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New Vibrations of Shantha Sri
[post-img]One of our speakers is Shantha Sri, a Buddhist yogi and healing music artist who draws from the inspirations of Ayurveda, Dharma and nature to create music that brings peace and tranquility to the listener. Using various world instruments to produce resonant tonal frequencies and sparse cycling melodies, his music assists listeners in finding peace within themselves and oneness with the universe by stimulating the mind toward higher states of conscious mindfulness and concentration. Recently, we were honored to have Shantha share his creative and invigorating vision with us.
Shantha says that music has always lived within him. From an early age, he developed a passion for music and experimented with it, even then trying to create original sounds. He would put together sequences of musical notes, create his own chords, and play them over and over on his grandparents’ piano with subtle variations of tone. Although he was too young to grasp the actual concept of musical and technical structure, all he really cared about was making sounds that somehow resonated with something deep within him. By following his instincts and listening to the flow of sound emanating from within, Shantha learned to appreciate, respect and love music and technology. He learned how to capture all the layers of sound, individually and collectively – all the instruments, subtleties, and nuances of recording.
[tip-fact]Shantha’s intuitive understanding of music and his ability to visualize it in all its minute parts has been of great value to him now, not only as a composer, audio engineer and music producer, but also in his sound healing work.
Shantha’s practice of combining sound and music into yoga and meditation evolved from a personal need to find a sound or sounds that would help him in his own yoga and meditation practice. During yoga and meditation classes with various teachers in different styles, he discovered that sounds assisted him in relaxing his mind and preparing for meditative practice. However, he was not satisfied with most of the commercial CDs that were being used in yoga studios or sold as “yoga music”. He wanted a tool that would help him ease into a state of Samadhi, and therefore decided to design music to suit his own practice. As he researched and experimented with tonal frequencies, he began to create music soundscapes for various styles of yogic meditation (Samatha). It was then a fairly natural progression to creating music for yoga stretching postures (Asanas). The music grew organically out of his practice and from what he had learned in designing music for meditation. His latest CD release, “Music for Yoga: Volume 2” is a continuation of his series of music programs specifically designed to enhance an individual’s yoga practice for Asana, Pranayama and Meditation.
[b-quote]Shantha’s firm belief is that as long as what he creates resonates within him and others in a positive and meaningful way – creating an emotive, physical and mental response – then it is a healing force. He doesn’t believe healing music can necessarily be determined or controlled by a rigid discipline based on a Western perspective of tonality, scale and structure. Instead, it has a life-force of its own – at a certain point during the process of creation, healing music takes on its own character and from then on it’s up to him, as the creator, to just go with it and let it guide him. He has found by experience that successful sound healing work depends on a high degree of intentionality – what he is thinking, feeling, and experiencing at the time of creating the music and sounds.
People from all over the world have shared with Shantha what they have experienced and visualized in the music and soundscape programs that he has created. This reaffirms his belief of intentionality working at its best and it is this belief that makes creating healing music so rewarding for him. He doesn’t try to understand or even rationalize it – the music happens organically, and he just opens himself to its seductively rich vibrations and goes with the flow.
Join us in our next newsletter as we delve into Shantha Sri’s early years and learn what influences shaped his spiritual journey and sound healing work.
