Singing Heart Yoga with Jyoti
When I was 18 years old, two things happened that directed the course of my life.
I took my first yoga class, at a community center in Ithaca, NY. This was before yoga was popular, before there was a yoga studio on every corner, before there was yoga hanging from the ceiling, or yoga on tightropes, or yoga in barns with goats. In fact, this was even before the advent of sticky mats--we practiced on an ordinary blanket on top of a linoleum floor. Nevertheless, I experienced a sense of peace that was beyond all understanding—my first taste of true bliss.
The second thing that was transformational for me was being initiated into a community of meditators and being introduced to that practice and way of life. I was given a mantra as the key to unlock the stillness that dwells beneath the surface of the mind. During a tumultuous first year of college, that mantra became my anchor and a portal into peace.
Fast forward several decades, and my dedication to these practices brought me to Kripalu Center in Massachusetts, where I immersed myself in the study of yoga, with over 500 hours of advanced teacher training.
I took on the Sanskrit name Jyoti, which means the “effulgent light.”
I opened a business which I named Singing Heart Yoga: Celebrating Life through Yoga and Chant. I feel that this name expresses the joining together of two deep passions in my life--music and yoga.
Yoga is so much more than doing stretches on a mat. It is also about living a life that is in alignment with one’s dharma, or true purpose. It’s about cultivating presence and insight through meditation, and deepening into the heart through prayer and devotional rituals.
One of the most joyful and powerful expressions of devotional yoga (known as Bhakti in Sanskrit) is the practice of kirtan, which is the group call-and-response singing of the Divine Names and mantras. I love this confluence of music and yoga, celebrating That which is Infinite, Eternal, and ultimately beyond all names and forms.
I teach hatha yoga classes, private sessions, workshops, live-music yoga classes, and lead kirtan events in the Ithaca, NY area, as well as at retreats, yoga centers, and festivals around the country. In this work I weave together my passions and gifts as a motivational speaker, teacher, musician and yogini. I invite you to join me for a unique, uplifting and inspiring body/mind/spirit experience.
