Monday, September 26, 2011

 

Sat Nam everyone. Last weekend Thomas, Ramesh, my family and I were at Spirit Fest with many Kundalini Yogis and musicians. We got a chance to play for Gurmukh's class. It was so fun, so blissful. Thank you to Joe Longo for your beautiful photo!

This weekend we participated in the Yoga Journal Conference in Estes Park Colorado. It is such a beautiful place. We had a concert on Saturday night and a Kundalini Yoga workshop on Sunday morning.

In the chanting artist world it is a major milestone to be invited to the Yoga Journal Conference. I believe that we are the first band from the Kundalini/Sikh tradition to be invited to play in the big concert of the conference on Saturday night.

Honestly I was so nervous about it all. First of all, we planned to play many new pieces that we had never played before. Second, I didn't know how we would be received. And third and foremost was the fact that I had some ego about playing at the Yoga Journal Conference! The kind of ego that was showing up for me was feeling a sense of doubt that I could fulfill the expectations. That I could be good enough. This is ego, because you think you are the doer when in fact it is the One who is the Doer.

Realizing that my ego was coming into play was a humbling experience and sent me right into my heart. Thank you God for that. I began to ask myself... "Okay, Self, in light of the fact that we've got some ego on the scene now what do we do? How are we going to uplift out of this?"

As I sat and meditated on it I realized that we were there to serve people. That it is our destiny to deliver the power of chanting God's Name and the miracle of Kundalini Yoga. It is our job. It is written on our foreheads. The moment that we would take the stage was known to the Creator even before we took birth in this earthly life.

This helped me to remove myself from the "me" and the "I" of my nerves, and go into the love and the embrace of the act of serving. There is a much higher power guiding us to share these teachings and this sacred wisdom with people.

Ramesh, Thomas and I then meditated together before the concert. The whole band seemed to go into a very deep space.

During the concert people sang beautifully. People didn't sing. People meditated deeply. People didn't meditate. I did a good violin solo. I hit a wrong note.

I didn't care anymore! It had gone beyond the cares of the mind. What mattered in those moments was that I could feel the presence of the Guru, the presence of God, the presence of the One who had planned all of this. That One was working through each of us. The depth of the experience was so completely satisfying. I knew that whoever was meant to receive these sacred words would receive them. I knew that we were perfectly placed there in those moments.

I am grateful to have been in this flow my heart and pray to be there again and again. I am grateful for my ego, and the realization of it which allowed me to bow my head in service. I am grateful to Thomas and Ramesh who take this journey of service with me and time and time again surrender into the flow of music to give people the gift of healing. I am grateful to Sopurkh Singh my husband who somehow sees the flow of my heart even when I don't. I'm grateful to my daughter Jap Preet Kaur who is always in the flow of her heart, and has given me the opportunity to be her mother.

The truth is that we were very well received. Being that Yoga Journal is a more mainstream publication, this feels like an important moment for the 3HO community. I have grown up in this community, have been loved and supported by this community and now serve as an ambassador for its work to the best of my abilities. I believe that the teachings and the work of 3HO will deeply serve millions and that this is one step towards that unfolding.

I pray for all of us, from all walks of life and communities, to have the experience of being in service through our inner flow...to know that the Creator is the One Creating through each of us.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you God.

Blessings,

Snatam Kaur

Thursday, September 22, 2011

 
Sat Nam everyone! I loved making my first music video with Robin Layton. You can see from her words below that it is a soul connection that brought us together. I invite you to watch the music video for Earth Prayer that she made for me, and check out her website for other video and photo projects she has worked on.
Blessings, Snatam Kaur


In the words of Robin Layton...

I first heard Snatam’s voice when I was at a friend’s home.  I felt I had just heard an angel sing.  A few months later when my Mom was receiving chemo and radiation treatments in Seattle, I felt so desperately sad and the only thing that could soothe me was listening to Snatam.  It was during this moment that I reached out to her, to let her know what a gift she is to our world, how astounding her talent is and if I could offer her, as a fellow artist, my gift of photography.  

While my mother was in hospice, I photographed our little time together.  My mother passed in June and to honor her, I put a slide show of her last three weeks to Snatam’s song Ra Ma Da Sa.  The song expressed perfectly the feelings I had of faith and hope, and mostly my thoughts when I think of God. 

I have no words to describe the feeling I get when I hear Snatam sing.  I feel it is the song of God  singing directly to me, through me.  It takes me to a place I didn’t know existed.


We were able to work together as fellow artists and I am so honored to have had the privilege to share my gifts to honor Snatam talent.  

I am truly grateful for the moments I’ve shared with Snatam photographing and making our first music video together.  

Thank you Snatam; thank you for being in my life and for sharing your amazing gifts with me and the world.

Robin Layton
August 29, 2011
_____________________
Robin Layton

Monday, September 19, 2011

 

Sat Nam!

We had an incredible time at Spirit Fest being with all of our musician friends, yogis, teachers, and seekers of light. It was such an uplifting experience to chant together and be in that vibration for an entire weekend. I highly recommend this event! There is another one on the West Coast in Joshua Tree this April. You can check out www.satnamfest.com for information. The festival name is officially changing from Spirit Fest to Sat Nam Fest.

For me this past week something very special happened within me. I realized that we can have emotions within us like fear, guilt, and anger that may not be from the present moment or situation. Those emotions do in some way effect how we live our lives, how we speak, and what kind of decisions we make. I found that for me, the most powerful thing I can do for myself is to meditate, to chant God's Name, and in this way to purify within myself.

From this place of purity we can live our lives from our highest wisdom, from the flow of the heart. In this way of living, we find joy, and we find true fulfillment. You have to do the work, to weed out the garden so to speak.


I invite you to join me in a very beautiful 40 Day Global Sadhana called "Be in Flow with your Highest Wisdom" to enrich your current meditation practice, or perhaps to start one. I am very very blessed to be teaching this with Gurmukh Kaur. We are inviting everyone from around the entire globe. We pray that this meditation practice together will give us all a connection to our highest wisdom, to the wisdom of all saints and sages. Our teacher Yogi Bhajan taught that Aquarian Age begins on 11.11.11. We are coming out of what he and many yogis call the "Piscean Age" where everyone is seeking to know and basically lives in individual consciousness. In the Aquarian Age we have the opportunity to live in our highest wisdom, to live from our intuition, and to know that one does not have to seek outside of oneself to attain God consciousness....we can find it all within and within each other in collective consciousness.

We will be doing 3 minutes of Sitali Pranayaam, a very beautiful breath meditation followed by a meditation with the mantra Waheguru Waheguru Waheguru Wahe jio. Please see the following link with all of the information.

I have experienced that this meditation series connects you with the absolute highest wisdom within yourself. It is soooooo beautiful. We practiced it together at Spirit Fest in a class that Gurmukh taught and afterwards I didn't want to stop meditating, it brought me to such a sweet space. I know it will be a beautiful experience to do this practice with other people and pray that everyone who needs to find out about it will! We will be with Gurmukh Kaur, Deva Premal and Miten, Guru Dev Singh of Sat Nam Rasayan, Guru Singh, the Chardi Kalaa Jatha and others in Rishi Kesh India for the last day of this meditation. It will be part of an incredible course with music, meditation, and Kundalini Yoga to bring in the Aquarian Age. You can find out more about the course with the following link.


Blessings,

Snatam Kaur

Monday, September 12, 2011

 

Sat Nam!

Over the weekend I got to be in Brooklyn NY, staying with my Dad and his wife who live here and spending some very nice time with them and my brother Steve who lives in Brooklyn also. What a great place! I love Prospect Park.... people biking everywhere, all sorts of different kinds of dogs, fun play grounds, a lake with ducks to feed.... ie.... toddler's paradise. We biked there every day of our stay.

Being in Brooklyn for the tenth anniversary of September 11 was quite potent. Yesterday morning, I just felt it in the air. We watched a bit of the memorial service at Ground Zero on television. I was struck by the beauty and courage of the families. People who lost loved ones in 9/11 took turns reading all of the names of those who lost their lives on that day. One of the relatives said as she spoke the name of her loved one.... "We live each moment in honor of you." It was so beautiful. To come up from the ashes of something so terrible with that much grace and courage was beautiful.

I began to think of how very fortunate my life is. How blessed I am. And how powerful it is to live in each moment with gratitude. Oh.... so much work needed in this area for me! That woman who spoke such powerful words went through something very painful to reach that state of awareness.

I prayed at that moment that all of us may have that understanding through our collective experience. My brother Steve talked about it with me too as we walked through the streets of Brooklyn one evening. He has this incredible gift that in any situation that I have ever been in with him he is completely mindful of being kind to everyone. He has never spoken a word to hurt anyone that I have ever heard. I told him that this is such an amazing gift. That this is a saintly quality.

In response he said that for him it is living in Grace, it is living each moment in your highest excellence.

So there it is folks. Enlightenment in the streets of Brooklyn! Have a wonderful week and signing out from one of the greatest places on the planet.

Blessings,

Snatam Kaur

Monday, September 05, 2011

 

Sat Nam,

Here we are at the Millis Ashram after just playing kirtan in Gurdwara. Jap Preet was very good at sitting up there with us during the whole program! We loved being there with the Sangat! Thank you Baba Siri Chand Ashram, thank you Kundalini Yoga Boston, and thank you Shunyam Productions for being so loving and supportive during our time in the Boston area.

Here is a quote by Yogi Bhajan that inspired the following poem, "Time to Listen".

"Prayer is when you talk to God, Meditation is when God talks to you." Yogi Bhajan

Time to Listen

I am holding in my hand

The flower you gave me

So many years ago.

You whisper and think I don't hear you.

I am that close.

I know what you have been saying

All these years.

You placed that flower at my feet.

Now that you realize

Your mind has been talking

Too much

It is time to listen.

Blessings,

Snatam Kaur

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