Marilyn

 

About Kirtan

Kirtan is the main practice of Bhakti (devotional) yoga--chanting the mantras or names of the Gods and Goddesses. Still, while it is the simplest kind of yoga of all, what it stimulates inside us is vast and mysterious. The “goal” of this kind of singing meditation (ha—like we can set a goal for meditation) is to try to put our analytical minds aside, sing from our hearts (however poorly we think we sing--especially when we think others are hearing us) and channel our emotions (yea, right, like even the icky angry ones) into the songs.

But something magical happens when we sing these seemingly simplistic words and melodies: the person we’ve taken ourselves to be, been conditioned to believe we are our whole lives, begins to transform, heal and disappear. It’s a pretty amazing thing from such a simple practice. Effortlessly (except for the part about making yourself get to the studio in the first place), you find yourself in a meditative state, sometimes for the first time in your life.

We don’t need to understand the meanings of the words. It doesn’t matter how well or “right” we sing them. They are ancient and timeless, and there is a science behind them. But we don’t need to know or believe any of these details to test for ourselves and discover that this simple chanting practice brings up long-submerged wounds to be healed, crumbles the walls of our no-longer-needed ego defenses, connects us to our true, essential natures, introduces us to the ineffable THAT which is our true Selves, opens our hearts to peace and love, immerses us in the ALL ONE and makes us HAPPY.

So, you may start out thinking chanting is about your happiness and your calming down—and it is . . . to a point; but after chanting regularly for a while, you begin to KNOW that everything you do effects everybody all the time, including the people you don’t even know yet. In addition to everything else, Kirtan is how we can extend loving kindness to the whole of the world . . . starting by connecting with ourselves . . . and connecting with our Kirtan community.

Chanting Kirtan allows us to surrender all our “junk.” It becomes a practice of the spontaneous outpouring of love and giving and unity and oneness. But nothing anyone says about it can convey what it does. In today’s material culture so obviously devoid of true, essential meaning, you owe it to yourself to at least give Kirtan a try--for your Self.

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Kirtan

Where:
The Inner Space downtown at Poor Richard's, 322 N. Tejon St. #224, in
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903

When:
Twice a month, the first and third Tuesday from  7:00pm - 8:30 p.m.
Dates are subject to change - check the home page flyer.

What:
 Kirtan (pronounced "keer-tan") is Bhakti (in Sanskrit literally sharing or belonging) yoga--the easiest yoga of all. Communal chanting in this call and response format induces deep states of clarity of mind, profound joy and healing, and opens the heart, transforming negative emotions into a sense of contentment. REALLY! Its fun belies its power. No singing ability necessary. No beliefs necessary.

Who
The Shakti Creations Kirtan Band, lead by Marilyn Sherbring of Denver, Colorado, evolved organically from Marilyn's initial efforts in 2009 at leading the fledgling Colorado Springs kirtan community in collaborative communal fashion into a full-fledged band of eager devoted chanters who wanted to go deeper and who stepped up to the plate to learn to become a band.

MarilynMarilyn Sherbring, J.D. doesn’t remember a time when the search for God and the truth weren’t her foremost obsessions. Nor can she remember a time not singing, having grown up with a once-flapper grandmother who daily played the piano and Hammond B3 organ.
Her childhood dharma was being shuffled from Catholicism to moderate Protestant Christianity and on to fundamentalist Pentecostalism. Making the switch in College to the Eastern paths ala Be Here Now and Autobiography of a Yogi, she then took time off (as if there is such a thing in the spiritual path) to have a family, graduate from the University of Denver College of Law (as a single mother of two small children) and go into corporate law. Then there’s also the years of gigs in smoky bars as a cabaret singer…but hey, dharma is dharma.

After disability derailed her legal career, she submerged herself into round-the-clock meditation for two years, completed the spiritually and psychologically rigorous 7 year Diamond Heart Program and took the full complement of Enneagram Certification courses, combining the mystery schools of all the world’s religions with the insights of modern psychology, in still more effort to discover truth and God. She finally started chanting around 2006—almost as a lark (and exhausted from trying so hard) not realizing that the simplest path is sometimes the most powerful.

                 What the Springs Community is saying about her:
“Marilyn Sherbring’s easy-to-follow, deep, healing and powerfully resonant voice transmits the sacred vibrations of the chants throughout your entire being as you chant along.”
-- The Inner Space Yoga Studio, Colorado Springs

“Marilyn brings her joyful heart along with her amazing knowledge of chanting that will truly open your heart and soul in new and wondrous ways.”
-- Center For Spiritual Living, Colorado Springs

Why a Kirtan:
 This is the bhakti yoga practice of chanting the various names of God as a way to open the heart and cultivate devotion to the divine in ourselves and others.  The format is call-and-response and is appropriate for singers and non-singers alike.

Cost:
 By donation

 

 

 

                    © 2011 Shakti Creations