Can Kirtan Cure Our Conflicted Culture?

The call-and-response singing of devotional music known as Kirtan can be a joyous experience, but it’s also a healing one that can break down barriers between people. So suggests Darren Marc, the devotional Kirtan artist and singer-songwriter whose eclectic musical career includes more than 30 original songs featured in film and television shows. 

For Marc – who has been leading Kirtan for a decade, including sessions on the first Saturday of the month at Yoga Soup – the sense of community comes from simply singing together in a call-and-response manner.

“Something really magical happens when people sing together, because it’s as if we are of one voice,” he said. “There could be 20 people coming from 20 different places, with different beliefs and backgrounds, and when we’re singing together suddenly there’s just this sense of unity and togetherness. It’s magic and not something you can experience in very many places outside of the yoga studio these days.”

A major part of the process is that the singing largely consists of Sanskrit mantras, which are sacred sound vibrations that still the mind and open the heart, meaning the shape and sounds of the words themselves matter as much as the meaning of the words. 

“There was a study done where a positive statement in different languages was analyzed, and Sanskrit had the most positive effect on the human energy field, the aura,” Marc said. 

Montecito-raised percussionist Joss Jaffe and singer-harmonium player Tara Gold join Marc, who sings, plays guitar, ukulele and percussion, for the first Kirtan of the new year, at 7 pm on January 4. Expect anywhere from 5-30 people to show up to sing. 

“Whoever comes, it’s always very uplifting for me, and always opens my heart to experience more sweetness, which is really ultimately what the practice is all about,” said Marc. 

Visit www.awakenwithdarren.com

Also at Yoga Soup

“Healing: A Class for Healers” and “Those Who Want to Heal Themselves,” with Bernard Unterman, who has been practicing Chinese Medicine for 37 years, will be offered at 1 pm on Saturday, January 4. The former Clinical Director and teacher at the Santa Barbara College of Oriental Medicine and a former adjunct faculty member at Pacifica Institute, Unterman will share how our bodies are naturally programmed to be able to repair and heal themselves. He’ll discuss the factors that can enhance our body’s ability to heal and what can interfere with the process, including sharing about how using specific essential oils on various points on the body can activate inner healing, how fear fuels the progression of a disease (and how to counteract it), and how our perceptions and attitudes toward a disease can inhibit or enhance healing. There will also be a demonstration on applying stones to acupuncture points to bring about inner change, and everyone will receive a stone to use and take home. 

Yoga Soup is located at 28 Parker Way off lower State St. Call (805) 965-8811 or visit www.yogasoup.com