come from the southwest.”

“In a world of duality the material and spiritual work in synchronicity. You can improve your spiritually at the same time as you’re improving your material life. They are not separate, rather enhance each other. Having auspicious entrances where the positive energy comes in and blocking off inauspicious energies is also important.”

Many elements must align to achieve the desired result. Vaastu is fifty percent of your experience; fifty percent of your life. In the creation, maintenance and transformation of our karma and the way we relate to the environment, fifty percent of all the energy that goes into you living your life comes through the influence of the place that you live, most especially where you sleep. Directional strength is very important.

“Within seven days Vaastu influences you tremendously,” he says, “You can make big changes in your life very quickly and in your spirituality. You change your Vaastu, you change your life. That’s a golden statement.” That is Raymond’s credo based in a deep understanding of the tradition.

“In the Vedic tradition people talk about the different gods: Ganesha, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Shiva. It’s possible to say that the way those characters came into our lives through the ancient rishis (seers), the rishis came to have relationships with these gods and goddess, these energies or forces of nature, through two ways. Through shruti and smriti, through observation and through research and development [respectively]. The rishis learned their language, which we call Sanskrit. Through their conversations and through these characters, the Maharajis started to apply this knowledge to the world to see how it actually worked. They found that when they meditated if they sat in the northeast facing the southwest that there was one influence on their meditation. If they sat in the southwest facing the northeast there was a different influence.”

Raymond stops at a small fishpond and poises himself to deliver some bad news.

“Water is here. In the northeast is the ideal placement for water, while this is beautiful, having water which has the characteristic of amplifying energy in the southwest… If the southwest is the commanding energy is, putting water there would amplify that commanding energy. But what it amplifies is not positive in the southwest. According to Vaastu, it can amplify it as much as 1008 times.

In the West most architects don’t build homes with Vaastu in mind. In Victorian times they changed the property to conform to the home they wanted to build, the pool and gardens they wanted to put in. In modern times they build to the shape of the landscape.

Inside my house the Vaastu is not so good. Raymond starts by moving my desk and a large trunk, the objects that make up my home office, to the southwest corner. “You ideally want the majority of the height and weight in the southwest quadrant of the space. This home is all basically one space. This corner influences the whole space.” he says. We increased your commanding energy and inspiration by working in the southwest.”

My desk had been placed in the southeast; the relationship area. Raymond reads my life through my Vaastu with uncanny precision. He is either a genius, has read my diary or knows his practice. He tells me that I’ve been drawing my romantic relationships through my business. “It impacts everything,” he says, “Having your relationships filtered through your work…it’s an important consideration,”
he politely tells me.

Next we adjust my heartfulness and relationship capacity by adjusting the furniture placement southeast where my desk was. “The fire element is here. The passion, the transformation.” he says and tells me to burn candles a lot in that area.

“Fire here is good,” he says about the kitchen in the northeast, “It’s facing east to cook. Either the east or the north to cook is good.” Next is the alcove with a loveseat and television.

He calls it the meditation area. “This is great for meditation and relaxation for peace. I would have that shade up so the dawn light comes in,” he says.

The closet next to the alcove is an ongoing disaster. No matter how much I throw away it’s always cluttered.

“Gluzzy means clutter,” Raymond tells me in a non-judgmental tone. “It’s basically an earth element. The more clutter the less flow of energy; having a flow of energy on really important. To maintain that flow,you want to have as little clutter as possible. In meditation we’re trying to get peace, profundity, infinity and you’ve got a bunch of crap clogging up that area. It’s closed. The energy into that space and into that alcove it’s all gluzzied up.”

He moves a floating wall so my alter is facing in on the alcove. “Now you’re meditations can be more free-flowed,” he says bluntly as I start to remove the stack of books from the adjacent shelves that I don’t want and will never read and throw them away.

“Anyone can do these adjustments. You just need to learn some Vaastu. Learning these practices and principals you can make amazing adjustments in your life in your experience in changing your karma, in transforming your karma. Not just making transitions into new chapters, but really transforming yourself and your life.”

Sam Slovick: What’s your highest aspiration?

Raymond Prohs: To know myself. If we are divine, we should know this from our own experience. It’s cool that other people call us divine souls. It’s beautiful that we have all these teachings that say that we are one with God. We should know it from our own experience.

SS: What’s your biggest challenge?

RP: My own blocks; the energy that I’m holding in me. They have a place in our lives, but not to rule the life. Our jealousy, our anger, our unworthiness, blaming, complaining. I observe it myself and others. It’s the main energy that holds us back and keeps us bound to our karma. That is the nature of creating unnecessary illusions or leelas; unnecessary confusions in our lives. It’s what makes relationships difficult. So we wash them, we change them so those energies don’t have a grip. For example, unworthiness is just divine competence and confidence used badly. So we do spiritual practices to change that.

SS: What’s your saving grace?

RP: Grace is that which fills us with Light. A guru is that which guides/leads us from darkness to Light. It’s saving grace that my guru, Sri Kaleshwar, has taken a physical form in this life. Sri Kaleshwar and the Devine linage of masters. Everything comes from that.

Raymond is a Vaastu practitioner, an Ayurvedic healer, a scared jewelry designer and a devotional songwriter. A devotee of Sri Kaleshwara, he aquired his Vaastu knowledge from his guru in India. After five years in his ashram in the subcontinent he sent Raymond back stateside with a one-way ticket, a hundred dollar bill and a mission. Find out more about Mystic Living, an easily understandable introduction to the intense, sacred science of Vaastu at: mysticliving.org

Sam Slovick is writer and filmmaker living in Los Angeles. He is a regular contributor to LA Yoga Ayurveda and Health magazine and the LA Weekly. samslovick.com

By Sam Slovick

Photos by Luigi Ventura

Brian Chance

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I was twenty-three years old in April, 1974, when I went to the Kumbha Mela festival in the holy town of Haridwar in the Himalayas. I was completely blown out of the Ganges by the powerful force of 12,000,000 of the most culturally diverse people in terms of dress, food, customs, rituals and languages converging on this one place, at one time, with one single united purpose: To take a holy bath in the sacred Ganges River during that Kumbha Mela, at what was (according to astrologers) the most auspicious period in the previous 144 years.

Thirty years later, in 2004, I was invited to a spiritual gathering in the little town of Badger, California. Although the Badger Festival is 600 people as compared to the 12,000,000 people of Kumbha Mela or even the 400,000 of Woodstock, the annual event promised something special.

Badger is nestled in the Eastern California hills approximately 2,000 feet above sea level. The festival site features RVs on one side, tents on the other with a couple typical American homes and a pool with children playing all surrounding a large grassy area. There are some small shade tents set up for vendors to offer prasadam, sacred vegetarian food, books on Bhakti Yoga and kirtan DVDs, Indian clothes, jewelry and other treasures. Families gathered on the grass were talking, singing kirtan, playing guitars and dancing with abandon. The festival is a spiritual carnival of happy people engaged in singing, chanting, dancing, meditating, playing and discussing spiritual topics.

Hundreds gathered without rock bands, big recognizable mainstream names or a tributary of the holy river Ganges; instead there were amateur musicians having a good time and a suburban pool for bathing. The main attraction at the Badger Festival is the Heart of a Saint, Srila Bhakti Vedanta Narayan Goswami Maharaja, lovingly addressed as Srila Gurudeva. Srila Gurudeva hails from India and has been practicing Bhatki Yoga throughout all of his ninety years on Earth. His heart radiates more love than the Sun does sunshine. This love enters everyone around him and is reflected back from one person to another in such a sweet and nourishing atmosphere that you feel completely and instantly embraced by it. I had indeed found something special.

Beginning at five A.M., the rotation of singing, chanting and dancing programs are interspersed with spiritual discussions conducted by the leading disciples of Srila Gurudeva. Three vegetarian feasts – morning, noon and night nourish both body and soul accompanied by vendors offering sweets and treats. The true main event, though, is Srila Gurudeva’s discourse every evening.

Around four P.M., everyone gathers under the main shelter, a spacious open air barn with no walls, to sing kirtans and bhajans (spiritual songs in Bengali and Hindi). Around five P.M., Srila Gurudeva presides over the festivities. He calls on singers to perform with guitars, harmoniums, mrdangas and kartals. Some sing folk songs in English with a spiritual message while others sing Bengali or Hindi bhajans accompanied by the electric piano and or harmonium. After several poetry recitations, the discourses begin. The talks are focused on a theme chosen by Srila Gurudeva, who asks everyone (including novices) to be prepared to speak on the topic.

Finally, Srila Gurudeva begins his personal discourse, his message of love, regaling the audience with stories of great devotional sages explaining the detailed intricacies of Bhakti Yoga – in this tradition, the exchange of spiritual love and affection with the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna and each other. He lovingly describes the finer points of the emotional ecstasy experienced between Sri Krishna and his mirror image Srimati Radhika, Sri Krishna’s very soul who springs from his own heart. While speaking, he radiates the loving sentiments of the Lords greatest devotee, Prema Bhakti (ecstatic loving devotion).

In this discourse, Sri Gurudev embodies the Ocean of Spiritual love which washes over the audience drowning them in a sea of spiritual ecstasy. Sometimes, if we are really lucky, Srila Gurudeva cannot control his ecstasy and a tear emanates from his eye and his voice cracks. His uncontrolled ecstasy spreads like electricity throughout the audience as they bathe in a reflection of his transcendental mood and become themselves overwhelmed with spiritual happiness.

Srila Gurudeva ends his discourse and makes his way towards his room. Half the devotees follow him while the other half remain for the grand finale of the evening, the arotika ceremony. The transcendental deity forms of Sri Sri Radha Krishna are offered the five elements of nature, earth, water, fire, air and ether in the form of incense, ghee lamp, conch shell with water, flowers and fans. As the ceremony is conducted, the devotees and guests perform a series of traditional Bengali songs glorifying the divine couple and the recitation of the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra in call-and-response kirtan creating such a grand and electrifying atmosphere that they sing, chant and dance for hours. Another feast of salad, veggies, rice, bread, and beans, along with some confectionary delight is served at the end. Some devotees wander off into smaller groups and singing and chanting they play their guitars, drums, and cymbals around various campfires late into the night. The next day it begins again.

The beauty of the Badger festival is the combination of elements of the Woodstock festival of peace, love and music with the unity and diversity of Khumbha Mela, in a drug-and-alcohol-free and more intimate setting. This is a powerful opportunity to participate with spiritually like-minded persons in an atmosphere of love, affection and joy and associate with a living saint who radiates divine love, Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayan Goswami Maharaja, Srila Gurudeva. It is one of those once-in-a-lifetime events that will change your life forever.

The 2010 Badger Festival is June 9 through 15. The only price of admission is to surrender your heart. To get the rest of your body in the door you will have to pay a small fee to cover the cost of meals and administration. Register online before May 15 to pay $12.50 a day for adults including meals and $9.50 a day for children under 10 (youngsters under 4 are free). After May 15, it is $16.00 a day for adults and $13.00 for children under 10. This includes three vegetarian meals and a place to pitch your tent, or park your Van or RV. Hotel rooms are additional. For more information, look up upcoming events on: purebhakti.com.

By Bhagarat Maharaj

Brian Chance

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