New World Kirtan > Calming Chants for a Crazy World

This repeat podcast is from January 2017, and it’s one of the most downloaded ever in our 11-year history. The intro tells the story of how an MRI found an unexpected tumor in my spine and my mental process of dealing with the fear & preparing for the spinal surgery. There are lots of healing chants in the set, I hope you find them useful. It’s also timely for me to repeat this particular podcast, as I’ve recently found out I may need a hip replacement, a result of the way I had to walk when I had the tumor. I’ll tell you more about the timeline for that soon. Next up we’ll have an interview with Miten where he tells us about his healing process after the open-heart surgery and how it affected the music on his new CD ‘Devotee’ — then we’ll have the start of the International Kirtan series with the podcast about Kirtan in China! I hope you’re enjoying the beautiful days of autumn, my friends. Please enjoy the blast from the past. Namaste. From the NWK Podcast post from January 20, 2017 In the essay “Be the Bison” from Gopi Kallayil’s wonderful book ‘From the Internet to the Inner-net‘ he writes that “when the swift & brutal winter storms strike in the valleys & mountains of Montana, the wind starts howling & heavy snow covers the ground. All the wild animals flee before the storm — except the bison. The bison is the only animal that will turn toward the storm, lean into it, and walk to meet it. It knows instinctively that if it does this, it will be out of the storm sooner. This is why Native Americans call the bison ‘Faces the Storm’.” Isn’t that a great story? You may wonder what is has to do with this week’s podcast. Last month an MRI found a mass in my spine, probably benign, that has been growing slowly for years and causing a lot of problems. The tumor is now blocking 90% of my spinal canal with severe compression of the nerves below it. Finding this was a complete surprise, but explains so many things. This type of tumor is rare but the prognosis is good, and my hope is its removal will relieve a lot of the pain I’ve been experiencing. Surgery is scheduled for January 25 — hence the need to be a bison, leaning into my fear & walking to meet it. I’ll tell you more in the introduction to the podcast. The pain caused by this tumor has been limiting my life in so many ways. I’m grateful that it was found, that it can be removed and there’s a good chance of a successful outcome. I’m now focused on preparing for the surgery and the life that is possible afterwards, and I ask you to please send LOVE & healing energy on the morning of Wednesday January 25. My intention has been to create a life of radiant health & beauty. If this surgery is the next step, then let’s get it done. The podcast will be on hiatus for a while while I’m recovering, but we’ll be back soon. Until then my friends — Namaste.

Most of you know we have a kirtan & meditation circle that meets here every Friday night, and when we don’t have a live group playing for us I put together a set of chants from CDs for the satsang. This edition of the podcast is one of those sets in its entirety — it was one I did several weeks ago & several satsang members commented on how much they loved it. Deva Premal & Miten are favorites of ours — we try to go see them whenever they’re in Portland, and I’ll be interviewing Miten when I see him at Omega Ecstatic Chant next month. This would be a good set to sing with friends. Invite a few people over for dinner or dessert & then sing some kirtan afterwards — it’s fun! That’s it for now, dear hearts. I hope you’re enjoying summer! Until next time, Namaste.

Reading the news these days can be so discouraging. Probably like you, I feel the need to be informed, but the energy of the news is toxic and fear-inducing. What can we do to stay centered & positive? The Mahamantra chants in this edition of the New World Kirtan Podcast will help you to do that. According to Sanskrit scriptures, we’re currently living in the age of the Kali Yuga — an ugly period, saturated with vicious habits. The Upanishads tell us the words of the Mahamantra chant are specifically for counteracting the toxic effects of the age of Kali, described in the Upanishads as ‘an ocean of faults’, infected with so many anomalies there seems to be no way out. The Mahamantra is the way out — it’s the medicine prescribed for the infection of the age we’re living in. This podcast is filled with some of my favorite Mahamantra chants, and it’s for you to play while reading the news, or afterwards to counteract the toxicity. It features music from Jai Uttal, Krishna Das, Adam Bauer, Madi Das, Shyam Das at Omega Ecstatic Chant & David Newman. And I’ll tell you all about the new International Kirtan series we’re doing, starting with China!

Five years ago Dave Stringer was one of the first kirtan artists to visit Corvallis, and last month over Easter weekend he came back to town for an incredible weekend of kirtan. His band had a stellar lineup of musicians & they were mostly from Oregon — Johanna Beekman was featured on harmonium & vocals with Kavita Kat McMillan on response vocals, David Watts on bass, Julie Southwell on violin, George Beekman on percussion, and our son Jesse Stern on tabla! The Unitarian Church was full on Friday night, and Dave & the band just rocked the roof off — I’ll never forget how all our voices just blended into one mighty voice as we sang together. The band went to Portland for a kirtan Saturday night, then came back to Corvallis for two services on Easter Sunday with UU minister Jill McAllister & a workshop on Sunday afternoon. What a weekend! Dave was off to China after his visit here, and from what he’s told me the kirtan scene in China sounds pretty interesting — I’ve become really curious about how it started & why it is thriving. Dave has given me some names, so I’m going to be contacting them this week to get some information, I’ll let you know how that progresses. This edition of the podcast features some of the chants Dave did at his Friday night kirtan. Here’s the link to the entire kirtan on YouTube, and here’s the link to the Sunday service at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. And as long as we’re doing links, here’s one to the film documentary I narrated about the early history of Las Vegas I tell you about in the intro to the podcast! Now we’re looking forward to Shantala with Mikey Pauker, they’ll be here on June 14. I’ll tell you about that in the next edition of the podcast. Until then, my friends. Namaste.

We have a strong kirtan scene here in Corvallis, and it’s been so gratifying to watch it grow. We’re a small town & there’s not a lot of live kirtan, so on the weeks we don’t have live music I put together a set for our Friday satsang. Over the years we’ve become fond of a lot of different chants, and this edition of the New World Kirtan Podcast features some of our favorite chants to Hanuman. It features the music of MC Yogi, the Hanumen, Carrie Grossman, Krishna Das, Deva Premal & Miten, and the Shaman’s Dream Project, Kerala Dream. Personally, I’ve sort of put Hanuman in charge of my health & healing. He’s been doing a great job! We’re through the winter, Dave Stringer will be here next week, and life is good. I’ll see you next time my friends. Namaste.

As I sit in my basement studio & look outside with today’s forecast calling for freezing rain, the title of this podcast seems appropriate. ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ is a melancholy & evocative 19th century Christmas carol, and the title just seemed to fit the dark & cold of late January. This is also a time we can use to do deep work, and that brings us to the content of this week’s podcast — but first, some news. We’ve just wrapped up a visit with our dear friends Ian Boccio & Stephanie Kohler of Blue Spirit Wheel — they brought so much beauty to our community through their kirtan & workshops. Dave Stringer is coming to Corvallis in April, and Shantala in June! And I have great news — the Midwest Yoga & Kirtan Fest made their Kickstarter goal, so it will be happening again this year! There will be lots to share with you in the months ahead, you’ll hear more details in the podcast. Several years ago I took a course on Shiva from Russill Paul, and this deity’s energy is ideal to enter into for deep work during this dark time of the year. I played this set several weeks ago at satsang, and sometimes I like to include some spoken information to give context on what we’ll be singing about. This week it’s provided by Ian Boccio of Blue Spirit Wheel, who showed us once again when he was here what a font of knowledge he is about this Bhakti Yoga practice — the excerpts were taken from an interview I did with him several years ago. The artists contributing to this week’s set in order of appearance are Donna de Lory from her CD ‘The Lover & the Beloved’, Krishna Das from ‘Live Ananda’, Johanna Beekman with backup from Girish in ‘Beyond Love, Soothing Songs for the Soul’, Dave Stringer from ‘Mala’, Shantala from their CD ‘Jaya’ and we end with IndiaJiva from ‘Om Spiritus — Music for a Peaceful Planet.’ So, my friends, in this dark midwinter I hope you’re warm, surrounded by those with open hearts, drinking lots of tea & reading good books. I’ll see you next time. Namaste.

In his edition of the New World Kirtan Podcast, we feature live cuts from a few of the artists who played at the Midwest Yoga & Kirtan Fest. What an incredible time we had together! I hope you can get a sense of the Spirit & the Love that was present — it was so, so sweet. Thank you, dear Gary Brachman, August Ristow & your team for that marvelous weekend filled with love, friendship and sublime music. We feature music from Kaita, Kirtan Path, Blue Spirit Wheel, Brenda McMorrow, Ragani, David Newman and Sean Johnson & the Wild Lotus Band. In addition to these great kirtan artists, there were many more who had wonderful sets that couldn’t be included because of either time or sound issues — if your favorite artist isn’t included please accept our apologies. To those who were at the Festival, I hope you enjoy the memories. For those who weren’t there, I hope it will give you a glimpse of the extraordinary space that was created for our hearts to open. Gary & his team are planning on doing it all again, and you can help make that happen. Here’s a link to the Kickstarter to help fund next year’s festival, and if you find it on social media please share widely. I played some of these cuts for the satsang here in Corvallis last Friday night, and the energy of this sweet event was so present in the room. I hope our live podcast will inspire you to come to a gathering like this — to experience what it’s like to be with those who gather in love to sing kirtan. It’s the most wonderful feeling in the world, we’re addicted to it because it feels so good. I hope you can feel that. Enjoy, and until next time my friends — Namaste.

Thanks to our elected leaders we’ve had one hell of a few weeks here in the United States. The Supreme Court fight was a watershed moment for a lot of people, women and men — triggering for many women and brutal for everyone. Last Friday I really just wanted to chant a LOT to get rid of all that negative energy — seriously, by the end of the week I was feeling energetically poisoned, and I also had a terrible cold. So this is the set our satsang in Corvallis sang last Friday night, and it’s based around two healing chants — the great healing mantra to Shiva, the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra, and the Kundalini mantra ‘Ra Ma Da Sa’. You can take this healing energy in for yourself, or direct it to another person or to our world. The set starts with Jane Winthur’s Om from her CD ‘Mantra’, then Deva Premal & Miten teach us about the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra from their CD ‘The Spirit of Mantra’, then Girish from his ‘Sky of the Heart’ CD, Suzin Green & Daniel Johnson with one that will knock the negative energy right out of you from their CD ‘The Mantra Project, Volume 1, Satkirin Kaur Khalsa from ‘Universal Mantra’, Snatam Kaur from ‘Grace’ & Indiajiva from ‘Om Spiritus, Music for a Peaceful Planet’. We recorded a lot of music at the Midwest Yoga & Kirtan Fest, and I’ll be posting a ‘Best Of’ podcast soon. I also interviewed several prominent kirtan leaders about their kirtan communities, so that’s also coming. Thank you to all of you who found me at the Festival, said hello and gave me a hug, it’s always so great to meet all you folks who listen to the podcast, and I hope to see you all for more fun next year. Until next time my friends inhale joy, exhale love. Take care of yourself. Namaste.

In this edition of the podcast, we feature an interview with San Diego’s Pilgrimage of the Heart kirtan band, followed by the kirtan they played that night for their sweet community. You’ll hear Tom Warner, Sita Rose, Fast Heart Mart & the owner of the Pilgrimage of the Heart Yoga studio Sujantra. The trip was sponsored by the Call & Response Foundation — their mission aligns with New World Kirtan’s as we both work to foster community kirtans around the world. Remember if you want to start a kirtan in your community, the Call & Response Foundation has lots of resources available, check out their website. Next weekend we’ll be at the Midwest Yoga & Kirtan Fest — it’s happening Thursday, Sept 20th – Sat, 22nd 2018 at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Jefferson, WI. This festival is co-created with the community with the intention to honor the kirtan artists & Yoga teachers, and I’m so happy to support it! I’m also happy that so many of my friends will be there — Dave Stringer, Sean Johnson & the Wild Lotus Band, Blue Spirit Wheel, Ragani, Brenda McMorrow, David Newman, and so many more talented artists & Yoga teachers. Check out their website, and there’s also a Facebook group. New World Kirtan will be recording! Until next time my friends. Namaste.

This edition of the podcast is the second to feature chants from the soundtrack of the wonderful movie ‘Mantra; Sounds Into Silence’ — if it comes to your community please support it, or be a movie captain so YOU can be the one who brings it to your community! Get the details at their website. The featured chants are by Deva Premal & Miten, Nina Rao, Jai Uttal, a wonderful version of the ‘Om Nama Shivaya’ chant by Charlie Braun that I keep playing over & over again, the Kirtaniyas, ending with Krishna Das’ great ‘Sundara Chalisa’ recorded live in Maui. Here are links to some things mentioned in the podcast introduction: The Alexander Technique Somatics Firesign Theatre‘s ‘I Think We’re All Bozos On This Bus’ Midwest Yoga & Kirtan Festival Pilgrimage of the Heart Kirtan, San Diego The Whole30 Program

In this edition of the podcast, we feature music from the soundtrack of ‘Mantra: Sounds Into Silence’ — there are so many beautiful chants we’ll have two podcasts devoted to the music we heard in the movie. If you have the opportunity to see this wonderful movie in your town, please support it. We had a showing here in Corvallis & our community just loved it — the movie makes the practice of Bhakti Yoga very approachable. The set starts with Deva Premal & Miten’s CD ‘A Deeper Light’ featuring Manose & Maneesh De Moor, then Snatam Kaur from her CD ‘Prem’, CC White from ‘This Is Soul Kirtan’, MC Yogi from ‘Pilgrimage’, Dave Stringer from ‘Ojas’ and Mirabai Ceiba from ‘Sacred Love Meditations’ . I’m ending the set with a hypnotic Kirtan Kriya chant that I’ve been kind of obsessed with since the first moment I heard it in the Mantra movie. I walk to it, I swim to it, and lately it seems to be always playing in my mind. It’s from Rafael Emanuel Ranso from his CD ‘I & Higher’ — the chant is so trance-y & soothing, I just love it. I hope you’re enjoying this beautiful summer, dear hearts. Until next time — Namaste

April was quite the month for sacred music here in Corvallis! It began with a great weekend with David Newman — on Saturday night the Unitarian Church was full for his kirtan, and his band — which included Bejny & Heather Wertheimer of Shantala, Sean Frenette & Johanna Beekman — was a tight, high energy musical delight. The church was also full for the Sunday service he co-hosted with minister Jill McAllister and his workshop was well attended & wonderful. We had an awesome time. Then the movie ‘Mantra: Sounds Into Silence’ came to town and over 80 people attended the showing! This is a movie about the practice of chanting & it’s just great, it makes the practice very accessible. If you see it featured in your community, be sure to support it — our community loved it. And then last Friday we were graced with a beautiful kirtan by Rob & Melissa from Seattle. It was a big fun month. I recorded this edition’s live set with David Newman 5 years ago on a perfect July afternoon in Madison, WI — it was Bhakti Fest Midwest 2013, and David wore a hat that looked like a big wedge of cheese! His backup band was Brenda McMorrow, Craig Narada Wise, Samuel Saulsbury & Alvin Young. You can just feel the joy that David brings wherever he plays — and he sure brought it to Corvallis. We loved you, David Newman! Thank you for coming.

I’m just back from Sean Johnson & the Wild Lotus Band’s Bhakti Immersion in New Orleans, and what a wonderful & transformative experience it was! I spent it with 40 beautiful people, most of them Yoga teachers, who wanted to bring more Bhakti Yoga into their classes & their lives. The whole retreat was permeated with the spirit of New Orleans, complete with storytelling, great food & lots of music. In this edition of the podcast, we’ll walk through a day at Bhakti Immersion together so you can get a sense of what it was like. We started our day with the Hindustani vocal exercise called sargam — Sean calls it vinyasa for the voice. Then Sean either led a ‘Bhakti On the Mat‘ Yoga class or told a story, and in the podcast you’ll hear a beautiful story from the Zulu tradition told by Sean with musical backup from Gwen & Alvin, sound effects by us. After that we had lunch and Sean led lunchtime discussions. I recorded two of them — one is about introducing chanting to a group, and the other has Sean’s thoughts on leading kirtan. Then we broke into groups (harmonium, rhythm & guitar) to learn a chant and came back together at the end of the day to play it — you’ll hear a bit of our group jam from the first day. And we’ll finish with several chants from the Wild Lotus Band. Bhakti Immersion is also all about New Orleans, so it was important to Sean & the band that we get a taste of what life is like for the people who live there. The first night he invited us to his house for an amazing dinner. We met his sweet wife, and they’re expecting a baby boy next month! Tuesday night Gwen took a group to bars on Frenchmen’s Street that featured live bands, and Wednesday night she threw a dance party at her house with another live band that inspired a dance party. So much fun! Many thanks to the Call & Response Foundation who sponsored my trip. They have many outreach programs, so if you want to lead kirtan in your community or feel called to do prison or hospice outreach check out their website because you might qualify for one of their grants. April is shaping up to be a big month for kirtan here in Corvallis. David Newman is coming this weekend! His kirtan is sponsored by the Corvallis Unitarian Universalist Church, and we’re so excited to host him. David will be leading a kirtan, a workshop & co-lead the Sunday service with the UU’s minister Jill McAllister, and as an added bonus, he’ll be backed by Benjy & Heather Wertheimer of Shantala. Later in the month, we’re hosting a screening of ‘Mantra: Sound Into Silence’, an amazing movie about chanting I saw last summer at Omega Ecstatic Chant. Then Rob & Melissa Kirtan are coming through at the end of the month! Coming up in May we’ll have an interview with Deva & Miten when they return to Portland. Just now Miten is recovering from heart surgery — he’s doing really well, so please continue to direct healing loving energy to him. I hope you enjoy this audio trip to New Orleans & Sean Johnson’s Bhakti Immersion.

“It seems appropriate to start the New Year with a Fresh Tracks set”, said I back in January when this podcast was taking shape and before the totally nasty sinus infection descended. Yuk, glad that’s over, thank you antibiotics. And now … it’s Valentine’s Day! So Happy Valentine’s Day dear listeners, and for you here is a rockin’ Fresh Tracks set. It starts with a funky chant to Hanuman by Mike Cohen, with some incredible background vocals & guitar work. Then we have the beautiful ‘Shivo Ham’ by Lana Sugarman and ‘Bhajamana Govinda’ from Gopi Kallayil & Kirtan Lounge, featuring Karnamrita Dasi’s ethereal voice. Then ‘Govinda Hare’ from One Love Devotional Chant, and ‘Om Name Bhagavate’ from dear Flavia Krishna & Gershone, ‘Devi Chant’ from the great Krishna Das is up next followed by the lovely ‘Close at Hand (Jai Shri Krishna)’ from Adam Bauer. We end with ’Lokah/Peace On Earth’ from Carrie Grossman. Beautiful work from these beautiful artists. We’re off to New Orleans for Sean Johnson’s Bhakti Immersion next month, a trip that’s sponsored by the Call & Response Foundation. It looks like it will be a blast. I’ll be interviewing Sean & some members of their kirtan community & telling you guys about all the fun we’re having. And David Newman is coming to Corvallis in April! His concert is sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship here, and we’re so excited to host him. David will be leading a kirtan, give a workshop & co-lead the Sunday service with our minister Jill McAllister. Really looking forward to this. So much love to you all on this Valentine’s Day, and for always. Please enjoy the set, and until next time — Namaste.

The dark and cold of winter lends itself to introspection, and lately I’ve been thinking about this past year & the changes it brought to my life. Last December I had just been diagnosed with a large spinal tumor, and had the surgery to remove it was in January. Now it seems with every day I notice a new change for the better in my body. It is taking a lot of presence & awareness to break the mental & physical patterns of sickness that have been in place for so long, but I’ve made real progress. It will take two years to fully recover from this, but my life has changed and I’m grateful. I truly try to see each day as a new miracle. The dark stillness before Winter Solstice can be instructive, and our set this week sinks deeply into this vibe. It’s a long one, and is a mix of chants to honor Shiva’s power of transformation, and Gayatri mantras to welcome the light returning to the earth. We have music from Shantala, Bruce Becvar & Nada Shakti, Blue Spirit Wheel, Tina Malia & Shimshai, Indiajiva and Arthur van Alphen and Asakti. Winter Solstice seems an appropriate time to pray The Great Invocation. This is a World Prayer, an invocation for light and love, that has been translated into around 70 languages and dialects and is used by people of goodwill world-wide to invoke the light, love and spiritual direction needed to create right relationships on earth. It was originally written in 1945 — there are several versions which have been modified to reflect the world’s changing consciousness. This beautiful prayer seemed a good way to end our last podcast for 2017. I wish you a blessed Holiday, dear ones. May your travels be safe. May you treasure time with your loved ones. Breathe — inhale joy, exhale love. Fear nothing, for you are always loved and supported by the Divine. And in this season of joyful celebration I hope that your days are merry and bright. Namaste. The Great Invocation From the point of Light within the Mind of God Let light stream forth into the minds of men. Let Light descend on Earth. From the point of Love within the Heart of God Let love stream forth into the hearts of men. May Christ (consciousness) return to Earth. From the center where the Will of God is known Let purpose guide the little wills of men – The purpose which the Masters know and serve. From the center which we call the race of men Let the Plan of Love and Light work out And may it seal the door where evil dwells. Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth. Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth. Let Light and Love and Power restore the Planet Earth.