Welcome to communal chanting
I completed kirtan training with Nikki Slade, Freeing Your Inner Voice (copyright nikkislade.com), earlier this year. It catapulted me into an amazing journey which I had not expected. Coming together with fellow chanters Sarah and Nat, our group SABINAT has been born. We offer monthly kirtan sessions at the ETNA Community Centre in East Twickenham/Richmond. You can book directly through https://www.sarahgreenall.com/kirtan.html Why come chant with Us? We see our voices as instruments for creating wellness. Let us all come together in this beautiful practice of kirtan to ignite a passion for joyful, purpose led living in which we can thrive, rather than just survive, amidst the ever oscillating world we find ourselves in. No experience or good quality of voice required! If we can chat, we can chant!! Nothing to lose but the blues! All voices welcome here. 
|
Kirtan – What is it? A musical conversation with ourselves and the Divine, Life Force, Divine Intelligence or whatever you wish to name it. This involves the repetitive chanting of short verses, from sacred spiritual texts, often in a call and response style. The aim is to come into the present moment, quiet the internal chatter, calm the nerves and find stillness. Mindfulness through sound. Bliss. A personal insight I grew up chanting mantras and devotional hymns as part of my South Asian heritage. Journeying into adulthood and encountering the inevitable tsunamis of life, chanting intuitively offered a safe shore, and a tool for positive change. I came to understand it as a form of Sound Healing. The repetition of short verses, in various tempos and harmonies, create certain energetic shifts in the mind, heart, body and spirit, which are amplified when shared with others. Kirtan offers a path to connection with ourselves, our family and our community. It can be experienced as sound meditation, a musical conversation, song to the divine, devotional singing, a collective experience, a method of call and response led by the kirtan leader. Saying that, we are all in it together. Repeated chants (repeated syllables or short phrases) create harmony, connection, a safe space, nourishment, inner reflection and healing by sound. They diminish loneliness and isolation as you come together to with others to experience a sense of belonging. It is not about your singing ability or quality of voice. It is more about you hearing your voice compassionately and releasing all that does not serve you anymore. Come Curious. Leave inspired. |