Serenading the Divine... Behind the Scenes

I can’t keep the secrets all to myself...


I regularly ask my community about where they are feeling challenged or blocked. I have been amazed at how many times they hold their throats and express a longing for more freedom in this chakra to sing, speak, and express - in front of a group as well as intimately. I often hear, “I was told not to sing... that I couldn’t sing.” The critic had been internalized, and it was a vicious beast. 


Over and over, friends ask, “Can you teach me how to sing... like that?” In essence, to sing fearlessly, in joyful devotion and wild abandon. But it wasn’t always like that for me...
 

I survived a youth shaped with intensive classical musical training. My voice and music were regularly scrutinized. Sometimes I endured being rated by panels at formal adjudications. Music practices and rehearsals felt like military drills. The approach of perfectionism was stifling. I am grateful for the skill I gained and even for the challenge of it all, but my soul was starving for a wilder and more soulful expression.

I had abandoned my music for a while. Though I loved music, it had started to feel like heavy chains. Then some years ago, I fell in love with devotional and ceremonial music of different traditions.

I am ever-deepening in my own healing transformation of liberating my voice and music through the path of bhakti, tantra yoga, the yoga of speech, and traditional shamanic healing modalities.

 
At a point in my healing process, passionate devotion took over so much that there was no more vacant space for fear.


I felt myself breaking through icy layers of self-doubt. My inner-critic was dressed up in a clown outfit and banished to the far corners of the universe. I felt as if my voice had new “wings” as I explored new octaves, harmonies, and delightful new textural and primal sounds. I was in love again... and having FUN!

Apparently, I had tapped into something that others recognized as medicine. And I am answering the call by offering Serenading the Divine: Sacred Music, Mantra, and the Shamanic Voice. I hope you enjoy!

The next Serenading the Divine experience is August 30th, 2013. 

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Love,
Bast
dakinitemple.org