Sean Johnson And The Wild Lotus Band: Kirtan

Most people in the west associate the practice of yoga with Hatha Yoga, the branch of yoga that works intentionally with physical postures and breathing. Hatha Yoga is in fact the most popular form of yoga today in the west. Yet, there are many other branches in the glorious and abundant tree of yoga that should be recognized in order to have an informed vision of the full spectrum of yoga. The beautiful thing about this diversity of yoga paths is that each works in a different way to unite individual consciousness with universal consciousness. These branches include: Raja Yoga (which focuses on meditation), Karma Yoga (which emphasizes selfless service), Mantra Yoga (the yoga of working with energy-based sounds), and Tantra Yoga (which focuses on ritual). In this month's column, the focus will be on the emotion-driven spiritual practice of Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of the heart. Bhakti Yoga: Doorway of the Heart Bhakti Yoga is the passionate yoga of the heart, the yoga of devotion, of channeling our emotional energy into our connection with spirit. In this form of yoga, practitioners are encouraged to experience a deep, heart-felt relationship with the divine in all things, and to let this spiritual relationship inform interactions with all creatures. "Bhakti yogis express the devotional nature of their path in their every thought, word, and deed-- whether they are taking out the trash or calming the anger of a loved one," says Yoga Journal columnist Mara Carrico. Traditionally many Bhakti yogis would perceive the divine in a personified form in order to awaken their hearts and stir a deeply emotional connection with God. This passionate connection to God is apparent in many spiritual traditions. Renowned yoga teachers Sharron Gannon and David Life, in their book Jivamukti Yoga, tell us that the Catholic mystic Saint Teresa of Avila told of her ecstatic relationship with her beloved Jesus, and the thirteenth-century Sufi mystic and poet Rumi who described himself in poem after poem as a drunken lover intoxicated by the kiss of the Divine. As opposed to other branches of yoga that emphasize solitary spiritual disciplines, Bhakti Yoga often expresses itself in a celebration of love and spirit within the sensuality of daily life as well as working with the creative arts as a form of spiritual offering. One of my most influential teachers Bhakti musician Jai Uttal, says, "In Bhakti yoga, we keep our minds concentrated on the eternal, but we lead with our hearts. We sing, we dance, we play music, we write poetry, we cook, paint, make love and do it all as part of our dialogue with our eternal beloved." One of the most essential practices of Bhakti Yoga is chanting simple, sacred mantras in a practice called kirtan. Kirtan is a way of releasing emotional energy, from anger to love, through the vehicle of vocal sound. It is a deceptively simple practice which involves pouring emotional expression into the singing of repetitive melodies which has the effect of washing away the chatter of the analytical mind. Uttal says, "Bhakti Yoga brings us into the world of mystery, a realm where the dissecting , discerning qualities of the intellect are powerless next to the vast ocean of feelings. Bhakti is about surrender; surrendering our personal heart into the Great Heart, offering our self will and all our efforts and actions to that vast Consciousness, to God. Not my will but Thy will be done."

With the stratospheric rise in popularity of yoga in recent years, more and more Americans are returning to the practice of chanting mantras as a form of meditation and spiritual expression. Chanting is likely as ancient as humanity itself and is heard in nearly all the spiritual traditions of the world. Christian monks and nuns sing the heavenly melodies of Gregorian chant in Latin to praise God. In Jewish temples, cantors lead worshippers in melodious Hebrew scriptures. In Islamic communities, each morning the Imam awakens Muslims with the Arabic call to prayer followed by the intonation of verses from the Koran. Brahmin priests lead Hindus in worship by reciting the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of India, often called "the song of God." Buddhists utter powerful mantras as a form of meditation and a means to cultivate compassion and loving kindness. Native Americans raise their voices and drum to attune to the powers of nature. In indigenous African traditions, chant is a means to connect with the soul of the world. But, what is it about this primal act of chanting sacred sounds that continues to capture the imagination of people in our contemporary, technologically-oriented society? Following are some possible answers. The World is Sound Perhaps contemporary chanters are intuiting what our ancestors took for granted-that the fabric of the world itself is comprised of sonic vibration. We can find references to the power of sound and speech in the creation stories of many cultural and spiritual traditions. The Judeo-Christian tradition says, "In the beginning was the Word..." (John 1:1,14) and "God said, 'Let there be light,' And there was light." (Genesis 1:1-3) In the Ethiopian cosmology, God created the Universe by calling out his own name, and Egyptian and Babylonian myths tell similar stories. The aboriginal people of Australia say the world and its creatures were sung into existence. In the Vedas, India's oldest scriptures, the mantra "OM" is described as the vibrational force that forms the essence of all creation. We could choose to dismiss these stories as fables devised by unsophisticated people trying to explain their world, were it not for the fact that contemporary science, in its own language, tells similar stories. Today's physicists state that subatomic particles in all matter-even the hardest, densest material-is in fact vibrating. In this light, we can see that both the poetic narratives of our ancestors and the empirical data identified by science are telling us that the world is sound. People who chant are deliberately participating in the song of life. Chanting is Good for Your Health The pioneering French doctor Alfred Tomatis, lauded for his breakthroughs in auditory neurophysiology, made significant discoveries about sound and chant. In 1967, Tomatis was asked to come to a French Benedictine monastery where many of the monks were experiencing a bizarre exhaustion and illness. Tomatis discovered that a new abbot had recently taken the helm of the monastery. In this post-Vatican II climate of change, the new abbot ordered the monks to cease chanting the Divine Office, the traditional six-to-eight-hour-a-day chanting practice, because he believed chanting was no longer useful. After Dr. Tomatis convinced the monks to return to their ritual of chanting seven times a day, their health and energy magically improved. The revitalized monks resumed their prodigious work schedule. As a result of this study and others, Tomatis proposed that certain sounds, particularly higher frequencies, charge the brain with electrical potential, and are capable of creating more physical and mental vitality. He actually referred to sound, particularly self-created sound in the form of chant, as "nutrition for the brain." According to chant expert Robert Gass, author of Chanting: Discovering Spirit in Sound, chanting improves one's health for many reasons: the repetition of the chant slows down and deepens the breath; the sound vibrations resonate and massage the body from the inside out; brain wave patterns are measurably altered, creating states of relaxation or heightened creative energy; muscle tension relaxes; skin temperature changes; blood pressure and heart rate go down. Chanting Quiets the Mind and Frees the Spirit "Mantra," comes from two Sanskrit words that translate "to set free the discursive mind." People who chant a mantra over and over again often report that the repetition of the sound washes away their distracting thoughts and creates a peaceful clarity that is difficult to achieve in daily life. Others find chanting to be an extremely effective way of entering into silent meditation. In the Indian tradition, chanting is called by the Sanskrit word, "kirtan", which has its roots in the Bhakti tradition, the yoga of devotion. Kirtan is a heart-centered spiritual practice, in which people pour their emotions into prayerful song. In this style of chanting, the notion of musical or vocal "talent" is thrown out the window. Contemporary chanter Jai Uttal says, "There is no right or wrong way to sing kirtan. Kirtan can be breathtakingly beautiful, the music can be stunning and masterful; and it can be cacophonous, dissonant, and almost painful to the ears. Aesthetics don't matter. All that matters is the spirit, the feeling . . . Kirtan is an oil well digging deeper and deeper into the heart . . As we sing, we immerse ourselves in an endless river of prayer that has been flowing since the birth of the first human beings, longing to know their creator."

Kirtan, the ancient Indian practice of spirited group chanting, is becoming more and more popular in the West especially with the rising interest in yoga. Time Magazine recently did a story on this growing phenomenon featuring some of the more prominent chanters spreading the seeds of this heart-centered yoga practice by blending the traditional sounds of kirtan with American musical sensibilities. Following is an introduction to the art and practice of kirtan, and includes a suggested listening guide for people interested in exploring more deeply how this form of participatory musical prayer is awakening hearts from East to West. The practice of chanting exists in all the world spiritual traditions in different forms. Gregorian Chant, praying the Rosary, and gospel music are more familiar examples of chant and musical prayer from the Christian tradition. Chanting is also a common way to pray or meditate in Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, and many native traditions. Kirtan is the practice of singing sacred mantras over and over again in a simple melodic and rhythmic format, accessible to anyone. The word mantra comes from Sanskrit root words whose meaning is "to set free the chattering mind". Each mantra is often associated with a particular spiritual energy that we can awaken from within through heartfelt chanting. The practice of kirtan can be approached simply as a form of meditation, whereby the repetition of the mantra cleanses and clarifies the mind. And, if it's your intention, kirtan can be a spectacular form of prayer and means to awaken spiritual consciousness. The great Hindu saint Ammachi says "To gain concentration in this spiritually dark age, kirtan is better than meditation. By loud singing, other distracting sounds will be overcome and concentration will be achieved. If kirtan is sung with one pointedness, such songs will benefit the singer, the listener, and also Mother Nature." One of the most popular ways of practicing kirtan is in a call-and-response fashion. The chant leader will sing the mantra and everyone else in the group will respond. As the chant is sung back and forth, often accompanied by lively musical instruments and drumming, the energy shared among the group becomes more and more powerful. Kirtan provides an opportunity to set free emotional energy stored in the body, and that release can be quite liberating. Chanter and recording artist Jai Uttal says "Walls constructed long ago come crumbling down. Wounds that we never knew were there begin to heal. Long submerged emotions, both joy and sorrow, come to the surface to be offered up into the chant. And somehow, effortlessly, we move into a meditative state that creates a safe, calm haven for the flower of the heart to unfold." What I love most about chanting is the freedom I feel when I sing and the serenity that comes afterward. Sir James Barie said, "If you cannot teach me to fly, teach me to sing." When the chant is concluded, participants often feel deep peace, renewed energy, and a measurable sense of aliveness and sensitivity that was not there before. According to chant expert Robert Gass, author of Chanting: Discovering Spirit in Sound, chanting improves one's health for many reasons: the repetition of the chant slows down and deepens the breath; the sound vibrations resonate and massage the body from the inside out; brain wave patterns are measurably altered, creating states of relaxation or heightened creative energy; muscle tension relaxes; skin temperature changes; and blood pressure and heart rate go down. If you are interested in listening to the power of kirtan, the following kirtan recordings, which integrate Eastern and Western music, will provide a wonderful introduction: Krishna Das is one of the most popular of American chanters. His voice resonates a warm, deep devotion captured in all his recordings. I highly recommend "Live On Earth," a double CD live kirtan recording. He also does a wonderful segue way from mantra to the gospel classic Amazing Grace (with harmonies by Sting) on the album "Pilgrim Heart". One of my favorite chanters is Jai Uttal, who was nominated last year for a Grammy, for his kirtan-inspired music. Jai has a bold and passionate voice full of longing, shaped by years of studying Indian Classical and devotional music. He recently released an excellent double CD called "Kirtan: The Art and Practice of Ecstatic Chant." He also has another wonderful kirtan album called "Nectar." South Indian musician Russill Paul presents a potent and distinct approach to kirtan in his interactive CD set The Yoga of Sound, and AM and PM Yoga Chants which includes suggestions for interacting with the recorded chants. Other popular musicians who are integrating kirtan into their work include Deva Premal, Bhagavan Das, Dave Stringer, and Wah! There are also numerous recordings of traditional kirtan recorded in India and available on the web. Listening to kirtan can be quite uplifting, but there is nothing like the experience of unifying your voice with fellow seekers in a group setting. To experience the thrill of kirtan near you, inquire with local yoga studios. No musical experience or "talent" is required, just a desire to open your heart through song.