Retreat 2020

We are very excited to announce the January 5 – 12, 2020 “Sound Healing Journey to India” certification seminar that I am am hosting with my dear friend Aurelio, the creative director of SVARAM Music & Research center in Auroville. It is the first sound healing certificate program combining Vocal Yoga with instrumental sound healing. As many of you know, Auroville is my spiritual home and the birthplace of Vocal Yoga.

Aurelio is a musician, music therapist, educator, ethnomusicologist, researcher, master sound designer and sound healer. He is world-renowned as a cutting edge pioneer in the development and manufacture of innovative musical instruments specially designed for use in sound healing. Inspiring students of the healing arts, Aurelio shares his expertise freely, supporting the emergence of a network of sound healing practitioners and researchers in India.

Joining us is Mallika Prasad, a multi-award-winning director and performer who has produced a number of documentary films and starred in seminal Bollywood films such as “Devi” Ahilya Bai (Hindi – 2002) and Kanooru Heggadathi (Kannada – 1999). She is also a well known personality in Kannada television. Her work combines physical exercises that are based on principles found in Yoga, Kalaripayattu Martial Arts, Alexander Technique, Fitzmaurice Voicework®, Japanese Butoh and sound healing.

In addition to working with the three of us, you will also have the opportunity to meditate in the Unesco World Heritage Site, the Matrimandir!

Topics covered in the workshop will include:
– A deeper look into Vocal Yoga
– Understanding fundamentals, formants and frequencies of the human voice
– The SVARAM sound healing method
– Fundamentals of Indian rhythms and drum circles
– The power of Mantra and Sargam
– Neo-pythagorean tradition of Harmonic Science
– Different systems of chakra toning
– Fitzmaurice Voicework
– Shamanic breathwork and sounding
– Tuning fork resonant activation and humming
– Circle singing and harmonization
– Om Choir

The calendar is coming together and some of the extra activities will include: Meditating in the Matrimandir, experiencing the ultimate sound bath, “The Svaram Sound Journey” in the Unity Pavilion, an evening of “Om Choir” with Narad, meditation with the Aurovilians in the Matrimandir Garden on Sunday, an evening of learning about facilitating drum circles with British drum master Paul John Dear and a sunset trip to the magnificent Shiva temple in Irumbai.

There are also evening music and entertainment events in Auroville https://www.auroville.org/contents/252.

Travel:

I recommend leaving on the 2nd of January at the latest. Leaving earlier will allow you to spend a few days in Pondicherry, a French Colonial city on the water and home of The Sri Aurobindo Ashram, which is a must to visit. Many of the buildings in the White Village of Pondicherry are owned by the Ashram and have very interesting art. The paper factory is very cool! January is a big time of pilgrimage to the Ashram and the city is filled with devotees; you may find yourself having an interesting conversation of yoga philosophy with someone sitting at the table next to you. People from many countries are in Pondy at this time and there are also great French restaurants!

Visas:

You only need to get a Tourist Visa. These can be obtained (in the USA) online, 30 days in advance of your travel date, at https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/tvoa.html. Check it out now, in case of any issues, especially if you are not coming from the USA. Let me know if you need assistance.

Health:

There are no required inoculations for those traveling from the U.S. Take note of required inoculations if you are traveling from a different country and consider recommended ones, as well as asking your doctor for prescriptions or recommendations (antibiotics or over-the-counter meds) for 2 different types of intestinal bacteria—one for diarrhea and one for constipation.

The course takes place at Adashakti Arts https://adishaktitheatrearts.com/about-us/We have use of their gorgeous theatre for our course.

Accommodations include:

-Simple guest rooms with fans, with a toilet and shower in each room. The price is for double occupancy although we may have a few singles open up.

The course fee of $1,650 includes:

-The course
-Your room
-Vegetarian breakfast, lunch, & dinner and chai tea and snacks
-Use of two meeting and meditation halls
-A swimming pool!

Not included are hotels outside the course, taxis or airfare.

Workshop days and hours:

We will arrive in Adashakti on January 5 and leave on the 12th, 2020. If you are just coming from Pondicherry, you will be able to make your own arrangements for a taxi or shuttle to Adashakti. We will assist you in pickup form the airport. We will be arranging groups to travel with as well as recommend flights. Your room assignments and room-mates, meet-up instructions, venue and times of meals, and studio directions will be emailed to you in early December.

We will work in the morning with Heather, have lunch and work with Aurelio/ Svaram in the afternoon. http://www.svaram.org

Money exchange:

-ATM’s are widely available where you can get cash (rupees).

-In Auroville there is a bank, post office, supermarket, cinema, cafes, shops, art exhibitions, massages and music most evenings.

Transport:

-You can rent mopeds and scooters or taxis.

Climate:

-Auroville is located in a subtropical zone on the coast of the bay of Bengal. January is the perfect weather! You even need a sweater in the evening. The temperatures from December to March are usually around 24 to 30° C (74 to 85° F) daytime. Nights are generally about 5° C (9°F) cooler than the days—around 64-75° F.

Finally: I also suggest that you check out some of the works of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. They had some cutting edge philosophy.

We are now taking
deposits of $500 for the course.

Gallery

Teachers

Heather Lyle

National Center of Voice and Speech Vocologist, Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance, Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Speech Science, DMA Research Internship, Indiana University, Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework®, E-RYT 200, Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist

Heather Lyle is considered one of the leading voice teachers in Los Angeles for singers, actors, public speakers and storytellers. She is a dedicated educator who received her Bachelor and Master Degrees in voice, specializing in singing, diction and speech science graduating summa cum laude. A winner of the prestigious California University Sally Casanova Doctoral Scholarship, Lyle completed advanced doctoral voice research and a doctoral internship in vocal pedagogy at the Indiana University School of Music under the tutelage of renown voice teacher Paul Kiesgen. In addition to operating a busy private L.A. studio, Lyle has taught vocal technique at many institutions of higher learning including the University of Southern California’s School of Dramatic Arts, Santa Monica College, UCLA Anderson School of Management, Studio 5 in New York, Chelsea Studios in NYC and Seydways Acting Studio in Hollywood. Internationally she has taught at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Loreto College and Probir Guha’s acclaimed “Alternative Living Theatre.” Lyle is the founder of the patented Vocal Yoga Method® and author of Vocal Yoga, The Joy of Breathing, Singing and Sounding.

Lyle began her practice of yoga at age 14 through the influence of her father, yoga teacher Auro Arindam. For more click on About.

Aurelio Svaram

Aurelio, the creative director of SVARAM, is a musician, educator, ethno-musicologist, researcher, master sound designer and sound healer in Auroville, India. He is world-renowned as a cutting edge pioneer in the development and manufacture of innovative musical instruments, specifically designed for use in sound healing.

The role of sound and music in the process of growth, regeneration, healing and integration has filled the human understanding with wonder and awe since ancient times. Facing today’s world of tremendous inner, social and global challenges, it is not surprising that this role has been rediscovered in many applications, from the ever present impact of mass media to new disciplines of sound healing and music therapy along with the emergence of ancient practices and sacred traditions

Aurelio has evolved his own unique approach to Sound Healing. His method incorporates Shamanic techniques of many different cultures, studies in the neo-pythagorean tradition of Harmonic Science, ancient wisdom and cutting edge scientific discoveries, all brought together in a synthesis and novel way to produce effecting relaxation and harmonization of the multi-layered constitution and process of our being.

Inspiring students of the healing arts, Aurelio shares his expertise freely and is also supporting the emergence of a network of practitioners and researchers in India.

To learn more about Aurellio, visit Svaram.org.

Mallika Prasad

We are delighted that this year our wonderful friend and excellent voice teacher Mallika Prasad will be assisting us this session.

Mallika is a multi-award-winning director and performer; she has produced a number of documentary films and starred in seminal films such as “Devi” Ahilya Bai (Hindi – 2002) and Kanooru Heggadathi (Kannada – 1999). She is a well-known personality in Kannada television, having been part of the creative teams of several prominent serials such as Mussanjaya Katha Prasanga, Garva, Guptagamini, as well as most recently playing the lead antagonist in the mega-serial Nagakannike. She has also lent her voice as the narrator, Cauvery for the prestigious son et lumière show at the Mysuru Palace.

Her documentary films have engaged with rural women’s cooperatives in Rajasthan, as well as agricultural labour groups in Bihar. She has also documented the practice of gurus playing three rare Carnatic music instruments, as part of an initiative to preserve intangible cultural heritage. She has been involved in the making of several documentary and educational films to help school teachers and children with Spoken English across the country, including developing content for ISRO’s EDUSAT initiative.

Mallika founded Actors Ensemble India Forum (AEIF) in 2007. AEIF is a media production company committed to the creation of cutting-edge work that emerges from creative risk-taking and rigorous research. There is an active and sustained engagement with martial forms and physical practices and exploration of how physical vocabularies intersect with and inform body, voice, text and sound.

She has directed theatre productions and taught acting and voice at the Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication, Hyderabad University, the National School of Drama – Bangalore and Sikkim, Sri Shivakumara Rangaprayoga Shale, and the NINASAM Theatre Institute, Karnataka.

Mallika has designed and developed a two-year Voice & Speech Curriculum for the intercultural performer and has taught at premiere theatre and performance institutes – ITI, LASALLE and NAFA in Singapore. She draws upon a variety of approaches to address vocal and speech needs. Students are introduced to exercises developed over two decades of working with actors, her own training as a voice coach, performer and theatre maker with master teachers from across the world. She has been taught by Khalid Tyabji, Veenapani Chawla, Lakshman Gurukkal, Sue Weston, Marie-Gabrialle Rotie, Steve Paxton and more recently, by Saul Kotzubei, Ilse Pfeifer, Cynthia Bassham, and Catherine Fitzmaurice. She combines practical exercises that are based on principles found in Yoga, Kalaripayattu, Alexander Technique and Japanese Butoh.

MA in Performance Making, from Goldsmiths College, University of London; Post Graduate Diploma in Acting, National School of Drama, Delhi, India; BA in Economics, Sociology & Political Science, Bangalore University, India.

A Sound Journey to Pondicherry, India

January 5 - 12, 2020