The Spring Kundalini Yoga Festival and other adventures in South Africa

This year has been quite a whirlwind of events.  I released 2 albums (with more on the way) and have toured (so far) through Germany and the East and West Coast of the USA, and I have met some amazing new friends!  And now the adventure continues.....

If you have not heard my latest album release yet please go to: http://sarabdeva.bandcamp.com/album/aquarian-sadhana-by-the-river

In order to promote my new album, Aquarian Sadhana by the River, we flew to the beautiful Mother City of my homeland, Cape Town. It was so good to see the ocean, the mountain and all my friends again.   

Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa and Gurushabd Singh Khalsa were holding a Kundalini Teacher Training in conjunction with our dear friends at Guru Ram Das.  I was invited to lead chanting at the Sadhana (early morning class).  It was such an exquisite experience to chant mantras with new teachers in the making.

To those I missed this time; we will be back in December for four glorious months!  I am looking forward to settling down in one place to be calm and creative, before the Chinese Year of the Horse gallops in to carry us all away into even more new adventures around the world again :)

From Cape Town we flew up to Johannesburg, my old home town, to attend the Spring Kundalini Festival in the beautiful Magaliesburg. I was reminded of my love of the Highveld, of the old places I used to call home, of the craziness of Johannesburg and it's bright blue skies and brilliant sunshine in Wintertime.  However because I have changed, so have the places and people changed. It has been almost ten years since I left, and interestingly all the people seem to have changed for the better!!  

Chanting at Sadhana on a chilly Spring morning at the SKY Festival, Magaliesburg.

They say that when you change yourself, the people around you will change too....even those you may not have been able to connect with in the past. They will be different because you are different. What a wonderful lesson to learn first hand in my own home town!

I had the lovely opportunity to chant mantras and offer Kirtan at Ishta Yoga which is a beautiful yoga studio in Sandton: http://www.yoga-sa.com

Starting the Kirtan at Ishta with a short satsang

Leading the mantras

Tuning out

The beautiful garden of Ishta Yoga, with Koi Pond, Mandarin Ducks and a fierce white hunter!

He even allowed us to take his portrait

A big thank-you to Angela and Wendy for hosting us in their stunning space!!

I am writing to you now from Los Angeles. We arrived here a few days ago and have been getting over the jet-lag.  More exciting news on the way. 

Lots of love, 

Sarab Deva xxx

Summer in Berlin, The New Album and my personal creative Think Tank!

 

I have been in Berlin since my last blog post, enjoying the European summer, recording music with some great musicians and basically just living the dream! In August I played at the Berlin and Leipzig HoliOne Festivals and have been working with various DJ Producers to remix Uplifting Mantras for You.

I have had a couple of new album ideas floating around my creative space this year.  What with my travelling and meeting so many new and wonderful people, how could an artist not have some fantastical sparks of inspiration?  They say that everyone has a book within them somewhere.  I certainly feel like I have one or two brewing in my personal creative think tank too (I really like that term: ‘think tank’), but the books will come later.

I have also started a very intensive daily meditation called the Sodarshan Chakra Kriya, which has taken me into a more relaxed and neutral headspace.  One of authenticity and of self acceptance. Which brings me to the idea of how a person's own creative 'think tank' is always chocka block full of random stuff at any given time. We absorb so much data every minute of every day, which mostly is just clutter. This doesn't do the nervous system any favours and as difficult as it may be, it's a good idea to include an 'internet fast' into your weekly schedule!

In order to create, one needs to clear head space!  I certainly do!  And that is what the Sodarshan Chakra Kriya is meant to do.  It clears the subconscious mind of the junk we overload it with on a daily basis before those junkie thoughts become a part of our unconscious programming.

Hence this new album due to be released this month is very different to Uplifting Mantras for You.  I have been on quite a journey of learning and discovery since I begin this tour in April.  This new album is about me really getting back to basics and the authenticity of my own sound and the authenticity of my personal relationship to mantra and to the Shabd Guru.

This new album is an Aquarian Sadhana album with just seven Kundalini mantras on it, usually chanted each morning before sunrise.  We used a traditional approach of voice, guitar, shruti box, tabla and sitar for the musical composition.  For those of you who are not familiar with Kundalini Yoga or with the Aquarian Sadhana, you can read more about it here : http://www.sikhdharma.org/content/sadhana

"Sadhana, daily spiritual practice, is the base, the foundation of all spiritual endeavor. Sadhana is your personal, individual spiritual effort. It is the main tool you use to work on yourself to achieve the purpose of life. It can be done alone or in a group. Sadhana is whatever you do consistently to clear your own consciousness so you can relate to the infinity within you. Before you face the world each day, do yourself a favor and tune up your nervous system and attune yourself to your highest inner self. To cover all your bases, include exercise, meditation, and prayer."

From The Flow of Eternal Power by Shakti Parwha Kaur Khalsa

I was asked to perform one of the mantras from my new album at the Sikh Temple in Berlin last week Sunday, which was a great honour for me!

Sarabdev Kaur with Surjeet Singh at the Berlin Gudwara

Here is the video from this performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alc4LCeo630

Looking forward to sharing this new album with you as soon as everything is ready to be launched.

I would like to say an eternal thank-you to my devoted husband Fabian-ji (Sarabdev Singh) for his undying support and love, and for always being right behind me on this journey. Siri Akaal!

Love and blessings,

Sarab Deva xx

P.S. Next Stop is South Africa where I will be performing at the SKY Festival in Johannesburg.

Never judge a book by it's cover (or colour):

Gurmukh in LA and HoliOne in London

Before finally saying goodbye to LA and California, I had the immense privilege of working with Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa.  She is perhaps one of the world’s most iconic Kundalini Yoga Teachers alive today.  A direct student of Yogi Bhajan, Gurmukh has taught the likes of Madonna, Gwenneth Paltrow, Courtney Love and many others. 

After Gurmukh's class at the Hollywood Hills Solstice Yoga Festival 

By grace, I was able to support Gurmukh with music and mantras during one of her classes at her studio in Hollywood Hills, known as Golden Bridge...an experience I will never forget.

We flew out to NYC and travelled upstate into Massachusetts where I offered a private kirtan for those attending our healing workshop that weekend.  Then we flew on to London where I prepared for the HoliOne Festival in Battersea Park. 

I was the first artist to go on stage and I was a little unsure how mantras would be received by the crowd.  Up until now I had performed in intimate settings with yogis and meditators often sitting in lotus posture or lying down and taking in the healing frequency of the mantras.  This festival was moving me into a very different crowd as the line-up of artists were all DJs.  Nevertheless, I went up on stage (feeling quite nervous) and endeavoured to really bring the true spirit of what the Holi Festival really means to me. 

Hiranyakashipu, on the lap,
being killed by Narasimha,
an incarnation of Vishnu

There is some Hindu mythology around the origin of Holi and in a nut shell, those who are faithful to the Divine (in this case Vishnu) and who turn away from falling into the darkness, will be rewarded for their loyalty.  Nowadays Holi is generally a Springtime celebration held in India and a time when all people are considered equal and when everyone can do and say what ever they want, despite their social ranking or skin colour.  And of course they throw the coloured powder at each other so that no one can be recognised by their exterior appearance.  So in this case you certainly can't judge a book by it's cover/colour.







So, of my own accord, I just spoke to the audience appealing them to all connect with their hearts and to grasp what HoliOne really means, and to begin to understand how powerful each one of us can be when we live from our hearts and connect with each others as though we are All One :)

Sarab Deva at HoliOne London, UK

The crowd really enjoyed the mantras and one of the security men came up to me afterwards and genuinely thanked me for what I said, saying that there was definitely something in the frequency of my voice that really resonated with people, as he had been watching the crowd's response while I was on stage talking to them and singing.

I thought that was quite lovely and it made my heart glow to know that a deeper sense of spirituality and connectedness is likely just waiting to be awakened within the people that I may not have imagined to be receptive to the Light. So, never judge a book by it's cover! And never imagine that someone might not be ready for a spiritual shift!!

HoliOne taught me that, but somehow not in the way I would have expected!

Here is a video of me chanting the Gayatri Mantra (over a track called Love & Fear by the band Amaya) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RavmQiEk84s

That's all for now, but watch out for my new release "Light" coming to http://sarabdeva.bandcamp.com/ soon.

Love and blessings, Sarab Deva xx


For more of Amaya's music: http://www.amayasounds.com/

Loving Los Angeles and Miracles in Las Vegas.

Namaste!!

I have not blogged in a while because so much has been happening! California has thoroughly captivated me.  It really is beautiful here, and I have only seen a fraction of what it has to offer.  We took some time out to visit the magnificent Grand Canyon and Joshua Tree National Park over my birthday weekend in early July and Fabian took these stunning pictures on our travels! 

Sunset at the Grand Canyon, Arizona, so humbling. Pictures just do not do it justice!

Fabian's creative energy exploring Joshua Tree, California

One of my most favourite places on earth, Joshua Tree National Park, California

  

We happened to pass by Las Vegas on our way back to Los Angeles.  It was quite an experience to walk down the “strip”, and while in amidst all that is “Las Vegas”, it is hard to believe that they have a flourishing yoga and kirtan community there! Yet we managed to connect with just such a community, and Ashley Wynn,  one of the Charlie’s Angels of Yoga in Las Vegas (where she is pioneering the Kirtan and Yogic Community) welcomed us with open arms and her beautiful smile.  After a decade in LA she has just returned home and opened her own studio called The Grateful Yogi.  You can imagine how grateful we were to encounter this spiritual oasis in what many uninitiated might consider a spiritual desert….in the actual desert!  http://www.thegratefulyogi.com/  Ashley invited me to run a Kundalini Yoga Workshop as well as to offer a Kirtan in her beautiful studio. Here is a video of one of the songs from the evening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6rVHl1hyBY

We rushed back to LA for a Kirtan at Naam Yoga based in Santa Monica the next evening where I offered a very calming, yin meditation and satsang on mantras. I also had the rare opportunity to be interviewed by Gary Goldberg, a long standing advocate of spiritual music on the East Coast of the States.  He has his own Radio Show on the station WRPI: http://www.wrpi.org/  We spent two whole hours discussing my album and he played all the songs live on air!

I was also at the Yogi Tree in Los Angeles during July's newmoon for their Moon Goddess Workshop and I got to play during the class as well as to do some group hypnosis with everyone.

Another blessing during my Californian Tour, was to sing at the Moksha Festival in Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles with an awesome kirtanian, teacher and friend, Daniel Stewart during Ashley Turner's class.

Ashley Turner, Daniel Stewart and Sarab Deva at Moksha Festival 2013

The highlight of the Los Angeles leg of this tour is that I had the great privilege of working with Wahe Guru Khalsa (affectionately known as Wah).  I supported her during her class with live music both at her own studio, Golden Bridge in Santa Monica and at the Golden Bridge Mothership in Hollywood. Wah is a fantastic teacher and I was so inspired to be able to work with her.

California really seems to be the place to be! A place of miracles for me. When out in the desert, it certainly feels like sacred ground, as the ancients always admonished.  And driving through Joshua Tree and the mountains and into the desert here made me fully understand how the early inhabitants of this land must have found such divinity in nature.  No wonder they worshiped the land and the sky and the animals and all the elements that make the land so magical. And I truly felt heartsore considering the history around this land and it's early inhabitants.

I will miss this place once I return to Europe next week.  But please keep tuned to my blog, I have so much exciting news and events on the horizon over the next few months to keep me busy, and we plan to be back in the States again in October if all goes well :)

If you have not heard my album yet, please follow this link: http://sarabdeva.bandcamp.com/

Next Stop is NYC then onto London and Berlin for the HoliOne Festival of Colours!

With love, Sarab Deva xx

California Dreaming - San Francisco and San Luis Obispo

The last couple of weeks have been spent travelling and preparing for the coming months back in Europe and for our next trip to the States.  Since arriving in the US, we have not only met some truly fantastic people, but we also seem to have attracted some lovely little nuggets of good fortune!  And my guess is, that it must have something to do with the mantras!

For instance, on our first night in New York, we hailed down a taxi in the pouring rain, and the driver refused to let us pay him. Rather unusual for NYC.

Then in San Francisco, where free parking is really difficult to find, and metered parking is really expensive, we kept stumbling upon meters that had already been pre-paid for us.  We were also given a $57 parking ticket for not turning our wheels on an incline....I have never had to park on hills that steep before nor ever been given a parking ticket ...especially for not turning my wheels in a certain direction.  And so I was surprised to say the least!  Especially after I have gone to so much trouble to park correctly.  Amazingly however the traffic department waived the ticket because we were foreigners. In fact even today we spent what seemed like ages looking for a parking and as soon as I began to chant a mantra, the perfect parking appeared for us!  

Now obviously I am not saying that this should be the sole reason for chanting mantras.  They should be for expressing your devotion and heartfelt appreciation to the Universe/God/Goddess for giving you the blessing of life.  They should be chanted in a sacred context and with a sincere desire to grow/better yourself and to connect to your true path of Dharma.

However, the sideline benefits include a happier, healthier, calmer and more balanced approach to life, a smoother perhaps kinder experience of karma and in my case this must mean better parking options!!!

This weekend past I was blessed to be able to offer a kirtan in the Temple of the Yoga Society of San Francisco.  And luckily a talented tabla player who happens to live in the Ashram offered to support me.

Outside the Yoga Society of San Francisco

Brian preparing to play tablas with me in the Temple of the San Fran Yoga Society

We left for San Luis Obispo on Sunday at lunchtime (also known as the Happiest Place in the US) and offered a kirtan to a beautiful group of devotees at Bliss Cafe that evening.  They generated such a stunning energy with their voices and purity that we all felt as though we had been rocketed into outer space by the end for the kirtan. Wahe Guru!

Bliss Cafe, the lovely vegan cafe where we offered kirtan in San Luis Obispo

Quick sound check

Chanting devotion with heart!

Somehow it does feel like some guardian angel is looking out for us, and I take this as a reminder to be grateful everyday for every little nugget of good fortune we experience. So whether it's a new person supporting me by purchasing my album, someone emailing me to tell me how much my music has helped them, a stranger doing something kind for me, or me just finding a penny on the pavement, whenever anything like this happens I always take a few moments to deeply thank the Universe for these gifts and to be grateful.

Chanting Namyaho Renge Kyo from the Lotus Sutra enables the chanter to put their life in harmony or rhythm with the law of life, or Dharma. All things in the universe are a manifestation of this Mystic Law and if chanted daily this mantra will bring all of one's desires into reality so that one may achieve perfect enlightenment and true Buddhahood.

You can find this mantra here: http://sarabdeva.bandcamp.com/track/nam-myoho-renge-kyo

With love and blessings,

Sarab Deva xxx