Christmas! It’s a great season for music. Music is tea for the soul. With grandchildren, all of whom are performing artists, ages from pre-school through high school, Tom and I attend lots of musical feasts during the month of December. So music, to us, is even more than tea — it is the second helping of dessert.
But you don’t have to be an artist to sing. I am reminded of the Sesame Street song:
Sing, sing out loud, sing out strong
Sing of good things, not bad;
Sing of happy, not sad.
Don’t worry if you’re not good enough
for anyone else to hear,
Just sing, sing a song!
In a recent Yoga magazine publication, Scott Bakal suggests singing when you feel as though your heart is locked up by sorrow. He says modern bhakti masters offer ways to exercise the muscles of love and fill your heart to overflowing.
In bhakti yoga, says master Jai Uttal, music is medicine. Singing a mantra, a hymn, or the name of a spiritual guide is another way to treat an aching heart.
“You can sing kirtan sweetly, or sing them fiercely with angst, or sing them with a yearning or whatever emotions are arising in you.”
Keep on singing, even if you get bored, he advises. “Sing until the singing itself becomes part of your molecules, and your heart flows into the ocean of divine love.”
Sing all by yourself, in the shower, in the car, or in the garden — anytime you want to feel uplifted.
Not to worry about what your voice sounds like — kirtan is about filling your heart with love, not about being a great singer, says Bakal.
“No matter our accents, our ability to carry a tune, or our musical aesthetic,” says Uttal, ‘when we sing kirtan, we are awakening our hearts and healing old traumas.”
I’m wondering about holding my warrior poses and bursting out with “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, in Friday’s class.
Napkinwriter 