About two months ago I stepped away from the podcast for surgery to remove a tumor from my spine. I’m happy to be back with the best possible news — the tumor was benign and I didn’t lose any nerve function. In the introduction to this edition of the podcast I’ll tell you about the surgery, my recovery so far, what a miracle it all was and the profound insight I received about the tumor & the way it was found.

When I decided to turn back to kirtan I was astounded at the number of new CDs I had in my box. There is so much talent working in the kirtan movement with great music coming from new and established kirtan artists — so much that we’re going to have a series of Fresh Tracks sets coming up. On this week’s show we have offerings from Miten, Kathy Bolte and Bombay Rain, David Estes featuring Prajna Viera’s unmistakable voice, Missy Balsam, Manish Vyas, Ashana Sophia and Lee Mirabai Harrington’s beautiful tribute to Shyam Das, with several voices you’ll recognize. We end the set with ‘Thank You’ by Carrie Grossman, a song that brings me to tears every time I hear it. I hope you love this set as much as I do.

One benefit of a systems shutdown is you get to make some conscious choices about what you’re going to bring back up. I have had a major OS upgrade, and in gratitude I want to use it for something good. So I’m choosing kirtan. I choose helping it to spread love and joyful connection in communities across the world. I choose our Corvallis satsang group, our New World Kirtan Band — and I’m SO choosing the New World Kirtan Podcast. Thank you for listening dear heart.

One world. One love. I’m so happy to be back with you all. Until next time — Namaste.