Last night, I felt my spirit gently reminding me not to take life too seriously!  It came after talking with my parents, reflecting on people close to me—Geeti, her mum, my friends, my family—and remembering how fragile life is, how any of us could be gone in an instant. We shared stories of our health concerns, and it was humbling to witness that everyone carries these vulnerabilities. It’s easy, in moments like that, to feel weighed down, not only by the struggles of those

Life can become busy and outwardly focused, especially during times of increased responsibility and stimulation. This makes it even more vital to take time to bring our awareness and energy inward—to restore, recalibrate, and reconnect with Source. Kīrtan  offers a powerful and joyful way to do this. At its heart, kīrtan serves two essential human needs: to generate energy (śakti)  and to expand consciousness (śiva) . We need both vitality (śakti)  and awareness (śiva)  to mo

For many years, mantra has been woven into the fabric of my daily life. I have chanted in times of joy, in periods of exhaustion, in devotion, in doubt, before sleep, upon waking, in community, and solo. The benefits were something I trusted deeply, but recently I felt called to step away from it for a short while. I wanted to see what remained without it. I wanted to know whether mantra was truly nourishing me, or whether it had simply become a spiritual habit I no longer ex

Have you ever reflected on how exquisitely balanced our existence is — how life exists due to an almost unfathomable precision? The delicate equilibrium of our planet’s ecosystems, the exact atmospheric pressure, gravitational force, and elemental chemistry all align in a way that makes life possible. A subtle shift in any one of these could dramatically alter or even end life as we know it. It's truly incredible to consider the odds of being human, living in this form, with

Thanks to   J. Guillermo Robayo Gómez  for this wonderful photo. For many years on the spiritual path, I’ve heard the phrase “the monkey mind”  used again and again - the restless, distracted mind that jumps from branch to branch, never still, never satisfied. The implication is: the monkey mind is something to be tamed, transcended, or left behind, and the quieter, more spacious, more thought-free we become, the more spiritually mature we are supposed to be. In some ways, th

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to work this one out! For a few years, whenever I could, upon waking I would lie in bed in the morning waiting for the elusive moment when energy would arrive, hoping for that internal green light before getting up, that spark of vitality that would say, now you’re ready . Sometimes it would come through yoga nidra or deep rest, but most of the time it didn’t. What I’ve finally discovered is that energy rarely comes simply from staying

There’s a Zen saying you probably know that gets quoted a lot in spiritual circles: before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water; after enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.   To me, this used to mean, the content of our lives (chopping wood and carrying water) remains the same, while our awareness has transformed, and this is the end of the story. And yet, in my lived experience, that understanding misses something vital. What it doesn’t really speak to is what happens afte

Thanks to J. Guillermo Robayo Gómez for this wonderful photo. In the process of caring for Geeti over the past weeks, something quiet but fundamental has been shifting in me. My inner compass is gently turning towards a more deeply peaceful way of being in the world. In truth, this turning has been many years in the making. For a long time now, my life has been oriented toward the heart, service, love, devotion, and sincerity. And yet, I can feel something refining further —

Finding the right mantra medicine for you is something I can only really speak about from my own lived experience, and from the knowledge I’ve gathered through practice over the last fifteen years. Mantra, for me, is deeply personal. That’s exactly why I feel drawn to share this—because while there is a lot we can learn from textbooks and traditional teachings, lived experience often tells a more nuanced story. And sometimes, those two don’t quite say the same thing. There is

Life has a way of changing in an instant. For us, that moment came on November 15th, when Geeti broke her leg—a tibial plateau fracture that required surgery, several metal rods, and a hospital stay. Since she came home, life has contracted into the walls of our house and the immediate radius of her bedside, and I have been caring for her around the clock. It has been an intense transition, yet as I reflect on these past weeks, I realize that this journey of caregiving has be

We have probably all had an ecstatic eating experience at some time or other! If you have ever tried the desserts at Saké restaurant in...

Geeti and I’s recent six-week journey to England and the Himalaya was epic in many dimensions, and there is an irresistible urge within...

9/10/2012 - the day my life changed forever! Should I ‘get a guru’ in India or continue to ‘be my own guru’? Should I live the life of a...

What is devotion to you? In my perception, devotion is innate to us as humans. We are all devoted to something or somebody! Maybe to a...

It seems harder and harder these days to live joyfully if we are not following our soul’s expression! Our souls invariably want us to...

Why do we sing?? We all have a unique relationship to our singing voice! For some, our vocal relationship status may be ‘non-existent’ or...

Nearly all of us have our own origin story around music making. For many our first encounters with singing or playing a musical...

The energies in the wake of the recent full moon lunar eclipse and in the advent of the full solar eclipse on 4 December are really...

Have you been feeling ‘under pressure’? Have you been feeling your life gets cluttered, over-busy, or there’s little time and space to...

How can we truly embody heart-centred living in a time of unprecedented, tumultuous physical, emotional, social, economic and...