IMG_2136Thank you to everyone who came out for Kirtan at Mandala Moon Yoga in Marcellus last Sunday.  I was excited to be joined again by Zoe Mullan Stout on guitar and for the first time on percussion, Jimbo Talbot.  So amazing to be supported by their beautiful voices as well.  Harmonizing it felt as though we’d been singing together for quite some time.

For anyone who has never been to a kirtan before, it’s a yummy, heart opening call and response chanting practice that puts us in touch with the divine within, but also we have an opportunity to support each other with our vibrations and voices.  After a session of chanting we become tuned to everyone in the room and all of our vibrations are raised.

Jimbo brought shakers!  So for the first time everyone could participant with not just their voices but also with contributing to the instrumentation.  It was exciting to hear the enthusiastic shaking during one of our opening invocations to Ganesh and later to Hunaman.  There was also a gong meditation, because let’s face it, any day that I get to share the healing vibrations of the gong is a good day.

We finished up with Jimbo leading Loca Samasta Sukino Bhavantu.  A Sanskrit mantra meaning:

“May all beings be happy and free and may my thoughts, words and actions somehow contribute to that happiness and freedom for all.”

And to be honest I can’t think of a better way to do that than sharing Kirtan.

There was a delicious pot luck lunch to follow where we enjoyed getting to know each other a little better.

Be on the look out for our next Kirtan.  And if you want to find out more about the kirtan experience and what you can expect, here’s a blog post that explains just that.

Light and peace,

Liv Avtar Kaur