Kirtan Podcast Archive
Fresh Tracks 35
"It seems appropriate to start the New Year with a Fresh Tracks set", said I back in January when this podcast was taking shape and before the totally nasty sinus infection descended. Yuk, glad that's over, thank you antibiotics. And now ... it's Valentine's Day! So...
Dark Days — Chants for Winter Solstice
The dark and cold of winter lends itself to introspection, and lately I’ve been thinking about this past year & the changes it brought to my life. Last December I had just been diagnosed with a large spinal tumor, and had the surgery to remove it was in January. Now...
Interfaith Voices
The use of chanting and spiritual music for awakening has a long history, and in this week’s podcast we have chants from many different religious traditions. We’ll begin with a chant from the Sufi tradition with HuDost, then a Gregorian chant from Thomas Barquee, then...
Songs For The Soul
This week's set is for those of you who don't play an instrument but would like to gather in satsang to sing kirtan. It's structured much like our Friday night kirtan here in Corvallis, and the chants are ones we love to sing in our satsang. You could get a few of...
Community Kirtan with Jen Canfield & Ian Boccio!
I really loved doing this interview with Jen Canfield of the Call & Response Foundation & Ian Boccio of the Atlanta kirtan community & the kirtan band Blue Spirit Wheel, and it kicks off a new direction for the podcast. I’ve felt deeply drawn to creating community...
Fresh Tracks 33
This edition of the podcast is a rich Fresh Tracks set, and as it worked out several of the artists featured in the set will be playing at Omega Fall Ecstatic Chant this weekend, so I’m happy to give them a shout-out! We start with the Hanumen’s ‘Invocation’, the...
More Mantras For Prosperity
This week’s set is based on one released in 2013 that is by far the most downloaded of our podcasts over at Soundcloud -- it also came from a desire I had to create a setlist that affirms power & prosperity. The chants in the set are from the incredibly rich Kundalini...
Deva Premal & Miten Come To Portland
I’m still glowing from the beautiful experience of seeing Deva Premal & Miten with Manose in Portland last week. Several members of our satsang were there, including the two friends who won the tickets in the giveaway. We were admitted to the hall early to hear their...
The Shanti Mantras
Our set this week is based on one our satsang group loved several weeks ago. The selections are from a group of chants called Shanti Mantras or Peace Mantras, the Hindu prayers for Peace (Shanti) found in the Upanishads. The chants this week are only a few of them,...
Jai Uttal and The Story of Hanuman
In this week's episode I'll tell you all about my current obsessions -- physical therapy & narrating the beautiful book 'Sid' by Zen master Anita Feng. I'll also let you know about my big idea of featuring stories of local kirtan communities on the podcast! As you all...
It’s Spring. Jai Ma!
This week's set is to honor the Divine Mother, the force behind the new life bursting forth all around us as Earth returns to the light. I can also feel this force re-awakening in me as I recover from spinal surgery -- it's as though my body is coming back to life....
Fresh Tracks, Fresh Start
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...
The One About Being A Bison
In the essay “Be the Bison” from Gopi Kallayil’s wonderful book “From the Internet to the Inner-net’ he writes that “when the swift & brutal winter storms strike in the valleys & mountains of Montana, the wind starts howling & heavy snow covers the ground. All the...
Be The Lighthouse
It took me a while to get to a place where felt I could do this podcast. Two weeks ago many of us thought we would be electing the first woman president and … we didn’t. That was bad, but would have been bearable except for the large uptick of cruel remarks and racial...
The 2016 Election Care Package
I don’t know about you but at this point in our election I feel like I need a psychic shower. The toxicity is stressing us out, and there’s nowhere to escape the election because everyone is talking about it. This week’s podcast will help you to accomplish both the...
A Conversation With Miten
I so totally love Miten’s new CD ‘Temple at Midnight’ — we sang several of the chants this year at Fall Omega Ecstatic Chant, and I've had the CD on repeat prior to this week’s interview. It was hard to pick a favorite song, so I’m glad I was able to feature a good...
Chants For Autumn Equinox
This week I'm back from a wonderful vacation on the East coast where I was blessed to attend the first Lovelight Yoga & Arts Festival in Darlington, MD and Omega Fall Ecstatic Chant in Rhinebeck, NY. The events were very different, and I loved them both -- I'll tell...
The Back Spasm — What Worked
In the last podcast I shared that I was suffering through another back spasm, and since then many of you have written about back spasms with your stories and suggestions. Thank you for taking the time to share these with me — so many people suffer from this ailment. I...
Fresh Tracks 31
This episode is a Fresh Tracks set, but it should be called The Return of the Back Spasm ... Ugh. Although it's been going on for several weeks the spasm hasn't been as bad this time and I learned a few things from the last one -- I'll tell you about the journey in...
Lovelight! A Conversation With Wynne Paris
This week’s podcast is an interview with Wynne Paris, director & producer of the Lovelight Yoga & Arts Festival, held in Darlington, Maryland August 26-28. There’s lots going on, and the kirtan lineup is stellar, starting with Krishna Das and Trevor Hall. The venue...