Greetings! This weekend at Omega in Rhinebeck, NY there is a
3-day Ecstatic Chant retreat with chanting going on around the clock.
Divya will be there with her daughter this year and will most likely
come back with no voice, or at least a changed voice. If you're not
able to get to Omega this weekend, then please join us at Yoga Center
Amherst for our monthly ecstatic chant!
This weekend is also Labor Day weekend, the official end of summer. But this week Lucy and I are enjoying our stay-cation; taking day trips to local ponds, visiting with friends and dropping into Yoga classes that aren't available to us when we're working during the day. Last weekend I had a wonderful class at Green River Yoga with Libby Volckening (Director) and this week we're dropping into Yoga Center Amherst on Wednesday and Thursday mornings to take class with Patty Townsend. Please join us if you can! I feel fortunate to live in an area so rich with Yoga, meditation and chanting!
I found inspiration this week while dining at Hope and Olive in Greenfield. It was a right on the front cover of the Seeds of Solidarity newsletter I picked up as I was leaving. An excerpt of a message from the Hopi Elders reminding us that God dwells within us, as us.
let it be love,
Rick
How precious our time together here truly is! |
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Kirtan
...is a time
for people to come together, open their hearts and sing. For years
chanting has helped people to effortlessly reach a state of quiet and
stillness that easliy leads to meditation. While it's true that we can
chant in our car or in the solitude of our home, there's nothing like
chanting with others and with live musicians. Every kirtan is different
depending on the energy of the group, but as the evening progresses one
becomes saturated with the Name, the mind becomes one-pointed and
dropping into a deep state of meditation becomes effortless.