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Kirtan Madness

Margaret Kruszewska

KirtanTo lift my spirits, I sing. And this month – with mercury in retrograde and the fire season in California and a summer of strange and wobbly changes that have affected my bank account, my health and my confidence – I’ve been singing a lot!

Kirtan is more than just the kind of singing found on American Idol though. It’s an intentional chanting of Sanskrit syllables that invoke certain energies. In the past few weeks, I’ve participated in almost daily kirtan sessions. Fortunately I live in a place where I can join the marvelous Larisa Stow in her rocker-girl pleas to Durga-ma or join the Sharanya circle in their summer solstice yoni celebration or be invited to the ongoing kirtan group of the Sri Vidya Nada Mandir. Or, best of all, create a new circle of song with my Shakti sisters! I am very fortunate indeed to be able to have a place to “voice” my cries and praises.
This is yoga also. Nada Yoga with Bhakti Yoga. Sonic cosmology with devotional love.

Sound can be more powerful than hours of asanas. Sound soars, vibrates, soothes and excites. Sound lifts me, holds me, and carries me like a wave. My voice becomes part of a more sustainable energy that helps everyone singing with me that night and then stays within me riding out the tidal surges.

[tags]kirtan,nada yoga,bhakti yoga,larisa stow,sanskrit[/tags]

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