Mirabai Ceiba: The Heart of Healing Workshop

Yardley, PA 5/24/10

Forty people with wide-open hearts sat crossed legs on the floor in front of Mirabai Ceiba waiting for them to begin the workshop. The candles were lit and the energy of the space serene and expectant. The sacred songs hung in the air, waiting to be sung.

We began, of course, with breath. The heart of a yogic practice is in the breath and Markus of Mirabai Ceiba drew our attention to it. We focused on the sounds around us in the room, gradually widening our span of awareness to include the area around the building, the state, the nation and the world. We listened, truly listened, to the music always playing at the center of the universe and then tuned in with the Ong Namo. It was a powerful invocation and our voices filled the immediate space around us and then seemed to fill the space within us as well.

Many fans remark that Angelika of Mirabai Ceiba lives up to her name and is just like an angel. This is true, for her voice is very angelic and her presence very gentle. We should not overlook her very human qualities, however, for there is the strength of steel in her eyes as she sings. An angel made of lace, both delicate and strong. When she sang her first song, some immediately went into meditation. Of the diverse crowd, full of men and woman, young and old, black and white, affluent and humble, all followed by keeping their hands in prayer as she sang “With my palms together, I offer my prayer.” Her strength led those in the crowd who were timid about singing, to relax and follow her guidance. She talked about how having a good voice isn’t necessary in chanting. She said, “The voice is a clear and deep reflection of your inner state. The key to chanting is to ask yourself, what do I have inside? What can I bring from in here to out there?” Markus added that the voice is very much a mirror of the body. “Consider a guitar…depending on what shape it is, the voice of the instrument changes.”

The same is true for the body, which makes the practice of yoga necessary to the practice of chanting. Markus is a skillful Kundalini Yoga teacher, and he led us through a series of energetic asana, Venus Kriyas and meditation. When we relaxed into savasana, Mirabai Ceiba sang “Aadays Tisay Aadays” in a sweet, divine harmony that reverberated throughout the cells in the body. At its completion, we moved into a circle with a table in the center full of flickering candles. After urging us to focus all of our attention on the light, Markus led us through a meditation to bless our ancestors. As we sang Guru Guru Waheguru Guru Ram Das Guru, Markus reminded us that our voices were expressions of our relationship to the light within our own hearts. You could feel it, in that room, the growing and expanding sense of love that we produced as a group. We were radiant points of light, just like the candles that held our gaze.

As a final meditation, we held our hands in lotus mudra before our hearts with instructions to hold our souls in our hands. We sang a beautiful version of Pavan Guru, which is available on Mirabai’s new album A Hundred Blessings along with Aadays Tisay Aadays.

After our Long Time Sun closing, Mirabai Ceiba sang three “Thank you”. Really, what finer prayer is there than to say thank you to the universe, to the Divine, to each other? The crowd’s version of “thank you” was to explode in shouts and applause.

Mirabai Ceiba is not a band. It’s a family and you get to be a part of it. While Markus and Angelika sing, their baby plays at their feet, absorbing the naad or sacred sound current. That innocent, fresh part of you absorbs the naad at their feet as well. In their skillful and profound workshops, Mirabai Ceiba takes you on an intimate and personal journey, where the sound penetrates your whole body and grabs hold of your soul for healing.

As one participant said after, “A Hundred Blessings? No. The light of a thousand blessings.”

Mahan Rishi Singh Khalsa of the Khalsa Healing Arts and Yoga Center in Yardley, who hosted Mirabai Ceiba for the concert and workshop, said, “Mirabai Ceiba offers us bountiful blessings of soulful, heart-filled enchanting union with the Divine.”

Mirabai Ceiba is currently on tour. Check the Spirit Voyage Events page to find a concert near you.

Mirabai Ceiba will be performing at Rhythm and Soul: Igniting the Flame this Tuesday night in Mancos, Colorado with Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith. www.agapedurango.com Join Mirabai for this powerful day of music, dance, art, inspiration, and celebration!