I was interviewed, along with film producer and activist Leila Conners Peterson (11th Hour), in LA Yoga last week for a film we just finished called Urban Roots. The film is about the revolutionary urban farming movement in Detroit. I composed the music and provided several songs for the film, in an effort to give it more emotional impact and feel more like the Detroit (aka Motown) I grew up in. I was actually in Detroit taking care of my father when Leila called me. When she described the nature of the project – a story I already knew about my birthplace and my dad’s home for 88 years, I knew I had to help with film. It was more like a calling than a work call – a chance to bring some national attention to the issues facing Detroit, and to show the heart of its people.
Check out the article. More importantly, check out the film. More info at www.EarthTones.org.
Below is an excerpt from the LA Yoga article, “Urban Roots: Documenting a Backyard Revolution on Film.”
When people think about Detroit, two things often come to mind: cars and music. For this reason, music is an important part of Urban Roots. The soundtrack was created by LA-based composer, filmmaker, social entrepreneur, and Earthtones founder Frank Fitzpatrick, a native of Detroit who saw his participation in the project as a way to give back to his hometown.
LA YOGA: What influenced your choice of music in the film?
Frank Fitzpatrick: You can’t actually make something about Detroit without the throughline of music being an essential component. Its music has had an influence on our own country and globally. Detroit was a hard city when the music came out of it in the ‘60s. It was going through a rough time, but music was available everywhere.
Music engages the viewer emotionally in the character studies of the people who are at the heart of the film. They are loveable, and have a kind of charm. When they’re talking about the vegetables in their hands, they have a sense of purpose. The emotional impact of their self-empowerment is the inspiration for the film itself, and that is what I wanted to express
musically.
The farming creates shifts in their lives, allows them to have some control over their own destiny, and the music helps to raise that to an emotional level. One of the things I find interesting about farming is that there are no walls on farms. Isolation happens because people are separated by walls. When they are in an outdoor space together, doing fundamental stuff with the Earth, a different process takes place. Community—and music- provide an emotional lifeline between people. People can survive the hardest of times if they have something to hold on to.
LA YOGA: Being so close to this story, how have you felt about Detroit?
FF: The story of Detroit is the country’s greatest national disaster. There is a lot more devastation throughout the city than there was in New Orleans after Katrina, but people don’t know about it since the decline took thirty years as opposed to one day. As the industrial era is shifting so fast right now, Detroit is an example of what could happen to many cities at some point.
Personally, I feel a sense of loss; Detroit was once a thriving city, the fourth largest city in America, the highest-paid middle class city in the world. All of that shifted dramatically from 1975 – 1980. It is sad to have people not be aware of the contributions and value of Detroit to the world. Before the realization of the contamination of industrialization, it was the road to the American Dream.
Farming now provides a sense of empowerment to people. It’s hard to know where it will go because it is all rogue but in such a positive way, that if there is enough attention brought to it and if it happens en masse, hopefully that will keep it from being shut down. The belt around the Great Lakes, the largest freshwater supply in the world, contains some of the most fertile agricultural soil in the nation. After cleaning up the lead contamination, there’s no reason it can’t be flourishing farmland again.
People who were only used to eating at McDonald’s are now eating organically grown vegetables from down the block. Their changing relationship to food has helped to change their ability to be self-sustaining.
Although Detroit is never going to repeat its history — it is never going to become the thriving industrial city it once was — there is the potential to come back to people’s core values of depending on community.
LA YOGA: Did the film make you feel hopeful?
FF: Whether urban farms will save Detroit, I don’t know. The sense of hope and pride, though, can shift the consciousness of people. In the past twenty-five years, there hasn’t been much hope and pride. The solutions for cities are often more of the same, such as more buildings, rather than something like this that involves people being engaged in their communities.
Look for the rest of this article in the April 2011 issue of LA Yoga Magazine or online at www.layogamagazine.com/
Kirtan artist and singer/songwriter David Newman (Durga Das) – a true Yoga Revolutionary, recently pulled together the Kirtan community to inspire strength and support environmental causes. His Stay Strong Project is a kind of ‘We are the World’ concept for the chant and yoga community initiated by a song called Stay Strong written by David.
Stay Strong is a song and video featuring prominent chant and yoga luminaries who have come together to unite their hearts and voices for a worthy environmental cause. 100% of the proceeds go to Global Green USA, supporting efforts for the Gulf Coast recovery and other environmental and humanitarian concerns, including: green building, climate solutions, security and sustainability and clean water projects.
Participants, many of whom are featured on Yoga Revolution, include: David Newman, Mira, Krishna Das, Wah, Jai Uttal, Sharon Gannon, Snatam Kaur, Seane Corn, Donna De Lory, Sean Johnson, Gaura Vani, Dave Stringer, Girish, Shantala, Shyam Das, Govindas and Radha, Suzanne Sterling, Kirtan Rabbi, C.C. White, Saul David Raye, Bob Wisdom, Yvette, Prema Hara, Brenda McMorrow, Gina Sala, Zat Baraka, Terra Gold, Radhanath Swami, and more.
It is great seeing the community continue to use music and yoga to support greater social causes and inspire hope beyond the yoga community itself.
I am in Phoenix, Arizona today where we just finished a three-hour live broadcast of Good Morning Arizona from Summit Yoga and featuring a series of segments about the Yoga Revolution taking place in this part of the country. Some of the features include the story and artists behind the Yoga Revolution CD, segments on the health benefits of yoga promoted by National Yoga Month, a live yoga class with show host Britney Shipp participating, coverage of Yoga Recess programs for kids including beautiful children practicing and sharing the joy they get by practicing yoga, a guest appearance by Here II Here performing music from the CD, offerings of free yoga classes, and ticket giveaways for this evenings local concerts by both Here II Here and Yoga Revolution featured artist Michael Franti.
We are entering the final week of Yoga Month 2010 and there is something truly revolutionary taking place. The yoga buzz seems to be vibrating everywhere: Los Angeles and Philly are offering free yoga classes throughout the cities today, Kirtan is echoing out of studios and living rooms across the country, Yoga Journal is wrapping up their 10-day Yoga Conference in Estes Park, Colorado with a concert by Krishna Das, Sarah McLachlan adorns the September cover of Yoga Journal with a contest to win free copies of the Yoga Revolution CD, Michael Franti launched his barefoot Sound of Sunshine tour, over 1500 centers around the country are offering One Week Free Yoga to beginners with many of them holding special Yoga Month and Yoga Mala celebrations, Yoga Health Foundation premiered their Titans of Yoga film to a sold-out crowd in Santa Monica and Bhakti Fest brought together the world’s largest gathering of Western Kirtan artists in Joshua Tree for 4 days of continuous music performances.
The Yoga Revolution is not only breaking through old cultural boundaries and stereotypes here in the United States, but is crossing boarders to unite people around the world in a unifying move toward higher consciousness and mind-body-spirit integration by helping Yoga Month bring people together in Brazil, Mexico, Canada, England, Hong Kong, Australia, Chile and many other nations.
I am personally filled with gratitude and inspiration to see how two of my own passions, and two of the greatest tools I have found for creating greater personal balance, harmony and well being – music and yoga – are coming together and spreading across the globe. I am also happy that we are re-awaking to the realization of how important these two forces are for our children and that so many angels are working hard to give our young revolutionaries the resources they will need to stay balanced, healthy and connected in a world that continues to present with challenges created by our generation and those who preceded us. My heart and love goes out to all the teachers who are helping our youth through programs like Yoga Health Foundation’s Yoga-Recess, Snatam Kaur’s work and Los Angeles-based Yoga for Youth (to barely scratch the surface).
Who could have imagined that somewhere in America there would one day be a festival featuring 4 days of around-the-clock bands performing their modern day interpolations of traditional Indian Kirtan? Well it is true. Bhakti Fest started today in the sacred piece of California desert known as Joshua Tree and will feature 2 stages going around the clock with dozens Western Kirtan and mantra-inspired artists performing to blissed-out crowds, as well as a full array of yoga classes, workshops and lectures by noteworthy teachers from the yoga community.
A western Kirtan and Yoga event of this scale certainly makes Bhakti Fest part of the growing Yoga Revolution. And what makes this celebration of Divine Love even more auspicious is the choice to celebrate it on the anniversary of 9-11, a potent reminder of our need to come together and promote universal love and connection in the world.
So we will be there to represent. Yoga Health Foundation will have a booth offering a Bhaki Fest-only special for attendees to receive the Yoga Revolution CD and new Titans of Yoga DVD for any donations supporting the Yoga Recess program for kids. Yoga Health Foundation and the Yoga Recess Program will also be one of the charities benefiting from the Sunday night closing event- Love. Peace, Yoga. Some of the featured Kirtan artists from the Yoga Revolution CD that will be performing are Krishna Das, Deva Premal, Donna De Lory, David Newman and Wah!. I will also have the honor of sitting in on guitar to help spread the Bhav with Saul David Raye, Steve Gold, Donna and Yevette.
Shiva Rea is the Ambassador for this year’s festival, and many other dear friends and inspiring talents will be both performing and offering classes and workshops. Last year was the first year of the festival. The energy was extremely high and air was saturated with love and good vibrations. This year is expected to be twice as big, so I’m sure the Bhav will be overflowing. Hope to see you there.
It has been almost a week since my incredible weekend in the Olympic Village of Sqaw Valley, North Lake Tahoe, where I had the great pleasure of attending and participating in Jeff Krasnow’s Wanderlust Festival. Wanderlust is a one-of-a-kind festival bringing together renown yoga teachers and both contemporary music and some kirtan artists, all in a setting of breathtaking natural beauty. In addition to the great setting, classes, workshops and performances, it is great to share it all with a community of like-minded people who honor a common set of interests and values. To quote the official website: “It’s a mix of healthy hedonism and spiritual exploration.”
I got to perform with Steve Gold and a group of world-class musicians for massive outdoor yoga classes led by Shiva Rae and Janet Stone, as well as do a concert with Steve and talk with press and fans about the Yoga Revolution CD, a project which embraces many of the same qualities of Wanderlust (especially if you listen to it in nature). I also enjoyed talks and workshops on Anusara with John Friend and the Power of Sound (one of my favorite subjects) with my friend Alex Theory. Some of the musical highlights included Moby’s acoustic set, Kelli Scarr and the Mayapuris. Of course, it was a pleasure, as always, to share in the great musical vibes of friends Dave Stringer, Shaman’s Dream and Donna De Lory. If I had one thing I would like to see differently, it would be to have more full live performances by line-minded headline artists for the late night sets on the magnificent outdoor main stage. Maybe with the great success of this year’s festival, and the increased numbers of yogi’s attending (classes and workshops were completely sold out on some of the days) Jeff might be able to afford to do that next year.
The charity supported by this year’s festival and the Yoga Aid initiative was Off the Mat (www.offthematintotheworld.org), a great organization headed by highly inspiring yoginis and teachers Seane Corn, Hala Khouri and Susanne Sterling. Off the Mat, Into the World uses the power of yoga to inspire conscious, sustainable activism to ignite grass roots and social change.
Below is a quick rough video Kasey from Yoga Aid and Mastin from Daily Love put together from Sunday’s activities, including Shiva’s Sunday morning Blues/Gospel class and asana practice that I played for with Steve Gold and friends.
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.
There is no doubt that with the state of the planet as it is, a little more influence from the feminine divine couldn’t hurt. Maybe with the help of some great music and some far-reaching angelic voices, we can help create a positive shift.
I have just returned from a ceremony in the sacred Indian land of Taos, New Mexico (held on the auspicious night of the full moon lunar eclipse). One of the performing groups was a very talented all female Mariachi band called Mariachi Buenaventura. In addition to the great performance and beauty of the musicians, I was impressed to see an all female group in such a male-dominated genre.
The powerful energy of the evening made a great set up for the re-launch of the renowned, all-female, Lilith Fair Tour and music festival in Calgary, Alberta (Canada) which features a stunning array of talent, including Erykah Badu, Sheryl Crow and festival founder Sarah McLachlan.
Three of the artists on the Yoga Revolution charity CD are featured on parts of the Tour, which runs through August 16th: Sheryl Crowe, Donna De Lory and Sarah McLachlan. Many of the East Coast shows will also feature the amazing talented and socially-conscious Nigerian newcomer Nneka, who I just recorded as part of the international collaborations for Beat the World.
Lillith Fair was founded in 1997 by Sarah McLachlan and Nettwerk Music’s Terry McBride and Dan Fraser and became the highest grossing touring festival in that year. In it’s first 3 years (1997 – 1999), the tour raised over $10M for women’s charities throughout North America. A new CD from Nettwerk Music: The Best of Lilith Fair, features highlight from those shows.
I highly recommend checking out one of the shows and supporting Sarah and the other founders in their effort to raise the stage for the angelic voices and powerful music of these great female talents and the voice of the feminine divine that flows through them. I look forward to joining them in Vancouver for the July 1st (Canada Day) festival.
More info and schedule at http://www.lilithfair.com/
I am happy to celebrate with you today the long awaited release the Yoga Revolution CD.
Yoga Revolution is the first in a series of benefit albums that bring together musical icons (Sting, Peter Gabriel, Sheryl Crow), international artists (Snatam Kaur, Angelique Kidjo, Anoushka Shankar) and rising kirtan stars (Krishna Das, Deva Premal, Donna De Lory) to raise funds for yoga-based fitness programming for youth. In addition to supporting a great cause, my goal was to use the transformational power of music to inspire and encourage people of all ages and backgrounds, far beyond the yoga community, to experience the positive benefits of yoga. In the sense that the essential meaning of yoga is to connect, I considered all of the artists I selected to be yogis. Many do practice the techiques, but each has created their music from a place deep within themselves, in connection with spirit and with an intention to help each of us, as listeners, become more deeply connected to ourselves and one another.
The impetus for Yoga Revolution began when my friend Johannes shared his vision to bring the power of yoga to the masses by offering free yoga and health education through a program he created called Yoga Month. Through the national Yoga Month campaign, Johannes and his Yoga Health Foundation set out to teach the general public about yoga’s many health benefits and to support in-school yoga programs for youth. I knew from the beginning that music could contribute meaningfully to the cause. I had also long wanted to create a yoga-inspired CD that could reach the far beyond the yoga community, while still having the highest integrity among devotee’s. When I shared my vision for a compilation CD with Nettwerk Music CEO and yogi Terry McBride, he agreed to Executive Produce the project and release it, donating the net proceeds to benefit the Yoga Health Foundation’s yoga and fitness programs.
It is an eclectic but universally appealing collection of music that I guarantee will positively affect your system just by listening. I recommend keeping a copy in your car for your next long drive or traffic jam. As quoted in Yoga Journal: “Yoga Revolution merges music by Sarah McLachlan, Michael Franti, Ziggy Marley and Sheryl Crow, along with cross-cultural collaborations between Sting and Anoushka Shankar, Peter Gabriel and Angelique Kidjo and Seal and Guru Singh, while mixing in new material by rising kirtan stars Krishna Das, Deva Premal and Donna De Lory. The CD flows seamlessly through an inspiring and diverse 14-track mix ranging from Irish folk, a rock anthem and bilingual world music to 5,000 year old Vedic chants over hip hop beats, including a kirtan reworking of the Yardbirds 1965 hit: For Your Love.”
You can learn more about the project, order the CD, get a free download or sign up for free yoga at www.YogaRevolution.org, where I will be sharing more music and info about the many amazing artists who contributed. You also learn about similar projects at www.EarthTones.org and receive a free Yoga Revolution CD for a donation of $25 or more.
