Date/Time
Date(s) - 06/26/2019
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Location
HUUC Sanctuary

Categories

• Event

Mark your calendars! We will have a kirtan event at the Harvard Unitarian Universalist Church, 9 Ayer Rd., top of the Common on Wednesday, June 26, 7 p.m. Tickets: $20 in advance https://uuharvard.tix.com, $25 at the door

Kirtan or Kirtana (Sanskrit: कीर्तन; IAST: Kīrtana) is a Sanskrit word that means “narrating, reciting, telling, describing” of an idea or story. … Many kirtan performances are structured to engage the audience where they either repeat the chant, or reply to the call of the singer.

If you attended the church service April 28, you will have had the opportunity to be immersed in meditation by chanting. That was a brief taste of the 90 minute chanting, with the quartet of Lee Mirabai Harrington singing, and the audience members repeating, that will be presented on Wednesday evening June 26. This will be the first time such a kirtan presentation has happened in our church. If you are interested in any kind of mediation or yoga, or if you’re just curious about the effect that such mantra singing can have on you, plan to attend.

This kirtan event will be hosted by Lee Mirabai Harrington,
accompanied by Danny Solomon, Owen Landis and Ezra Landis

Kirtan is a form of participatory, devotional call-and-response chanting which originated in India. When we sing together, we create a collective sacred attunement; and when we sing divine names and sacred syllables, our level of attunement is even higher. Singing kirtan is not about singing “well” or perfectly, but about the sacred act of using your own voice to connect with the divine. It’s a very liberating practice for those who are uncomfortable with their own voices. No singing experience is necessary. All ages welcome.

All spiritual traditions have ways of connecting with Divine Source and using that energy to heal. Mantra healing is the practice of using a combination of sound, vibration, visualization, and our own unique healing instrument–our voices–to heal the body and the mind. The practice of chanting (and singing!) Tibetan and Sanskrit mantras can tone the body, alleviate depression and anxiety, calm the nervous system, restore health, and increase cognitive function. It’s like a very potent, concentrated form of prayer.

-Eleanor Toth, for the Music Committee