Friday
August 6, 7 p.m.
mind|body|fitness yoga
$15 advance/ $20 door
Children 12 & under are free
Live Kirtan with Girish and his amazing band! Celebrating the release of his latest album Diamonds in the Sun
“Accomplished musician of many genres, former monk infused in spiritual practice, loving wordsmith linking lyrics and rhythm in a blissful musical event.” LA Yoga Magazine
Chant Workshop w/Girish
Saturday, August 7, 2010
10 am - 1 pm at mind|body|fitness yoga
A 3-hour chanting immersion for those seeking to bring the bliss of Sanskrit chanting into daily life or to deepen an existing chanting practice. We’ll explore several of the most powerful Sanskrit mantras and offer practical guidance on integrating them into your yoga, meditation, or pranayama practice. No previous experience necessary!
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•The tradition of Bhakti Yoga, the Yoga of Devotion
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•The sacred power of Sanskrit
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•The Gayatri Mantra
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•Chants to the Goddess
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•Bija Mantras (mystical seed sounds)
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•The Hanuman Chalisa
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•Meaning, pronunciation, and yogic application of all the chants
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•Resources for further study and inspiration
About Girish
Girish is an eclectic artist with roots in jazz, world, and sacred music. His musical talents find expression in a wide array of instruments – including tablas, world percussion, guitar, harmonium, and voice.
For as long as he can remember, Girish has created rhythm to accompany life. When he was eight years old, his parents gave him a little red snare drum as a bargaining tool to stop him from banging on everything else in the house.
Drumming has always been instinctual to Girish, flowing freely from his fingers and knowing no musical bounds. In his teens, he started experimenting with pop, rock, jazz and orchestral music. His first experience of music as sacred art came in college, playing with jazz bands. "During improvisational sessions," he recalls, "there were these unexplainable moments of synchronicity and intuition that felt like magic."
These moments came just as Girish was feeling pulled toward a sacred life. A college philosophy class inspired him to explore spirituality through Kundalini yoga, meditation, and the study of Eastern scriptures. By the time of his college graduation, Girish was so deep into these practices that he decided to move into an ashram in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Thus began an unexpected journey-a seeming detour that inadvertently nourished his musical artistry.
Girish lived in the ashram for five years, giving up music and taking the vows of a monk in the Divine Mother tradition called Dakshina Marg or Mahashakti Yoga. Yet, here, another compelling sound force emerged for Girish: the chanting of Sanskrit mantras. As a monk in the ashram he spent hours every day chanting. Girish also studied Sanskrit as a means to understand the deeper meanings of these ancient chants, and helped his teacher translate dozens of hymns.
He thought he had given up music for his spiritual practice, but one day he happened upon a set of tablas at the ashram and was instantly compelled to play them. This event set him on a life-changing course. Guided as always by rhythm, and now by his spiritual pursuits, Girish began to study tablas with Jagadish in the Nada Yoga tradition (yoga of sound current), which emphasized the spiritual import of music. He also traveled to New York to learn the art of Indian drumming at Siddha Yoga Ashram.