I could write a lot more, as usual, but I’m going to keep it short tonight.  My sister and her children are coming in a couple of days so I’m helping my mom get ready for their visit.  Her husband and three children will be here for about two weeks.  I’m really looking forward to them being here.  Although family can be stressful sometimes, all-in-all, it’s a blessing.    

What would it look like if every hour, on the hour, instead of worrying or lamenting, we turn out attention toward praying unceasingly for a resolution to the oil spill in the Gulf Coast?  The next time you have a conversation with someone about it, instead of talking about it, pray about it.  How often we talk about the world’s problems, but, how much more powerful it might be if we would simply pray for the resolve we wish to see.  In Yoga, the word Sankalpa means resolution.  The teaching is to ask for the resolution you are seeking and give thanks in advance for the already existant answer, knowing that whatever you have asked has been given in the best way it can be.  Parmahansa Yogananda, well and Jesus, too, and all the great saints and sages, say to pray unceasingly.  I hope you will join me in that. 

I was thrilled to find out that the beloved Yogini, Sharon Gannon, (a Yoga teacher to Sting), is releasing an album…how awesome and inspiring…she really is a goddess. 

“Produced by Ferenz Kallos, the album features eight epic tracks that swathe timeless, powerful mantras in sweeping widescreen settings. By eschewing traditional Indian instrumentation for a layered, ancient-to-the-future sound that crosses electric guitars, strings, electronics, flutes, woodwinds, Theremin, and exotic percussion with hip-hop beats, Sharanam (“refuge” in Sanskrit) offers a contemporary approach to the healing power of mantras— invoking a place of expansive awareness within the listener where the possibility of total acceptance, kindness and love arises, and is felt as totally possible. With Sharanam, Sharon Gannon shows that such a place is indeed real, that it exists within us all. And it sounds absolutely divine.

Sharon Gannon is an enchanting chantress with a celestial operatic soprano voice imbued with the kinetic, rock and roll grit of Siouxsie Sioux, as well as the elegance of Sarah McLachlan and Kate Bush with the experimentalism of Bjrok. Although she wouldn’t be comfortable saying it herself, some might call Sharon Gannon a rock star of the yoga world. The co-founder of the pivotal Jivamukti Yoga method, she’s known worldwide as an influential spiritual teacher. Sharon is a 21st-century Renaissance woman, one who excels in many disciplines, such as dance, writing, poetry, painting, cooking, and political activism. But before everything else—even yoga—her first medium is, and has always been, music.   

Creatively and musically Sharanam, her debut solo album is a milestone—the crossroads of kirtan and mainstream Pop where so many have tried to go—this record crosses the threshold appealing to both yoga practitioners and club DJs.  Sharon sings passionately and beautifully, with a deep, profound resonance that cuts across myriad genres; rock, trance/dance, electronica, New Age, underground/alternative, classical, experimental/avant-garde, world music, even opera. Sting calls the album “inspired, daring and essential.”-www.arielpublicity.com

Sting has this to say:

Of all human endeavors, music is perhaps closest to representing the world of the spirit. In music we attempt to render into form what is essentially formless, we attempt to describe what is beyond description, to frame silence, to measure infinity. This work has been Sharon’s mission not only in her practice of Yoga but also in the practice of music, where she applies the same dedication to the pursuit of the ineffable as she brings to her yoga practice, inspired, daring and essential.” – Sting, musician

I’ve been incredibly inspired by Sharon over the years and definitely consider her one of my teachers.  I’m friends with one of her dearest students, Deanna Andersen, who is an inspired and gifted Yoga teacher here in Dallas.  I’m so grateful to know her.  She has been a dear friend and an incredible teacher to me, as well.  I’ve been listening to some of the tracks from the album and I love them.  If you are a teacher, I highly recommend downloading this album.  And, if you are a practitioner or a lover of all things that are divinely inspired and spiritual, you will love this music.  Thank you, Sharon, for sharing your beautiful heart and spirit with us and for showing us how to live with that Divine Light of unconditional love, compassion and devotion in our hearts.  To listen to some of the tracks from Sharanam, please click here.

“Sharon Gannon has a heart that embraces the universe, and just as big. Emanating a boundless love and compassion for every living creature, she carries out her mission to heal the world every moment of every day through her yoga practice, her writing, her day to day living and through her music. Sharon believes in what she sings, and sings what she believes in-Love.” John Zorn, musician/ composer

The only life raft here is love and the Name.  Say it brother, O, say the divine Name, dear sister, silently as you walk. – Hafiz

I’ll be  back soon to share more with you on the True Yoga Blog.  Have a blessed rest of the week.  Om shanti, namaste~