Kirtan Leader Blog

Holy smokes, my old friend and tabla wizard Jim Feist is just crushing it on this video. 

Jim is hilarious, and an incredible tabla-ist and tabla teacher. I am grateful for all I learned playing regularly with Jim from...

In May 2017 Yoga Journal published their first article on the Enneagram. Titled Who Am I? Use the Enneagram with Yoga to Find Your Answer, this well researched article was one of the first efforts to document the integration of...

I love working with my voice teacher. In private lessons we spend about 80-90% of our time in loops of practice, observing (listening, sensing, feeling, watching) and feedback. Frequently she demonstrates what she is trying to...

The great Indian Saint Shirdi Sai Baba always said, “Shradda and Saburi.” This was interpreted to mean, “faith and patience.” My guru, Swami Kaleshwar interpreted this as “practice and...

What is learning? Much of our culture commonly defines learning as what I call “information flinging”. The teacher flings information at the students. If they can fling it back learning is declared to have...

What is Kirtan? 

Great question. Here are a few answers...

1. Kirtan is call and response chanting which utilizes sacred names of the Divine. 

2. Kirtan is the central practice of Bhakti Yoga, or the Yoga of the Heart,...

A Kirtan and Bhajan are closely related. Both are sung, with musical instruments, use Divine Names or Scriptures, and are oriented towards creating connection with the Divine. 

I like to think of Kirtan as a short phrase...

Here's an excerpt on Mantra from my 30 page booklet titled Bhakti & Beyond. 

In Kirtan, we chant Sanskrit phrases of praise to the Divine called mantras. Mantra is a Sanskrit term with multiple meanings. Author...

Years ago I started referring to myself as a Kirtan Leader.

While others in the field called themselves Kirtan artists, Kirtan singers or Kirtan Wallah's, I wanted to highlight the importance of leadership when sharing this...