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YOGA CHANT Yoga Chant was conceived at the Samasati Nature Reserve, under the canopy of the Costa Rican rainforest, during a week-long retreat of vinyasa flow yoga and chanting. Surrounded by the fullness of life, we gathered for three hours of deep vinyasa yoga and meditation in the morning, followed by hours of kirtan (chanting) into the night - often to monsoon downpours. Day by day, our hearts began to expand like a chambered nautilus, opening to greater and greater freedom. The two practices were starting to merge and intertwine like the life around us. When it was time to leave, we all had the same question: How do we sustain an open, vibrating heart as we move through the world and return to the rhythms of urban life? The idea was born for a home practice CD to bring vinyasa yoga and kirtan, hatha and bhakti yoga (the yoga of devotion) together as a practical way to tend the garden of the heart in the midst of daily life. The ancient text of the Upanishads describes the purpose of yoga to open the "knot at the heart" so that the light of love can shine forth. This is our energetic heart - anahata chakra - which expands and contracts like a lotus flower. We all have our own intimate experience of this "knot" - whether it be on a physical level (such as the collapse and tightening of the ribcage due to stress or neglect) or the congestion of the heart (with various emotions from anger to sadness). And we all have an experience of the ease, peace, and richness of life when we feel our heart is open. In kirtan, all of the contractions and emotions of the heart are seen as kindling to be directed toward the flame of the heart to dissolve the tensions of the ego self. Kirtan, or chanting of the divine sound, is one of the means within bhakti yoga to melt through all that we hold upon our heart that dams the natural wellspring from flowing. As Jai expresses: "When I'm really involved in chanting I feel free from all the constraints of my personality, and my life, my ego, and I just pray to have that feeling pervade my life. Not in terms of being irresponsible or being isolated, but just to not be bound and shackled by my own consciousness. I just want my spirit to be able to be free and fly, my heart to be free and not closed down by uptightness, worry, and conditioning. May we feel freedom in our life, in our breath, in our being." In vinyasa yoga, as a flowing from of hatha yoga, postures (asanas) and breath (pranayama) are directed to literally expanding the contractions of the heart by massaging the muscular holding of the ribcage, freeing the life energy of the spine and breathing into this opening of the heart. Disc one, "Energizing Sadhana," is a progressive sequence focused on the hear-expanding asanas known as "backbends." The intention is to perform what is known as "yogic gardening" to loosen all of the tensions around and inside the chest, so we can water our hearts with the divine sound of kirtan. On disc two, the same intention is fulfilled through a meditative flow, whereby visualization and pranayama allow the mind to rest in the heart, as if coming home. We hope Yoga Chant can serve your journey as we all cleanse, nurture, and expand our hearts in real, living ways - through our speech, thoughts, and actions - as reflected in the following prayer. May the river of my life flow into the sea of love that is the Source. Hari Om! -Adapted from the Rig Veda -Shiva Rea |