Kirtan Evening
with rachel zinman and nyck jeanes
Berlin, Germany June 5, 2010
The yoga of devotion and love is called Bhakti. In a Bhakti practice we recognise that when we love someone or something outside ourselves that love is mirrored back to us enabling us to feel the depth of our own hearts. In Yoga practice, the Sun Salutations are an example of this. We honour the sun for its healing and life giving qualities and as we practice we feel that light filling us and opening our bodies, breath and minds to the powerful energy that is within us.
Bhakti is also about allowing for our emotions and one of the most beautiful ways to feel our feelings is to sing, dance and play.
Kirtan is a form of Bhakti that celebrates the beauty of our connection to life and the bliss of unconditional love. In Sanskrit the word Kirtan, means, "to repeat" and consists of mantras that are sung in call and response. Repeating the same sounds over and over can bring on a state of deep meditation where the participants experience the power of their own vibrations as well as feeling their inherent connection with others.
Rachel Zinman
Rachel has been practicing yoga for over 20 years and has taught for 16. Prior to her initial yoga education Rachel trained as a professional dancer and choreographer in the USA and in Australia. Discovering yoga she originally trained in the Iyengar and Ashtanga methods and first began teaching in her role as Head of Dance at the Northern Rivers Conservatorium where she introduced yoga to the curriculum. Her teaching style continues to reflect her deep engagement with the arts – dynamic and precise with an emphasis on mindfulness. While again living in New York from 2000–2004 Rachel met Yoga Works and ISHTA yoga founder Alan Finger teaching in his Be Yoga studios for four years. There she co-created and coordinated the Be Yoga Teacher Training Program, becoming a senior facilitator and mentor. Rachel returned to Australia to teach in the Yoga Arts Teacher Training, and since 2005 has created and facilitated her own teacher trainings and workshops in the ISHTA System in Byron Bay, Sydney, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Bali, Japan, Munich, Frankfurt, Zurich, Liechtenstein, and New York. Rachel’s deep personal experience and investigation of meditation allows her to be both intuitive and creative in her work and she feels grateful to be able to share her passion with others.
Rachel also co-created and produced a popular Australian Yoga Video series and a Kid's Yoga Video. She is an award-winning musician for her album of chanting and devotional song, Sita Ram , and is published poet.
Nyck Jeanes
Nyck is a radio broadcaster on Bay FM in Byron Bay and former Magazine editor and publisher of Be Magazine in Byron. Nyck has been an actor, café proprietor, writer, journalist, and poet – and a musician and songwriter all his life. Nyck has written documentary soundtracks for ABC Australia and Channel 4 in Britain, and was a performer in duos, bands and in musical theatre work for many years.
Currently he is the Australian Producer of the renowned worldwide self-development process Path of Love www.pathoflove.net and a trainee facilitator.
Chanting came into Nyck ’s life through partner Rachel while they lived in New York. At home Nyck took some of the mantras and ideas Rachel brought home and together they created musical pieces, which have resulted in the Devotional Chanting album Sita Ram www.subwaybhaktis.com
With Rachel he conducts Kirtans in Byron Bay, Japan, Switzerland, Germany and New York.
Schedule
June 5th
8:00 - 10:00 pm
Venue
Yoga Shala Berlin
Mitte / Prenzlauer Berg
Kastanienallee 79, 10435 B.
Cost
€ 15
for bookings and details
Tel: 0049-30-48 49 50 51
info@shala.cc
www.ashtanga-berlin.de
