It has been a while since we have written on the blog.  We are still chanting and enjoying every moment of it.  It has been an emotional few weeks for us.  Two weeks ago, Peter's beloved Grandmother passed away.  We were with her when she passed and even chanted at her bedside.  She was a very dear woman to both of us and we will miss her dearly.  It has been quite a transition in getting back to everyday life, and we are taking it day by day. 

Something very exciting happened today.  We were lucky enough to be in the presence of His Holiness The Dali Lama at the University of Minnesota.  This morning we witnessed a Medicine Buddha Ceremony in which we chanted the Medicine Buddha mantra, Teyata.  This afternoon, His Holiness gave a public address on Peace Through Inner Peace.  The Dali Lama is such a wise and humorous man, and we were very lucky to be in his presence.  We can all make change from within ourselves, and sometimes our problems seem huge, but usually if we look at them in the grand scheme of things, our problems are not that bad.

This evening our dear friend Margie Weaver joined us to chant Teyata at our house.  We all felt inspired to chant this 108 times after The Medicine Buddha ceremony this morning.  It was an extremely moving 108, and we were happy to share this with Margie.  All in all, this was such a beautiful day that we will never forget. 

Thank you to everyone for their support in regards to Peter's Grandmother.  I means so much to both of us.  I sincerely hope that everyone is having a fantastic spring.

Namaste,

Allyson

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Today we were a little creative and came up with our own melodic line for "Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya".  It's a bit choral sounding with an ominous and haunting line. Due to the dominant cadence it sings in a circle beautifully.  Enjoy!

VID_20110506_005636.3gp Watch on Posterous

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Krishna Das to sing kirtan is coming to Saint Paul, MN on June 22nd - 7:30pm at the Fitzgerald Theater.  Allyson and I will be going and welcome others to come join us:

When: Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 - 7:30pm (doors at 6:30pm)
Where: Fitzgerald Theater, Saint Paul, MN
Cost: $35 - fee free if purchased through the Fitzgerald Box Office or MPR members can call 651-290-1200 or $35 + $11.83 if purchased through Ticketmaster\

Let us know if you want to come.  We'd love to see you there.

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After a great successful first chanting with friends in our home, we decided to setup a more regular weekly chant with friends and fellow yogis.  This idea was suggested by our friend Michael Monsor.  So we welcome you to join us in a couple weeks for 108.  Please RSVP so we can expect you.  We don't have a huge space so we will have to limit the number of people to first come first serve RVSPs.

This week our beloved Grandmother Bernadette passed on while we comforted her hands in hands. So this day we will be chanting in honor of all of those that have passed before us into the next world.  We welcome people to share a story of a beloved person in your life as dedication for this day's chant.

When: Wednesday, April 27th - 8:00 pm - 9:15 pm.  We will start chanting at 8:15 pm.

Where: Our Home in Southeast Minneapolis - we will send directions with our RSVP responses

What: 108 Chanting and green tea

How: RSVP by sending us a message to 108for365@maestropublishing.com

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Tonight we had the great honor of sharing an 108 in our horme with Michael Monsor and Margie Weaver. I wish I would have thought of taking a picture.  Michael loved it so much he asked if there was a regular time each week he could join us.  We're working on a time so watch for a public invitation.

We chanted the Gayatri Mantra. Some day we will record all of our chants to share with all of you.  Below is a YouTube version with Deva Premal singing (using the same melody or tune we used):

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We're off to a great start.  We began our chanting journey on Friday April 1st with the 1st Friday chant class at One Yoga.  Margie Weaver was gracious enough to choose the Ganesh Mantra.  Ganesh is known as the remover of obstacles and the lord of new beginnings.  This was appropriate as we began our year long chant journey. 

It is also worth noting that Peter and I have also started a journey with our diets.  It is only happenstance that this coincided with the beginning of our chant journey.  Then again, maybe we began all of this at just the right time.  Peter and I are now completely gluten free, mainly because Peter was having some stomach issues.  I think we have both felt a huge detoxification of our bodies and our minds.  It is always amazing to me how things happen at the exact time that they are supposed to.  I think chanting is going to teach us both a lot about ourselves.

The opening chant was beautiful with wonderful harmonies, since we had a group.  It seemed right to begin our chanting journey at the place where we first learned to chant.

Our Day two 108 was surprisingly special.  We went to an art show in the morning with our friends and fellow chanters Margie Weaver and White Ash.  After the art show we went for a beautiful walk along the Minnehaha creek in South Minneapolis.  After the walk, Margie and White Ash agreed to join us for our 2nd day of chanting.  We decided to chant the seed syllable for the root or base chakra which is "Lam."  We chanted in a beautiful Minneapolis park next to a large tree.  It was wonderul to chant with friends on a beautiful sunny day.  Below is a picture of our impromptu chant group.  Thanks Margie and White Ash for joining us!

On day three we chanted in our home.  For the first seven days we have decided to work our way up through the chakras.  The next is the Sacral Chakra and the seed syllable is "Vam."  We chanted quietly on a beautiful Sunday evening and then continued with our day.  It was nice to stop for those few minutes to sit together and chant. 

Tonight we worked our way up to the Solar Plexus Chakra for which the root syllable is "Ram."  We were both a bit tired this evening since we both had long days.  I know it did our souls a lot of good to sit and chant together.  Some days are going to be harder than others, but we are still excited by our journey.

Thank you to everyone that is supporting us on our journey.  Support of family and friends and even people we have not met means the world to us.  Until next time, good night!

Namaste,

Allyson

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Hello Everyone!

So, my husband has been the one to write most of the posts thus far, and he set up this lovely website.  Thank you Peter for all of your hard work so that we can share our journey with the world.  I am honored to begin this journey with Peter.  We have had so many life experiences together that it only makes sense for us to experience this together.  This will be both a musical and spiritual journey for us both.  We are both classically trained musicians, and the art of chant fascinates us.  It also bends our ears a bit and we are excited to dive right into this totally different musical expression.

I will be forever grateful to yoga teacher and chanting extroidanaire Margie Weaver for introducing us to chanting.  Chanting can be so transformative.  I am so excited to see what changes come from chanting everyday for the next year. 

I am a great lover of music, and a professional French Horn player however, I have never been much of a singer.  Through chanting I have found a voice!  I am eager to develop my voice and express myself musically in a different way.  I really do hope to have others join us some of the time.  The combination of different voices is one of the most beautiful things, and it is never the same twice.  That is the beauty of music, it is constantly moving and transforming.

I am so excited to start our journey on Friday.  Our first 108 will actually be at One Yoga Studio in Uptown Minneapolis with Margie Weaver and friends.  If anyone would like to join us Friday evening please do!  It will be so special to have our first chant in that space and with our friends and fellow yogis around us. 

Spring is blooming and it feels completely appropriate to be beginning our journey as the earth awakes from the cover of winter.  Hope to see lots of chanters on Friday!

Info for Chanting:

Friday April 1st, 2011

7:15pm-8:15p
$15 drop in or first week free for new local students

One Yoga Studio
721 W 26th St.
Minneapolis, MN 55405
612-872-6347
www.one-yoga.org

Om Shanti Namaste,

Allyson

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We're prepping for the start of our 365 journey with just four days to go.  Honestly, we don't know what to expect and I think that the "unknown" is one of the most interesting aspects of this journey. We're sorry if we switch between "I" and the royal "We" in our blog posts.  It's hard to accurately get all that right when you're trying to share experiences from two people.

We are going to blog our experiences with as must candor and earnest intentions as possible.  We're sharing a year's worth of life journey with you.  Life is messy (although not unduly) and it's not always puppies and rainbows.  Hopefully wading through all our love of parentheses and semi-colons will not be a distraction to our readers.  I must say I have a love of parentheses as they allow injection of associated thoughts into the main text (which is exactly how my brain works)

Personally the "unknown" can be a cause of stress for me and a source of anxiety in my life.  Until I started practicing yoga, it was never easy for me to "live in the present". Thoughts of what's on the docket for tomorrow crop up a lot for me.  The unknown must be tied to failure and precision.  I always hated rounding in math; it wasn't precise!

I won't say that the possibility of "failure" isn't part of the journey we are embarking on. Then again what constitutes a failure?  Is missing a day of the 365 going to make me feel a bit guilty? Yes, but it won't stop the journey.

I'm a firm believer in having to pay for experiences; instead of paying to acquire physical items.  The term pay doesn't mean money, but can be time or commitment to something.  Our 365 is definitely a not costing a lot of money (we did acquire some bolsters for home), but we are paying for the experience with our time.  I am happy to make this investment.

Namaste,
Peter

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We begin our journey of 108 for 365 in just one week.  Both of us are ultra excited to be taking this journey with you over the next year and hope that you come to participate in one our daily practices over the next year.  Please check out the background behind our journey for more information.

Namaste,
Peter & Allyson

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