Namaste beloved friend - Welcome to our February newsletter.
We continue to send love and blessings from Paradise.
Please forgive me for repeating myself, but both Deva and I are absolutely in wonder as to how we ended up here in the wonderful jungle garden of Blue Spirit, Costa Rica - for a whole year!
The longest we’ve ever spent under one roof since we got together 30 years ago.
From nomads to beach bums - and I’m loving the change of lifestyle!
Our creativity is flowing, inspired by living with our feet in the soil.
My only wish is that the joy and thankfulness that Deva and I are experiencing brings also, a smile to your own heart and lifts your spirit, too.
Our intention in sharing our in-app offerings, Instagram and FB posts of sunny beach days and creative projects is that our joy inspires you to celebrate your own individual healing power - and to move deeper and deeper into the essence of mantra practice...taking one step at a time.
🙏🏽
We celebrated the early part of the month singing and meditating with participants from all over Costa Rica, here at Blue Spirit, with safe spacing and face masks. Surprisingly it was much more beautiful than we could have imagined. We found the chanting brought us closer in Spirit. A tender and vulnerable space that opened our hearts and voices.
We also recorded new music - which we will get to you as soon possible.
There were a lot of songs waiting to be recorded, and with our good friend and record producer, Joby Baker, we worked on six new pieces, both mantras and songs. Many of you know Joby from our live events - he plays bass in the band, sings beautifully and sits at the very heart of the music.
This is the gift he brings to our music - he feels the heart of it. Joby is a Heartman and a dream catcher.
We are excited about the 108 Gayatri Japa, dressed in red with a rythmic pulse to match.
Created to inspire us to move our bodies while chanting - So, this offering is especially for you dancers out there!
🙏🏽
Also on the menu are jungle-style versions of ‘Rain of Blessings' - ‘I Need a Beach' - 'Garden of the Mystic' - ‘White Tara Mantra' - ‘Durga Mantra’… with Joby playing fallen, dried palm leaves and sticks and seeds from the jungle as his percussion instruments.
So, as you can see, we've been enjoying life. Your particpation is sacred to us. Thank you for your loving support!
Meanwhile, let's use these intense times to focus on the practice of patience - one of the fundamental human qualities. Remembering to take the time to breathe deeply and relax.
And keep dancing and singing, friends - if you haven’t already joined the Gayatri Sangha app come and sing with us there. You will find a warm community - a meeting place of friends. We sing, dance and celebrate life with the underlying sense of compassion, forgiveness and gratitude.
All are welcome to our ‘OMline’ Buddhafield!
🙏🏽
With love and blessings from us both,
Miten
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The Gayatri Festival ~Blue Spirit~
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The Gayatri Festival in Blue Spirit
March 20-27, 2021
June 5-12, 2021
Dec 25–Jan 1, 2022
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Friends – the Gayatri Mantra is a prayer to the sun, and in this spirit we have created the Gayatri Festival – a celebration of Light – shining within us and throughout our ecstatic chant community.
Days will feature a two-hour morning feast of Ecstatic Chant, where we immerse ourselves into the healing world of mantras and sacred songs. Our beloved Manose will be joining us from time to time via Zoom. Following this, we have time to luxuriate on the beautiful beach, enjoy the waves, re-charge our energy cells, meet new friends and re-connect to our life’s true purpose. Following this, we have time to luxuriate on the beautiful beach, enjoy the waves, re-charge our energy cells, meet new friends and re-connect to our life’s true purpose.
In the evenings we will gather again for further exploration into sound, silence, mantra and meditation. Together, in this healing environment, we can bathe in the precious rejuvenation of the spirit.
This is the key to the Gayatri: it nourishes the Soul, giving us the strength and inspiration to go forward into our lives with a deeper sense of awareness, compassion, humour and more love.
Our Gayatri sun will shine brightly and support us as we move through life’s challenges.
Also included are daily Yoga classes, introduction to Osho's active meditations, Zoom sessions with Manose and mini workshops.
So – bring your laughter, bring your tears, your busy lives, your careers, and bring the pain you’ve carried for years. All Is Welcome Here!
Due to safe spacing, space is limited to 50 people.
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Here are some of the live online events that we have coming up in the Gayatri Sangha Online Community.Since we launched our "OMline Ashram" we have watched the garden grow with so many unique and interesting flowers! If you haven't joined us yet, we look forward to welcoming you to our daily meditation sessions.
Even though physically separate, we get to dive into the music communally and sing together, dance together, sit in silent meditation, and connect through communal sharing.
In addition to our weekly online OM/Gayatri meditation, we have many events scheduled, you can find the full and updated online events schedule here.
Every 3rd Saturday of the month, our weekly meditation is live on Facebook, Youtube, & Instagram for Global Days of Unity (Saturday, February 20th & March 20th).
_________________________________________________________________FEBRUARY & MARCH ONLINE EVENTS_________________________________________________________________Friday, February 19th: Joy Center Activation with Manose
Saturday, February 27th: Live Weekly Meditation
Sunday, February 28th: Chai time with MitenWednesday, March 3: Voice Medicine with Jocelyn B Smith Friday, March 5 - Ecstatic Dance with Manose Saturday, March 6 - Weekly Meditation Wednesday, March 10 - Discovering Music - Adventures into Miten‘s Music Library Saturday, March 13 - Weekly MeditationTuesday, March 16 - Chai Time with Deva Friday, March 19 - Joy Center Activation with ManoseSaturday, March 20 - Global Days of Unity Wednesday, March 24 - Community Sharing and Exercises with MakennaSaturday, March 27 - Weekly Meditation Sunday, March 28 - Hang Out with Miten
The app is free for those financially challenged. Feel free to fill out this form if you would like a gifted subscription.
If you can afford it, the cost is $7.99 USD per month.
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"I love the app and go to it often. It feels like a home of the heart and the Buddhafield where we are all connected in a more intimate way than on these social kinds of platforms. it's just another level closer and deeper to everyone."“... a miracle happened, you opened up this beautiful Sangha and we are invited into your living room, kitchen, your meditation room, and now we spend more time with you and all the beautiful souls on the Sangha. We feel so blessed and so grateful, Thank you.”
“I found out about this community yesterday and joined now. It seems like what I always have waited for, this whole thing dedicated just for our connection, community, mantras and celebration..!
I've been searching for the like-minded (like-hearted) people for many years, still hope to find more of You nearby. You have magic! All who realizes it.”
"Hello Deva, thank you so much, it was a deep meditation, very healing. A few days ago I suddenly became ill and the meditation helped me to release pain and sadness. Feeling the sounds vibrate in my root chakra and feeling connected with the sangha, embracing Mother Earth. Blessings and love to Miten"
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In addition to the online Gayatri Sangha Community gatherings Manose is also live on Facebook, Instagram (@Manose1111), and Insight Timer.
We know many of you have been enjoying these online offerings and if you haven't, be sure to check them out!
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A taste of Costa Rica
Pura Vida - Pure life
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Joby loves praying mantises. He made friends and played with them as a child, so it was no surprise when a friendly fellow traveller came to say hi at the breakfast table one morning...
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Our friend Ben Rakidzija is a writer, philosopher, and yoga teacher. He asked us to share his latest book, "Das Buch der kleinen Wahrheiten" that is currently only available in German, but the English version will be released soon.
"Das Buch der kleinen Wahrheiten" entstand mit Gedanken, die den Geist erhellen oder eine kleine Stütze im Alltag
sein können oder einen klugen Gedanken liefern, wenn man ihn braucht"
You can find the book in German here.
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Another offering is from our ashram musician/composer friend Sudhananda. He has recorded some of his beautiful songs. We love his work and want to introduce him to you.
Here's what he says about his song, 'Come':
The lyrics are from a poem by the 13th century Persian Sufi mystic poet Jalal ad-Din Rumi. I am joined on this video by Lucia Lilikoi who is a fabulous singer. This song is featured on my "Garden Of Mystic Poets" recording. You can watch the video here.
come, come whoever you are
wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving
come, come whoever you are
this isn’t a caravan of despair
it doesn’t matter if you’ve broken your vow
a thousand times before
still and yet again, come again come
and yet again come.
RUMI (English translation is by Coleman Barks.)
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