[PREVIEW] 01.01 Music as Meditation with Ramakant Gundecha

Dear Patrons!I'm happy to share my first ever podcast episode with you first, before it becomes available on iTunes. This podcast has been a long time coming, something I've been wanting to do for years. I meet so many amazing teachers on the Medicine Path and I've thought how great it would be to sit down with them and learn more about what they're teaching, what they've learned, and how it can benefit others.As most of you know, I've been a lifelong musician and consider music to be my first spiritual practice, but it wasn't until a few years ago that I felt comfortable using my voice to make music. I spent a week with singing teacher Silvia Nakkach and she really helped me free my voice and to think of myself as a singer, even though singing has never been easy for me. At the end of that week, after we'd gotten to know each other better and found out that we share common interest in yoga, music and shamanism, Silvia suggested that I check out Dhrupad music. She was right. This style of vocal music fulfilled everything I love about music — it is deeply meditative, primordial and mysterious. A few years later I find myself living in Montréal where the foremost practitioners of Dhrupad are offering a week-long intensive workshop, and I was lucky enough to receive a scholarship from the Dhrupad institute allowing me to attend. It was an incredible week for me, a transformative journey deeper into the mystery of vibration, the body and yoga. I mustered up the courage to ask one of the gurus for an interview, and this podcast is the conversation that resulted. Ramakant Gundecha is a wonderful teacher, with an authority based on a lifetime of practice and study in a strong lineage. I found him to be quite warm and open as well, as you'll hear in this interview. There are a couple moments where I caused him to really light up and we had some good laughs together. Moments I'll cherish for the rest of my life.I'm honoured to share this meeting on the Medicine Path with you, and look forward to bringing you more of these conversations.Peace, love and OMBrian------------------Show NotesRamakant Gundecha is one half of the Gundecha Brothers, the foremost practitioners of dhrupad, an ancient form of Indian vocal music. After I attended a weeklong workshop with the brothers, Ramakant was kind enough to sit down with me for a short conversation about the origins of dhrupad, their lineage, singing as meditation, how Westerners and non-musicians can benefit from practicing dhrupad, and the mystical meaning of the syllable AH.Show Links:Gundecha brothers official website: dhrupad.orgInformation about dhrupad: WikipediaInformation on swara and SA: WikipediaSamaveda (source of dhrupad): Wikipedia