We are happy to introduce a different format for Community Kirtan. We will still meet on Sunday's but rather than meeting monthly we will gather around solstice and equinox times, beginning with the summer solstice on June 22nd. Our little group normally practises a few Fridays a month, please feel free to join in for what we are now calling a Kirtan Peace Jam. I'll have the doors open at 5:00pm and we will begin at 5:30pm. We will sing, chant and close in silence at 7:00pm. We will build the evening together, allowing the intention of peace to be the guiding principle. The Friday night Kirtan Peace Jam is about cultivating peace and loving kindness through song, voice and community. All are welcome.
Sunday Community Kirtan and Vegetarian Potluck
For each Kirtan, there is an invitation to bring a photo, special item and/or something from nature to add to the Community Altar. This central Altar is a way of honouring self, other, the natural world, the spiritual world and all that lives between. I look forward to gathering around the times of equinox and solstice, starting in the summer. Thank you!
Community Kirtan
What is Community Kirtan? It is all of us. We create and co-create the magic together. We bring our love of Bhakti together to share mantra with community. Our intention is to keep it fun, inclusive and full of love. Kirtan, the call and response singing of songs praising the name of Life and Spirit in its many forms. Open to everyone, this accessible and participatory approach leaves us with a powerful sense of connectedness that occurs in the process of singing together. It is so refreshing, healing and empowering to reconnect with others in this way in the midst of our separate and busy lives. With the simple repetition of mantra combined with loving melodies, we can experience our hearts grow to include all. As the Call and Response Foundation puts it, "A mantra is an instrument of the mind, a powerful sound or vibration that one can use to enter into a heightened state of awareness and a deep connection to the heart. It is said that mantras work with the body's physiology to regulate and balance internal states - in a sense, flipping on the happiness switch. The call and response approach encourages listeners to become participants as they repeat simple mantras along with the musicians. Mantra music comes in many forms including kirtan, and ancient Indian practice of call and response chanting that is a the core of bhakti yoga or the yoga of devotion. Chanting has been practiced for thousands of years by diverse cultures and is now undergoing a renaissance in the west. More than just music; chanting is a contemplative practice in the vein of meditation and yoga. It promotes community, peace and conscious living." - Marie-Eve
"Music gives a soul to the universe wings to the mind flight to the imagination and life to everything." Plato
