Mantra Musings

Over the last couple of years, I’ve begun to find my voice. I’ve always enjoyed singing, I just didn’t know that I COULD sing. A couple of years ago, faced with a breast cancer diagnosis, I decided life was too short. I was tired of living in fear of various things, and if what I really wanted to do was sing, then I was going to sing! So I began chanting in Savasana, final resting pose, at the end of yoga classes that I taught. Very tentatively at first, but people began to tell me how much they enjoyed it, how much it kept them “out of their head”, so I continued. The more positive feedback I received, the more chants I learned so that I could share with them. My “mentors” have been Krishna Das, Deva Premal, Wah!, and Tina Malia, so far.

After a while, I began to actually get comfortable with singing, and was looking for the next challenge. I wanted to continue to share beautiful chants, but with more people. That began the start of leading kirtans with my dear friend, Jill. With three kirtans under our belt now, I believe more and more in the healing power of chanting. I see it in the people that join in our kirtans, and I experience it in my own body when I chant at home by myself, feeling the sound reverberate throughout my body, making me feel alive and yet at peace.

And so, my next step is unfolding before me, as I see that I need to share chants on a larger scale, so that more have an opportunity to connect to the power of the chants, as well as to be able to listen and enjoy them even if you can’t get to yoga or to the next kirtan.

This will be the start of my blog, where I regularly pick a chant, or mantra, and talk a little about what it means and include a recording of myself singing the chant. I hope that you will find it helpful and healing. That taking a few minutes to listen to one of my recordings in the middle of a busy day, or just before you go to sleep at night, brings you some peace. Please let me know if you enjoy them, or how they helped you. I’d love to hear about it.

I offer these in service to all, with my heartfelt blessings.