Dennis Hawk artist

Bhakti yoga - In Swami Sivananda’s words, “Bhakti Yoga is the easiest and surest way to attain God Realization in this present age. Through prayers and chants one turns his/her emotions into devotion, developing an unconditional love towards seeing God in all of creation.” 

To embody the symbols, stories and songs of Bhakti yoga. 

—Learn the Mantra chants 

—Learn the stories 

—Understand the symbolic language spoken through the deities of Bhakti yoga. 

—Training chant leaders 

—Sound Healing 

To explore our own spirituality without judgment. 

To create community around Bhakti yoga. 

Three circles: 

Weekly small group 

Monthly or so - Medium group 

Gatherings - Events by our group or bring in other artist from the National Group. 

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Local - Fox River Valley from GB - Fond du Lac in Wisconsin 

Regional - Upper Midwest - Fox Cities, Madison, MKE, Twin Cities, Chicago. 

National/International - Auricle Collective (Headed by Sean Johnson, David Stringer and Suzanne Sterling)

This project is just beginning.  Here's the vision:  To create a community around Bhakti Yoga, including the symbols, the stories and the songs of Yoga.  More to come...

Never underestimate the power of a symbol.  Symbols change lives.  I’ve seen them do their work time and again, when  I was in the ministry, when I was a therapist, as a sweat lodge leader, as a Kirtan artist and as a yoga instructor.  Symbols clear a path for the imagination to create possibilities and fuel hope. 

I have seen countless people find their way into a yoga practice and discover that their lives and their attitudes change, sometimes with remarkable speed.  This is partly because they are moving their bodies for the first time in a while,  but it is far more than that. 

In a yoga practice, we are moving from one symbol/pose to the next. Some poses are from nature, like tree, turtle, crow etc., while others, like the Warrior Series has its roots in the ancient story of Shiva’s wrath upon hearing of the death of his wife.  Standing in a pose (a symbol) creates change. 

In Kirtan we create songs that embody these symbols.  It is still yoga.  It is called Bhakti Yoga. 

In the picture above we have Ganesha, the remover of obstacles.  What happens when you have an elephant in front of you clearing your path?  What energy gets created when you chant this name? 

And what about that mouse in the picture? What does that mean? 

Like Krishna Das has said, “Come and join us for the chants of a life-time.”