It is nothing new to experience live musicians in Western yoga classes, but the trend seems to be growing. When done well, the musicians can help bring a spontaneous vibrational force to the experience that can inspire, charge and soothe the space and practicing students. Aside from musicians tuning into the energetic flow of the class and the sequence of the day, the students themselves must be able to let go of the show (watching a band) and allow the vibrations of the music to move through them as they go deeper into their own internal practice. When both sides truly connect, the result can be truly transforming. Similar to the way we score a film: the audience is not to be made aware that there is music, nor that they are even watching actors in a film. Rather, to be drawn deeper into the present and emotional catharis of the story unfolding before them.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking one of Shiva Rae’s Sunday morning classes at Sacred Movement in Venice. The class was packed to the brim from her teacher training students and accompanied by singer/musician Steve Gold and friends. In addition to a few mantras, and Shiva infusing the asana flow with breathing and sound, Steve closed with everyone singing along to a beautiful song that has become Steve’s calling card – “So Much Magnificence”. What was more impressive to me, however, was how Steve and Matt carried the majority of the class with a simple and extremely soulful blues vibe that disappeared into the background and seeped into the unconscious fiber of my being as I moved through my practice.

Next weekend, I head off to Lake Tahoe to joins hundreds of yogi’s and musicians for a full-on festival combining live music and yoga – The Wanderlust Festival. It is my first year to attend and I am looking forward to it. Aside from my personal soul-feeding experience of sitting in with Steve’s band, as well as Donna De Lory and Shaman’s Dream, I am excited to see how the combination of thousands practicing to various configurations and styles of live music in an incredible natural setting can help carry and expand the positive energetic force that is growing in the Western yoga movement.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a workshop on Bhakti Yoga hosted by Saul David Raye and featuring Shyam Das.  Shyam Das, a devotional teacher, translator and author, specializes in classical temple singing and the mystic poets of North India. Through his music, his reciting of poetry, his interpretation of ancient texts, infused with the contagious energy of his passionate kirtan performances and very own ecstatic nature, he offered many wonderful bit of insight and wisdom.

Although it would be impractical to try to share in this short blog what he already condensed from his 40 years of study in India and his translation of more than 20 books on the subject of Bhakti Yoga and the Pathh of Grace, I would like to share one lesson that I brought away from the day:

On one of the breaks, I took time to talk to Shyam Das about a subject that has been present for me lately  - the concept of doubt. I had shared a long discussion on the same subject with my teacher Jeffrey Armstrong in Vancouver last week and wanted to get Shyam Das’s take on it. Shyam Das and I started to both delve deeply into the subject, contemplating where doubt comes from and how it undermines our energy, focus and faith.  Our fascinating discussion was cut short when we had to return to the workshop, but he promised he would go into the subject further in the remaining time left in the program.

When we returned to the room and the group to wrap up the last 45 minutes of the day’s event, I sat with great anticipation for Shyam Das to provide me with more fruits of wisdom and deeper knowledge on the Bhakti teachings related to the concept of doubt. He sat in front of the circle and his harmonium.  We all launched into a round of kirtan lead by an emotionally playful and ecstatic Shyam Das, singing and playing, while interjecting, over the music, explanations of the meaning behind the mantras and many humorous antidotes. Rather than simply being fully present to the Bhakti experience, I kept wondering when he would return to his discourse and reveal more knowledge about the teachings and the subject we had touched upon in our break.

Well, needless to say, the joyful singing of mantra and the sharing of collective devotion with deeply felt emotion continued to build and took us right up to the end of the workshop.  There was no more discourse, no more lecture, no more answers for my small mind needing to know the meaning of life.

The lesson, like the practice itself, of Bhakti Yoga, is not one of knowledge as information but one of knowing through experience, the deeply felt emotional love and desire to unite with the divine source of all things joyful and beautiful, and actual expression of that desire with our entire being, not simply with the contemplation of our mind.

When the light lit in my own head, I was able to let go of my expectation and truly embrace the experience, as well be reminded again of one of the key teachings of Bhakti.

I had a similar experience (meaning that I had learned this lesson once, if not many times, before) in India a couple years earlier.  I was at the Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh, India with Saul and a group, attending the Internaional Yoga Festival.  We were also exploring the teachings of Bhakti, the subject of the festival and of our immersion for the week.  One of our esteemed guests was Sri Swami Vishwananda, who had promised us he would take time with our group to give his insights into the teachings and path of Bhakti Yoga.  Days went by with Saul trying to coordinate a time for us to hold our private class with Vishwananda, until it was late on the next to last night of the Festival.  Walking back from the evening’s homa and festivities, we ran into Vishwanada.  When Saul inquired about time with the group, Vishwananda simply answered “let’s go now”.

So we followed the guru and his followers out into the dark night, toward the bank of the Ganges. There, with the moonlight and sound of the flowing river in the background, we all sat and awaited to hear some great words of wisdom.  Vishwananda, and his men, said nothing.  They simply pulled out their instruments and started to sing and dance.   It wasn’t long before we all joined in and were swallowed into the celebratory experience of kirtan and dance that filled the next couple hours of the evening, re-tuned our inner vibrations and filled our longing hearts with joy and gratitude.

There are many books on the subject of Bhakti Yoga that offer us incredible knowledge, but the lesson that I keep learning is that the true knowing of the bhav comes through the deep emotional and joyful experience of devotion we only feel by participating in the celebration of that connection through music, singing, dancing and full expressions of our love and soul’s desires.

There are few people today who haven’t heard the word “avatar”. When James Cameron created the world’s highest grossing feature film, he didn’t draw the name from Second Life, nor did he get the premise and themes embedded in the subtext from a popular video game. Just as George Lucas did when he wrote Star Wars, Cameron turned to history’s oldest known epics from the ancient Sanskrit library known as the Vedas.

I am just returning from Vancouver, where my dear friend, author, vedic scholar and teacher – Jeffrey Armstrong, along with Beyond Words publishing (The Secret), celebrated the release of Jeffrey’s new book: “Spiritual Teachings of the Avatar”. Through the pages, Jeffrey eloquently helps us understand the original meaning of “avatar”, as well as many other ancient concepts presented by Cameron in the film, and reveal the spiritual teachings behind them.

The film, Avatar, has provided contemporary audiences with fascination and inspiration, as well as opened a great opportunity to bring the teachings that provide the foundation of yoga to a far greater audience. Jeffrey’s book offers those curious enough to go deeper, a chance to explore deeper into the rich teachings that lie behind the story and the film. Learn more about Jeffrey Armstrong and the new book here.