Kirtan with Shine
SHINE is a vibrant bhakti band that blends ancient Sanskrit mantras and beautiful melodies with the intention to connect to your heart and awaken your spirit. SHINE has performed in 2012-2015 at the Spirit Yogathon in Mississauga, and in 2013-2015 at the Toronto Yoga Conference and 2013 Anandafest in Burlington. Check out the upcoming Shine Events below!
NEXT KIRTAN: JUNE 2018
Annette is a Kirtan Artist and pianist (ARCT) who combines her special love of music and yoga to lead devotional chanting internationally. Annette has been leading Kirtan in the greater Toronto area since 2011. She was blessed to study the art of Kirtan from a yoga student who led weekly Kirtans’s at a local temple. He became her Kirtan teacher for the next 3 years, and encouraged her to lead Kirtan.
From 2011-2012 Annette began to offer monthly Kirtan with her teacher Krishna at her studio Free Spirit Yoga on the 3rd Friday of every month. All proceeds were donated to Operation Smile, helping children in need with surgery, for clef palate. After Krishna parted, tabla artist Terri Wyllie joined Annette and SHINE Kirtan emerged. Vocal response artists that eventually collaborated with SHINE were Sandra, Lorysa and Michelle.
What is Kirtan?
Kirtan is one of the oldest sacred music traditions of the world. This call and response music tradition comes to us from India.
Using ancient Sanskrit mantras, the kirtan calls upon sacred energies which serve to quiet the mind, remove obstacles, and bring us back to the centre of our being. By repeating simple mantras over and over, faster and faster, the kirtan is an easy way for people to experience some freedom from the daily chatter of the mind.
The purpose of this music is to get us out of our heads and into our hearts. By chanting live with musicians and a group of participants all adding their energy to the chant, the vibrations begin to synchronize and the resulting experience is very powerful.
So if you are having a terrible day, it may be difficult to hold onto those feelings during the chant experience. Even if you sit in the room without participating you can feel a shift. Something happens as you absorb the vibrations. The energy begins to ignite the free spirit that exists within us all.
“A teacher affects eternity, he can never tell where his influence stops”
