Music and Mantras

The Yoga of Mindful Singing for Health, Happiness, Peace & Prosperity

Description

“Singing is as human as breathing, and this book tells us why.” —Mark Guarino, contributing music writer, The Guardian

Celebrated yogi-musician Girish opens new possibilities for transforming your life through song, combining the ancient art of singing mantra with twenty-first century neuroscience research.

For as long as he can remember, Girish has created rhythm to accompany life. His first experience of music as sacred art came in college, playing with jazz bands. “During improvisational sessions,” he recalls, “there were these unexplainable moments of synchronicity and intuition that felt like magic.” This led Girish to an unexpected journey—a seeming detour to live as a monk in an ashram for five years that inadvertently nourished his musical artistry. Here, he studied Sanskrit as a means to understand the deeper meanings of ancient chants, which sparked a life-changing event that led him back to music—and to combine music with Sanskrit chants. Now he shares what he’s learned to help people of all ages, backgrounds, and traditions to transform body, brain, and life through mantra and music.

With Music and Mantras, Girish has created an interactive toolkit—including more than ninety minutes of companion audio material—for personal transformation through singing, sharing his own experience as a musician, yogi, and former Hindu monk. Weaving simple, elegant mantras from ancient traditions with neuroscience, Girish shows us how to achieve greater peace of mind, clarity, calm, focus, and even improved health and wealth through the yogic art of chanting—an ideal practice for singing our way to happiness, health, and prosperity.

About the author(s)

Girish is an internationally touring world music artist, teacher, and author. He began his music career as a jazz drummer, spent five years as a monk in a Hindu monastery, returned to music as a session tabla player on more than a hundred world music albums, and for the past twelve years has written, recorded, and performed his own original music and taught Sanskrit mantras and chanting in music festivals and yoga studios all over the world. His six albums have received critical acclaim from O, The Oprah Magazine, Yoga Journal, and The Guardian, among others. Girish's book, Music and Mantras, continues Girish's mission to share the art of meditation through music and mantra with the world. He lives in Santa Cruz, CA.

Reviews

"In this beautiful book, Girish shares his long and wonderful relationship and experiences blending the practice of Chanting and Music."

 

Krishna Das

"Long before popular music was industrialized, folk music in America was focused, not on the individual, but on community — people gathering together in living rooms, front porches, and town squares to play music of their ancestors and, more importantly, to sing in one voice. Girish shows how this tradition is an ancient one and why ritual is so important for nurturing wellness, not just of the individual but also among neighbors and friends. His own personal journey as a former jazz musician itself connects the dots between the West and East. Singing is as human as breathing, and this book tells us why."

Mark Guarino, contributing music writer, The Guardian

"Let the masterful Girish lead you on a journey of spiritual unfoldment through the vibrations of mantra. The practices in Music and Mantras will transform and uplift you; listen and follow."

Yogi Cameron, bestselling author, yoga & Ayurveda master

“I believe the book you are holding will change the world. In the years to come the inclusion of mantra practice and mindful singing into everything from yoga teacher training curricula to therapeutic treatment plans will be able to rest upon the foundation Girish has laid with this book.”

Rolf Gates, teacher and bestselling author of Meditations from the Mat and Meditations on Intention and Being

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